Crock-Pot food is the ultimate soul food, because no one actually likes slaving away in a kitchen for hours to make a delicious, filling meal.
Slow cookers do all of the work for you, and—pro tip—they make your home smell amazing while they do it.
And, contrary to popular comfort-food belief, Crock-Pots can help you eat clean. Here are eight fabulous, clean-eating Crock-Pot recipes that will save you time and calories.
1. Crockpot Honey Pork And Apples
One Pinterest user said this dish “tastes like meaty French toast,” and how can you go wrong with that? And it only requires four ingredients: pork tenderloin, granny smith apples, honey and cinnamon.
The woman behind the recipe, Stephanie at Stock Piling Moms, suggests serving it with roasted asparagus. Get the pork recipe here and the asparagus recipe here.
If your style of cooking is “set it and forget it” like Corey at Fresh Family Meals, then you’ll want to try this crockpot minestrone. Not only is minestrone insanely good for you, it’s also insanely easy to make — the most work you’ll encounter is cutting up the vegetables.
This spicy turkey chili is great for those of you who love chili with a kick. But if you prefer milder chili or just can’t take spicy food, then just omit or decrease the amount of jalapenos and cayenne pepper in the recipe. It’ll still be delicious—and healthy.
A crockpot recipe with only three ingredients, aka delicious food for the healthy person who just despises all things kitchen-related.
Not only is this recipe healthy, it’s also gluten-free and super flavorful with the addition of a couple of simple spices. Get the recipe at Stock Piling Moms.
According to Susan at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, cooking tofu in a crockpot makes it insanely delicious. She said it “infuses the tofu with flavor” and won’t become mushy if you quickly pan fry it first.
She adds all of the vegetables toward the end so that they also stay nice and crunchy. Find the recipe here.
I know, you thought you would never see “chicken and dumplings” next to “clean eating.” I never thought I would either, but thanks to this recipe, you don’t have to give up the southern favorite.
Though you’ll need to do a tad more hands-on cooking to craft your dumplings before adding them to the pot, this recipe is still crazy simple. And it’s dumplings, so the small amount of extra “work” is totally worth it. Tiffany at the Gracious Pantry said that it even pleased her “munchkin,” who can be quite the picky eater. Get the recipe here.
Peach and rosemary combined?! I want that scent turned into a perfume fragrance. Apparently the combo is “delicious, rich and sweet,” according to My Natural Family.
The recipe serves the chicken over couscous, but if you want to make it gluten free, you could serve it over quinoa or rice. Find out how to make it here.
