14 best slow cooker soups

Slow cooker soups are incredibly popular for busy individuals and families seeking convenient, flavorful, and hearty meals. Using a slow cooker, also known as a Crock-Pot, allows for easy preparation of delicious soups with minimal effort. Here are some key points about slow cooker soups:

Benefits of Slow Cooker Soups:

  1. Convenience: Slow cookers allow you to prepare soup ingredients in the morning or the night before, set the timer, and come home to a ready-to-eat meal. This convenience is especially appreciated for those with busy schedules.

  2. Flavor Development: Slow cooking soups at low temperatures for extended periods allows flavors to meld and intensify, resulting in rich, savory, and well-developed soups.

  3. Tender Meat: Slow cooking helps tenderize tougher cuts of meat, making them succulent and easy to shred or cut into bite-sized pieces.

  4. Versatility: Slow cookers accommodate a wide variety of soup recipes, from classic chicken noodle and beef stew to exotic options like Thai curry soups. You can experiment with different ingredients and flavors.

  5. Nutrient Retention: Slow cooking preserves the nutrients in ingredients since the cooking process is gentle and gradual.

Tips for Making Slow Cooker Soups:

  1. Layering Ingredients: Place denser vegetables and meats at the bottom of the slow cooker, closer to the heat source, and softer vegetables on top to ensure even cooking.

  2. Liquids: Slow cooker soups require less liquid than stovetop recipes because there's minimal evaporation.Start with less liquid, as the ingredients will release moisture during cooking.

  3. Herbs and Spices: Herbs and spices can lose their potency over long cooking times. Add delicate herbs like parsley and cilantro toward the end of the cooking process to maintain their flavors.

  4. Dairy and Pasta: Dairy products and pasta can curdle or become mushy if overcooked. Add them during the last hour of cooking to prevent this.

  5. Thickening: If you want to thicken your soup, mix a small amount of flour or cornstarch with water and add it during the last hour of cooking. Alternatively, remove some of the cooked vegetables, blend them, and return the mixture to the slow cooker.

Popular Slow Cooker Soup Recipes:

  1. Beef Stew: A classic slow cooker soup featuring tender beef, vegetables, and a flavorful broth.
  2. Chicken Noodle Soup: Comforting soup with chicken, noodles, carrots, and celery, simmered to perfection.
  3. Chili: Hearty and spicy chili with ground beef, beans, tomatoes, and spices.
  4. Butternut Squash Soup: Creamy soup made with roasted butternut squash, onions, and seasonings.
  5. Vegetable Soup: Healthy soup filled with a variety of vegetables, often with a tomato-based broth.

Slow cooker soup recipes can be found in numerous cookbooks dedicated to slow cooking and online resources, allowing home cooks to explore a wide range of flavors and ingredients to suit their tastes and dietary preferences.

Below you can find our editor's choice of the best slow cooker soups on the market
  

Slow Cooker Soups: A Cookbook of Comforting Recipes You Can Prep and Forget

Rockridge Press

Based on 57 reviews Check latest price

Product features

Open slow-cooker

Explore essential pieces of equipment and basic ingredients you’ll need to get started, as well as tips for salvaging soups, storing and reheating, and more.

Soup-er easy soups

From broths and stocks to chilis and chowders to hearty stews and beyond, you’ll find a wide range of classic and creative recipes requiring 15 minutes or less of prep.

On the side

Get recipes for perfectly paired sides to compliment your bowl, such as Sourdough Asiago Grilled Cheese, Kale Salad, Tropical Fruit Salad, and Red Cabbage Slaw.

Slow Cooker Soup Cookbook: Easy Crock Pot Soup Meal Recipes

Based on 105 reviews Check latest price

Get Crocked Soups & Stews

Media Lab Books

Based on 17 reviews Check latest price

The Complete Slow Cooker: From Appetizers to Desserts - 400 Must-Have Recipes That Cook While You Play (or Work) (The Complete ATK Cookbook Series)

America's Test Kitchen

Based on 649 reviews Check latest price

Product features

Hands Off: Set it and forget it until dinner time.

If you think your slow cooker is a one-trick kitchen tool, think again. The Complete Slow Cooker shows that this humble appliance can be used to make almost anything. Sure, there are lots and lots of stews, soups, chilis, & braises. But how about easy appetizers (from chicken wings to garlicky Spanish-style shrimp) or desserts, including warm chocolate pudding cake & Key Lime Pie (yes, you read that right!). This 400 recipe collection shows the true versatility of the humble slow cooker.

