75+ Delicious Dinners That Basically Cook Themselves (Updated 2026)

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Bookmark this — you’re going to use it every single week. Over 75 of my most-loved, most-requested recipes all in one place. Scroll through, pick tonight’s dinner, and come back tomorrow for another one.

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1. Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounce package spaghetti, cooked and drained
2 cans cream of chicken soup, 10.75 ounces each
16 ounces Velveeta, cubed
1 cup low sodium chicken broth, warmed
1/2 cup milk
1 packet dry ranch mix, 1.5 ounces
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
5 to 7 slices bacon, cooked and diced
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350.
In a big bowl, stir the spaghetti, soup, Velveeta, warm broth, milk, ranch mix and chicken together.
Pour into a greased casserole dish.
Top with the cheddar and the bacon.
Bake uncovered 30 minutes, until bubbling.

Notes: Warm the broth before it goes in. Cold broth seizes the Velveeta into lumps that never fully melt in the oven.

Chicken, bacon, ranch, and melty cheese baked together into the most indulgent casserole — it hits every comfort food note at once. This one is permanently on weeknight rotation. Chicken, bacon and ranch is a combination nobody in my house has ever argued with. Put it on spaghetti with melted Velveeta and dinner is handled. There is no jarred sauce to buy.

The soup, broth, milk and Velveeta become the sauce as it bakes, and the ranch packet seasons the whole pan. Shredded chicken from the Instant Pot is what I use. Rotisserie chicken works just as well and gets dinner on the table even faster. The bacon goes on top instead of stirred in so it stays crisp. Mixed through the sauce it goes soft, and crisp bacon is the whole point.

2. Dorito Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 cups shredded chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 packet taco seasoning
1 can Rotel
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 regular bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, crushed
Taco toppings for serving, optional

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350. Stir the chicken, cheese, sour cream, taco seasoning, Rotel and soup together until well combined.
Spray a 2 quart casserole dish and spread a layer of crushed Doritos in the bottom.
Spread two thirds of the chicken mixture over the chips, then half the remaining chips, then the rest of the chicken, then the last of the chips.
Bake 25 minutes and top with diced tomato, sour cream, olives or green onion.

Notes: Crush the chips in the bag with your hands before you open it. Big pieces stay crunchy on top and small ones soak into the layers.

Crunchy Doritos, seasoned beef, and melty cheese layered into the most fun casserole your family has ever had. It’s the weeknight dinner that makes everyone actually excited to eat. After this one, my husband and my eleven year old each separately told me it had to go into the regular dinner rotation. That does not happen often. It is layers of crushed chips, shredded chicken, Rotel, sour cream and cheese, baked until golden.

Everything in it is already in your pantry. I do not usually wait until the last minute to make dinner, but when I do, everyone is hangry and this is twenty five minutes in the oven. I love that they gather at the counter waiting for the timer. Even irate, even late, it is time together, and this casserole is usually what we are waiting on.

3. Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounce package medium egg noodles
2 cans cream of chicken soup, 10.5 ounces each
1 can cream of mushroom soup, 10.5 ounces
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
1 cup frozen vegetable mix
8 ounces chicken broth
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350. Boil the egg noodles one minute less than the package says, drain, and return them to the pot.
Add both soups, the chicken, vegetables, broth, cheddar, sour cream, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir until well combined.
Pour into a greased 9×13 dish.
Melt the butter and toss it with the Panko until the crumbs are coated.
Scatter the Panko evenly over the top.
Bake 20 minutes, until heated through and the top is crisp and golden.
Rest a couple of minutes before serving.

Notes: Save a quarter cup of the noodle water and stir it in with the soups. It keeps the sauce and noodles from separating as it bakes.

All the cozy, creamy filling of a classic chicken pot pie with a fraction of the effort. This casserole version is weeknight-friendly and tastes like it came straight from a grandmother’s oven. All of the pot pie filling, none of the crust work. Egg noodles stand in for the pastry and a buttery Panko top gives you the crunch. The noodles come out of the water a full minute early.

They keep cooking in the oven, and noodles boiled all the way through come out soft. Tossing the Panko in melted butter before it goes on is what makes it brown. Dry crumbs on top just dry out further. One pot, one dish, twenty minutes in the oven. This is the recipe I hand to anyone who says they cannot cook.

4. Weeknight Cheesy Tortellini Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

7 ounce package cheese tortellini
12 ounces marinara sauce
8 ounces Alfredo sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning, divided
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cooking Instructions

Boil the tortellini 2 to 3 minutes less than the package says and drain.
In a medium pot, simmer the marinara, Alfredo and half the Italian seasoning together 10 minutes.
Stir the tortellini into the sauce and pour into a greased 9 inch pie dish.
Top with the mozzarella, Parmesan and the rest of the seasoning.
Broil 5 minutes or less, until the cheese melts and starts to brown.

Notes: Any tortellini or ravioli works. Cook it al dente every time, because it finishes cooking under the broiler.

Pillowy cheese tortellini baked in a rich, saucy, bubbly casserole — this is the pasta bake that becomes an instant family favorite the very first time you make it. A pasta bake in a pie dish, done in about fifteen minutes. It is the dinner for the night when everyone gets home at six and hungry. Marinara and Alfredo stirred together is pink sauce, and it is the whole flavor of the dish. Half a jar of each and nobody misses the from scratch version.

The pie dish is the right size for four. It also means the cheese on top browns evenly under the broiler instead of burning at the corners of a 9×13. Any cooked meat makes it heartier. Leftover chicken, browned sausage, or a handful of pepperoni stirred into the sauce.

5. Pizza Pasta Bake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

5 cups rotini pasta, cooked al dente
1 pound Italian sausage
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1/2 cup white onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
24 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
4 ounces water
4 ounces pepperoni
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Cooking Instructions

Cook the rotini 1 to 2 minutes short of the box time, drain, and rinse with cold water.
Brown the sausage and beef together and drain. In the same pan, cook the onion and pepper in the butter until soft.
Stir the noodles, sauce, water, meat and vegetables together in a big bowl. Dice all but 10 of the pepperoni and stir those in too.
Pour it into a greased 9×13, top with the mozzarella, and lay the last 10 pepperoni on top.
Bake uncovered at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Notes: Rinse the pasta with cold water after draining. It stops the cooking so the noodles stay firm through the bake.

Pizza and pasta had a baby and it is absolutely glorious. This cheesy, pepperoni-loaded bake is the dinner kids will request every single week without fail. A friend showed up at our door during a fourteen day stay home stretch with a pan of her pizza pasta, a loaf of french bread and a caesar salad. This is that recipe. It tastes like the pasta bake from Pizza Hut, and that is the point.

Sausage, pepperoni, peppers and onions in a red sauce under a lot of mozzarella. Make it ahead and bake it later. It sits in the refrigerator for a day with no harm, which is why I pass it along to other families in a rough week. Leave out anything you do not want or add anything you do. Mushrooms, black olives, and a pinch of red pepper flakes have all made an appearance.

6. Angel Chicken Rice Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
3 cups Minute Rice, prepared
10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 packet Italian dressing seasoning mix
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup chicken stock
Pinch of black pepper
2 cups Colby Jack cheese, divided
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 and spray a 9×13 dish. Prepare the Minute Rice according to the box.
In a big bowl, stir the chicken, rice, soup, softened cream cheese, Italian seasoning packet, garlic powder, pepper and stock until creamy with no lumps of cream cheese.
Fold in 1 1/2 cups of the Colby Jack and spread the mixture into the dish.
Top with the last 1/2 cup of cheese, then an even layer of Panko, then dot the butter pieces across the top.
Bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes until the edges bubble and the Panko is deep golden. Rest 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: The cream cheese has to be fully softened or it leaves lumps that never smooth out. Thirty minutes on the counter does it.

Creamy, dreamy chicken and rice baked together into the most comforting casserole — it earns its angelic name with every single bite. A guaranteed empty dish every time. I have made this casserole for years and it never gets old. My kids ask for it by name, and at a potluck it disappears before anything else on the table. The Italian seasoning packet and the cream cheese are what make it taste like more than a soup casserole.

One bowl, one dish, ten minutes of real work. Cooked rice and cooked chicken only. Raw rice needs far more liquid and raw chicken will not cook through in thirty minutes. The Panko and butter on top are the part people remember. A golden, crunchy crust over a creamy middle makes a weeknight dinner feel like company is coming.

7. White Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

8 to 10 flour tortillas
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1/2 can Rotel
2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese, divided
Sauce: 3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
4 ounces diced green chilies

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 and spray a 9×13 dish.
Stir the Rotel and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese into the shredded chicken.
Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat and stir in the flour.
Raise the heat to medium high and slowly add the broth, stirring, until it thickens.
Turn the heat down and stir in the sour cream and green chilies. Turn it off and let it thicken a bit, stirring.
Fill each tortilla with 1/2 to 2/3 cup of the chicken, roll, and set seam side down in the dish.
Pour the white sauce over the enchiladas and top with the rest of the cheese.
Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: Add the broth slowly so the sauce thickens smooth before the sour cream goes in. Dumped in all at once it lumps.

Tender chicken wrapped in flour tortillas, smothered in a creamy white sauce, and baked until bubbly and golden. This is the enchilada recipe that makes people ask for it every time. Shredded chicken, Colby jack and a creamy homemade white sauce, rolled and baked in about twenty minutes. It tastes like takeout from the Mexican place down the street. The sauce is a simple white sauce with sour cream and green chilies stirred in at the end.

Four ingredients and five minutes at the stove. Most of the ingredients are already in the kitchen. The chicken comes from a batch of Instant Pot shredded chicken, and the rest is fridge staples. Twenty to twenty five minutes and no longer. Overbaked enchiladas dry out at the edges, and the sauce is what makes these.

8. Chicken Tetrazzini

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounces thin spaghetti, cooked al dente
1/2 cup butter, plus more for the pan
4 cups cooked shredded chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 to 1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 and butter a 9×13 dish.
Stir the butter, chicken, soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, parmesan and milk together, then add the cooked spaghetti.
Pour into the dish and cover with the mozzarella.
Bake 30 minutes.
Scatter the Panko over the top and bake 10 minutes more.

Notes: This can be assembled up to two days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Add 10 to 20 minutes to the bake time if it goes in cold.

A classic creamy pasta bake with chicken and mushrooms that never goes out of style. Rich, satisfying, and feeds a crowd — perfect for using up leftover chicken too. This is the pan I show up with when someone has a newborn and no free hands. It reheats well and every kid at the table eats it. Thin spaghetti cooked just al dente is the right noodle.

It bakes another forty minutes in the sauce, so soft noodles going in come out mushy. The Panko waits until the last ten minutes. Put it on at the start and it soaks into the sauce instead of toasting. Four cups of chicken sounds like a lot, and it is what makes this a dinner instead of a side. A rotisserie chicken gets you most of the way there.

9. No Peek Chicken

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups long grain white rice, uncooked
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups water
4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or 6 smaller
Salt and pepper
1 packet dry onion soup mix

Cooking Instructions

Spread the dry rice evenly in a greased 13×9 baking dish. Whisk the soup and water together and spoon half of it over the rice. Let it stand 5 minutes.
Arrange the chicken over the rice. Add salt and pepper to the rest of the soup mixture and spoon it over the chicken.
Sprinkle the dry onion soup mix over everything and cover the dish tightly with foil.
Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours without lifting the foil, until the chicken reads 165 in the thickest part.
Take the foil off and let it sit 15 to 25 minutes while the rice soaks up the liquid and turns creamy.

Notes: The rest with the foil off is part of the recipe. The rice looks soupy when it comes out and sets up on the counter.

The most hands-off oven dinner ever — just cover it, pop it in, and don’t peek. Tender chicken and rice soaked in a savory, creamy sauce that practically cooks itself. The name is the rule. The steam under the foil is what cooks the rice, and every peek lets it out. Crimp the edges hard and walk away.

This is one of my son’s most requested dinners, and the rare one where the leftovers actually get eaten the next day. Long cooking white rice is the only rice that works here. Instant rice turns to mush under the foil, and brown rice needs more water and more time. Spoon the creamy rice over the chicken when you serve it. That rice and soup mixture is the best part, and the chicken soaks it up on the plate.

10. Loaded Cheesy Potato Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

6 to 8 large russet potatoes
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup milk, room temperature
8 ounces sour cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided
12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided
Sliced green onions for the top

Cooking Instructions

Set the butter, sour cream and milk out on the counter to lose their chill.
Scrub the potatoes, poke them with a fork, and bake on a sheet pan at 400 for about 40 minutes, until a butter knife slides through.
Cook the bacon while the potatoes bake.
Drop the oven to 350. Cut each potato into quarters and mash them, skins and all, with a potato masher.
Stir in the butter, milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, 1 cup of the cheddar and half the bacon.
Spread into a sprayed 9×13 dish and top with the rest of the cheese and bacon.
Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes, then top with green onions.

Notes: Room temperature dairy mashes in smooth. Cold milk and sour cream hit hot potatoes and the mash goes lumpy and gluey.

Cheesy, creamy, loaded with all the good stuff — this potato casserole is the side dish that upstages the main course every single time. Bring it to a potluck and prepare for recipe requests. Meat, a vegetable and a side is the menu at every sit down meal in our house, and this is the side I get asked for most. The skins stay on. Baked russets mash up with a little texture from the skin, and it tastes like a loaded baked potato instead of mashed potatoes.

