Crocktober Roundup

Today in honor of my dad, I thought I would do a fun blog round up and pull together my top Slow Cooker recipes to celebrate Crocktober. I love using my slow cooker for anything from soup, to making weeknight dinners, canning, and even a breakfast now and again. For me, the slow cooker is the perfect kitchen gadget because it takes all the work out of cooking.

26 Slow Cooker recipes that our family uses on repeat for weeknight dinners, gameday festivities, cozy meals, and comfort food soups to get you through winter.

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I am known as a person who get a lot of things done. And, I’m totally ok with that. I like being busy and I like marking things off a list. But, what I love most is being efficient and multi-tasking. That usually manifests itself about 6pm when dinner is done and I haven’t done any work since putting it in the slow cooker in the morning.

I LOVE MY CROCKPOT.

There, I said it! Since my dad is my first soup experiement eater, I thought it would be fun to honor his birthday today by doing a little round up of some of my Slow Cooker recipes and share them as you get in to fall when its the perfect time to master our busy schedules, game day festivities, and cozy dinners with slow cooker favorites.

There are a few other recipes that I often make in the slow cooker

Mexican Chicken for tacos or burrito bowls – 3 lbs. frozen or fresh chicken, 1 can Rotel, 1 pouch taco seasoning, 1 pouch dry ranch seasoning, and sometimes corn too – cook on low for 6 hours
Asian Chicken for lunches – 3 lbs frozen or fresh chicken, Thai chili sauce seasoning – cook on low for 6 hours
Orange Chicken – chicken, orange or peach marmalade, BBQ sauce – cook on low for 6 hours
BBQ chicken – chicken, BBQ sauce, a little chili sauce or sriracha, seasoning
“boil” chicken for recipes – frozen or fresh chicken, 1 cup of chicken broth, seasoning – cook on low
“brown” ground beef or ground turkey – ground beef, 1 cup beef broth – cook on high for 3 hours
Crockpot Chicken (many Sundays growing up) – chicken, Rotel, cream of chicken or mushroom
Sunday Roast – roast, roast seasoning or onion soup mix, Dr. Pepper
Pork Sirloin – multiple pork tenderloins or a pork sirloin – use these ingredients – meat, pot roast or beef stew seasoning packet, 2-4 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar, beef stock or Coke/Dr. Pepper.
Taco Soup – chicken, ground beef, or turkey, beans, corn, Rotel, chicken broth, taco seasoning, dry ranch
Pulled Pork – plain pork loin, hickory BBQ sauce, yellow mustard, a little bit of brown sugar, Pulled Pork seasoning
Picadillo Burrito Bowls – venison or beef stew meat, taco seasoning, Rotel, pineapple tidbits

What order should I put things into the crockpot?

It is so important to layer your crockpot for the most efficient cooking process and flavoring all the things.

onions and peppers if cooking something like a roast, anything that can handle the heat, but you want to season the meat
Meat or protein first, in the bottom
cover with vegetables
sprinkle with seasonings
pour over liquid

Rules for crockpot success

use a crockpot liner – just do it
put meat in first
add lots of seasoning
use plenty of liquid
low and slow is the point
leave the lid on – once you place the lid on and plug in the crockpot, leave it be for at least 2 hours. Every time you open the crockpot, you let out steam that is an integral part of the cooking process. Just leave it alone, that’s the point!
unplug when you are done, even if it’s still hot and ready to serve, this will keep you from burning your food as it sits, just leave the lid on to keep in the heat.

What do you love to make in the slow cooker? Pin this for later so you can come back often and try these 26 Slow Cooker Favorites