The Best Slow Cooker Recipes for Batch Cooking

Slow cooker recipes make life so much easier, and it’s even better when they’re dishes you can batch-cook and stash away for a busy day. When you fill your meal plan with recipes you can cook once and enjoy twice (or more!), you’ll find you get the most from your ingredients, without it costing the earth. 

The low-effort, high reward of slow cooker recipes never loses its appeal. Throw all the ingredients into the pot first thing in the morning, and you’ll spend the whole day looking forward to the hot meal that’s waiting for you when you get home. 

Loads of yummy slow cooker recipes lend themselves really well to batch-cooking, since they freeze and reheat so well. If you’re planning to do a big batch of something this week, scroll down for loads of inspiration!

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Slow Cooker Beef and Balsamic Stew

A home-cooked stew will warm you up on even the coldest of winter days. Thanks to a good splash of balsamic vinegar, this Slow Cooker Beef and Balsamic Stew has a deliciously deep, rich gravy – so you’ll want to mop up every last drop, 

Packed with filling, high-fibre veggies and melt-in-the-mouth chunks of lean beef, each batch-cookable serving comes in at just 383 calories. Our recipe will make enough for 6 healthy portions, but you could always scale up the ingredients if you have a big enough slow cooker. 

We tend to use a 3.5 litre slow cooker for this one, but you can pick up this Tower T16043MNB Cavaletto 6.5 Litre Slow Cookerif you want to cook even bigger batches!

Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole

Need some comfort food on your midweek menu? You can’t go wrong with sausages, spuds and veggies, simmered in a tomatoey, herby sauce. That’s exactly what you get from our Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole – and it only takes 5 minutes of slicing and dicing to prepare. 

There’s no need to use an extra pan to brown your sausages before chucking them in the slow cooker pot – but it’s totally up to you if you’d prefer to! We’d rather skip the washing-up (which is why we love the recipes from Pinch of Nom: All in One so much…and there’s 30 slow cooker recipes inside too!). 

Slow Cooker Beef Madras

A curry is one of the best things to batch cook because the flavour just gets better over time! Any leftover Slow Cooker Beef Madras will taste incredible after a day in the fridge, or you can pop it away in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

Slow-cooking the beef means it’ll never be chewy – so every forkful will simply melt in your mouth. We make sure ours is medium-hot by leaving the seeds in our chillies, but you can easily adjust the spices so it’s perfect for you!

Freezer bags are ideal for stashing individual portions of your leftovers away until you need them, without taking up loads of space in your drawer! 

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon 

Tell your guests that Beef Bourguignon is on the menu and they’ll think you’ve spent hours in the kitchen cooking up a fancy feast! No one needs to know that our Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon only takes 15 minutes of prep, and then you can walk away and leave the magic to happen on its own. 

You’ll get all the decadent flavours of the French-inspired classic, without all of the calories, thanks to a couple of easy ingredient swaps. It’s incredibly delicious, so we’ll be surprised if no one goes back for a second helping…but any leftovers freeze like a dream!

Slow Cooker Thai-Style Pork Curry

Imagine how good it would feel to know that you’ve got a portion of your favourite fakeaway sitting in the freezer, ready to be reheated in minutes. Set aside a day this weekend to make a batch of this Slow Cooker Thai-Style Pork Curry, and you’re onto a winner. 

Inspired by Massaman curry, we’ve recreated the taste bud-tingling flavours with a punchy combination of cumin, cardamom, lemongrass and tamarind. Dairy-free coconut milk gives the curry a silky, rich sauce, for a fraction of the usual calories. 

Slow Cooker Lamb Pasanda 

Speaking of fakeaways that you can batch-cook in your slow cooker, this Slow Cooker Lamb Pasanda might just change your life (or your Friday nights at the very least). You can put down the takeaway menu and load up the pot with lean diced lamb, aromatic spices, ground almonds and coconut dairy-free milk alternative. 

It’ll bubble into a mild, indulgent-tasting curry that’s ready to be topped with a sprinkle of toasted flaked almonds…they give such a satisfying crunch! 

This Morphy Richards 3.5L Sear & Stew Slow Cooker is a brilliant budget-friendly buy if you’re in the market for a new one!

Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Ham

Spotted a bargain joint of ham on the yellow sticker shelf at the supermarket? You’ll often find gammon joints at reduced prices, and it’s well worth taking them home, even if you’re not planning on eating it right away. 

Use one to make our Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Ham and, once it’s juicy and delicious, you can carve it up and freeze the slices for another day. Whether you use them for sandwiches or reheat them for an effortless Sunday roast, you’ll be one step ahead!

Slow Cooker BBQ Gammon Stew

While we’re thinking about gammon, you might also want to give our Slow Cooker BBQ Gammon Stew a try. When we first added this recipe to our website, there wasn’t a slow cooker method – but you asked for it, and we listened!

A batch-cookable dream-come-true, the smokiness and savouriness only gets better with time, so we’ll fight you for those leftover portions! If you love Campfire Stew, we’re pretty confident this will be a hit in your household. 

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Lasagne

This Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Lasagne might just be the best lasagne you’ve ever tried! You’ll make the smoky pulled pork filling in your slow cooker, and then layer it up in an oven dish with sheets of pasta and a creamy, low-calorie white sauce. 

It takes a bit of time and patience to put it all together, but the payoff is too delicious to miss out on. Divide it up into 6 servings, and pop a few into the freezer for a quick win next time you’re craving proper comfort food. 

You’ll need a good-sized oven dish to make your gorgeous lasagne. We love this KitchenCraft World of Flavours Lasagne Dish for all kinds of bakes and roasts. 

Slow Cooker Lamb and Lentil Stew

Just sit back for a second and think about this: fall-off-the-fork chunks of lamb, in a gloriously rich rosemary and thyme gravy. It sounds like a lot of effort, but – you guessed it – our Slow Cooker Lamb and Lentil Stew is super easy to make. 

Take our word on this – you need a big bowl of Creamy Mashed Potatoes to serve on the side. They’ll soak up that flavourful gravy, so you don’t miss a single drop. 

Which slow cooker recipe are you batch-cooking this week?

We’d love to hear which slow cooker recipes you’ll be stocking up your freezer with! Head on over to our Facebook group to drop in any photos, hints, tips, or stories about what you’ve been batch-cooking lately. Everyone in the group will LOVE hearing from you!

Plus, don’t forget you can upload any photos you’ve taken of your recent meals to the PON gallery – you might even win some SWAG!