Winter calls for comfort, and few kitchen heroes deliver it better than the slow cooker. A marvel of convenience, it transforms humble ingredients into rich, hearty dishes – while you get on with your day. Whether you’re craving tender stews, fragrant curries, or soul-soothing soups, the slow cooker’s magic lies in its ability to coax out deep, layered flavours with minimal effort. We’ve rounded up five of the best slow cooker recipes to keep you cosy and well-fed all through the cold snap – and beyond.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew


BBC Good Food
Slow-cooker Beef Stew

This is, hands-down, the best beef stew we have ever eaten, let alone made. Simply fry up your veg, brown your braising steak, add tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock and allow the slow cooker to do its magic. The house will smell divine, you will be well fed, and the troops will be happy, full and warm. Ideal in every possible way. This has undoubtedly been our go-to supper throughout the cold snap. Get the recipe.


Slow-cooked Firecracker Pulled Pork


Tesco
Slow-cooked Firecracker Pulled Pork Recipe

This recipe had us at the words ‘sticky, sweet, smoky and spicy’. It takes just ten minutes to pull together, after which it can bubble away for hours in the slow cooker, flavours infusing beautifully. Absolutely perfect for the long, cold winter nights that stretch ahead. Get the recipe.


Slow-Cooker Creamy Chicken & Potato Soup


Delish
Slow-Cooker Creamy Chicken & Potato Soup

How’s this for a hearty soup to warm the cockles? Creamy and warming, it’s packed full of flavour and goodness, with a good handful of your 30 plants a week contained therein (think kale, onion, garlic, thyme, carrot, potatoes and jalepeno). Served up with just the right amount of kick, this wholesome recipe proves all the claims ever made about the powers of chicken soup. Get the recipe.


Slow Cooker Chicken Curry


Olive Magazine
Slow-cooker Chicken Curry

Curries are another winter staple that work beautifully in slow cookers. We like this one from Olive Magazine, with its layered spices, its fiery ginger and its comforting coconut. The perfect supper to come home to after a long, frosty walk. Get the recipe.


School Days Treacle Sponge


BBC Good Food
Schooldays Treacle Sponge

Slow cookers don’t always have to be about meat and veg. Sometimes, they can also be about pure comfort food in all its sweet glory. As BBC Good Food astutely says, slow cookers were made for steamed puddings – simply half fill the pan with water and put it on high for four hours. Et voila: a nostalgic, cosy pudding redolent of school days and just right for eating by the fire in bliss. Get the recipe.