Half the bacon goes in and half goes on top. The inside gets bacon in every bite and the top gets bacon that stays crisp through the second bake. Twelve servings makes this a holiday side or a potluck pan. It can be assembled the day before and baked when the ham comes out.

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11. Creamy Baked Ziti

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounces ziti or penne
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, minced
14.5 ounce can tomato sauce
14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup fresh basil, chopped, divided
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
16 ounces cottage cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
16 ounces mozzarella, cut into 1/4 inch cubes, divided

Cooking Instructions

Brown the sausage with the garlic. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano, dried basil, salt and pepper and simmer.
Boil the ziti al dente, drain, rinse with cold water, and toss with the olive oil. Keep the pot.
Stir the beaten eggs, cottage cheese, parmesan and half the mozzarella together.
In the empty pasta pot, bring the cream and cornstarch to a low boil, stirring 3 to 4 minutes until it thickens.
Stir two thirds of the sauce, the ziti, the cream and the cheese mixture together and pour into a sprayed baking dish. Top with the rest of the sauce, the rest of the mozzarella and half the fresh basil.
Bake covered at 350 for 25 minutes, then uncovered 25 minutes more. Rest a few minutes and finish with the last of the basil.

Notes: Freeze a second pan unbaked, wrapped twice. Thaw it overnight and bake as written with ten extra minutes.

Bubbly, cheesy baked ziti with a rich creamy sauce that makes this pasta bake truly next level. It feeds a crowd and reheats beautifully — a true weeknight hero. Learning how to make creamy baked ziti consumed me for a while. I wanted the pasta I made at home to taste like it came from a restaurant, and this one does. The cream thickened with a little cornstarch is what makes it creamy baked ziti and not just baked ziti.

Four minutes of stirring in the empty pasta pot. It is built in stations. Sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, cream, all done at different points as you have time, then one big stir brings it together. I make my parents dinner most weeks, and this is the one I double. One pan for them, one for the freezer, and texas toast from the freezer section on the side.

12. Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
3 cups cooked shredded chicken
8 ounces spaghetti
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 and cook the spaghetti al dente.
While it boils, melt the butter over medium low heat and cook the onion and garlic 3 to 5 minutes, stirring.
Stir in the flour and cook one minute.
Add the broth and let it come to a boil, then whisk in the half and half, stirring constantly.
Stir in the parmesan until the sauce thickens a little, then take it off the heat.
Add the chicken and pasta to the sauce and toss to coat.
Pour into a greased 9×13 dish, top with the colby jack, cover with foil and bake 20 minutes until the cheese melts.

Notes: Keep whisking once the half and half and parmesan go in. Walk away and the sauce turns grainy.

Creamy, cheesy chicken spaghetti baked to golden perfection — this Southern-style casserole is pure comfort in a dish and the whole family cleans their plates every time. When I know the week is going to be rough, this pan goes on the menu. A full 9×13 of creamy pasta, and the leftovers are the kind people go back for. The sauce is a simple white sauce built on butter, flour and broth. No cans of soup, and it takes about ten minutes while the pasta boils.

Three cups of shredded chicken is the hard part done. Rotisserie or a batch from the Instant Pot, either one works. The four things I want in a chicken casserole are spaghetti, cheese inside and on top, a white sauce, and tender chicken. This has all four.

13. Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounces frozen broccoli cuts
1/2 cup diced frozen onions
10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup
10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
6 cups cooked Minute Rice
16 ounce jar Cheez Whiz
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions

Microwave the broccoli and onions in a big bowl in 2 minute bursts, stirring between, until the broccoli is tender, about 4 to 6 minutes total.
Let it cool a couple of minutes, then snip the broccoli into dime sized pieces with kitchen scissors.
Cook the Minute Rice per the box, in chicken broth if you want extra flavor. Heat the oven to 350 and spray a 9×13 dish.
In a very large bowl, stir the rice, the whole jar of Cheez Whiz, both soups and the milk until no streaks remain.
Fold in the broccoli and onions, season well with salt and pepper, and taste it.
Spread into the dish and bake uncovered 25 minutes, until hot through and bubbling at the edges.
Rest 5 minutes before scooping.

Notes: Do not swap the Cheez Whiz for shredded cheddar. It melts into a silky coating on every grain of rice that shredded cheese cannot match.

Tender broccoli and fluffy rice smothered in a rich cheese sauce and baked until golden — the side dish that always steals the spotlight and gets the most requests at the table. This is the casserole that takes me straight back to childhood. My mom worked hard and cooked simple, and this pan of cheesy rice was one of her best moves. Cutting the broccoli down to dime sized pieces is the step everyone wants to skip. Big florets sit awkwardly in the rice and leave bites with no broccoli at all.

Both soups go in. Cream of mushroom brings depth and cream of chicken brings the savory part, and neither does the job alone. It feeds eight as a side and reheats in the microwave with a splash of milk. I make it for potlucks and bring home an empty dish every time.

14. Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 pound breakfast sausage, browned and drained
8 slices bread, buttered
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cooking Instructions

Butter the bread and press the slices butter side down into a 9×13 dish.
Whisk the eggs, mustard, milk and salt until no streaks remain, then stir in the cheese and the sausage.
Pour it over the bread and cover the dish.
Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes, until the center is set and a knife comes out clean.

Notes: The eight hours in the fridge are the recipe. That is when the eggs and milk soak all the way into the bread.

The ultimate make-ahead breakfast casserole loaded with sausage, eggs, and cheese — prep it the night before and just pop it in the oven in the morning. Perfect for holidays, brunch, or any lazy weekend. The night before is where all the work happens. In the morning the only job left is turning on the oven, and breakfast bakes itself while the coffee does its thing. Butter side down matters.

The butter sits against the hot dish so the bottom browns instead of going soggy. Drain the sausage well. Any grease left in the pan ends up in the eggs, and nobody wants that. This is the one I make when tomorrow morning is already spoken for. A few minutes tonight, and tomorrow you look like you have it all together.

15. Bacon Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

30 ounce bag frozen shredded hash browns
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked bacon, cut into bite size pieces
8 large eggs
1 1/3 cups evaporated milk
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard and 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, optional

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 400 and spray a 9×13 dish. Dump in the frozen hash browns, pour the melted butter over them, sprinkle with the salts and pepper, and stir gently.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender and golden at the edges.
Turn the oven down to 350. Layer both cheeses over the hash browns, then the bacon.
Whisk the eggs, evaporated milk, mustard powder and onion powder with a little more salt and pepper, and pour it over the cheese and bacon.
Bake about 40 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center is firm.

Notes: If the center is still wobbly but the top is browning, lay foil over the dish for the last few minutes.

Crispy bacon, fluffy eggs, and golden hashbrowns all baked together into the most satisfying breakfast casserole. Feed a crowd with barely any effort — a total morning game changer. This is a two stage bake, and that is the whole trick. The hash browns crisp in butter first, then the cheese, bacon and eggs go on and gentler heat sets the custard. Evaporated milk is the ingredient people ask about.

It makes a custard that sets firm and creamy instead of watery, and the squares slice clean. My kids will eat a breakfast casserole for any meal of the day, and when you add cheese, bacon and hash browns to anything you tend to have happy campers. Bake the hash browns the night before, layer the cheese and bacon, refrigerate, and pour the eggs over in the morning. Add ten minutes for the cold pan.

16. Biscuits and Gravy Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 pound breakfast sausage
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and black pepper
1 can flaky biscuits, 16 ounces, each cut into quarters
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 375 and spray a large baking dish. Brown the sausage in a skillet until no pink is left.
Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and cook one minute more. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper.
Pour in the milk, stirring constantly, and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer about 5 minutes until thick. Take it off the heat.
Spread half the biscuit pieces in the dish and bake them a few minutes, then pour the gravy over them.
Top with the rest of the biscuits, brush with butter, and bake 17 to 18 minutes until the biscuits are golden and the gravy bubbles.

Notes: Check a biscuit piece from the bottom layer before you pull the pan. The quick pre-bake is what keeps them from staying doughy under the gravy.

All the cozy comfort of biscuits and gravy baked together into one incredible casserole. This hearty breakfast feeds a crowd and is the kind of dish people talk about for days after. Biscuits and gravy is the heaviest, happiest breakfast in America, and this is the easier casserole version of it. One dish, no plating, and no kid has ever turned it down. The gravy is the same one you would make on the stove any Sunday.

Sausage, a little flour, milk, and a pinch of cayenne to keep it from tasting flat. Cutting the biscuits into quarters is what makes it work. Small pieces bake through and soak up gravy at the same time. Any time there are biscuits and gravy on the morning menu I get excited. The simpler the recipe, the faster I get to make it, and this is the simplest version I know.

17. Bisquick Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 pound breakfast sausage, browned and crumbled
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup Bisquick mix
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon taco seasoning, optional
Paprika for the top

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 375. Spread the sausage and cheese in a sprayed 9×13 dish.
Put the eggs, milk, pepper, salt, taco seasoning and Bisquick in a blender and blend on high for one minute.
Pour the batter over the meat and cheese and sprinkle the top with paprika.
Bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes, until the casserole is firm in the middle.

Notes: If you are making this to give away, let it cool, cover it with foil, and freeze it. It reheats from frozen without falling apart.

A simple, hearty breakfast casserole made with Bisquick that comes together fast and feeds the whole family. The kind of morning recipe that gets requested every single weekend. This is the recipe the Salvation Army hands to any group that wants to provide a meal for their shelters. Carbs, protein, and enough to feed a room. The blender is the trick.

One minute on high and the Bisquick disappears into the eggs with no lumps and no whisking. The taco seasoning and paprika are optional and I never skip them. They add color and a little flavor to what is otherwise a very plain batter. We love breakfast casseroles here because of the protein, and because they are just as good at six in the evening as six in the morning.

18. Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit Bake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

8 biscuits, split into tops and bottoms
12 ounces cooked bacon, about 8 pieces
6 eggs, scrambled
1 cup shredded Colby Jack, American or mild cheddar

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350. Set 8 biscuit bottoms in a 9×13 baking dish.
Top each bottom with a piece of bacon, then a spoonful of scrambled eggs, then a sprinkle of cheese.
Set the biscuit tops in place.
Bake 14 to 18 minutes, lifting one with a spatula near the end to check the bottoms.

Notes: Cook the bacon on parchment in the oven at 425 for 20 to 25 minutes, and scramble the eggs in a big bowl in the microwave, about 4 minutes, to save a pan.

Everything you love about a bacon egg and cheese sandwich — baked into one glorious shareable pan. Weekend breakfast done right with barely any cleanup. These are breakfast sandwiches, but you build all eight at once in one pan. They come out together and everyone grabs their own on the way out the door. Building sandwiches one at a time means standing at the counter while everyone else eats.

Stacking them in a 9×13 turns eight sandwiches into one assembly job. The biscuit does the job a roll would do, but it bakes up flaky instead of going soggy under the eggs. That is what makes these sturdy enough to take with you. Wrap the extras in parchment and foil and freeze them. A minute in the microwave on a school morning and it is a real breakfast.

19. Bubble Up Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounce can jumbo buttermilk biscuits
1 pound breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
6 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 packet country gravy mix
2 cups water

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 and spray a 9×13 dish. Brown the sausage, breaking it into small crumbles, and drain it.
Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces and spread them in an even layer in the dish. Scatter the sausage over the biscuits, then the cheese.
Whisk the eggs and milk until no streaks remain and pour it evenly over the dish.
Whisk the gravy packet into the water until smooth and pour that over everything too.
Cover tightly with foil and bake 50 minutes. Uncover, broil on low 3 to 5 minutes until golden, and rest 5 minutes before cutting.

Notes: It looks like a sad mess going into the oven, biscuit pieces swimming in egg and gravy. That is normal. The biscuits puff and soak it all up.

Fluffy biscuit pieces baked with sausage and cheese into a bubbly golden casserole that is pure morning magic. This one gets devoured before it even makes it to the table. My sausage breakfast casserole went viral on Facebook, and one reader commented that it was even better with canned biscuits. So off to the kitchen I went. This is the holy grail of breakfast casseroles.

It goes in looking pathetic and comes out a spectacular, puffed up mess of sausage, biscuits, cheese and eggs. Cut each biscuit into eight pieces. Small pieces let the egg and gravy soak every layer as it bakes, and big ones stay doughy in the middle. The foil stays on for the full fifty minutes. That is how the biscuits cook through without the top burning, and the broil at the end is only for color.

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20. Mississippi Pot Roast

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

3 to 4 pound chuck roast
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet beef gravy mix
4 ounces butter, one full stick
4 to 5 pepperoncini peppers

Cooking Instructions

Set the chuck roast in the crock pot and sprinkle the ranch mix and the gravy mix over the top of the meat.
Lay pats of butter across the roast, then set the pepperoncini on top. No water, no broth.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, until a fork twists through the meat with no resistance.
Shred the roast with two forks right in the juices and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice.

Notes: Keep the peppers in if your family likes a little tang, or pull them out before serving. Just do not leave them out of the pot.

