Hearty Slow-Cooker Soups, Stews & Chilies

This easy slow-cooker meal has just five ingredients, all packaged or canned. Toss it together in minutes.

Related: 5-Ingredient (Or Less) Dinner Recipes

This stew appears in the cookbook On the Curry Trail, by Raghavan Iyer (Workman, $30). You can use our recipe for the Moroccan spice blend ras al hanout, or purchase ras al hanout at specialty stores or online.

Related: Top Vegetarian Recipes

Vitamin-rich sweet potatoes and creamy peanut butter complement spicy Cajun seasoning in this easy chicken slow-cooker stew. 

This chili is great for tucking into your slow cooker in the morning, so you can come home to a warm dinner. Omit the meat if you'd prefer a hearty meatless main dish. If you like, add chopped avocado or shredded cheese as toppers before serving.

Tomatillos (the key ingredient in green salsa) look like green tomatoes with papery husks. Although they can be eaten raw, we like to cook tomatillos with other ingredients to mellow and balance their tart flavor.

Related: Sizzling Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes

This hands-off, slow-cooker recipe has just a pound of ground beef and a can of stock. All the rest of the heft and taste comes from black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, smoked paprika, chipotle peppers and corn tortillas.

Related: Warm-You-Up Chili Recipes

This 170-calorie slow-cooker version of a classic comfort food takes just 25 minutes of prep and uses reduced-fat cream cheese in its creamy homemade broth.

Related: 25 Healthy Dinner Recipes

Fresh spinach and sliced carrots add a vitamin-rich veggie punch to this easy slow-cooker soup. Top with shaved Parmesan, if you like.

Potato, bacon and cheese—all the flavors you love in a bowl of soup! The American cheese keeps the soup from curdling while it slow cooks. Mashing cooked potatoes a bit gives the soup some body, while the bacon adds a smoky-salty taste. 

Related: Smoky, Sizzling Bacon Recipes

Potatoes, onion, sauerkraut and brats pack in the German flavor in this homey slow-cooker soup. Try with Whole Wheat Pretzel Rolls; the soft pretzels' chewy, brown exterior comes from being boiled in an alkaline solution—the 1/4 cup baking soda in the water isn't a typo!

Somen are thin Japanese wheat noodles. Find them at Asian groceries or large supermarkets, or substitute vermicilli in this light chicken soup.

Related: Soul-Satisfying Asian Soup Recipes

Sweet potatoes, cumin, cinnamon, and dried apricots or plums add a North African flavor to this lower-sodium version of slow-cooker beef.

Purchased pesto adds zip to this veggie-barley slow-cooked soup. Serve with a sandwich for a light meal.

Related: Vegetable Soup Recipes

Short on time? Move the slow-cooker setting for this mild white chili recipe to high. If you like, serve in store-bought bread bowls.

Great Northern or cannellini beans blend with chicken thighs and purchased Alfredo sauce in this easy-to-assemble meal. Serve with crusty bread and tossed salad.

Combine chicken, chopped vegetables and canned beans for this warm-and-comforting chili. Our recipe gives variations for Slow Cooker Chicken Chili as well as a spicier Chipotle Chicken Chili.

Ground beef turns this soup into a satisfying meal. Top the slow-cooked main-dish soup with fresh-grated Parmesan cheese.

Prep time is just 10 minutes for this slow-cooker soup; combine canned Italian-style stewed tomatoes, frozen green beans, water, a can of onion soup and turkey sausage. Add coleslaw mix and refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini 15 minutes before serving.

Smoked bratwurst, cabbage and potatoes cook in a mixture of broth, mustard, vinegar, and spices. You can try kielbasa or a flavored chicken sausage in place of the smoked bratwurst if you prefer.

Pumpkin, dried cranberries, jalapeno peppers, and turkey add a distinctive flavor twist to slow-simmering chili.

Vary the heat of this easy chowder by choosing sweet or hot sausage and serrano or jalapeno pepper. Cumin adds subtle Southwest character.

What's the secret ingredient in this recipe? Chocolate syrup, which adds a rich taste to a blend of kidney beans, black beans and small white beans. Rinse canned beans to reduce the sodium.

This 5-ingredient slow-cooker chowder goes together in minutes and then cooks two hours on high or four to five hours on low. Serve with breadsticks for dipping.

Cranberry juice makes a surprise appearance in this slow-cooker main dish. The juice adds a little sweetness to the winter veggie-packed soup.