The slow cooker and soup are so obviously made for each other that I feel silly it took me years to combine them on purpose. Soup wants long, gentle, unattended simmering, which is the one thing a crockpot does better than a person at a stove. So I load it in the morning, leave, and walk back into a house that already smells like dinner. Almost all of it freezes too.
1) Beef and Butternut Squash Chili
This chili was practically designed for a slow cooker, since the squash needs hours to melt into the sauce and thicken it. Brown the beef before it goes in, because that one stovetop step is the difference between deep flavor and gray, flat chili. Everything else is a dump-and-go job that runs 8 hours on low while you are somewhere else. It is even better reheated, which makes a Sunday batch a Monday gift to yourself.
2) White Bean and Rosemary Stew
Dried beans and a slow cooker are a natural match, since they turn creamy over hours with no soaking and no watching. Add the salt only near the end, because salt early keeps the beans stubbornly firm no matter how long they cook. A branch of rosemary and a can of tomatoes do most of the work for pennies. Ladle it over garlic toast and a meatless dinner still feels completely satisfying.
3) Turkey Chili
Turkey chili is the ultimate set-it-and-forget-it dinner, since ground turkey only gets better with a long, slow simmer. Brown it first so it does not clump into gray pebbles, then let the crockpot do the patient work all day. A long cook is exactly what lean turkey needs to stop being dry and start tasting rich. Set out toppings at dinner and a cheap pot of chili becomes a build-your-own event.
4) White Bean Chicken Chili
White chicken chili is one of the best things a slow cooker does, since the chicken goes in raw and shreds right in the pot. Stir the cream or dairy in only at the very end, because hours of heat will break it and leave you with a grainy pot. Give the beans a mash against the side to thicken it without a single extra ingredient. It is gentle enough for kids and cheap enough to make on a whim.
5) Chicken Tortilla Soup
Tortilla soup is a dump-and-go dream: broth, tomato, chicken, and spice go in cold and come out as dinner. Add the chicken whole and shred it right in the pot near the end, which keeps it moist instead of stringy. The toppings do the heavy lifting, so save the crunchy tortilla strips and avocado for the bowl, not the pot. It costs almost nothing and tastes like it came from somewhere much fancier.
6) Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup
A creamy sausage and kale soup is a slow cooker favorite, though it needs one small rule to come out right. Brown the sausage first for the flavor, then add the cream and the kale only in the last 30 minutes so the dairy does not break and the greens stay green. Everything else simmers unattended all day and thickens on its own. A little sausage flavors the whole pot, which keeps it cheap per bowl.
7) Tuscan White Bean Soup
This white bean and vegetable soup practically makes itself, which is exactly what you want from a crockpot. Drop a parmesan rind in with the beans and vegetables, because those hours of slow heat pull every bit of flavor out of it. Canned beans go in cold and the whole thing simmers into something that tastes slow-cooked, because it was. Finish each bowl with olive oil and it eats like a trattoria dinner for pocket change.
8) Chicken Noodle Soup
Crockpot chicken noodle soup lets you throw in whole chicken pieces and pull perfect shredded meat out hours later. The one rule is to add the noodles only in the last 20 minutes, because a full day in the pot turns them to complete mush. Everything else, the carrots, celery, and broth, is happy to simmer unattended all day. It is the cure-all soup made even easier by letting the machine do the standing around.
9) Vegetable Soup
Vegetable soup is the crockpot’s answer to a fridge full of odds and ends that need using before they turn. Layer the dense vegetables like carrots and potatoes at the bottom near the heat, and the tender ones on top so nothing turns to mush. Everything simmers all day into a pot that costs almost nothing and changes with the season. It is the definition of a cheap, hands-off dinner you can start and walk away from.
10) Lentil Soup
Lentils are perfect slow cooker material, since they go in dry and come out tender without any soaking or fuss. Hold the salt and any acid like tomatoes until the lentils have softened, because both can keep them firm if added too early. A whole pot costs a couple of dollars and delivers more protein than most dinners twice the price. Brighten it with lemon at the end and it wakes right up.
