30 Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes (2024)

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Credit: Jennifer Causey

This filling and flavorful soup is ideal for a chilly evening. Freeze leftover chipotle chiles and adobe sauce in a flattened Ziploc bag for future use.

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Credit: Photography: Greg Dupree; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Claire Spollen.

This dish is great for a casual get-together or a weeknight meal (with leftovers). The seasoning paste is modeled after Korean ssamjang--a concentrated, salty, slightly spicy concoction. Unlike traditional versions, though, ours is made with grocery store ingredients for ease and convenience.

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Credit: Oxmoor House

Even with a bacon topping, this Indian-inspired soup boasts over 10 grams of fiber and less than 500 milligrams of sodium.

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White meat can dry out after a long haul in the slow cooker, so we opt for bone-in thighs to guarantee optimal flavor and succulence. Make prep easier with pre-peeled garlic, and pretty-up the platter with lemon slices and thyme sprigs.

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Credit: Karry Hosford

Round out this simple, dump-and-stir stew with a piece of low-fat cheese toast for the perfect cold-weather pairing.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey; Styling: Claire Spollen

A full-plate dinner simmers to saucy, savory perfection in the slow cooker. To end up with super-succulent pork, don't overcook the chops in the pan before adding to the slow cooker. Just a couple of minutes per side will be enough to achieve nice color.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey

Pantry staples like dried lentils and canned beans make up the bulk of this soup and boost the fiber to cover more than half your daily goal.

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Credit: Becky Luigart-Stayner

Slowly cooking a lean turkey breast in a medley of Mediterranean ingredients like kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and Greek seasoning, yields a tender, juicy, and flavorful supper.

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Credit: Brian Woodco*ck; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

This slow-cooker chicken chili is a great addition to your cool weather weeknight meal rotation. Calling for a mixture of beans and hominy, this recipe boasts bold, rich flavor, something that can often be dulled in a slow cooker. Processing some of the beans in a food processor thickens the soup.

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Credit: Randy Mayor; Melanie J. Clarke

Traditional Indian ingredients like curry powder and coconut milk flavor this simple slow cooker vegetarian curry. The addition of chickpeas, potato, bell pepper, and green beans add more than 10 grams of fiber per serving.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey; Styling: Amy Stone

You'll be wowed by the way lean flank steak transforms into tender, succulent shreds as it slowly simmers in the aromatic sauce. Served over rice (preferably brown), this homey Cuban dish makes for an exceptionally hearty and wholesome weeknight meal.

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Credit: Howard Lee Puckett; Styling: Sissy Lamerton

This well-balanced meal is loaded with fiber from the beans, antioxidants from the veggies, and protein from the lean sausage. Increase the heat by using 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground red pepper

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Credit: Victor Protasio

Here, we start with big flavor from a good amount of curry paste and fish sauce, and we finish with fresh touches of cilantro and lime juice that amplify the taste of everything. Serve over a bed of brown rice or brown rice noodles to catch all the sauce.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey

Look for bags of cubed butternut squash in the produce section to save you the trouble of peeling and dicing a whole squash. Find Castelvetrano olives either jarred in the olive and pickle section or fresh at most specialty market antipasti bars. If you can't find them, use any green olive you like.

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Credit: Randy Mayor

For an entrée under 200 calories and with only 5 grams of fat, make sure to trim the brisket before cooking. Onions, parsnips, balsamic vinegar, and light beer, flavor the meat without adding extra fat.

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Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine; Food Styling: Torie Cox

This savory fall stew is filled with tender cubes of pumpkin, shredded chicken, and nutty wild rice in a creamy sauce. When choosing a pumpkin, look for a sugar or cheese pumpkin. Field pumpkins, which are larger in size, have watery, stringy flesh and are best used for decoration. Or substitute a butternut squash.

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Credit: Photo by Hector Manuel Sanchez

We're not entirely certain about the history of this classic recipe's name, but perhaps it has something to do with the spicy kick of the sauce. Our version is a shakshuka-like dish in which fiery harissa paste and heady spices slowly infuse a rich tomato sauce where eggs gently poach

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Credit: Greg DuPree

Simple flavors and a rustic touch will make this soup an instant home-cooked favorite, especially on chilly, wintry days. Inexpensive dried lentils make up the bulk of the soup, helping fill in your fiber gaps and keep you full longer. Chickpeas are the secret ingredient to achieve supreme creaminess.

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Credit: Oxmoor House

You can set up this recipe in less than fifteen minutes, turn on the slow cooker, and go. Come back in four hours, and your supper will be ready.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey

Think of posole as chili's brothier, lighter cousin, a Mexican version of chicken soup. Posole is also a name for the hominy, or rehydrated dried corn, that goes in the dish.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey Styling: Claire Spollen

The low, even heat of the slow cooker helps flavor powerhouses like miso, sesame oil, and soy sauce impart tenderizing moisture, umami depth, and savory personality to common pot roast.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey

While the chicken becomes fall-apart tender, briny capers, crushed red pepper, and garlic infuse the tomatoes for a robust marinara sauce.

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Credit: Iain Bagwell

This protein-packed slow cooker recipe is a healthy dish you'll make again and again. For an added dose of heat, top the flavorful dish with sliced fresh jalapeños.

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Credit: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Cindy Barr

It's not hard to make your own salsa verde, with fresher flavor and much less sodium than jarred versions: Simply blacken tomatillos, chiles, and onions; then blend.

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Credit: Johnny Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

Slow-Cooked BBQ Fennel, Onion, and Pork Sandwiches are a nod to low-and-slow Southern barbecue--using just a little bit of pork shoulder. And just like traditional pulled pork, the meltingly tender vegetables and pork are piled high on toasted buns, slathered with a Greek yogurt mixture, and topped with shredded cabbage.

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Credit: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Cindy Barr

Hearty canned chickpeas hold up beautifully in the slow cooker, where they're combined with fragrant spices and just a little stock. Since the chicken cooks on top of the chickpea mixture and is not submerged in liquid, it can cook longer without suffering texturally.

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Credit: Oxmoor House

Bring ordinary vegetable soup up a notch by adding lean top round steak to the mix. Let the mixture cook all day to blend the flavors for a flavorful, fiber-filled main-dish soup.

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Credit: Anson Smart

Let the slow-cooker work its magic as the rich flavors of chicken, vegetables, and oranges meld together in just 3 hours.

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Credit: Susie Cushner

Cut back on prep time by using convenience items like canned tomatoes, frozen crabmeat, and frozen okra. To shave off even more time, buy prec-hopped onions and bell peppers. Because there's no high-fat roux, this shortcut gumbo has less than half the fat of a traditional gumbo.

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Credit: Antonis Achilleos

Eggplant gives this slow-cooked tomato sauce a hearty and meaty texture as well as a boost of nutrients. Serve the tomato sauce over whole wheat noodles and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

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