Slow Cooker

This easy pork roast is a hands-off dinner party main thanks to your slow cooker.

The combination of tender chicken and sweet chestnuts makes for classic Chinese comfort food.

Cooking congee in a slow cooker takes patience, but you can cook it overnight if you want it for breakfast. 

While the pork braises away in the slow cooker, use the oven to make creamy scalloped potatoes and the microwave to make lightening-fast steamed broccoli.

This recipe brings together the flavors of Mexico’s Gulf Coast with the anise-like flavor of Mexican avocado leaves and the tang of sour oranges.

All good and decent breakfast spreads deserve some slow-cooked beans. These also freeze very well should you find yourself with leftovers.

Layers of creamy potato, three cheeses, and savory kale and leeks mean that this is one dish that's here for a good time, not a long time.

The process for this spiral ham is all about imparting flavor. Once finished, the meat will be super-tender and you’ll have a great cooking liquid that can be sopped up with rice, tortillas, potatoes, bread…or egg noodles.

Serve this warmly spiced, slow-cooked pork in its entirety for a crowd, or treat it as a "nextover" and turn the extra servings into a brand-new dinner later in the week.

This recipe shines a new light on a classic. Cooking a chuck roast slow-and-low allows it time to fully develop its flavor. Pair it with a fresh chickpea salad to brighten up the dish.

Ribollita is like a heartier version of minestrone, thickened with bread and redolent with garlic. It is a beautiful soup when it’s fresh from the pot, but it is also perhaps the most noble of leftovers.

Corned beef is timeless and deserves a spot at the table, not just on St. Paddy’s Day. It is a crowd-pleaser that loves the low-and-slow ethos of the slow cooker, turning it tender without fail.

This savory oatmeal is reminiscent of cheesy grits: very creamy and rich with little bits of crisp bacon. An egg on top is terrific if you like your lilies gilded.

Polenta is often used as a neutral carb canvas for a rich sauce or braised meat, but here the creamy ricotta-and-spinach-enriched polenta is the centerpiece, with a simple little tomato salad on top for freshness. An egg on top is great, but optional.

Slow-cooking a "roast" chicken yields moist, juicy meat but flabby skin—the easy fix is to run the carved chicken under the broiler to crisp the skin before serving.

Sip this broth as a restorative or use it as a base for soups, stews, and sauces.

This festive, spiced toddy starts with a black tea base. English breakfast tea is especially good with the black pepper and star anise, but Earl Grey would be nice, too.

The pairing of barbecue and Big Red Soda is super-popular throughout the South, so why not combine the two in one killer dish? The sweet, cult-favorite cream soda, originally from Texas, is often compared to cinnamon bubble gum, but also has notes of lemon, orange, and vanilla. Here, it's combined with barbecue sauce as a cooking liquid for slow-cooked, spice-rubbed pork shoulder, with results that are sweet, spicy, and as uniquely flavored as Big Red itself.

Freeze small portions of this versatile, flavorful chicken to make easy work of tacos, salads, and sandwiches.

Of all the sauces I make, this is definitely in the top three for both flavor and utility. Not only does it make delicious Red Chicken Enchiladas, but it’s a perfect base for chili, and it adds a delightful piquancy to most Mexican or southwestern dishes.

This simplified version of the traditional savory rice porridge uses boneless, skinless chicken thighs cooked with rice in a slow-cooker. Dress it with avocado, limes, peanuts, chile oil—and as many toppings as you like.

This easy chili is a cross between chile verde and white chicken chili, an effortless and hearty dinner that’s perfect for weeknights.