11 Easy Winter Crockpot Recipes You Can Fix and Forget

A crockpot is an amateur chef’s best friend. Originally manufactured as bean cookers, these appliances were marketed to busy moms who wanted to create an affordable and tender meal for their families without having to spend all their time in the kitchen. The most involved instruction that may interrupt the cook time of your dish is to stir occasionally, making this one of the most stress-free ways to prepare food. In essence, the crockpot has revolutionized contemporary cooking.

There are slow cooker recipes for everything, and we really do mean everything. As winter rolls in, the crockpot could be a pinpoint of light in a void of cold and exhaustion. When bleak weather saps your energy, you can trust these 11 winter crockpot recipes to take all the responsibility of a balanced meal and deliver it with minimal effort. Let these warm meals heat up your home and your belly.

Get a rush of heat from this chicken pumpkin curry from The Modern Proper, which spends hours in the slow cooker to become thick and juicy. The pumpkin works well in channeling autumnal flavors.

The majority of the time in this beef Stroganoff recipe from Creme de la Crumb is spent making sure your beef is able to capture the deep flavors in the called-for spices. From there, putting together the rest of this satisfying dish is a breeze.

There are few heartier meals than beef ragu. This recipe from Gimme Some Oven burns bright red out of the slow cooker, with some carrot flames scattered about as well.

We wanted to find more than just stews for the slow cooker, and this vegetable pot pie recipe from The Modern Proper rises to the challenge. It has a beautiful array of vegetables, which provide both flavor and color to this hearty dish.

One of the many advantages of a slow cooker is being able to throw in completely frozen foods, knowing they will thaw out over the low heat. This Italian sausage tortellini soup from Creme de la Crumb capitalizes on that, calling for frozen sausages among other fresh ingredients.

Winter calls for warm, comforting desserts—like apple crisp. You can never go wrong with cinnamon, apples, and ice cream, which this recipe from Gimme Some Oven says is optional, but not in my house.

Lentil soup is a classic, and The Modern Proper amps it up with coconut curry. Because this recipe does not call for meat, the overall time in the slow cooker is relatively quick.

A chowder is sometimes all you need to turn a bitter day into a pleasant one, and New England chowder is a classic. Refer to this slow cooker chicken chowder recipe from Creme de la Crumb to take all the effort out and still achieve a delicious dish.

Brittany of Eating Bird Food recommends simmering this in the slow cooker overnight, so you can have thoroughly prepared oatmeal for breakfast. The flavors that come from many hours of cooking will guarantee you a wonderful day.

If you can believe it, this creamy and luscious potato soup from Gimme Some Oven doesn’t call for heavy cream, but rather, Greek yogurt. It is hearty enough to fill you up, especially as the temperature continues to drop.

There are several traditional ways to prepare ratatouille, but in a slow cooker is not typically one of them. Still, this recipe from Eating Bird Food works well, making sure the numerous ingredients mesh well over many hours of marinating.

Up next: 14 slow-cooker recipes that make weeknights easy.