Slow Cooker Recipes (UK): 6 Everyday Meals

A slow cooker is the most forgiving pot in the kitchen. You do ten minutes of chopping in the morning, and by teatime the house smells wonderful and dinner cooks itself. It's kind to tougher, cheaper cuts of meat like shin, brisket and shoulder, because low, gentle heat is exactly what breaks them down into something tender.

The recipes here are the ones we come back to week after week. Quantities are for a standard 3.5-litre pot, which comfortably feeds four. Scale up or down if yours is bigger or smaller, keeping it between a third and three-quarters full for the best results.

How much does a slow cooker cost to run?

Not much, and that's half the appeal. A typical slow cooker draws around 200 watts on Low. At the current price cap electricity rate (roughly 27p per kWh in 2025), that works out at about 5–6p an hour, so a full 8-hour cook is somewhere near 40–50p. Even on High, where it pulls closer to 300 watts, you're looking at roughly 8p an hour. As a rule of thumb, think around 10p an hour and you won't be far off.

Compare that with running an electric oven at 180°C for two or three hours and the slow cooker wins easily, often by a factor of five or more over a long braise. It's why it earns its place for batch cooking and freezer meals: cook once, cheaply, eat several times.

Should you brown the meat first?

You don't have to, but it's worth it. Browning the meat, and softening the onions, in a frying pan or the searing insert before it all goes in the pot builds a deep, savoury flavour you simply can't get otherwise. Those caramelised bits are where a lot of the taste lives.

Dust the meat in a little seasoned flour first and you get two jobs done at once: colour, and a sauce that thickens itself. If you're pushed for time you can skip it and the food will still be good, just a touch lighter in flavour. Some slow cookers now have a hob-safe or sauté insert, which saves washing a second pan.

The golden rule: don't lift the lid

It's tempting to peek and stir, but try not to. A slow cooker relies on the seal of trapped steam to hold its heat, and every time you lift the lid you lose a big chunk of it. Each peek can add 20–30 minutes to the cooking time while the pot climbs back up to temperature. There's no need to stir either, as nothing catches at the bottom the way it would in a pan on the hob. Put the lid on, walk away, and trust it.

How do you convert an oven recipe for a slow cooker?

Most casseroles, stews, curries and braises convert beautifully. The knack is in three adjustments:

• Cut the liquid. Reduce stock or water by about a third, since so little escapes as steam. You can always loosen a sauce at the end; you can't easily un-water it.
• Stretch the time. As a rough conversion, an oven dish that takes 30–40 minutes will want 6–8 hours on Low or 3–4 on High. Something that takes 1½ hours in the oven still lands around the same slow-cooker window.
• Add delicate things late. Cream, milk, fresh herbs, frozen peas and quick-cooking veg go in for the last 20–30 minutes so they don't split or turn to mush.

Pasta and rice generally don't cook well left in for hours, so cook them separately and serve alongside.

Slow cooker beef stew

The one everyone wants. Cheap shin or braising steak turns meltingly tender over a long, slow cook.

Serves 4 · 15 min prep · 8 hours on Low

Ingredients

• 700g braising steak or beef shin, cut into 4cm chunks
• 2 tbsp plain flour, well seasoned
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 carrots, in thick chunks
• 2 sticks celery, sliced
• 500ml beef stock (a good stock cube is fine)
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 bay leaves, few sprigs thyme
• Salt and plenty of black pepper

Method

1. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour. Brown it well in the oil, in batches, then tip into the slow cooker.
2. Soften the onions in the same pan for a few minutes, then add them in with the carrots and celery.
3. Stir the tomato purée into the stock and pour over. Add the herbs.
4. Cook on Low for 8 hours (or High for 4–5). Fish out the bay leaves before serving.

Lovely with mash, or a wedge of warm soda bread to mop the gravy.

Slow cooker chicken casserole

Gentle, comforting and very forgiving. Thighs stay juicy where breasts can dry out.