Classic Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes

We break a large chuck-eye roast into smaller roasts and brown them for the ultimate slow-cooker pot roast.

Southwestern Black Bean and Bulgur Bowls

This healthy bean-bulgur bowl is easy to make in a slow cooker, which is the perfect way to infuse the beans with flavor.

Classic Barbecued Spareribs

These fall-off-the-bone tender barbecued pork spareribs need only a simple pantry barbecue sauce and a few minutes under the broiler to develop a lightly charred exterior.

Mashed Potatoes

If you’ve cooked mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, you know that making them is one of the last tasks you need to tackle before dinner is served. Use this recipe and rewrite the script.

Crock Pot: 1001 Best Crock Pot Recipes of All Time (Crockpot, Crockpot Recipes, Crock Pot Cookbook, Crock Pot Recipes, Crock Pot, Slow Cooker, Slow Cooker Recipes, Slow Cooker Cookbook, Cookbooks)

Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Based on 1 reviews Check latest price

Taste of Home Casseroles, Slow Cooker & Soups: 515 Hot & Hearty Dishes Your Family Will Love

Reader's Digest/Taste of Home

Based on 99 reviews Check latest price

Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook: 1400 Best Slow Cooker Recipes!

Good Books

Based on 3 reviews Check latest price

Slow Cooker Revolution: One Test Kitchen. 30 Slow Cookers. 200 Amazing Recipes.

America's Test Kitchen

Based on 1 reviews Check latest price

The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook: 100 Easy, Healthy Recipes That Are Ready When You Are

Rockridge Press

Based on 1 reviews Check latest price

Product features

Nourishing ingredients

Discover main dishes and pantry staples that don’t rely on meat or dairy and limit processed ingredients.

Super simple prep

Explore recipes you can fix and forget, requiring only a few minutes of prep time.

Beginner-friendly recipes

Make well-balanced vegan meals with easy recipes that have five or fewer steps.

The Ultimate Vegetarian Slow Cooker Cookbook: 200 Flavorful and Filling Meatless Recipes That Prep Fast and Cook Slow

Sonoma Press

Based on 216 reviews Check latest price

The Italian Slow Cooker

Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Based on 457 reviews Check latest price

Elite Gourmet Lid & Ceramic Pot Slow Cooker with Adjustable Temp, Entrees, Sauces, Stews & Dips, Dishwasher Safe Glass Lid & Crock, 1.5 Quart, Stainless Steel

Elite Gourmet

Based on 8 reviews Check latest price

Product description

The Elite Gourmet 1.5 Qt. Mini Slow Cooker is perfect for cooking and serving small one-pot meals and appetizers such as soups, stews, meatballs, dips, and sauces. It's a great kickoff for a fondue party or where everyone prepares their favorite dip in their 1.5 Qt. Mini Slow Cooker. This versatile small appliance can be a single person's best companion as well as the all-star at your next Super Bowl party. It features low and high temperature settings, a keep-warm setting allowing you to keep your meal hot and fresh before it’s served, and an attractive stainless steel finish. It includes a removable inner stoneware pot that’s easy to clean, with a tempered glass lid with metal rim for easy viewing of cooking cycle and cool-touch handles and knob for safe handling.

  • 1.5 Quart removable inner stoneware pot
  • Convenient LOW / HIGH / KEEP WARM settings
  • Attractive stainless steel finish and tempered clear glass lid
  • Cool-touch handles and knobs while powered at 120 watts
  • Dishwasher safe glass lid and stoneware pot
  • 1.5 Quart removable inner stoneware pot
  • Convenient LOW / HIGH / KEEP WARM settings

User questions & answers

Question: Is the shape of the pot oval or round
Answer: This cover tapers to @18". At 20" it is at it's full width. Hope this helps. Maybe you can contact the seller and find out if they customize sizes at close to the same price. good luck!
Question: What are the inside ceramic crock bowl dimensions, i.e. how wide, deep, tall
Answer: Yes, the cover is very sturdy. It's a little stiff because I haven't washed it yet.
Question: How hot is the temperture going up? Will water boil well? I am going to cook rice or ramyun noodle in this
Answer: The cover itself is only approx. 1/4 inch thick.
Question: can it cook weaners
Answer: The one I purchased didn't smell at all.

The Complete Slow Cooker Cookbook for Beginners: 800 Must-Have Affordable and Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes for Any Taste and Occasion

Based on 121 reviews Check latest price

Taste of Home Soups, Stews and More: Ladle Out 325+ Bowls of Comfort

Reader's Digest/Taste of Home

Based on 116 reviews Check latest price

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