The legendary 5-ingredient pot roast that breaks the internet every fall. Buttery, tangy, fall-apart tender — you’ll want to put the gravy on everything. This is the roast that made me a believer. I had used gravy mix on chuck roasts for years, but ranch dressing mix on beef sounded wrong until the first bite. With only five ingredients, the butter matters. A creamy stick like Kerrygold is one of the few places on this site where I will tell you the brand makes a difference.

Low for eight hours beats high for four. Both work, but the longer cook is what gets you meat that falls apart under a fork. The pepperoncini are the ingredient people want to skip, and the one I will not let them. Four or five peppers in a whole roast is tang, not heat. I serve it over Instant Pot mashed potatoes almost every time. The juices in the bottom of the crock pot are the gravy, and nobody at my table leaves any behind.

21. Crockpot Crack Chicken Pasta

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

5 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 packet buttermilk ranch dry seasoning
3 cups penne pasta, uncooked
1 1/2 cups mild cheddar cheese
1 cup bacon pieces
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 ounces Velveeta, cubed

Cooking Instructions

Pull the meat off a rotisserie chicken and shred it. You want about 5 cups.
In a 4 quart crock pot, combine the chicken, cream of chicken soup, broth, water, ranch packet and Velveeta cubes. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
Stir in the dry penne, push it under the liquid, and cover for 20 minutes.
Stir well and cover for 10 more minutes, until the pasta is tender.
Stir again, scatter the cheddar over the top and the bacon over the cheddar, and cover for 5 minutes until the cheese melts. Scoop into bowls.

Notes: Dry pasta goes in at the end only. Three hours in the sauce turns it to paste. Thirty minutes on high cooks it through.

Creamy ranch chicken pasta that practically makes itself in the slow cooker. The kind of meal the whole family asks for on repeat — and cleanup is a breeze. Did you know you can make pasta in the slow cooker? You can, and this is the proof. Even my mother in law, who is not easy to impress, asked for the recipe.

Rotisserie chicken means zero cooking before the crock pot. The creamy base needs three hours to come together, and the chicken just soaks up the ranch while it waits. Velveeta melts smooth and stays smooth over three hours of heat, which is why it is in here instead of a bag of shredded cheese. Cheddar and bacon on top for the last five minutes are the crack chicken part. If you like the sandwich version, this is the same flavor in a bowl.

22. Pulled Beef Slow Cooker

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

3 pound chuck roast
2 cans beef broth
12 ounce can of beer
2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
6 hoagie buns
Provolone cheese slices

Cooking Instructions

Set the chuck roast in the slow cooker and pour the broth, beer, onion soup mix, garlic, sugar and oregano over it.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Shred the beef in a bowl with two forks or a hand mixer, then return it to the juices.
Split the hoagies on a baking sheet, fill them with beef lifted out with a slotted spoon, lay provolone over the top, and broil on low until the cheese is golden.
Serve with the juices from the crock pot in small bowls for dipping.

Notes: Not a beer household? Use a third can of beef broth. The flavor is milder but it is still a very good sandwich.

Fork-tender pulled beef that slow cooks all day while you go about your life. Pile it onto buns, stuff it into tacos, or serve over mashed potatoes for an effortless crowd-pleaser. The beer is the ingredient that makes people pause, and it cooks off completely over eight hours. What is left is a deeper, maltier broth than broth alone can give you. The two envelopes of onion soup mix are the whole seasoning, and they bring plenty of salt.

Taste the juices before you add any more. Toast the cut sides of the rolls for a minute before the beef goes on, and drain the beef with a slotted spoon. The juice belongs in the dipping bowl, not the bread. This one lives next to the French dip in my rotation. Same roast, same slow cooker, a different flavor, and both come with a bowl of juice my son would drink with a straw.

23. Crockpot Philly Cheesesteak

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 1/2 to 3 pounds beef round steak, sliced thin
1 onion, sliced thin
1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix
1 cup beef stock
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 teaspoons black pepper
4 teaspoons garlic powder
2 green peppers, sliced thin
6 hoagie buns
12 slices provolone cheese

Cooking Instructions

Spray the crock pot. Slice the steak thin and brown the slices for about a minute in a hot skillet.
Add the steak, onion, stock, salt, pepper, garlic powder and dressing mix to the crock pot. Stir once and cover.
Cook on low for 8 hours, stirring in the sliced green peppers at the 5 hour mark.
Spoon the meat onto split hoagies on a foil lined sheet, lay 2 overlapping slices of provolone on each, and bake at 350 or broil on low until the cheese melts and browns.

Notes: If you cannot be home at hour five, saute the sliced peppers in a little butter right before serving instead.

Tender slow-cooked beef piled onto hoagie rolls with melty cheese and peppers — all the flavors of a Philly cheesesteak with none of the effort. A guaranteed family favorite. This is the beef sandwich readers write to me about most. One told me she is not a cook at all, made it anyway, skipped the browning, and her husband was impressed. Thin slices are the trick, and the easiest way to get them is thirty minutes in the freezer first. Firm steak slices clean.

That is a lot of pepper and garlic powder for one recipe, and it is correct. It is what makes the meat taste like the sandwich shop version instead of pot roast on a bun. Another reader freezes the leftover meat mixture for unexpected company. Thaw it, heat it, add cheese, and dinner is handled. I have done the same ever since.

24. Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

3 pound chuck roast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cans French onion soup
1 can beef consomme
8 hoagie rolls
8 to 16 slices provolone cheese
1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon cold water, optional, for a thicker au jus

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high. Brown the chuck roast for 3 to 4 minutes per side.
Move the roast to the slow cooker and pour both cans of French onion soup and the consomme over the top. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4.
Lift the roast into a bowl and shred it with two forks, pulling out any large pieces of fat. Return the meat to the juices.
Pour the juices into a saucepan and simmer. For a thicker au jus, whisk the cornstarch into the cold water and stir it in for a couple of minutes.
Split and toast the rolls for 1 minute under the broiler. Pile on the beef, lay provolone over the top, and broil 2 minutes until the cheese melts. Serve with the au jus for dipping.

Notes: Chuck roast only. A lean roast turns dry and stringy after eight hours, and chuck falls apart on its own.

Juicy, thinly sliced beef piled onto crusty rolls and dipped in rich au jus — the slow cooker does all the heavy lifting for this classic sandwich everyone loves. This is one of the most pinned recipes on the site, over 80,000 times at last count, and it is the one I still make most. Three cans and a roast is the whole shopping list. Do not skip browning the roast. Three or four minutes a side in a hot skillet is the only hands on work in the recipe, and it is where the depth of the au jus comes from. My shredding trick is a hand mixer on low, right in the bowl.

Thirty seconds and the whole roast is in perfect strands. Wear an apron the first time. The rolls matter more than people think. One minute under the broiler before the beef goes on is what keeps a French dip from turning into a soggy bun. Taste the au jus before you serve it. Sometimes it wants a pinch of salt or a few turns of pepper, and that bowl on the side is half the reason to make this.

25. Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 can golden mushroom soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 packet onion soup mix
1/2 cup chopped onion, optional
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained, optional
1 beef bouillon cube
1 pound beef stew meat, cut small
1/2 cup water
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
24 ounces egg noodles, cooked

Cooking Instructions

Put both soups, the onion soup mix, onion, mushrooms, bouillon cube, beef, garlic and water in the slow cooker and stir.
Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, until the beef is fork tender.
Boil and drain the egg noodles according to the bag during the last 15 minutes.
Stir the cream cheese into the beef until it melts completely, then stir in the sour cream and turn the crock pot off.
Spoon the beef and sauce over the noodles.

Notes: Half inch pieces of stew meat get tender in six hours. Ask the butcher to cut them small, or cut them yourself while the meat is partly frozen.

Tender beef in a rich, creamy mushroom sauce served over egg noodles — pure comfort food at its finest. The slow cooker makes it completely hands-off and absolutely delicious. This is one of the meals my son requests by name, and I do not mind, because it pairs with a salad and feels at least halfway healthy. The two mushroom soups do the work of a sauce that would normally take a roux and a half hour at the stove. Golden mushroom is the darker, beefier one.

The cream cheese and sour cream go in at the very end, with the heat off. Sour cream that cooks for hours turns grainy. Stirred in last, it stays smooth. If you have ten extra minutes, brown the beef in a little butter first. It is optional, and the sauce is good without it, but the flavor goes deeper.

26. Crockpot Beef and Noodles

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 pounds chuck roast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon steak seasoning
Salt and pepper
1/2 onion, diced
4 cups water
4 heaping teaspoons Better than Bouillon beef base
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
24 ounce bag Reames frozen egg noodles

Cooking Instructions

Rub the roast with steak seasoning, salt and pepper.
Brown it in the oil in a large skillet a couple of minutes per side.
Move the roast to a 6 quart crock pot, add the onion, and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
Lift the roast out, shred it and trim away any fat, then return the meat to the crock.
Whisk the water, beef base, Worcestershire and garlic together, pour over the beef, and cook 30 minutes more.
Meanwhile boil the egg noodles per the bag, about 40 minutes.
Drain and stir the noodles into the beef.

Notes: Chuck roast makes its own liquid, so nothing goes in the crock with it but the onion. The broth comes at the end.

Melt-in-your-mouth beef and tender noodles in a savory hearty broth — the definition of stick-to-your-ribs comfort food that takes you straight back to grandma’s kitchen. Fork tender beef in a thick gravy over Reames noodles is the dinner my family calls comfort food. It is mostly hands off and the kitchen smells amazing all day. Chuck roast is the cut. It has enough fat to stay moist through eight hours, and it shreds apart with two forks when it is done.

A couple of minutes a side in a hot skillet before it goes in the crock is the one step that builds real flavor. Do not skip it to save five minutes. The noodles cook on their own so you control how much liquid ends up in the pot. Cooked in the crock they drink every drop of gravy.

27. Crack Chicken

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
1 packet buttermilk ranch dressing mix
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups shredded mild or sharp cheddar cheese
A handful of sliced green onions, optional
Hamburger buns

Cooking Instructions

Layer the chicken breasts in the bottom of a 4 or 6 quart crock pot.
Set the cream cheese on top of the chicken and sprinkle the ranch packet over everything.
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
Shred the chicken right in the crock pot with a hand mixer or two forks, mixing the melted cream cheese through the meat.
Sprinkle the cheddar over the top, then the bacon. Lid back on for 15 minutes until the cheese melts, then add the green onions and pile it onto buns.

Notes: The hand mixer is the shortcut. Hot chicken shreds in seconds right in the pot. Move it to a bowl first if you worry about scratching the crock.

The recipe that earns its name — creamy, cheesy, ranch-seasoned chicken that is completely addictive. Make it once and your family will put it on permanent rotation. A girlfriend told me these were an easy, delicious crockpot meal. Easy, delicious and crockpot in one sentence, and I was sold on the spot. The cream cheese sits on top of the chicken and looks like it is doing nothing for six hours.

It is melting. When you mix it through at the end, it becomes the sauce. Buy mild cheddar for the kids or sharp for the adults. Both melt the same under the lid, and the bacon on top is the part everyone fights over. Leftover crack chicken is the start of a baked potato topping, a quesadilla filling, and the crack chicken pasta two spots up this list.

28. Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

4 to 5 pound broiler chicken
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 to 4 teaspoons water

Cooking Instructions

Put the whole chicken breast side down in a 6 quart or bigger slow cooker.
Stir the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and water into a paste.
Rub the paste over the outside of the chicken and as much of the inside as you can reach.
Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours or high 4 to 4 1/2 hours, until a thermometer in the thickest part reads 180.
Move the chicken to a platter and rest a few minutes before carving.

Notes: For crisp skin, move the cooked chicken to a foil lined sheet pan and put it under the broiler a few minutes.

The easiest way to get juicy, fall-off-the-bone chicken with almost no effort. Season it however you like and let the slow cooker do all the work while you handle the rest of your day. Our son takes on chicken legs like it is his job, so a whole chicken is the easiest way to make him happy. This one cooks while we are gone all day. Breast side down is on purpose. The breast sits in the juices and stays moist, which is the hardest part of a whole chicken to get right.

The spice paste is what gives it the rotisserie flavor. Paprika for color, garlic and onion for the savory part, and it costs about nothing. Nothing goes in the crock but the chicken. No water, no broth. It makes its own liquid, and that liquid is the start of a soup the next day.

29. Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
18 ounce bottle barbecue sauce
1/4 cup zesty Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
8 sandwich buns

Cooking Instructions

Lay the chicken breasts in the slow cooker in a single layer.
Stir the barbecue sauce, Italian dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire together in a measuring cup. Spoon it over the chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3.
Shred the chicken with two forks right in the sauce, stir, and let it sit 15 minutes with the lid off before piling it onto buns.

Notes: The Italian dressing is the secret. Its vinegar and herbs cut through the sweet sauce, and the recipe tastes flat without it.

Juicy, saucy BBQ pulled chicken with almost zero prep. Perfect for sandwiches, wraps, or piled high on baked potatoes for a dinner that feels like a cookout any night of the week. Six ingredients, and five of them probably live in your kitchen already. This is the crock pot dinner I reach for in the weeks when every evening has a practice in it. People always ask about the Italian dressing. It sounds wrong in barbecue chicken until you taste it.

The tang is what keeps the sauce from being one note sweet. The rest after shredding is not optional. Chicken gives off liquid as it cooks, and fifteen minutes with the lid off lets the meat drink the sauce back up. Toast the buns and put coleslaw right on top of the chicken. The cold crunch against the warm sauce is the whole point of a pulled chicken sandwich.

