5 Easy To Make After Church Slow Cooker Recipes

Slow cooker recipes are lifesavers. Growing up, my mom and grandmother always cooked before they went to church. 

Truth be told, when I get up on Sunday morning, the last thing I want to do is cook. I like to sleep in or plan for the upcoming week before church on Sunday mornings. 

This is why I love slow cookers. All you have to do is season your meat, brown it if desired, put it in the slow cooker with the other ingredients, and let the slow cooker do its thing. 

By the time you leave the church, your main dish will be finished cooking. That is if you set your slow cooker to high. All you have to do is whip up a few sides, like white rice, steamed vegetables, or a quick side dish, and you will have a complete meal. 

Here are 10 delicious slow cooker recipes that are perfect for Sunday dinner as well as some tips to make your slow cooker meals even better.

4 Tips For Using A Slow Cooker 

Using a slow cooker is very straightforward. Simply put the food in the slow cooker and turn it on. However, if you want your food to taste irresistibly delicious, use these 5 tips. 

Cheap Cuts Of Meat Are Best

Cheap cuts of meat were made for slow cookers. Inexpensive cuts of meat are often tough. You have to cook them for a long time until the tough fibers break down and become tender. 

Inexpensive cuts like beef chuck contain a lot of marbling. Marbling is the small white pieces of white fat that run throughout the meat. The marbling will melt as the meat cooks in the slow cooker, ensuring it stays moist and juicy. 

Do not cook lean meats such as pot, tenderloin, chicken breast, or filet mignon in the slow cooker. They will be dry since they do not have enough fat to keep them moist. 

Stick with pork shoulder, chicken thighs, beef short ribs, or lamb shanks. These meats will be tender, moist, and delicious after being cooked slowly. 

Start Prepping The Night Before

Sunday mornings are hectic. You may have a family of 2-3 kids or more that need help getting ready for church. Even if you don’t have children, sometimes we miss our alarms or something else distracts us. 

Save yourself the trouble and start prepping your slow cooker meals from the night before. Cut vegetables like onions and carrots the night before and store them in an airtight container. 

Season your meat and store it in a large airtight container. Seasoning meat in advance is a technique that adds so much flavor to the food. The meat has time to absorb more of the flavor of the seasoning, creating a delicious flavor unlike anything else you’ve tasted. 

When you wake up in the morning, let the meat and vegetables sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then add them to the slow cooker and let them cook. 

Alternatively, you can put your meat and vegetables in the crockpot insert and store them in the fridge overnight. You can remove the insert from the fridge and let it sit for 30 minutes before popping it into the crockpot and turning it on. 

However, this may not be the best option if you plan to brown your meat. In this case, it’s better to store your meat and vegetables separately. 

Sear Meat First 

Searing your pot roast is the secret that makes it irresistibly delicious. Browning your meat helps intensify the flavor and seal in the meat’s juices. You can add a spice mix to the pot roast instead of just using salt and pepper. 

Browning your meat is an extra step, but it will only take a few minutes. Plus, it will be worth it when you are digging into your delicious pot roast. 

Do Not Overfill Your Slow Cooker 

No one wants to hear the sizzling sound of a slow cooker bubbling halfway through the cooking process. I’m all for setting and forgetting meat in the slow cooker. But it can ruin your meal, especially if you leave the meat in the slow cooker and go to church. When you return, you will find a hard piece of meat stuck to the bottom of your slow cooker. 

Fill your slow cooker halfway to three-quarters full with liquid. If the recipe calls for more liquid than this, look for another recipe. 

Remember that you may also have to adjust the amount of liquid if you cut the slow cooker recipe in half. 

5 Easy To Make After Church Slow Cooker Recipes 

Beef Stew 

Hearty beef stew is the perfect Sunday dinner. It is loaded with moist, juicy cubes of beef and tender vegetables. Furthermore, it’s a complete meal. 

It contains potatoes, peas, and carrots, so you don’t even need a side dish. However, you can serve it with white rice or bread to sop up the gravy if desired. Either way, this hearty beef stew will be delicious.   

Lentil Bolognese 

Lentil Bolognese is the perfect vegan dinner. It is a flexible meal. You can serve the lentil Bolognese in bowls as a thick rustic soup with crusty Italian or French bread. You can also serve it the traditional way over pasta with a side salad or use it as a stuffing for baked potatoes. 

Simply sauté the vegetables and stock them on the stove for a few minutes, then dump them in the slow cooker along with the remaining ingredients. In 6-7 hours, you will have a delicious meal. 

Pot Roast

Pot roast is a tasty classic that will never go out of style. It is an easy-to-make meal that requires little effort. 

The pot roast is filled with moist meat, carrots, potatoes, and a luxuriously thick gravy. Plus, it feeds 8 people. Unless you have a large family, you will have leftovers you can eat, so you won’t have to cook on Monday. You also can freeze your leftovers for 4 up to 3 months. 

Tuscan Chicken 

Slow-cooker Tuscan chicken is rich, creamy, and loaded with flavor. The addition of sun-dried tomatoes to the Tuscan chicken adds a rich tomato flavor. 

The secret to this delicious Tuscan chicken is using dried basil and oregano rather than fresh herbs. Unlike fresh herbs, slow cooking the Tuscan chicken will rehydrate the herbs and intensify their flavor, making the dish taste even better. This Tuscan chicken recipe uses spinach, but you can also add mushrooms to make it more filling and serve it over pasta or zucchini noodles. 

Beef Curry 

Slow cookers are not just made for soups and stews. You can also make curry in your slow cooker. This slow cooker beef curry recipe only takes 5 minutes to prep, so you will not find a beef curry recipe that is as easy or as flavorful as this. 

All you have to do is put the curry ingredients into the slow cooker. Then, cook it on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. After that, stir in spinach to make it extra nutritious, spices for more flavor, and chutney to balance out the flavor, and you’ve got the perfect Sunday dinner. 

Slow cookers make Sunday mornings easier. You can sleep in for an extra 30 minutes to an hour, then put your Sunday dinner in the slow cooker and let it hang out until it’s done. When you return from church, your meal will be finished and ready to eat.