7 Easy Slow Cooker Soup and Chili Recipes

For an easy to prepare meal using your slow cooker, try these delicious soup and chili recipes. They are quick to put together and can cook while you are away from home.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

4 to 5 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 large can whole tomatoes, undrained
2 to 3 large potatoes, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium yellow squash or zucchini, thickly sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1 can creamed corn
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preperation:

Combine chicken, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, onion and pepper in cooker. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 5 to 7 hours, until potatoes are tender.

Add ketchup, barbeque sauce and corn, mixing well until combined. Cover and cook on HIGH setting for another 30 minutes.

Slow Cooker Three-Bean Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 large can dices tomatoes, undrained
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 can chopped green chilies
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder

Preperation:

Cook ground beef and onion in a skillet until ground beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain well. Place beef mixture in cooker.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook on HIGH setting 6 to 8 hours.

Slow Cooker Navy Bean with Ham Soup

Ingredients:

6 cups water
5 cups dried navy beans, soaked overnight and drained
1 pound ham, cubed
1 can corn
1 large onion, diced
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preperation:

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook on LOW setting 7 to 10 hours, or until beans are tender.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chowder

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 pounds chicken, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup cream

Preperation:

Melt butter or margarine in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned.

Add chicken, onion, celery, carrots, cream of potato soup, chicken broth and pepper to slow cooker. Mix well. Cover and cook on LOW setting 3 to 4 hours, or until chicken in cooked through and vegetables are tender.

Turn off heat. Stir in cream and allow to heat through, 5 to 10 minutes.

Slow Cooker Easy Turkey Soup

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground turkey, cooked and drained
1 large can whole tomatoes, undrained
2 cans beef broth
1 16 ounce bag frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup dry barley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preperation:

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and mix well. Add water to just cover ingredients. Cover and cook on HIGH setting 3 to 4 hours or on LOW setting 6 to 8 hours until vegetables are tender.

Best Bean Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

6 ounces bacon, diced
8 to 10 cups chicken broth
3 cans Great Northern beans or Navy beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 large onion, chopped
1 package frozen carrots
2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preperation:

Cook bacon in skillet until just cooked. Drain and place in slow cooker.

Add remaining ingredients to slow cooker, mixing well.

Cover and cook on LOW setting 6 to 8 hours, or until beans are tender.

Slow Cooker Chunky Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons chili powder
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans chili beans or kidney beans
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preperatiion:

In a skillet cook ground been and onion until beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain well. Add to slow cooker.

Add all remaining ingredients, and mixing well. Cover and cook on LOW setting 5 to 6 hours.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese when serving, if desired.

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5 Top Benefits of Using a Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker

1. Pressure Cooking Is Healthier

Well, health is a really important to most people so why not to start there. Do you ever wonder how to cook healthier? Well, pressure cooking is the answer. What is so healthy about pressure cooking is the steam. Steam stays inside of the pressure cooker for the entire cooking time. That means that you don't have to add too much water to boil the food. Also, the steams that comes out of the food gets back into the food again. The good stuff that you need from the food (I mean nutrients) stays in your food thanks to the pressure cooking process that keeps the steam inside. That is why the pressure cooking is the healthiest compared to all cooking alternatives.

As you probably already know, frying or baking with oils and fats is not good for you, and cooking in a normal pan does not provide you with as many nutrients as the pressure cooked food. And, with this fantastic kitchenware it is nearly impossible to burn anything! Well, unless you accidentally leave it on the fire for a day or two...

2. The Food Prepared With a Pressure Cooker Tastes Better

Here we get back to the steam again. The steam is the main reason of the better taste of the food. All the moisture that has the flavour of the food is not running out through the lid but staying in. That is the reason why food prepared in the pressure cooker has a full flavour and tastes better. During the pressure cooking, there is a higher temperature than you can achieve in a regular pan. The food is ready quicker and it does not overcook. Pulses gain a "creamy" consistency and meat falls apart. Yummy.