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30. Crockpot Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
2 packets zesty Italian dressing mix, 1 ounce each
32 ounces chicken broth
2 packages cream cheese, 8 ounces each
16 ounces medium egg noodles, boiled 3 minutes only
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions

Put the chicken thighs in a 6 to 8 quart crock pot, sprinkle the dressing mix over them, and pour in the broth.
Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
Move the chicken to a plate and shred it with two forks.
Drop the cream cheese into the broth in the crock, put the lid on, and let it sit 10 minutes.
Whisk the cream cheese and broth into a thin sauce. It will look runny.
Add the par boiled noodles and the shredded chicken.
Leave the lid off and stir until the pasta is coated and the sauce thickens to the consistency you want, about 30 minutes.

Notes: Three minutes in boiling water is all the noodles get. They finish in the crock, and fully cooked noodles turn to mush.

Rich, creamy alfredo with tender chicken — all made in the slow cooker without any stove-watching. This is the pasta dinner everyone begs for on school nights. To say this is a hit in our house would be an understatement. The neighborhood kids go nuts when they hear it is alfredo night. The sauce looks hopelessly thin when you first whisk it. Trust it.

Once the noodles and chicken go in and sit uncovered, it turns into the creamiest alfredo you have had. Thighs instead of breasts because they do not dry out over eight hours. They shred into soft strands that get lost in the sauce in the best way. The lid stays off at the end on purpose. That is how the sauce reduces from soup to alfredo instead of staying soupy.

31. Slow Cooker Lazy Lasagna

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

20 ounce package frozen four cheese ravioli
24 ounce jar pasta sauce
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pound Italian sausage, cooked, crumbled and drained

Cooking Instructions

Spray a 6 quart crock pot. Pour in half the jar of sauce.
Spread half the frozen ravioli over the sauce, then half the sausage, then 2 cups of mozzarella.
Repeat the layers once more with the rest of the sauce, ravioli, sausage and cheese.
Cover and cook on high for 1 hour 45 minutes or low for 3 hours 30 minutes.
For a browned top, set the ceramic crock under the broiler for a few minutes and watch it closely.

Notes: Everything can be made ahead and layered in the morning. The ravioli goes in frozen, so there is nothing to thaw.

All the cheesy, saucy goodness of lasagna without the layering, the boiling, or the oven. This lazy crockpot version is weeknight-proof and just as satisfying as the real thing. Where are the busy mamas at? This is my lazy day lasagna for the weeks when dinner is not getting made unless it makes itself. Frozen ravioli does the job of noodles and cheese filling at the same time.

Four ingredients, two layers, and the slow cooker does the rest. There are stretches where there is no time to make dinner and no time to shop for it either. This recipe is four things from one freezer trip. A sack lunch for dinner never fills my kids up enough for the rest of their night. This does, and it took less effort than making the sack lunch.

32. Easy Crockpot Lasagna

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/2 pound ground beef
45 ounces spaghetti sauce
20 ounces cottage cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 cups mozzarella, divided
9 regular lasagna noodles, uncooked, broken in half

Cooking Instructions

Brown the sausage and beef together, drain, and stir the meat into the spaghetti sauce. In another bowl, stir the cottage cheese, egg, parmesan and Italian seasoning together.
Spray the crock pot. Layer a third of the meat sauce, 3 broken noodles, half the cottage cheese mixture, and 1 cup of mozzarella.
Repeat: a third of the sauce, 3 noodles, the rest of the cottage cheese mixture, the second cup of mozzarella.
Finish with the last 3 noodles and the last third of the sauce, covering every noodle.
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, up to 6 depending on the crock pot. Do not use high. Rest 15 minutes with the lid on before cutting.

Notes: High heat scorches the sauce against the sides before the noodles in the middle soften. Low, and check it at four hours.

Classic lasagna made entirely in the slow cooker — no oven required. Perfect for busy nights when you want something hearty and homemade without any of the fuss. Three kinds of cheese, two kinds of meat, and a crock pot that does every bit of the work. This is the dinner for the Saturday I look up at six with no plan. The noodles go in dry and broken in half.

Four hours in sauce softens them completely, with no boiling and no draining. Cottage cheese instead of ricotta is cheaper, lighter, and what I grew up with. The egg is what sets it so the layers hold when you cut. There is no cheese on the very top of this one on purpose. It keeps the edges from burning over four hours, and the mozzarella inside does the stretching.

33. Crockpot Shredded Beef Tacos

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 white onion, diced
3 pound beef chuck roast
1 cup beef broth
4 ounces tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon mild chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tortillas
Cotija cheese, cilantro and diced onion for serving

Cooking Instructions

Spread the diced onion in the bottom of a 6 quart crock pot and set the roast on top.
Whisk the broth, tomato paste, cumin, chili powder and salt in a measuring cup until the paste dissolves, and pour it over the roast.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8.
Shred the beef with two forks right in the tomato broth and let it soak for 10 minutes.
Pile the beef onto warm tortillas and top with cotija, cilantro and onion.

Notes: Spread the shredded beef on a foil lined sheet and broil it for 3 to 4 minutes for crispy edges like the taqueria.

Slow-cooked seasoned beef that shreds perfectly for the most incredible street tacos. Load them up with cilantro, onion, and salsa for a taco night the whole family will rave about. I make these in August, March, December and yes, July. Eight hours after the roast goes in, dinner is done and I am out the door to softball practice. The onions on the bottom are not filler.

They season the roast from underneath for the whole cook and nearly melt into the juices. The chili powder is mild on purpose so the kids eat it. Jalapenos and hot salsa live on the toppings tray for the adults. Set out the tortillas, cotija, cilantro, onion and lime and let everyone build their own. Half the fun of taco night is that nobody has to agree on toppings.

34. Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 to 6 chicken breasts
1 can Rotel, undrained
1/8 cup taco seasoning, about one packet
Tortillas, cheese, lettuce, sour cream and fixings

Cooking Instructions

Lay the chicken in the bottom of a 4 quart or larger crock pot.
Pour the can of Rotel over the chicken.
Sprinkle on the taco seasoning.
Cover and cook on high 3 to 4 hours or low 6 to 8 hours. Check the chicken with a meat thermometer.
Shred with two forks, or move the chicken to a bowl and use a hand mixer.
Serve in tortillas with all the fixings.

Notes: For crispy carnitas style chicken, spread the shredded meat on a foil lined sheet pan and broil in 5 minute rounds, watching it closely.

Juicy, perfectly seasoned chicken that falls apart right in the crockpot — ready to stuff into tortillas with all your favorite toppings. One of the easiest dinners you’ll ever make. Three ingredients and a crock pot is the easiest taco night there is. The chicken goes in before work and gets shredded at dinner. The Rotel goes in with its juice.

That liquid plus what the chicken gives off is all the moisture the pot needs, so do not add broth. The same chicken works in quesadillas, enchiladas and burritos. I make a big batch and the second half becomes a different dinner later in the week. Take the chicken out of the ceramic crock before using a hand mixer on it. The beaters chip the glaze, and I learned that the expensive way.

35. Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 pound chicken breast or thighs, cooked and shredded
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk dry mix
1 packet taco seasoning
2 cups chicken broth
Sour cream, cheese, cilantro and tortilla chips for the top

Cooking Instructions

Put the chicken, corn, beans, both cans of tomatoes, ranch mix, taco seasoning and broth in the Crock Pot and stir.
Cook on low 2 to 4 hours.
Ladle into bowls and top with sour cream, cheese and crushed chips.

Notes: The toppings make or break this soup. Have plenty of cheese, sour cream and tortilla strips out before anyone sits down.

Bold, smoky, loaded with chicken, beans, and corn — top it with crispy tortilla strips, sour cream, and shredded cheese for a bowl everyone will love. This is the easy button, dump and go all the way. Every ingredient comes from a can or a packet, and even our twelve year old asks for it. The ranch packet is the surprise. It does not taste like ranch in the finished soup, but it rounds out the taco seasoning in a way nothing else does.

Already cooked chicken keeps the cook time short. If yours is raw, put the breasts in whole, cook on low 6 hours, and shred them in the pot. It is an old recipe in our house, not a new one. The ones that stick around for years are the ones that are both easy and good, and this is both.

36. Crockpot Enchilada Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 pound boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
20 ounces enchilada sauce
14.5 ounce can low sodium chicken broth
1 can black beans, undrained
10 ounce package frozen corn, thawed

Cooking Instructions

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown it in the oil over medium heat, about 3 minutes per side.
Put the chicken and everything else in the crock pot, cover, and cook on high 2 hours.
Remove the chicken and shred it with two forks or a hand mixer.
Return the chicken to the pot, taste for salt and pepper, and serve.
Top with sour cream and tortilla strips or crushed chips.

Notes: The tomatoes and beans go in with their liquid. That liquid becomes the broth, and draining them leaves the soup thin on flavor.

All the flavors of chicken enchiladas in a rich, hearty soup that practically makes itself. Top with tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream for a bowl that feels like pure comfort. This is the Mexican soup that warms up a cold week at our house. The crock pot does the work and dinner is ready in two hours on high. Browning the chicken for three minutes a side before it goes in is the step that makes it taste slow cooked all day instead of boiled.

A hand mixer shreds the chicken in about thirty seconds. Two forks work too, it just takes longer and the pieces come out bigger. Sour cream and crushed tortilla chips on top are the finish. A squeeze of lime if you have one makes the whole bowl taste brighter.

37. Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cups chicken broth
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 cup celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups dry egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons green onions, optional

Cooking Instructions

Put the chicken, broth, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper in the crock pot.
Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or high 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken is tender.
Lift out the chicken, shred it with two forks, and return it to the pot.
Add the egg noodles and cook on high 20 to 30 minutes more, until tender.
Fish out the bay leaf and serve, topped with green onions.

Notes: The noodles go in for the last half hour only. Added at the start they swell up and fall apart by the time the chicken is done.

The ultimate sick-day soup made entirely in the crockpot — tender chicken, egg noodles, and vegetables in a golden comforting broth. Nothing says home like a bowl of this. Ever been sick and had someone bring you a bowl of chicken noodle soup? That feeling is what this crock pot is for, and you can make it for yourself. Boneless breasts go in raw and cook in the broth all day.

They shred with a fork by the end and season the soup as they go. The dried thyme and bay leaf are the whole seasoning. It tastes like the classic soup because it is the classic soup, just made in a crock. Four servings is a small pot, which is right for a sick day. Double it and it still fits a 6 quart crock for a family dinner.

38. Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds stew meat
1 cup diced onion, frozen or fresh
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 cups beef broth
3 russet potatoes, cut in chunks
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup pearl barley

Cooking Instructions

Melt the butter in a large pot and brown the stew meat on all sides.
Add the onion, garlic and Italian seasoning and cook until fragrant.
Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste and beef broth.
Add the potatoes, celery, mixed vegetables and barley and simmer 25 to 30 minutes.
Move everything to the slow cooker and cook on low 2 to 4 hours, until the beef is as tender as you like. Mine is ready at two.

Notes: Leftovers get very thick as the barley keeps drinking the broth. Thin with more beef broth when reheating.

Thick, hearty, and deeply satisfying — this slow cooker beef barley soup is the kind of meal that fills you up and warms you through on the coldest days. Vegetable beef and barley was my favorite canned soup as a kid, peas and all. This is the grown up pot, and it tastes like the one I remember was trying to. The meat browns in butter first. Dropped in raw, stew meat cooks fine but the broth tastes thin, and the brown bits are where the flavor is.

A half cup of barley does not look like enough. By the time it is done it has swelled to fill the pot, which is why the leftovers are a stew. The Ninja with a stovetop setting lets me brown and slow cook in one pot. If you use a regular crock, brown in a skillet and move everything over.

39. Crockpot Pork Butt Roast

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

6 to 8 pound pork butt
2 tablespoons rib rub
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 can Dr Pepper

Cooking Instructions

Stir the rib rub, salt and pepper together and rub it over every side of the pork butt.
Brown all sides of the roast in a hot pan, a few minutes per side.
Set it in the slow cooker and pour the Dr Pepper around the sides, not over the top, so the rub stays put.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, until it pulls apart with a fork.
Shred it in the juices and use it for sandwiches, tacos, nachos or burritos.

Notes: Buy the whole roast even for a small family. The leftovers are the point. One pork butt is three or four dinners.

Set it in the morning and come home to impossibly tender pulled pork — perfect for sandwiches, burrito bowls, or a simple hearty supper. The pork butt is not from the butt. It is the shoulder, and it is the cheapest cut of meat that feeds a crowd and makes them rave about it. A can of Dr Pepper is the whole braising liquid. The sugar in it helps the outside caramelize and the spice notes play well with a rib rub.

Once I snag a pork shoulder, I use it, and use it, and use it. Sandwiches the first night, then tacos, then nachos, then a burrito bowl before anyone notices. Pour the soda around the roast instead of over it. The rub you just worked into the meat is the flavor, and you do not want to wash it off.