11) Bean Soup
A bag of dried beans and a slow cooker is one of the cheapest dinners a kitchen can produce. The long, gentle heat is exactly what dried beans want, turning them creamy over 8 hours with no boiling or babysitting. Wait to salt them until they are fully tender, or the skins stay tough no matter how long they go. Serve it over toast and a whole family eats well for under $3.
12) Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Broccoli cheddar soup can absolutely be a slow cooker dish, as long as you respect the cheese. Cook the broccoli and base all day, then turn the heat off and stir the cheddar in by hand at the end, because cheese held on heat for hours breaks and goes grainy. Add the broccoli in the last hour so it stays green instead of turning to olive mush. Blend part of it for body and leave the rest in chunks to chew.
13) Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut squash soup is almost embarrassingly easy in a slow cooker: cube the squash, add stock, and walk away. Hours later it is soft enough to blend into velvet right in the pot with an immersion blender. Stir the cream in at the very end so it stays smooth instead of splitting under long heat. It freezes beautifully, so make a double batch and bank half for a cold night in winter.
14) French Onion Soup
The slow cooker turns the tedious part of French onion soup, the long caramelizing of the onions, into a hands-off overnight job. Pile in sliced onions with butter and let them go low for hours until they are deep, jammy brown. Do not rush this with the heat cranked up, because the slow browning is the entire flavor of the dish. Top each bowl with toast and broiled cheese and the cheapest vegetable in the store becomes a restaurant dinner.
15) Tomato Sausage Cream Soup
This creamy tomato and sausage soup is a dump-and-go dinner with one small piece of timing to get right. Brown the sausage first, then let the tomatoes and broth simmer all day and stir the cream in only at the end. A long cook deepens the tomato flavor while the sausage quietly seasons the whole pot. It is hearty enough to be dinner on its own, especially with bread to catch every drop.
16) Creamy Chicken and Pasta Soup
A creamy chicken soup is a slow cooker natural, right up until the pasta and the cream, which both need to come in late. Cook the chicken and broth all day, then add the pasta for the last 20 minutes and the cream right at the end. Add them too early and you get gummy noodles in a broken sauce, which is the mistake worth avoiding. It is hearty enough to be the whole dinner, and the leftovers reheat with a splash more broth.
17) Chicken and Rice Soup
Chicken and rice soup is the definition of a comforting, hands-off crockpot dinner. Add the rice only in the last 45 minutes, or a full day in the pot turns it to a thick, gluey paste. The chicken goes in whole and shreds right in the broth, which keeps it tender and saves you a step. It is gentle, cheap, and exactly the pot you want simmering on a sick day.
18) Pozole Rojo
Pozole is made for the slow cooker, since a cheap cut of pork and dried chiles need hours to become something rich and deep. The pork goes in tough and comes out shreddable, and the hominy drinks up all that chile-stained broth. Set out cabbage, radish, lime, and oregano at the table, because the toppings are half the dish. It feeds a crowd for almost nothing and tastes like a celebration.
19) Chicken Stew
A brothy chicken stew is one of the easiest things a slow cooker makes, since the vegetables go in raw and soften over the day. Dredge the chicken in a little flour before it goes in and the stew thickens itself as it cooks, no cornstarch needed. Everything else is a dump-and-go job that fills the house with the smell of dinner by mid-afternoon. A hunk of bread turns it into a full, cheap meal.
20) Beef and Potato Stew
Beef stew is the dish the slow cooker was invented for, turning the cheapest, toughest beef into fork-tender meat. Brown the beef and dredge it in flour first, because that builds both the flavor and the body of the gravy. Then it is 8 unattended hours while cheap potatoes and carrots turn silky in the broth. Serve it with torn bread and you have fed a family for the price of the beef alone.
21) Tomato Soup
Even humble tomato soup is better from a slow cooker, where a long simmer deepens the flavor of a couple of cheap cans. Let the tomatoes, onion, and garlic go all day, then blend it smooth and stir the cream in at the end. Waiting on the cream keeps it from separating under all those hours of heat. Pair it with grilled cheese and it is the cheapest comforting dinner there is.