3. Time Saving

Preparing a meal with a stainless steel pressure cooker is much quicker then regular cooking. The pressure cooker heats up much higher and quicker then other pans and also keeps the temperature for longer. Result: fast food (that is healthy!) For example: Kidney beans in less then 10 minutes. Chicken falls off the bone in 15 minutes. Meatloaf done in 20 minutes. Filled peppers ready in 5 minutes. And I could go on... I am sure you can think of better ways to spend your time then guarding pans in the kitchen. Using the stainless steel pressure cooker is also great for the next thing.

4. Saving Energy and Money

I just showed you how using the pressure cooker can save you time that could be better spent with your family or for hobbies. But this incredible piece of kitchen equipment will also save energy. Shorter time of cooking and lower heat you will need to use for the stainless steel pressure cooker will make you a saving, no matter if you use gas or electricity for cooking.

The stainless steel pressure cooker allows you to save up to 70 percent of the time and energy traditionally used in cooking rice, meat, and vegetables. Wow. Could you use a few extra dollars in your pocket?

5. Suitable For Dishwashers

This last benefit will make your cooking even easier... You can actually put a stainless steel pressure cooker into a dishwasher. Relief, isn't it?

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Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs and Vegetables in Red Wine

Beef short ribs were a bargain meal during my graduate school days. How things have changed. My local butcher shop stopped carrying beef short ribs because they had gotten so expensive. "Most of the short ribs are being shipped to the Orient and this drives the price up," he explained. "Now that the price has dropped a bit I'm carrying them again."

When the weather turns cold I crave "stick-to-the-ribs" meals like beef short ribs. The ribs, a combination of lean meat and fat, are cut from the end of a standing rib roast, and this is what makes them so tasty. Many cultures have recipes for beef short ribs.

The Polish fix beef short ribs in a sauce made with bacon, onions, and caraway seeds. Texas short ribs are a different thing all together. "The Complete Round the World Meat Cook Book" by Myra Waldo contains a recipe for Texas short ribs made with bottled chili sauce. The book also has a recipe for deviled short ribs.

But I didn't want caraway seeds, or chili sauce, or lots of spices in my short ribs, so I braised them in red wine. For a more complete meal I added onions, tomatoes, and carrots to the sauce. You may bake the covered short ribs in a 325 degree oven for two hours if you don't have a slow cooker.

INGREDIENTS

3 1/2 pounds beef short ribs

2 tablespoons extra light olive oil (more if you need it)

3/4 cup regular flour

14 1/2-ounce can of no salt diced tomatoes and juice

2 cups red wine (cabernet or hearty burgundy)

3 inch-wide pieces of orange zest

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon prepared chopped garlic

1 cup frozen pearl onions

3 carrots, peeled and cut into one-inch chunks

3 tablespoons gravy flour

METHOD

Ask the butcher to cut the short ribs in half. Remove extra fat from ribs with a boning knife. Dredge the short ribs in flour. Pour olive oil into a cast iron skillet. Brown the short ribs, front and back, and them set aside. Add the red wine to the skillet. Cook over high heat for two minutes to evaporate the alcohol.

Pour canned tomatoes and juice into the slow cooker. Add orange zest, thyme, pepper, and garlic.
Transfer short ribs to the slow cooker. Pour the red wine over the ribs and stir with a rubber scraper. Sprinkle pearl onions and carrots over the short ribs. Cover and cook on low for four hours. Using a slotted spoon, remove ribs from cooker and set on a large plate. Remove and discard orange zest.

Pour the sauce into a large pan and carefully skim fat with a spoon. Put gravy flour into a cup and, stirring constantly, add a little cold water. Pour this mixture into the sauce, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens. Return the short ribs to the sauce, cover, and cook over low heat for five minutes. Serve immediately with ciabatta bread and a green salad. Makes 6 generous servings.

Copyright 2007 by Harriet Hodgson

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