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40. Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

5 to 7 pound pork shoulder roast, cut into 3 inch cubes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
12 ounces Dr Pepper
1 white onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 chipotle in adobo plus 1 teaspoon of the sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
Tortillas and fixings for serving

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat and sear the pork cubes 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Move the pork to a 6 quart crock pot.
Add the onion, Dr Pepper, chipotle and sauce, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper and liquid smoke.
Cover and cook on low 8 hours, until the pork shreds easily.
Line two sheet pans with foil and spread the shredded pork on them with a slotted spoon.
Broil in 5 minute rounds, ladling a little of the crock pot juice over and stirring between rounds, until the edges crisp.

Notes: Watch the broiler. The pork is better with a little crisp, but it goes from crisp to burnt in about a minute.

Crispy-edged, citrus-spiced pork just like your favorite Mexican restaurant — right at home. Load into tacos, nachos, or rice bowls for a meal that disappears in minutes. Thirty minutes of prep and the crock pot does the rest. By dinner there is a pan of crispy, juicy pork for tacos, burritos or nachos. Searing the cubes first is the step that makes it taste like the taco shop.

Two to three minutes a side in a hot skillet before anything else. Dr Pepper is the braising liquid. The sugar helps the edges caramelize under the broiler and nobody has ever guessed what it is. If you make it a day ahead, save some of the juice. Reheat the pork in the crock pot with it and it tastes like it just finished cooking.

41. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Burritos

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

5 to 7 pound pork shoulder, cut into 3 inch cubes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
12 ounces Dr Pepper
1 white onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 chipotle pepper in adobo plus 1 teaspoon of the sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
12 burrito size flour tortillas
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
28 ounce can enchilada sauce

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat and sear the pork cubes for 2 to 3 minutes per side, in batches.
Move the pork to a 6 quart crock pot with the onion, Dr Pepper, chipotle and sauce, garlic and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, until it shreds easily.
Spread the pork on two foil lined baking sheets with a slotted spoon. Broil in 5 minute rounds, ladling on a little juice and stirring between rounds, until the edges crisp.
Lay out a tortilla, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup pork and 1/3 cup cheese, fold the near edge over, fold in both sides, and roll it tight. Repeat.
Set the burritos side by side in a sprayed 9×13 dish. Pour the enchilada sauce over them and scatter the remaining cheese on top.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes until hot through and bubbling.

Notes: Making it a day ahead? Save some of the juice to warm the pork in the crock pot before you roll the burritos.

Slow-cooked pulled pork wrapped up in a giant burrito with all the fixings — make a big batch on Sunday and you’ve got easy lunches covered all week. This is my pork carnitas meat rolled into burritos and baked under enchilada sauce. If you have already done carnitas tacos and nachos, this is how you get one more dinner out of the same pork. A full shoulder makes a lot of meat, and that is on purpose. Half goes into these burritos and the rest goes into the freezer for a night I do not want to cook. The broiler step is the one people skip, and it is the one that makes the pork taste like a taqueria.

Five minutes at a time, a ladle of juice, a stir, and again. Rolling a tight burrito matters here because they bake in sauce. Fold the bottom up over the meat, tuck both sides in, then roll. A loose one unrolls in the pan. Pork turned out to be my favorite meat for Mexican dinners, and this pan is the reason. It feeds a crowd, it reheats well, and the kids ask for it by name.

42. Crockpot Goulash

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
1/4 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 green pepper, diced
6 ounces tomato paste
1/2 cup water
24 ounces pasta sauce
28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups uncooked pasta shells

Cooking Instructions

Brown the beef with the onion and garlic until no pink is left and drain the fat.
Put the beef mixture in a 6 quart crock pot with everything except the shells. Stir until the tomato paste dissolves.
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 to 5.
Boil the shells al dente, drain well, and stir them into the sauce.
Cover 10 more minutes to heat through, and serve with shredded cheddar on top.

Notes: Cook the sauce on a weekend and keep it in the fridge. Boil the shells on a weeknight and dinner is ten minutes away. The leftovers are better than day one.

Old-fashioned goulash with ground beef, tender pasta, and rich tomato sauce — budget-friendly, filling, and the kind of meal that takes you right back to grandma’s kitchen. Ground beef crock pot recipes are rarer than chicken ones, and this is the one my family raves about. Comfort food at its finest, with the slow cooker doing the thinking. I make the sauce separate from the noodles on purpose. Half goes over shells for goulash and the rest goes over baked potatoes or hot dogs later in the week.

A handful of cheddar stirred into the bowl is not traditional and it is how most of my family eats it. Set the bag on the table. This is a double batch kind of recipe. One batch fits a 4 quart crock pot, and two fills the 6 quart and sets up the freezer for a month.

43. Crockpot Hashbrown Potatoes with Ham

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

32 ounces frozen cubed hash brown potatoes
1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sour cream

Cooking Instructions

Stir the soup and melted butter together in a bowl.
Put the hash browns, ham, onion and 1 cup of the cheddar in the crock pot and pour the soup mixture over them.
Cover and cook on low 3 to 4 hours, until the potatoes are tender.
Stir in the sour cream.
Sprinkle the remaining cheddar over the top, cover, and cook 15 minutes more until the cheese melts.

Notes: For a golden top, move everything to a casserole dish after the sour cream goes in and broil it a few minutes.

Cheesy, creamy hashbrown potatoes with ham — the slow cooker turns this simple combo into the most comforting one-pot meal. Great for dinner or as a hearty brunch centerpiece. It is always casserole season at my house because the leftovers are amazing and easier for me. This one is cheesy, creamy and feeds six from a single crock. Cubed ham instead of shredded holds up over four hours. It is also how I use the last of a holiday ham without anyone noticing it is leftovers.

The sour cream goes in at the end, not the start. Cooked for four hours it breaks and goes grainy. Stirred in at the finish it stays creamy. If you have been here a while you know I like minimal ingredients. This is seven, and most of them are already in the fridge.

44. Crockpot Cheesy Potatoes

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

30 ounce bag frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
8 ounces sour cream
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar, divided
1 cup milk
1/2 cup diced yellow onion

Cooking Instructions

Stir the hashbrowns, soup, sour cream, melted butter, 1 cup of the cheddar, milk and onion together in the crock pot or a big bowl.
Transfer to a 6 quart crock pot if you mixed in a bowl and put the lid on.
Cook on high 2 hours or low 4 to 6 hours.
Sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of cheese over the top and let it melt before serving.

Notes: Every crock pot has a hot side. Peek at the edges in the last hour and stir if they start to brown too far.

Creamy, cheesy, melt-in-your-mouth potatoes that cook all day in the crockpot — the perfect side dish for any meal or the potluck everyone raves about. These are the side dish for ham, for steaks, and for anything that comes off the grill. The oven stays off and the crock pot keeps them hot until everyone sits down. The bag of hashbrowns needs two to six hours in the fridge before it goes anywhere near the crock. Frozen potatoes water down the whole pot.

Melt the butter before it goes in. Cold tabs of butter end up as greasy pockets, and melted butter flavors every bite. Half a cup of cheese is held back for the top. It goes on at the end so you get a layer of melted cheddar instead of cheese lost in the mix.

45. Grape Jelly Meatballs

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

32 ounce package fully cooked frozen meatballs, homestyle
32 ounce jar grape jelly, smooth
20 ounces barbecue sauce, or two 12 ounce bottles chili sauce

Cooking Instructions

Add the frozen meatballs straight to the crock pot. No thawing.
Whisk the grape jelly and barbecue sauce together in a bowl until completely smooth. It looks lumpy at first. Keep whisking.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs and stir gently to coat.
Cook on low 3 to 4 hours or high for 2, stirring once or twice, until the sauce is a glossy, sticky glaze.
Switch to warm and serve with toothpicks. They hold for 2 to 3 hours on warm.

Notes: Whisk the sauce before it touches a meatball. Jelly straight from the jar stays in lumps and never coats evenly.

The recipe that sounds weird but tastes incredible — sweet, tangy, completely addictive crockpot meatballs that disappear off the table in minutes. Perfect for parties or an easy weeknight dinner. I brought these to a Super Bowl party years ago and watched a grown man eat seventeen of them standing next to the crock pot. That is when I knew. It sounds wrong the first time you hear it. Sweet grape jelly, tangy barbecue sauce, tender meatballs.

It becomes an obsession the first time you taste it. Low and slow is where the glaze comes from. The slow cooker gives the sauce time to reduce into something sticky instead of staying thin. Homestyle meatballs, not Italian seasoned. The herbs in the Italian ones fight the sweet sauce, and plain ones let it shine.

46. Easy Crockpot Potato Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

30 ounces frozen diced hashbrowns
32 ounces chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
5 ounces bacon bits, divided
1 block cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Green onions and sour cream for the top

Cooking Instructions

Pour the frozen hashbrowns into the crock pot. No thawing needed.
Add the broth, cream of chicken soup and half the bacon bits and stir gently.
Cook on low 7 to 8 hours or high 4 to 5 hours, until the potatoes are completely tender.
An hour before serving, cut the cream cheese into cubes and add them.
Stir every 15 to 20 minutes over that hour until the cream cheese is fully melted in.
Season well with salt and pepper and thin with a splash of milk if it is thicker than you like.
Top each bowl with cheddar, the rest of the bacon, green onions and sour cream.

Notes: Real crumbled bacon instead of bacon bits is worth the extra five minutes. Cut the cream cheese small so it melts without lumps.

Thick, loaded potato soup that practically makes itself in the crockpot. Top with bacon, cheddar, and sour cream for a bowl that is basically a loaded baked potato in soup form. My picky son finishes every drop of this and asks for more. That tells you everything you need to know about it. Frozen hashbrowns go in frozen. No peeling, no dicing, no thawing.

It is the reason this soup takes ten minutes to start in the morning. The cream cheese goes in for the last hour only. Added at the start it breaks down and the soup loses the creamy body that makes it. A loaded baked potato in a bowl is the idea. Cheese, bacon, sour cream and green onion on top turn it from good to the thing people ask for.

47. Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
24 ounces chicken broth
4 ounces green salsa
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups Monterey jack cheese
28 ounce can mild enchilada sauce
Sour cream, cilantro and tortilla strips for the top

Cooking Instructions

Combine the chicken, enchilada sauce, broth and salsa in a big pot.
Bring to a simmer, then drop the heat to low.
Add the cream cheese and Monterey jack and stir until melted into the sauce.
In a small bowl, stir a ladle or two of the hot soup into the heavy cream to temper it.
Pour the cream back into the pot and stir.
Serve topped with sour cream, cilantro and tortilla strips.

Notes: Tempering the cream with a ladle of hot soup first keeps it from curdling when it hits the pot.

Creamy, cheesy, and loaded with bold enchilada flavor — one pot, maximum flavor, zero complaints from the family. This is the soup for the first cold week of fall. Enchilada sauce, cream cheese and a pile of shredded chicken, and it tastes like the inside of an enchilada. The heat drops to low before the cheese goes in. Cheese added to a boiling pot goes stringy and then grainy, and low heat is the fix.

Mild enchilada sauce is what I buy so the kids eat it. A dollop of sour cream on top takes the edge off for anyone who finds it spicy anyway. Two and a half pounds of chicken makes this a dinner soup, not a starter. Tortilla strips on top are the crunch it needs.

48. Crockpot Mac and Cheese with Corn

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 cans whole kernel corn, 15 ounces each, drained
2 cans creamed corn, 15 ounces each
16 ounces Velveeta, cubed
1 cup butter, cubed
2 cups dry macaroni
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions

Put both corns, the Velveeta, butter and dry macaroni in the crock pot and stir.
Cook on high 45 minutes and stir, then another 30 minutes on high and stir again.
Turn to low and cook about 3 hours.
Just before serving, stir in the mozzarella and cheddar.

Notes: Oven version: everything in a 9×13 covered with foil at 425 for 15 minutes, stir, then uncovered at 350 until the macaroni is tender.

Creamy cheesy mac with sweet corn — a crockpot side that steals the show at every dinner table. Kids go crazy for it and adults can’t stop sneaking spoonfuls. The first time I had corn casserole with macaroni in it was at my step sister’s house, and it was the dish I looked for at every kid birthday party after. The macaroni goes in dry. The creamed corn and melting Velveeta give it all the liquid it needs, and it cooks right in the crock.

The two stirs in the first hour and a quarter matter. The Velveeta sinks and the macaroni floats, and stirring is what makes them into one dish. It is a side for ham or burgers, and it has been the main dish on more than one night here. Twelve servings sounds like a lot until you watch it go.

49. Crockpot Baked Potato Bar

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

4 to 6 russet baking potatoes
Olive oil and sea salt
2 cups sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can Hormel chili, or homemade chili

Cooking Instructions

Scrub the potatoes well.
Poke each one a few times with a fork, rub with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
Set them in the slow cooker and cook on high 3 to 4 hours or low 6 to 8 hours.
Cut each potato halfway through, press the ends to open it, and load it up with chili, cheese, sour cream and bacon.

Notes: Six potatoes fit a 6 quart slow cooker. No water, no foil, just oiled and salted potatoes in the crock.

Let the crockpot do the work and set up a baked potato bar the whole family goes crazy for — fluffy potatoes with all the toppings, the easiest crowd-pleasing dinner around. Baked potatoes in the oven heat the whole house in summer. The crock pot does the same job on the counter and nobody has to turn the oven on. This is dinner, not a side. Chili, bacon and cheese on a potato is as filling as anything, and everyone builds their own so nobody complains.

