Fall Slow-Cooker Recipes

By Southern Living
Southern Living

Slow cooker recipes are all about simplicity. Every one of these fall slow cooker recipes means you’ll spend less time in the kitchen, and more time enjoying being with your family and friends. These recipes show you how to use your slow cooker for making side dishes—you’ll love our Candied Yams, and our Green Bean Casserole—and mains. Some, like Uncle Jack’s Mac-and-Cheese, can be both, so serve it as a side when you have a crowd, or as dinner when you share a quiet evening at home with your family. For true Southern flavors, fill your slow cooker with our Slow-Cooked Barbecue Chicken, or the Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings. Choose your fall slow-cooker favorite, then let these recipes show you how to use your slow cooker to make dishes rich with mouthwatering fall slow-cooker flavors.  

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Let These Slow-Cooker Recipes Simplify Your Fall Meals

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Peppered Beef Soup

Southern Living

Recipe: Peppered Beef Soup

Freeze leftovers in an airtight container up to three months. Add a bit of canned broth when reheating to reach desired consistency.

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Uncle Jack's Mac-and-Cheese

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Uncle Jack's Mac-and-Cheese

Classic cafeteria-style goodness, this recipe yields enough to serve as a side for a crowd, or it could be dinner for a family of four. Recipe by Pam Rawlinson, North Augusta, South Carolina.

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Beer-Braised Pot Roast

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Beer-Braised Pot Roast

This is no ordinary pot roast. First, it's rubbed with coffee. Then it simmers in dark stout beer and beef stock, yielding a deeply delicious gravy. Small carrots with tops and pearl onions elevate it further. Just be sure to pile the veggies on top of the beef after all other ingredients are in your cooker, so they'll cook perfectly and keep a vibrant color.

 

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Slow-Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

Photo: Alison Miksch

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

Sweet potatoes are often a part of Thanksgiving, and this recipe gives you a new twist on that classic flavor. Orange juice gives this dish a little sweetness, while pieces of crumbled bacon will give you something to savor, and rosemary will give it an aroma all its own. Delicious together, this sweet-and-salty side could not be easier to prep on Thanksgiving morning. Best part? It's made in the slow cooker, so you're saving valuable stovetop space. When you’re ready to serve it, sprinkle a mixture of parsley, orange zest, and garlic over the top: you’ll get just the right amount of herbs, spice, and bite in every mouthful.

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Turkey Breast and Herb-Cornbread Stuffing

Photo: Oxmoor House

Recipe: Turkey Breast and Herb-Cornbread Stuffing

This comforting slow cooker dish is perfect for Thanksgiving or an easy supper. 

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Meatball Sliders with Tomato Sauce

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Meatball Sliders with Tomato Sauce

This fun dish is two recipes in one: delicious, easy meatballs and a slow-simmered tangy tomato sauce. If you have any extra sauce, toss it with your favorite green vegetable, spoon it over a bowl of creamy grits, or pair it with pork chops or other meats.

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Cacciatore with Spaghetti

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Chicken Cacciatore with Spaghetti

Spend 20 minutes in the kitchen prepping this gorgeous, hearty sauce. Once the sauce simmers in the cooker, all that's left to do is cook a pound of pasta, and serve.

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Mexican Stew

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Mexican Stew

Classic posole, a delicious slow-simmered Mexican pork stew often reserved for special occasions, is typically a time-consuming labor of love. But this one gives you all the comfort and flavor of the old-world version made in your slow cooker.

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Beef-and-Bean Chili

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Beef-and-Bean Chili

This classic red chili has chunks of stew meat and ground beef along with tomatoes, red beans, and spices. Fire-roasted tomatoes add a note of smokiness to the mix. If you can't find fire-roasted, use plain tomatoes and add a pinch of smoked paprika.

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Pork Chili Verde

Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Pork Chili Verde

Fresh tomatillos look like small green tomatoes wrapped in thin papery skin. Remove skin, and rinse before chopping. If you can't find fresh, look for canned on the Latin aisle at the grocery.

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Smoky Turkey-and-Sweet Potato Chili

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Smoky Turkey-and-Sweet Potato Chili

Chipotle chiles add a kick, but sweet potatoes balance the heat. Adjust the spice in this homey chili by increasing or decreasing the amount of chipotle to suit your taste. Buy the large dried lima beans if you can find them. They really look amazing and also give the chili a decidedly Southern accent.

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Slow-cooked Barbecued Chicken

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner

Recipe: Slow-cooked Barbecued Chicken

Start with a whole chicken, cut up, and simmer in a homemade barbecue sauce of ketchup, cola, cider vinegar, and a splash of bourbon for a Southern barbecue flavor. Enjoy this slow-cooked chicken by itself or as a sandwich piled with Pickled Peppers & Onions atop Sweet Potato Cornbread.

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Creole Chicken with Field Pea Succotash

Photo: Oxmoor House

Recipe: Creole Chicken with Field Pea Succotash

Complete the meal by trying this easy side: Drizzle sliced fresh tomatoes with oil-and-vinegar dressing; season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Shrimp-and-Sausage Gumbo

Photo: Iain Bagwell

Recipe: Shrimp-and-Sausage Gumbo

Enjoy a smoky and spicy classic that takes just a couple of minutes to prepare. When it's ready, serve over a bed of herbed rice.

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Spiced Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes

Photo: Iain Bagwell

Recipe: Spiced Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes

A chuck roast paired with sweet potatoes and butternut squash will hit the spot on the chilliest winter nights.

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Easy Brunswick Stew

Photo: Oxmoor House

Recipe: Easy Brunswick Stew

Cooking on low heat for a long time makes the meat extremely tender, so it shreds easily; high heat yields a less tender product.