Serves 4 · 15 min prep · 6 hours on Low

Ingredients

• 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 leeks, sliced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 400ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tsp cornflour (optional, to thicken)
• 100ml crème fraîche or double cream
• Handful chopped parsley

Method

1. Brown the chicken thighs in the oil and transfer to the pot. Soften the onion, garlic and leeks, then add.
2. Add carrots, stock and mustard. Cook on Low for 6 hours.
3. In the last 20 minutes, stir the cornflour into a splash of cold water and add with the crème fraîche to thicken and enrich. Finish with parsley.

Slow cooker chilli con carne

Deeper and richer than a hob chilli, because the flavours have all day to get to know each other.

Serves 4–6 · 15 min prep · 6 hours on Low

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 1 onion, diced; 2 cloves garlic; 1 red pepper, diced
• 1–2 tbsp chilli powder (to taste), 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 400g tin kidney beans, drained
• 200ml beef stock
• 1 square dark chocolate or 1 tsp cocoa (optional, but lovely)

Method

1. Brown the mince with the onion, then stir in the garlic and spices for a minute. Tip into the pot.
2. Add the pepper, tomatoes, purée, beans and stock. Stir once.
3. Cook on Low for 6 hours. Stir in the chocolate at the end. Serve with rice, and soured cream if you like.

Slow cooker pulled pork

Barely any effort for a proper crowd-pleaser. A shoulder joint pulls apart with two forks after a long cook.

Serves 6 · 15 min prep · 9 hours on Low

Ingredients

• 1.5kg boned pork shoulder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp each ground cumin, garlic powder, salt
• 1 onion, sliced
• 150ml apple juice or cider
• 3 tbsp BBQ sauce, plus more to finish

Method

1. Rub the spice mix all over the pork. Sear it in a hot pan on all sides if you have time.
2. Sit the onion in the base of the pot, place the pork on top, pour round the apple juice and BBQ sauce.
3. Cook on Low for 9 hours, until it shreds easily. Lift out, pull apart with two forks, then stir back through some of the cooking juices and extra BBQ sauce.

Pile into rolls with slaw and a spoon of homemade chutney.

Slow cooker root-veg curry

A hearty, meat-free midweek curry that's a brilliant way to use up whatever's in the veg rack: parsnips, swede, potatoes, squash.

Serves 4 · 15 min prep · 6 hours on Low

Ingredients

• 800g mixed root veg (potato, carrot, parsnip, squash), in 3cm chunks
• 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic and a thumb of ginger, all chopped
• 2 tbsp curry paste (korma, tikka or madras to taste)
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 400ml tin coconut milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 200g spinach; squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and curry paste for a couple of minutes to wake up the spices, then add to the pot.
2. Add the root veg, tomatoes, coconut milk and salt. Cook on Low for 6 hours.
3. Stir in the spinach for the last 10 minutes and finish with lemon. Great with rice or naan. A glut of courgettes works well tumbled in too.

Slow cooker lentil and vegetable soup

The cheapest pot here, and it practically makes itself. Red lentils need no soaking and thicken the soup as they cook.

Serves 4 · 10 min prep · 6 hours on Low

Ingredients

• 250g dried red lentils, rinsed
• 1 onion, 2 carrots and 2 sticks celery, all diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1.2 litres vegetable stock
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• Salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Put everything except the lemon into the pot and stir once.
2. Cook on Low for 6 hours, until the lentils are soft and collapsing.
3. Blend for a smooth soup or leave it chunky. Season, add lemon, and serve with crusty bread.

For more of these, see our easy soup recipes.

A few notes for good results

Fill the pot no less than a third and no more than three-quarters full. Frozen meat should never go straight into a slow cooker. It spends too long in the bacteria danger zone as it thaws, so defrost it fully in the fridge first. And most of these freeze beautifully once cooled: portion into tubs and you've got easy dinners for weeks.