The oil and salt on the skin are what make it taste oven baked. Skip them and you get a steamed potato, which is fine but not the same. Put out whatever toppings you have. Leftover taco meat, broccoli, green onions, ranch. A potato bar is how I clear out the fridge on a Friday.

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50. Instant Pot Beef Stew

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

6 small red potatoes
1/4 onion, sliced
5 carrots, or about 20 baby carrots
1 cup beef broth
1 pound beef stew meat
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon leaf thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons cornstarch plus a teaspoon of water

Cooking Instructions

Roughly chop the potatoes, carrots and onion.
Mix the flour, salt, pepper and thyme in a bowl and toss the stew meat in it until coated.
Put the beef in the inner pot, then the vegetables, then pour in the broth and add the garlic.
Seal the vent and select the stew or meat setting. It takes about an hour to come to pressure and cook, then about 25 minutes to release naturally.
Open the lid and stir. Mix the cornstarch and water and stir it in to thicken the stew.

Notes: The cornstarch slurry at the end is what turns a thin broth into gravy. Serve with a slice of French bread for the bottom of the bowl.

All the deep, slow-simmered flavor of classic beef stew in a fraction of the time. Tender beef, hearty vegetables, and a rich broth — the ultimate cold-weather comfort meal. This is the easiest beef stew I have found, and the Instant Pot is the reason. An hour and a half from start to finish instead of all afternoon. Tossing the meat in seasoned flour before it goes in does two jobs.

It seasons the beef and it thickens the stew as it cooks. The natural release is part of the cook time. Twenty five minutes sounds long, but a quick release on beef makes it tough, so wait it out. Four servings makes it a small batch, which is right for a weeknight. Double everything but the broth if you want leftovers.

51. Instant Pot Chicken Thighs

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 to 3 pounds chicken thighs
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
1 cup chicken broth

Cooking Instructions

Season the thighs with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Set the trivet in the Instant Pot and pour in the broth.
Lay the thighs on the trivet.
Lock the lid, seal it, and cook on manual high pressure 13 minutes.
Quick release the pressure.
Shred with two forks or a hand mixer.
Use within three days, or freeze in airtight bags.

Notes: A hand mixer on low shreds the whole batch in about thirty seconds, and the shreds come out more even than forks.

Juicy, perfectly cooked chicken thighs in under 30 minutes — the Instant Pot makes it almost impossible to dry them out. Season any way you like and serve with rice, veggies, or whatever you have on hand. Shredded chicken thighs are in soups, salads and tacos at our house every week. This is the method that never fails me. Thighs have more flavor than breasts and they do not dry out under pressure.

For soups and casseroles they are the better cut every time. Keep them whole with a lemon pepper or Montreal chicken seasoning and they are dinner on their own. Shred them and they are the start of four more. Three days in the fridge or two months in the freezer. I bag it in two cup portions, which is what most of my casseroles call for.

52. Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

Up to 18 eggs
1 cup cold water
A bowl of ice water

Cooking Instructions

Pour the water into the Instant Pot and set the eggs on the rack that came with it.
Lock the lid and set 5 minutes at high pressure. On some models that is manual, then 5 minutes.
It takes about 5 minutes to come to pressure and 5 to cook.
When it beeps, set a timer for 5 minutes of natural release, then quick release the rest.
Move the eggs straight into the ice water to stop the cooking.
Peel and use.

Notes: Five, five, five. Five minutes to pressure, five to cook, five to release. It is the easiest timing to remember.

Once you make hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot, you’ll never go back. They peel like a dream every single time — perfect for meal prep, deviled eggs, or a quick protein-packed snack. My Instant Pot has not saved my life the way some people claim, but it has saved me a lot of mess, and hard boiled eggs are the best example. No pot of water boiling over, no watching the clock. The pressure cooker does the same job and the eggs peel cleaner than any stovetop batch I have made.

The ice bath is the step that makes them peel. Straight from the pot to cold water, and the shells slip off in two pieces. Eighteen eggs at once is why I do this at Easter and the week after. Egg salad, deviled eggs, and lunch box eggs all from one run of the pot.

53. Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

4 pounds rose or red potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pint whipping cream, more as needed
8 tablespoons butter

Cooking Instructions

Scrub the potatoes, peel if you like, and dice into 1 inch cubes.
Put them in the Instant Pot and add water to the 2/3 fill line.
Lock the lid and cook on high pressure 8 minutes.
Quick release and drain the potatoes in a colander.
Return them to the inner pot and add the butter, cream, salt and pepper.
Mash with a potato masher until as smooth as you like.

Notes: My family likes them peeled, and red potatoes work as well as rose. Peel before they go in the pot, not after.

Creamy, buttery mashed potatoes with no draining, no boiling over, and no babysitting the stove. A total game changer for any night of the week. Mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort food in this house, and the Instant Pot has them done in about fifteen minutes from the time the lid locks. No more waiting on a stockpot to boil and spitting water all over the stovetop. The potatoes steam under pressure and come out soft all the way through.

Eight minutes is right for one inch cubes. Bigger chunks need more time and smaller ones turn to mush, so keep the knife work consistent. Butter and cream go in while the potatoes are still hot in the pot. They melt in on contact and the mash comes together with no extra heating.

54. Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Tacos

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 to 3 pounds chicken breasts
1 can Rotel tomatoes per pound of chicken
1 cup warm chicken broth
Tortillas, lettuce, cheese and salsa for serving

Cooking Instructions

Put the chicken, Rotel and broth in a 6 quart Instant Pot.
Lock the lid and cook on high pressure 12 minutes.
Quick release, or let it release naturally for more tender chicken.
Lift the inner pot out and shred the chicken right in it with a hand mixer.
Serve in tortillas with lettuce, cheese, salsa and all the fixings.

Notes: One can of Rotel per pound of chicken is the ratio. Scale up to three pounds and three cans without changing the time.

Taco Tuesday just got a whole lot easier — seasoned shredded chicken ready in about 20 minutes flat. Load into tortillas with all your favorite toppings for a dinner everyone will request again. Shredded chicken tacos have become a weekly thing here. Tacos one night, quesadillas or taco salad the next, and the Instant Pot does all of it. Three ingredients. Chicken, Rotel and broth.

The tomatoes and chiles in the Rotel season the chicken, and there is nothing else to measure. It is not too spicy and not too sweet, which is why the kids eat it. Mild Rotel if your table is sensitive, original if it is not. Shredding with a hand mixer right in the inner pot means the chicken soaks up every bit of the juice. Two forks leave half of it in the pot.

55. Instant Pot Pot Roast

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 pound beef chuck roast
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cups beef broth
1 packet onion soup mix
1 yellow onion, cut into thick slices
1 pound red potatoes
2 cups baby carrots

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute with half the oil and let it get shimmery.
Salt the roast and sear it on both sides.
Pour the beef broth over the roast.
Pile in the onion, potatoes, carrots, the rest of the oil and the onion soup mix.
Lock the lid, set the valve to sealed, and cook on manual 60 minutes.
Natural release 10 minutes, then quick release the rest.

Notes: The onion soup packet is the whole seasoning. No extra herbs, no extra salt beyond what goes on the roast before searing.

Fork-tender pot roast that used to take all day now comes together in about an hour. Rich, savory, and fall-apart delicious — this is Sunday dinner made weeknight-easy. This is my go to when I need real comfort food and forgot about dinner until it was too late for the crock pot. Eight ingredients and an hour. Every Instant Pot recipe I make starts with me saying oh my gosh, and this roast is why.

It comes out like it cooked all day. The sear is worth the extra five minutes. A roast dropped in raw cooks fine, but the browned one tastes like a Sunday roast. The potatoes and carrots cook right on top of the roast in the same hour. One pot, no side dishes, and the broth at the bottom is gravy.

56. Instant Pot Chicken Wings

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

4 to 4 1/2 pounds chicken wings
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup water
1 cup Frank’s original hot sauce
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Sliced celery and ranch for serving

Cooking Instructions

Sprinkle the wings with 1 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and pepper. Set the trivet in the pot, add the water, and pile the wings on top.
Lock the lid, set the vent to sealing, and cook on manual 8 minutes.
While they cook, whisk the hot sauce, melted butter and the last 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder together.
Natural release 10 minutes, then quick release. Move the wings to a big bowl.
Heat the broiler on high with the rack at the top. Line a sheet pan with foil, set a wire rack on it, and spray the rack well.
Spread the wings on the rack and brush with half the sauce.
Broil 3 to 4 minutes until crisp with some color, flip, and repeat.
Brush with more sauce and serve with celery and ranch.

Notes: Spray the wire rack hard. Wings stick to a dry rack and the skin stays behind when you flip them.

Crispy on the outside, fall-off-the-bone tender on the inside — finish under the broiler for that perfect golden crunch. Better than any sports bar and ready in under an hour. We are at the stage of life where the quicker the dinner, the better, and these wings are a restaurant dinner in half an hour. Our son calls them finger licking good. The Instant Pot cooks the wings through in eight minutes.

The broiler is what makes them wings instead of boiled chicken, so do not skip it. The sauce is just hot sauce, butter and garlic powder. Whisk it while the pot comes to pressure and it is ready when the wings are. Two coats of sauce, one before the broiler and one after. The first one bakes on and the second one is the wet, sticky layer you want.

57. Instant Pot Crack Chicken

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 pound bacon, diced raw
4 chicken breasts, or 2 large cut in half
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 packet Hidden Valley buttermilk ranch dressing mix
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise, more or less to taste
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions, about 3 stems
Buns for serving

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute on high. When it reads hot, cook the diced bacon until done, then move it to a plate and drain the grease from the pot.
Put the chicken and cream cheese in the pot, pour the broth over, and sprinkle on the ranch mix.
Lock the lid and cook on manual high pressure 15 minutes.
Natural release 5 minutes, then quick release.
Move the chicken to a bowl and shred it with a hand mixer.
Set the pot back to saute and whisk the cream cheese into the broth until smooth.
Return the chicken, add the mayo, and stir until combined.
Top with the cheddar, bacon and green onions and serve on buns.

Notes: The name comes from the fact that nobody can stop eating it. Serve it on the best buns you can find, or over rice for a dinner plate.

Creamy ranch chicken with bacon and cream cheese that the whole family goes absolutely crazy for. Serve on buns, over rice, or stuff in a wrap — it disappears every single time. There are days when dinner has not crossed my mind by noon and grilled cheese again is not an option. This is what I make on those days. Cooking the bacon in the pot first is one less pan, and the little bit of flavor left behind after draining seasons the chicken.

A hand mixer shreds four chicken breasts in under a minute. Two forks work, but you will be standing there a while. It is a sandwich filling, a dip with chips, a topping for baked potatoes, and a pasta sauce. One pot, four different dinners.

58. Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 white onion, sliced into half rounds
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
12 tortillas
1 to 2 limes
Fajita toppings

Cooking Instructions

Put the chicken in the Instant Pot, add the peppers and onion, and toss.
Mix the cayenne, cumin, paprika, chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper. Sprinkle half over the chicken and toss again.
Lock the lid and cook on high pressure 15 minutes.
Quick release the pressure, or cook 10 minutes and let it release naturally for more tender chicken.
Drain off most of the juice, then sprinkle on the other half of the spices.
Pile onto tortillas with cheese, onion and a squeeze of lime.

Notes: The pot makes a lot of juice. Pour most of it off before the second round of spices or the fajitas are soupy.

Sizzling chicken fajitas loaded with peppers and onions — fast, easy, and minimal cleanup. Serve in warm tortillas with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa for a fiesta-worthy weeknight dinner. Check the ingredient list. You probably have everything but the peppers in the pantry right now, which is how this became a weeknight regular. The spices go on in two halves.

The first half seasons the chicken under pressure and the second half goes on after draining so it actually sticks. Twelve tortillas is two per person for six. We go through more than that, so warm a few extra. A squeeze of lime over the top is the step that makes it taste like a restaurant fajita instead of seasoned chicken in a tortilla.

59. Instant Pot Chicken Marsala

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded 1/4 inch thick
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
3/4 cup sweet Marsala wine
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature, in chunks
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Cooking Instructions

Mix the coconut flour, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Put the chicken in a gallon bag, pour in the flour mix, and turn until coated.
Set the Instant Pot to saute on high with a tablespoon of oil. Brown the chicken in batches about 3 minutes per side, adding oil as needed, and set it aside.
Add the butter, mushrooms and onion and cook, stirring, 5 to 6 minutes until the mushrooms brown.
Pour in the Marsala and broth and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom.
Turn the pot off, return the chicken, lock the lid, and cook on manual high 10 minutes. Natural release 10 minutes, then quick release.
Move the chicken to a platter and rest 5 minutes.
Stir 2 tablespoons of the hot liquid into the cream to temper it, then add the cream, cream cheese and parsley to the pot and stir into a sauce. Season and spoon over the chicken.

Notes: Scrape the bottom of the pot clean when the wine goes in. Any stuck bits left behind trigger the burn warning.

Restaurant-quality chicken marsala with that rich, silky mushroom wine sauce in about 30 minutes. Impressive enough for company, easy enough for any weeknight. Instant Pot dinners are not usually pretty. This one is. Golden chicken, a creamy mushroom sauce, and it looks like something from a menu. Pounding the chicken to a quarter inch is the prep step that matters.