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Green Tomato Chile Verde

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Green Tomato Chile Verde

We like the tang and body that green tomatoes give this comforting stew.

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Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings

Photo: Iain Bagwell

Recipe: Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings

Make a classic chicken and dumplings recipe even more Southern by topping the vegetable-and-chicken-packed stew with cornbread dumplings.

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Good Luck Greens and Peas with Ham

Photo: Iain Bagwell

Recipe: Good Luck Greens and Peas with Ham

Spread the good fortune with this tasty dish, and don't forget to serve it with Cheesy Cornbread on the side.

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Italian Pot Roast

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Italian Pot Roast

This hearty pot roast is perfect for a busy weeknight. Just put the ingredients in your slow cooker and let it do all the work.

 

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Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Quarters

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Quarters

The key to this dinner-party-worthy dish is to brown the chicken before it goes into the slow cooker.

Cooking Video: How To Make Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Quarters

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Spicy-Sweet Ribs and Beans

Southern Living

Recipe: Spicy-Sweet Ribs and Beans

Slow cookers don't brown food, so here we broil the ribs for extra flavor before adding them to the pot. Serve with cornbread and a simple green salad with creamy Italian or ranch dressing.

 

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Chicken Thighs with Carrots and Potatoes

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Chicken Thighs with Carrots and Potatoes

All you need is 20 minutes to get this dish in the slow cooker, then you have a hearty chicken and veggie supper waiting for you when you get home.

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Wine-Braised Oxtails

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Wine-Braised Oxtails

Slow cooking oxtails (beefy cuts from the tail of a cow) with red wine and aromatic vegetables releases their rich flavor, creating a hearty, fork-tender stew that’s guaranteed  to take the chill off a cold winter’s evening.

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Pork with Apples, Bacon, and Sauerkraut

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Pork with Apples, Bacon, and Sauerkraut

Thinly sliced pancetta (unsmoked Italian bacon cured with salt and spices) and a few quick twists of kitchen string turn an inexpensive pork loin into a party-worthy dish.

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Candied Yams

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Rose Nguyen

Recipe: Candied Yams

We updated the Southern staple candied yams recipe so that it can be cooked in a slow cooker. It's an extra-easy choice to heat and take to your next family gathering or potluck dinner.

Step-by-Step Video: Slow-Cooker Candied Yams

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Green Bean Casserole

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas

Recipe: Green Bean Casserole

Go beyond the standard “recipe on the can” casserole by adding Alfredo sauce instead of cream of mushroom soup, water chestnuts, Parmesan cheese, and toasted pecans.

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Balsamic Root Vegetables

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas / Prop Styling: Missie Neville Crawford / Food Styling: Vanessa McNeil Rocchio

Recipe: Balsamic Root Vegetables

Balsamic Root Vegetables makes a flavorful match for any entrée.

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Slow-Cooker Cornbread Dressing

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas / Prop Styling: Missie Neville Crawford / Food Styling: Vanessa McNeil Rocchio

Recipe: Cornbread Dressing

Spoon Cornbread Dressing into pretty bowls, and top with fresh sage.

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Sausage-and-Bean Stew

Photo: Alison Miksch; Styling: Caroline M. Cunningham

Recipe: Sausage and Bean Soup

This dish is so easy: Just brown your favorite smoked sausage, toss the ingredients together, and let the slow cooker do the rest. All you need to round out the meal is a simple green salad and loaf of crusty bread.

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Chicken With Artichokes and Wild Mushrooms

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Lydia DeGaris Pursell

Recipe: Chicken With Artichokes and Wild Mushrooms

A special dinner such as Chicken with Artichokes and Wild Mushrooms is easily achieved on busy weeknights thanks to your slow cooker. The chicken is first browned in a skillet for added visual appeal and flavor.

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Spicy Steak and Black Bean Chili

Southern Living

Recipe: Spicy Steak and Black Bean Chili

Easy Side: Prepare batter from 2 (6-oz.) packages buttermilk cornbread mix according to package directions. Cook batter, in batches, in a preheated, oiled waffle iron until done.

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Chicken Sausage and White Bean Stew

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Chicken Sausage and White Bean Stew

On a cold evening, come home to a simmering slow cooker filled with comforting Chicken Sausage and White Bean Stew.

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Turkey Meatball Stroganoff

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Turkey Meatball Stroganoff

Frozen meatballs and the slow cooker make getting a home-cooked comfort meal of Turkey Meatball Stroganoff on the table super easy.

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Spaghetti Casserole

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Lydia DeGaris Pursell

Recipe: Spaghetti Casserole

All your favorite ingredients are featured in this easy slow-cooker version of Spaghetti Casserole.

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Baked Four-Cheese Spaghetti with Italian Sausage

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Lydia DeGaris Pursell

Recipe: Baked Four-Cheese Spaghetti with Italian Sausage

Open sausage casings using kitchen shears; then just squeeze the sausage into the pan for browning.

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Honey Mustard-Glazed Ham

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Lydia DeGaris Pursell

Recipe: Honey Mustard-Glazed Ham

A holiday favorite just got easier—and frees up valuable oven space—thanks to your slow cooker. Put savory Honey Mustard-Glazed Ham on your menu. With minimum ingredients and delicious flavor, this slow-cooker ham won't disappoint.

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Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Southern Living

Recipe: Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Serve up a side of ooey-gooey scalloped potatoes for any occasion. The best part about this delicious dish? They are made in a slow cooker.

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Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes

Southern Living

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes

With prep times of 15 minutes or less, Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes, Easy Coleslaw, and Chive ’n’ Onion Potato Chips make a winning menu.

 

 

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