20 Tasty & Comforting Slow Cooker Recipes for Fall

You are sure to find a cozy slow cooker recipe to keep you and your family warm and satisfied in this collection of 20 Tasty & Comforting Slow Cooker Recipes for Fall...

Who else is huddled up inside avoiding this cold front that this blasting the east coast this week? 

I, for one, loathe being cold. When an arctic blast is heading my way, I am happiest when I am warm & cozy, cuddled up with a soft blanket and a bowl or plate of my favorite comfort food. Who's with me? ;)

And some of my favorite comfort food recipes happen to be made in one of my favorite kitchen appliances- my slow cooker! 

My love affair with my slow cooker is no big secret to those of you who have been following my blog for a while. In fact, some of my most popular recipes on the blog are made in the slow cooker.

I searched some of my favorite food blogs for the best tasty & comforting slow cooker recipes I could find for fall time. All of these slow-cooked recipes are brimming with some of our favorite flavors of fall like apple, pumpkin, butternut squash, and pears. 

Whether you are avoiding the cold temps outside or you are just craving a little comfort food, you are sure to find a cozy slow cooker recipe below to keep you and your family warm and satisfied...

Support for Sandy- Good Ole Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

Today I am joining together with other food bloggers across the country in posting a favorite comfort food recipe in order to raise awareness for the need for donations to aid the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Homes have been destroyed, families have been devastated, lives forever changed.  Please consider clicking the button above and making a donation to the Red Cross.  

Enjoy my recipe for Good Ole Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup.  :)  I wish I could make a few big batches of this and send them up north...

One of my favorite homemade comfort foods for fall is Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  And when I say homemade, I mean HOMEMADE.  I roast two large chicken breasts in my Crock Pot a few days before I plan to make a pot of the soup. (CLICK HERE for my recipe for Slow Cooker Roast Chicken.)  Then I remove all the good meat from the bone-in chicken breasts and save the rest (bones, cartilage, skin, etc) in a container in the fridge and make homemade chicken broth the next day with it.  (CLICK HERE for my recipe for Small Batch Homemade Chicken Broth.)  Then on the third day, I use my slow cooker roast chicken and my homemade chicken broth and make THE BEST homemade chicken noodle soup you will ever slurp. ;)  But, you don't HAVE to do all that to make this recipe.  You can buy a grocery store rotisserie chicken and a carton of chicken broth.  But it is worth the effort if you have the time to make it all from scratch.

What you will need:

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped (or you can use a couple of handfuls of baby carrots & chop them)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

4 cups of chicken broth (homemade, if you got it ;) )

3 cups of water

2 bay leaves

about 5 oz of extra wide noodles

about 1 1/2 cups of chopped cooked chicken

2 tbsp of fresh parsley, chopped

Salt & pepper, to taste

Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.  Once heated add the olive oil and butter.  Once the butter is melted, add the onion, celery, and carrots.  Saute for 3-4 minutes.  Pour in the chicken broth and water.  Drop in the bay leaves.  Heat to boiling.  Once it is brought to a boil, add your noodles.  Boil for another 10 minutes until noodles are tender.  Reduce the heat to a simmer.

Fish out the two bay leaves (do this with spoon and not your fingers, please ;) ). Then add in the chicken and parsley.   Cook another 3-4 minutes until the chicken has been heated through.  Taste your broth at this point and add salt and pepper to your taste.  

Ladle into bowls and serve with a nice crusty bread or good old school traditional like us and pull out the saltines. ;)  This makes about 6-8 servings.

Please head over to Creative Culinary to check out the other comfort food recipes being linked up for Support for Sandy, and link up your own recipe too! Just CLICK HERE. :)

What is one of your favorite comfort food meals to make?

Slow Cooker Apple Butter Pork Chops

So last week I gave you all my recipe for a super easy, delicious Homemade Apple Butter in the Crock Pot.  Well, don't put those slow cookers away just yet! (I mean, wash it and everything, but don't shove it back into your cupboard. ;) )

This week I have a recipe for sweet & savory Slow Cooker Apple Butter Pork Chops.  Grab a jar of that homemade apple butter you made with me last week because you are going to need it for this recipe. 

What you will need:

4 pork chops (bone-in or boneless)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 medium apples (any kind), cored and chopped

1 cup apple butter

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 cup apple juice or cider (or white wine)

In a small bowl, whisk together the apple butter, brown sugar, vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and apple juice.  Set aside.

Place the apples and onions in the bottom of the Crock Pot.  Add your pork chops on top and then pour the apple butter mixture all over this.

Cook on Low for 5-6 hours and voila! You have a hearty, tasty fall comfort dinner while you are away at work for the day or just lounging around the house on the weekend.  The pork just falls apart- no knife needed!  Just plate your pork chop and spoon a little of the apples and onions over top. This would be great served along side some homemade mashed potatoes or with a slice of my Spiced Pumpkin Ale Bread.  

Do you have a favorite fall comfort food you like to make in the Crock Pot?

Summer Blog Challenge, Day 18- A Recipe I Love

For the mama who loves to cook as much as I do, you would think this would be an easy one, right?  Well, it is not.  I have so many recipes that I love, and once again I am asked to choose just one...  So, I am going to choose three! :)


I am going to go with a theme here- favorite comfort foods.  My ultimate favorite comfort food is risotto.  I call it grown-up mac 'n cheese.  What I like most about risotto is that it is SO versatile!  You can add just about whatever you would like to it.  But good risotto does require patience.  It takes a while for the chicken broth (or veggie broth) to be absorbed by the rice, plus you have to park yourself by the stove for about an hour.  But it is so worth it!  Here is a link to my very own Summertime Risotto recipe- click here.

For snowy winter evenings or a rainy day, I love to make Avgolemono Soup- a Greek chicken lemon soup.  My favorite recipe for it also happens to be a Cooking Light recipe (healthy too!).  Click here for the recipe.

And we can't forget the ultimate comfort food dessert- chocolate chip cookies!  I actually just stumbled across this recipe from Once Upon a Chef last week, and it is unanimous in this house that it is now our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I featured this cookie in my Pinspiration in the Kitchen post last Friday- click here.  (You can also find a link to the recipe in my post.) ;)

What are some of your favorite recipes?  Feel free to share the links to them below in the comments! :)