Thin pieces brown fast and cook evenly in the ten minutes under pressure. Browning in batches keeps the pot hot. Crowd it and the chicken steams gray instead of getting the golden crust that flavors the sauce. The cream cheese at the end is the cheat that makes the sauce silky without a roux. It melts into the Marsala and broth in about a minute.

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60. Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 large poblano peppers, seeded and diced
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Salt and black pepper
2 pounds lean ground beef
3 1/2 cups beef or chicken broth
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute on high. Add the oil, onion, poblanos, garlic powder and Italian seasoning with salt and pepper and cook 4 to 5 minutes until softened. Move them to a bowl.
Brown the beef in the pot 3 to 4 minutes, then turn it off and drain the fat.
Add the vegetables back in with the broth, tomatoes and rice. Stir and season.
Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. Natural release 10 minutes, then quick release the rest.
Ladle into bowls and top with parsley.

Notes: Brown rice is what holds up to the pressure cook. White rice turns to mush in twenty minutes.

Everything you love about stuffed peppers — beef, rice, and tomato goodness — turned into a cozy one-pot soup. Faster, easier, and just as satisfying as the original. Stuffed peppers were one of my favorite meals my mom made, and this is the same dinner in a bowl, in under thirty minutes of cook time. The poblanos are the pepper here, not bell peppers.

They are mild, a little smoky, and they soften into the soup instead of staying crunchy. Two pounds of beef makes this a hearty soup, closer to a stew. A crusty piece of french bread on the side and it is a full dinner. In the fall and winter we live on Instant Pot soups, because they taste like they simmered all day and they did not.

61. Instant Pot Chicken Fajita Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
14 ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes, with liquid
3 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Avocado, red onion, Mexican cheese and cilantro for the top

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute on high and heat the oil. Cook the onion and all three peppers with salt and pepper, stirring, about 4 to 5 minutes until crisp tender with some color.
Turn the pot off and move the vegetables to a bowl.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and put it in the pot with the tomatoes, broth, cumin, chili powder, oregano and garlic powder. Stir.
Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on manual high for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally 10 minutes, then quick release the rest.
Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks and add the vegetables, black beans and lime juice.
Taste and adjust the seasoning, then leave it on warm a few minutes so the beans heat through.
Serve topped with avocado, red onion, cheese and cilantro.

Notes: The peppers come out before the chicken cooks so they stay crisp. Pressure cooked with the chicken they go limp.

All the bold, zesty flavors of chicken fajitas in a warm and filling soup. Comes together fast and tastes even better the next day as leftovers. All of the flavor of a fajita in a bowl, in about 45 minutes. The Instant Pot cooks the chicken and the peppers go in at the end still bright. The saute step is where the smoky part of a fajita comes from.

Let the peppers and onion get a little color before they come out. Three tablespoons of lime juice at the end is not a garnish. It wakes up the whole pot, and without it the soup tastes heavy. Avocado, cheese and cilantro on top is how we serve it. A handful of crushed tortilla chips and it is a full dinner.

62. Instant Pot Pierogi Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

10 to 12 pierogis, fresh or thawed
2 tablespoons butter
2 green onions, sliced
16 ounce carton chicken or vegetable broth
Sour cream and shredded cheese for serving

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute and melt the butter.
Add the pierogis and sear until lightly golden. Skip the searing for a softer, wonton style pierogi, but keep the butter.
Add the green onions and broth and put the lid on.
Cancel saute and select the soup setting. Cook 5 minutes.
Natural release at least 2 minutes, then quick release.
Ladle into bowls and top with sour cream and cheese.

Notes: Hot broth gets the pot to pressure faster. Pour it from a saucepan or microwave it first and this is a ten minute soup.

All the cozy, cheesy, potato-filled goodness of pierogies in a warm hearty soup. The kind of bowl that warms you from the inside out on the coldest nights. This is one of the simplest Instant Pot recipes I own, and it is on the list for nights when the pantry has pierogis and not much else. Searing the pierogis in butter first gives them a golden skin that holds up in the broth. Skip it and they go soft like dumplings, which some of us like better.

Two servings makes it a lunch or a small dinner. Double everything and it still fits in a 6 quart pot with room to spare. Sour cream on top is how pierogis are meant to be eaten. A handful of cheese and a few more green onions and it is done.

63. Instant Pot Cheeseburger Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium white onion, finely diced
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Salt and black pepper
1 pound red potatoes, chopped small
3 cups beef broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute with the olive oil. Add the onion, beef, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and cook 6 to 7 minutes until the beef is browned.
Cancel saute. Add the potatoes and broth, lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and pressure cook on high for 3 minutes.
Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release the rest and open the lid away from you.
Stir a few spoonfuls of the hot broth into the cream to temper it, then stir the cream into the pot.
Add the cheddar a cup at a time, stirring until each addition melts. Serve with parsley and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

Notes: Temper the cream and add the cheese slowly. Dumping either into the hot pot is how a cheese soup turns grainy.

All the flavors of a juicy cheeseburger in a thick, creamy, ultra-satisfying soup. Kids go wild for this one and adults always go back for seconds. This is a cheeseburger in a bowl. All the flavor of your favorite burger, in about an hour from start to finish with only fifteen minutes of it hands on. The three minute pressure cook sounds like a typo and is not.

Small potato pieces are tender by the time the pot comes up to pressure and back down. Four cups of sharp cheddar is what makes it a chowder. Shred it from a block, because bagged cheese is coated and melts grainy in soup. A piece of good dipping bread on the side and a sprinkle of smoked paprika on top, and the kids who claim they do not like soup finish the bowl.

64. Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 rack baby back ribs, about 4 pounds
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke, optional
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons dry rub (below)
Barbecue sauce, optional
Dry rub: 2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Cooking Instructions

Rinse the ribs, pat them dry and peel the thin membrane off the back of the rack.
Cut the slab into 4 to 6 pieces so they fit standing on their sides, then massage the dry rub into the meat.
Set the trivet in the Instant Pot and add the water and liquid smoke.
Stand the ribs upright on the trivet, side by side rather than stacked.
Lock the lid, select manual pressure and set 25 minutes.
Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then carefully open the valve for the rest.
Brush with barbecue sauce, or olive oil with salt and pepper for dry ribs, and broil or grill until the edges char a little.

Notes: Standing the ribs on their sides is the whole trick. Stacked flat, the bottom pieces steam and the top ones stay tough.

Fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs in under an hour — finish under the broiler with your favorite BBQ sauce for that sticky, caramelized glaze everyone fights over. These are the ribs that made me stop dragging my feet on the Instant Pot. Four pounds of pork, done in about an hour, and every person at the table went back for more. The membrane on the back of the rack peels off with a paper towel for grip. Leave it on and the rub never gets into that side of the meat.

The dry rub is the same one I use on pork loin, and I keep a jar of it mixed. Six tablespoons sounds like a lot until you see how much the ribs soak up. The last two minutes under the broiler are not optional in my book. Pressure cooking makes them tender, but the broiler is what makes them look and taste like ribs.

65. Pressure Cooker Chuck Roast

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 to 4 pound chuck roast, trimmed
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 small red onion, diced
3 large carrots, diced
1 pound fingerling potatoes, halved
1 pound green beans, trimmed
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, optional

Cooking Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to saute on high with the oil. Season the roast with salt and pepper and sear 3 to 4 minutes per side. Set it aside.
Pour in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot clean.
Stir in the tomato paste, Italian seasoning, cocoa powder and garlic powder, then cancel saute.
Return the roast, lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on manual high 60 minutes.
Natural release 10 minutes, then quick release.
Add the onion, carrots, potatoes and green beans on top of the roast.
Lock the lid again and cook on high 3 minutes. Natural release 5 minutes, then quick release.
Move the roast and vegetables to a platter and top with parsley.

Notes: Prep the vegetables while the roast cooks. They do not go in until the first hour is done, so there is no rush.

Melt-in-your-mouth chuck roast with tender vegetables and rich gravy — the Instant Pot turns this weekend staple into an any-night dinner the whole family will clean their plates for. Meat is on the table at most meals in our family, and this roast fits right in. Fifteen minutes of prep and the pressure cooker does the rest. The tablespoon of cocoa powder is the odd ingredient. It does not taste like chocolate.

It makes the broth darker and richer, the way a long braise would. The vegetables cook separately for three minutes at the end. Put them in with the roast for the full hour and they turn to mush. The leftovers are as good as the first night. Shred what is left into the broth and it is beef and vegetable soup for lunch.

66. Instant Pot Pad Thai

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons soy sauce or fish sauce
1/2 cup jarred pad thai sauce
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce, optional
1 tablespoon peanut butter
32 ounces hot water
14 ounces rice noodles
Sliced carrots and red and yellow pepper, optional
4 green onions, sliced
1/3 cup chopped peanuts
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Cooking Instructions

Wash and cut the vegetables and gather everything within reach.
Set the Instant Pot to saute, add the oil, garlic and ginger, and cook a couple of minutes. Turn saute off.
Add the soy sauce, pad thai sauce, chili garlic sauce and peanut butter and stir, then add the vegetables.
Rinse the rice noodles in a strainer and add them to the pot. Pour the hot water over.
Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on high pressure 2 minutes.
Quick release, open the pot, and stir. Wait a few minutes for the noodles to absorb the rest of the liquid.
Serve topped with cilantro, peanuts and green onions.

Notes: Rinse the noodles before they go in. The starch on dry rice noodles is what makes a pressure cooked batch clump.

Skip the takeout — chewy noodles, tender chicken, and that sweet tangy nutty sauce you crave, faster than delivery and tastes even better. Pad thai is the takeout I crave most, and this is the version that got me to stop ordering it. Two minutes under pressure and the noodles are done. I have tried pad thai on the stovetop and the noodles always came out either crunchy or gummy.

The Instant Pot cooks them evenly every time. The jarred sauce is the base and the peanut butter and chili garlic sauce are what make it taste like the restaurant version. Peanuts, cilantro and green onion on top are not optional in my house. The crunch and the fresh herbs are half of what makes it pad thai.

67. Instant Pot Copycat Panera Mac and Cheese

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16 ounces uncooked pasta shells
4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups white cheddar, freshly shredded from an 8 ounce block
4 ounces American cheese, 4 to 6 slices
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Dash of hot sauce, optional

Cooking Instructions

Put the shells, water, salt and butter in the Instant Pot and stir.
Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on high pressure 4 minutes.
Quick release the pressure and remove the lid once the float valve drops.
Stir in the white cheddar, American cheese and milk.
Add the Dijon and hot sauce and stir until the cheese melts and the sauce is smooth.

Notes: Shred the cheddar from a block. Bagged shredded cheese is coated with starch and the sauce never gets smooth.

That creamy, velvety Panera mac and cheese made at home for a fraction of the price. Kids go absolutely wild for this one — and honestly, so do the adults. I am a big fan of any copycat recipe that saves me money, and this one makes four times what a Panera bowl costs for the same price. Four minutes under pressure is all the shells need. The water is measured so there is nothing to drain, and the starch left behind thickens the sauce.

American cheese is the secret to the creamy texture. The white cheddar brings the flavor and the American keeps the sauce from breaking. The teaspoon of Dijon is what makes people ask what is in it. It does not taste like mustard, it just makes the cheese taste more like cheese.

68. Cheesy Potato Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1/2 onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
3 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon leaf thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
Bacon and green onions for the top

Cooking Instructions

Cook the onion and garlic in the butter in a big soup pot until the onion is soft.
Add the broth, thyme, salt and potatoes.
Simmer over medium to medium high heat 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often, until the potatoes are soft.
Take the pot off the heat and mash some of the potatoes, leaving as many chunks as you like.
Stir in the sour cream and heavy cream.
Add the cheddar a quarter cup at a time, stirring the whole time.
Serve topped with bacon, green onions and more cheese.

Notes: Do not bring the soup back to a boil after the dairy goes in, and add the cheese slowly or it clumps. Thin leftovers with a little broth or milk.

Thick, velvety, loaded with cheese and potatoes — this soup is a full meal in a bowl. Top with bacon and green onions for the ultimate cozy night in. This is the soup for the day the wind is howling. We came home from a basketball game cold and starving, and this pot is what I made. Mashing some of the potatoes right in the pot is how it gets thick without any flour.

Leave plenty of chunks so it still eats like potato soup. The pot comes off the heat before the cream and cheese go in. Boiling dairy is how a creamy soup turns grainy, and there is no fixing it after. Bacon and green onion on top are not garnish, they are part of the recipe. A loaded baked potato in a bowl is the whole idea.

69. Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
16 ounce package frozen broccoli cuts
2 cans cream of chicken soup, 10.75 ounces each
2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 10.75 ounces each
4 cups milk
16 ounces Velveeta, cubed
1 cup chicken broth
A small dash of nutmeg, to taste

Cooking Instructions

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, 5 to 10 minutes until heated through.
Move the broccoli to the crock pot and stir in both soups, the milk, Velveeta, broth and nutmeg.
Cover and cook on low 3 hours, stirring now and then.

Notes: Start with the smallest dash of nutmeg and add from there. Serve with a crusty piece of sourdough.

