12 Easy Recipes To Make In Your Slow Cooker This Fall

Before the Instant Pot and air fryer became kitchen staples across America, there was the humble slow cooker, also known as a Crock-Pot. This foolproof device is a busy home cook's dream, using steady temp control to break down ingredients into a tender, piping-hot meal and keep it that way until dinnertime.

The following recipes demonstrate not only the utility of the slow cooker, but also its versatility—it can help you create a wide range of dishes, from appetizers to entrees to desserts, keeping your active prep time to a minimum. While other appliances might leap into and out of the spotlight, the slow cooker will always be a worthy addition to your countertop.

A jar of rillettes—spreadable meat cooked in fat—is something you might only expect to find on the shareables menu at a fancy French bistro, but you can make them at home using your slow cooker. Combining pork, wine, and ground spices in the slow cooker overnight results in perfectly cooked meat, which you then blend up quickly in a food processor and seal into jars for the charcuterie board of your dreams. This high-yield recipe is meant to create many batches of rillettes that you can store in the fridge or freezer until needed. Get the recipe for slow cooker rillettes here.

Yes, "slow cooker yogurt" sounds like the ultimate inconvenience when there are currently more varieties of yogurt at the grocery store than at any point in human history. However, making your own allows you to customize the thickness level, and the flavor of the homemade stuff really is fresher. With only three ingredients required, why not give it a try? Get the recipe for slow cooker yogurt here.

Ground beef is a beautiful building block for a weeknight meal, and this recipe for slow cooker meatloaf proves it. This preparation removes the single biggest pitfall of oven-baked meatloaf—the dryness!—and the trick of sauteing the vegetables in butter before adding them to the mixture results in an unforgettable final product. Get the recipe for slow cooker meatloaf here.

Five ingredients, five hours—that's all you need to create a beef dish inspired by Vietnamese pho, with its hint of nutmeg and cloves. Jarred jalapenos are added for an extra kick, and since nothing needs slicing or dicing before adding it to the slow cooker, the cleanup is virtually nonexistent. Get the recipe for slow cooker "pho king" beef here.

This meatless curry dish is a hearty and satisfying weeknight meal, one that we're proud to say leans heavily on butter. You can adjust the spice level by taking a heavy or light hand with the red pepper flakes, and it's equally delicious whether you serve it on its own or over some steamed rice. However you prepare it, you can revel in making it as low-effort as possible. Get the recipe for Easy Potato-Pea Curry here.

We absolutely don't mean "garbage" as a pejorative term here. Rather, it refers to the fact that this meal admittedly looks like an ugly heap of brown on your plate—but it's your secret weapon on nights when you'd rather do anything in the world but cook. Four ingredients, five hours in the Crock-Pot, and you're set with a delicious combo that kids and adults both love. Get the recipe for "garbage" chicken here.

There are plenty of ways to cook summer corn—including not cooking it at all—but if you want the crisp, juicy taste of seasoned summer sweet corn, you don't have to lug a big pot of water to the stovetop. Instead, add a little water to the bottom of a slow cooker and throw the corn in on top, adding spices and butter or olive oil as you go. The perfect method for the busy picnicker. Get the recipe for slow cooker steamed summer corn here.

Cholent is a lot like fruitcake, in that it's got a joking reputation for being terrible. But this casserole-adjacent dish, traditionally cooked for the Jewish Shabbat, has a lot of virtues. It uses a lot of pantry ingredients, it's easy to assemble, and it's got a lot of inactive cooking time in a Crock-Pot. Cholent is nothing if not a convenient way to combine all your meat, veg, and carbs in one bowl. Get the recipe for cholent here.

This retro, sweet and savory party appetizer is a classic for a reason: It's a bite-sized hit of concentrated flavor that you won't want to stop eating once you've started. The recipe includes instructions for homemade oven-baked meatballs, but if you're pressed for time, a bag of high-quality store-bought meatballs can be added to the grape jelly barbecue sauce in the Crock-Pot instead. Make this recipe work for you, but absolutely make it either way. Get the recipe for slow cooker grape jelly meatballs here.

These husky rural baked beans, more than any other recipe we've encountered, are certifiably delicious, comforting, and uncomplicated. The slow cooker helps layer the flavors of molasses, bacon, and tomato (in the form of ketchup, of course) atop these beans to produce the perfect side dish for picnics, potlucks, and any other gathering you can think of. Get the recipe for slow cooker baked beans here.

It's never too early to start game planning Thanksgiving, and this homemade slow cooker turkey stock is the perfect way to repurpose the turkey carcass rather than tossing it straight in the trash. Our step-by-step instructions make an easy process even easier, as you simply dump the carcass (along with herbs and some water) into your Crock-Pot and let the low simmering mixture do its thing overnight. Read more about slow cooker turkey stock here.

The slow cooker is often pigeon-holed into being a dinner assistant, but it's just as capable of producing top-notch desserts. This bourbon peach cobbler has a similar preparation to applesauce, making use of allspice, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and, best of all, a hefty dose of bourbon. The peaches can be fresh or frozen (just with slightly different cooking times), and the cobbler can also be served up as a crumble. Delicious and versatile, like all good desserts ought to be. Get the recipe for slow cooker bourbon peach cobbler here.