No-Effort Slow Cooker Recipes

I absolutely adore my simple-to-use, inexpensive slow cooker and have had it for years. I just love that in just 5 minutes, a meal can be prepared and thrown in and then, 8 hours later, I come back to a delicious hot dinner.

Slow cookers are a really easy and healthy way to feed a family or batch-cook to fill a freezer with enticing meals made of moist and tender meat – all without any hassle.

It’s an energy-efficient way to cook too; costing only around 5p per hour, it’s a lot cheaper than roasting food in an oven or cooking on a hob. Generally, for the price of cooking one meal in the oven, you could cook five in the slow cooker! Another bonus is that slow cookers are suited to both cheaper cuts of meat and cheaper varieties of vegetables.

I use a ceramic slow cooker as there have been concerns about cooking in certain metal ones. I use a 4.7 litre one for our family, but you can buy smaller or larger slow cookers.

I hope you enjoy these 2 warming winter recipes. You can find more healthy slow cooker recipes on my grid here and here. If you have any questions about cooking in your slow cooker please get in touch – I’d love to help.

Claudine xx

*******************************************

Slow-Cooker Roast Chicken

This is the best way to have moist, tender, delicious chicken falling off the bone... all with zero effort!

This is truly a meal-in-one-pot with zero preparation. An extra bonus with this recipe is that with the bones you have left over you can make amazing stock / bone broth! My next slow cooker newsletter will explain how to do this.

Place the following in a slow cooker and gently mix:

🥕 1 whole chicken 

🥕 1 head garlic, separated in to cloves but unpeeled  

🥕 herbs of your choice, e.g. fresh or dried thyme, rosemary or oregano

🥕 2 tbsp butter/ghee 

🥕 8 carrots, peeled and chopped into slices 

🥕 1 packet frozen roasted vegetables

🥕 1 tsp flaked sea salt salt 

Cook on low for 6 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.

Serve with salad, potatoes or extra veg of your choice.

*******************************************

Zero-Effort Pulled Pork

This is a fantastically easy-to-make, one-pan, seasonal dinner. Without any effort, make delicious and tender pulled pork which can be put into anything from salads, soups and brioche buns to frittatas, tacos, burritos and pizza! 

You can also use 6 boneless and skinless chicken thighs to create a very similar dish.

Serves 4-6 people

For the pork:

Place the following in a slow cooker:

🍲 1 kg pork neck (brisket) 

🍲 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

🍲 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses

🍲 3 tbsp sugar-free tomato ketchup 

🍲 1/2 tsp flaked sea salt

and cook for 6 hours on low, or until cooked and soft. Shred with forks.

I serve this pork with celeriac fries* often in a good quality brioche bun with:

🍲 sliced red cabbage 

🍲 quick pickled red onion (see recipe here)

🍲 defrosted frozen sweetcorn

🍲 sesame seeds

🍲 lettuce

*Click here to see a video of me making Celeriac Fries. Even if you don’t normally like celeriac, you will like these healthy, homemade fries and no one will know they aren't potato!

*******************************************