Better than Panera and made right at home — creamy broccoli cheddar soup that tastes exactly like the real thing for a fraction of the cost. Serve in a bread bowl for the full experience. Broccoli cheddar has been my favorite soup since the 90s. This is the copycat version, and it is the easiest soup on the site. You are not going to be impressed by the ingredient list. Canned soup, Velveeta and frozen broccoli.

You will be impressed by the bowl. The broccoli gets a few minutes in butter before it goes in the crock. It takes the frozen taste off and gives the soup its flavor base. Three hours on low with a stir every so often. The Velveeta melts into the milk and soup, and by the end it is thick enough to coat the spoon.

70. Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package Uncle Bens long grain and wild rice, fast cook
2 tablespoons butter
4 stalks celery, diced
1/3 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 tablespoons flour
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cups chicken broth
12 ounces heavy whipping cream

Cooking Instructions

Cook the rice per the box and spread it out to cool.
Cook and shred the chicken.
Saute the celery, onion, carrots and garlic in the butter about 10 minutes.
Stir the flour into the vegetables and cook one minute.
Add the chicken, broth and rice to the pot.
Bring to a boil while stirring, then drop to a simmer.
Slowly pour in the cream while stirring constantly.
Simmer 20 minutes until thickened.

Notes: Spread the cooked rice on parchment to cool while you do the rest. Leftover or rotisserie chicken and frozen diced onion both save time.

Creamy, hearty, and packed with tender chicken and nutty wild rice — the kind of soup that makes you feel taken care of on a chilly evening. This is the soup that feeds a crowd and still leaves leftovers worth fighting over. Creamy, full of rice, and ready in about an hour and a half. The rice cooks separately and goes in cooked. Raw rice simmered in the soup drinks all the broth and turns the pot into a casserole.

The flour stirred into the vegetables is what thickens it. One minute of cooking takes the raw taste out before the broth goes in. The cream goes in slowly, at a simmer, while you stir. Dumped in all at once over high heat it can break, and nobody wants that after an hour of work.

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71. Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups diced celery
1 cup diced onion
2 bay leaves
12 cups chicken broth
4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
24 ounce bag Reames frozen homestyle egg noodles
Dash of nutmeg
2 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions

Pour the broth into a big pot and add the carrots, celery, onion and bay leaves.
Simmer 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
Add the chicken, nutmeg and lemon pepper and bring to a boil.
Add the frozen noodles and boil about 30 minutes, stirring often.
Fish out the bay leaves, taste for salt and pepper, and serve.

Notes: Reames frozen noodles are thick and take a full half hour. Dried egg noodles cook in ten and give a thinner soup.

Classic homemade chicken noodle soup that is simple, nourishing, and deeply satisfying. The recipe every family needs in their back pocket for sick days and cold nights. The minute the temperature drops below freezing, a pot of this soup is on my mind and I cannot let it go until it is made. Lemon pepper and a dash of nutmeg are the surprise. Neither one tastes like itself in the finished pot, but the soup tastes flat without them.

The thick frozen Reames noodles are what make it homestyle. They soak up broth as they cook and the soup gets a little thicker as it sits. Twelve cups of broth makes a big pot. It feeds eight the first night and reheats for lunch all week, with a splash of broth as the noodles drink it up.

72. Crockpot Lava Cake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared per the box
1 container fudge frosting
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Instructions

Spray the inside of the crock pot with nonstick spray and pour in the prepared cake batter.
Drop dollops of the fudge frosting all over the top of the batter, then sprinkle on the chocolate chips.
Lay a paper towel over the top of the crock pot and set the lid on over it.
Cook on high for 1 to 2 hours. At the one hour mark, test the middle with a toothpick and keep going until it comes out mostly clean.
Turn the crock pot off, let the cake sit 10 minutes, and scoop it into bowls with ice cream.

Notes: Crock pots run at different temperatures. Start checking at one hour and every fifteen minutes after that so the edges do not scorch.

Rich, fudgy chocolate lava cake made entirely in the crockpot — serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a dessert that gets actual gasps at the table. This is one of my most popular crock pot desserts and my family’s favorite. It looks and tastes like you spent real time on it, and you spent five minutes. The frosting melts down into pockets of fudge and the chips stay a little chewy. That is where the lava comes from.

No separate sauce to make. It frees up the oven, which is the real reason I make it. The main dish and the sides get the oven and dessert bakes itself on the counter. I have made this with a pumpkin version and a peanut butter version, both just by swapping the frosting and the chips. It is a hard recipe to ruin.

73. Crockpot Apple Dump Cake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix, 15.25 ounces
2 cans apple pie filling, 21 ounces each
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup caramel sundae syrup

Cooking Instructions

Spray the crock pot. Dump both cans of apple filling in and spread them into an even layer.
Drizzle the caramel syrup over the apples.
Stir the dry cake mix and the melted butter together until it looks like wet sand, then spread it over the apples.
Lay a paper towel across the top of the crock pot, set the lid over it, and cook on high for 2 hours.
For a crisper top, slide the insert under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, watching the whole time. Serve warm with ice cream or Cool Whip.

Notes: The paper towel catches the steam that drips off the lid. Skip it and the topping comes out pale and soggy.

Warm cinnamon apples topped with buttery golden cake — all made in the crockpot with almost no effort. Serve with vanilla ice cream and watch it disappear in minutes. Easy recipes are my jam, and this one is about as easy as dessert gets. Four ingredients and the hardest part is opening the cans. Our family dinners are few and far between with two kids in activities, so a dessert that cooks itself while we divide and conquer is worth a lot.

It eats more like an apple crisp than a cake. The topping is soft and crumbly out of the crock pot, and two minutes under the broiler makes it crunchy. Any pie filling works. Cherry, peach and blueberry all take the same time, and peach with a spice cake mix is my fall favorite.

74. Slow Cooker Pumpkin Dump Cake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix, prepared per the box
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 container whipped cream cheese frosting
Whipped cream for serving

Cooking Instructions

Prepare the cake mix per the box directions.
Stir in the pumpkin and nutmeg.
Spray the crock pot and pour in the batter.
Drop spoonfuls of the cream cheese frosting over the top and swirl a little, without pushing it to the bottom.
Cook on high 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, checking every 15 minutes after the first hour and a half.
It is done when a knife in the center comes out mostly clean.
Serve in bowls with whipped cream.

Notes: Check it every 15 minutes after 90 minutes. Every crock pot runs at a different heat and the edges go from done to burnt fast.

Warm spiced pumpkin filling topped with buttery golden cake — the easiest thing you’ll ever bring to a potluck and it tastes like you spent all day on it. Our son adores anything pumpkin, so this cake shows up the first week the weather turns. No oven, no heating up the kitchen, just the crock on the counter. The frosting swirled into the top melts down into the cake as it cooks. It becomes a cream cheese ribbon instead of a layer, which is better.

It is a spoon cake, not a slice cake. Serve it in bowls while it is warm with whipped cream, and nobody misses the clean edges. Me plus plaid plus leggings plus cardigans equals true love. Add a bowl of this and it is fall.

75. No Bake Eclair Cake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

1 package graham crackers
2 packages instant French vanilla pudding, 3.4 ounces each
3 cups milk
8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
16 ounces chocolate frosting

Cooking Instructions

Beat the pudding mix and milk in a big bowl until thick.
Fold in the Cool Whip.
Spray a 9×13 dish and lay down a layer of graham crackers, breaking them to fit.
Spread half the pudding over the crackers.
Add a second layer of crackers, the rest of the pudding, and a third layer of crackers.
Take the lid off the frosting and microwave it 30 seconds, then pour and spread it over the top crackers.
Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.

Notes: The full 24 hours is the recipe. The crackers soften into cake overnight, and a six hour eclair cake still crunches.

A showstopper dessert that requires zero baking — layers of graham crackers, creamy vanilla pudding, and chocolate glaze that tastes just like a real eclair. This one never lasts more than a day. This is the dessert our daughter can make start to finish by herself. Five ingredients, five steps, and the fridge does the baking. Box mixes are fine, but there is something fun about assembling a dessert.

This one feels homemade and the flavors blend as it sits. Warming the frosting for thirty seconds is what makes it pourable. Cold from the can it tears the top layer of crackers when you spread it. People of every age go for this one. It tastes like a chocolate eclair and it cuts into clean squares after a night in the fridge.

76. Cookie Dough Pie

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

Cookie dough: 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour, heat treated
1 teaspoon milk
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Crust: 20 Oreos, crushed
1/4 cup butter, melted
Filling: 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, divided

Cooking Instructions

Cream the 6 tablespoons butter with the 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/8 cup sugar, then mix in the vanilla, flour and milk, then the 1/3 cup chips.
Roll the dough into balls a half to three quarter inch across and freeze them.
Crush the Oreos fine, stir in the melted butter, and press into a greased 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Freeze at least 20 minutes.
Beat the cream cheese with both sugars until smooth, then mix in the Cool Whip.
Stir in 1/4 cup chips and about three quarters of the frozen dough balls.
Scrape the filling into the crust and smooth the top.
Top with the remaining dough balls and chips and freeze at least 60 minutes before slicing.

Notes: If the dough balls come out too big, cut them in half after they freeze. Small pieces mean cookie dough in every bite instead of a few big lumps.

A rich, indulgent pie filled with safe-to-eat cookie dough that is every dessert lover’s dream. The recipe that makes people stop mid-bite and say “wait, what IS this?” My husband wanted cold, cookie dough, and cookies and cream for his birthday. This pie is all three, and the whole family has claimed it since. Freezing the dough balls before they go in is what keeps them whole.

Soft dough stirred into the filling just disappears into it. The crust gets its own twenty minutes in the freezer. A firm crust is the difference between clean slices and a pie that comes out with a spoon. It is a no bake dessert from start to finish, which makes it my summer birthday pie. The only heat involved is treating the flour.

77. Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

Bars: 2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Frosting: 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 ounces butter, room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 and spray a jelly roll pan.
Mix all of the bar ingredients together until smooth.
Pour into the pan and spread to the edges.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.
Beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar until no lumps remain.
Cool the bars at least an hour at room temperature, then frost.

Notes: The pan size matters. A jelly roll pan gives you thin bars with the right ratio of frosting. A 9×13 makes cake.

Moist, spiced pumpkin bars slathered in tangy cream cheese frosting — the fall dessert everyone begs you to bring to every gathering. Make a double batch because they will disappear. Fall is for pumpkins, plaid, flannel and fire pits at our house, and these bars show up the first week the leaves turn. They are moist, which is the whole appeal. A cup of oil and a full can of pumpkin keep them soft for days, and they never dry out at the edges.

The frosting is a half batch of classic cream cheese frosting, and a half batch is plenty for a jelly roll pan. More than that and it is a frosting bar. Twenty pieces from one pan makes this the fall potluck dessert. Cut them small. They are richer than they look.

78. Strawberry Poke Cake

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

16.25 ounce box white cake mix, plus the eggs and oil on the box
6 ounce package strawberry Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
16 ounce container whipped topping, thawed
1 pint fresh strawberries

Cooking Instructions

Bake the cake in a 9×13 per the box directions and let it cool a bit.
Poke holes all over the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon.
Stir the Jell-O into the boiling water until dissolved.
Pour the Jell-O evenly over the cake.
Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours.
Spread the whipped topping over the top and cover with sliced strawberries.

Notes: Any flavor of Jell-O works the same way. Blueberry, orange, lime. The strawberry is just the one my mom likes best.

A fluffy white cake soaked with strawberry jello and topped with creamy whipped topping — as pretty as it is delicious. The perfect easy dessert for any occasion. This is my mom’s favorite cake, so I wrote it down to make sure it never gets lost. Five ingredients, and one of them is boiling water. The holes need to be big. A fork makes pinpricks the Jell-O cannot get into.

A wooden spoon handle makes channels, and the cake soaks it up. It eats like strawberry shortcake in a sheet pan. Cold, light, and the kind of thing a busy mom can make the night before a party. Keep it in the fridge until the minute it is served. The whipped topping softens fast on a summer table, and cold is how it is best anyway.

79. Crockpot Peanut Clusters

Ingredients Cooking Instructions

Ingredients

20 ounces white almond bark
4 ounces German chocolate baking bar
12 ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips
24 ounces dry roasted peanuts

Cooking Instructions

Add the almond bark, German chocolate, chocolate chips and peanuts to the slow cooker in that order.
Lay a paper towel over the crock and set the lid on top of it.
Cook on low 1 hour without lifting the lid.
Stir everything together.
Replace the paper towel and lid and cook 15 minutes more.
Drop spoonfuls onto parchment paper and let them set completely, 2 to 3 hours depending on the room.

Notes: The order the ingredients go in matters. Almond bark on the bottom, peanuts on top, or the chocolate on the bottom scorches.

Chocolate peanut clusters made in the crockpot with just a handful of ingredients — the easiest homemade candy you’ll ever make. Perfect for gifting, parties, or just keeping a stash on the counter. This is one of the most popular recipes I have ever posted, and I make it more than anything else on the site. The crock pot does the melting and I do the scooping. The paper towel under the lid catches the steam that would otherwise drip back into the chocolate and seize it.

It is a strange trick and it works every time. No peeking for the first hour. Every time the lid comes off the temperature drops and the chocolate on the bottom gets more time to burn. Forty eight clusters sounds like plenty until the holidays. I do a double batch in December and they go on every cookie plate that leaves this house.

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