24 Simple Slow Cooker Recipes for Two

Serves 2. About 4 hours on LOW, plus a few minutes to fill the tortillas.

You need: 2 small boneless chicken breasts, ¾ cup salsa, 2 ounces cream cheese, 4 small tortillas, ½ cup shredded lettuce.

Place the chicken in a small slow cooker and pour the salsa over it. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the cream cheese and stir it into the hot salsa. Shred the chicken with two forks, then fill the tortillas and add the lettuce.

No cream cheese? Stir in a spoonful of plain yogurt after switching off the heat.

These amounts are scaled down from a larger salsa chicken recipe made with 2 pounds of chicken. Set your tortillas on the counter before the chicken finishes.

Otherwise, dinner has a way of turning into forkfuls straight from the crock. If your insert is wide enough that the sauce barely reaches the chicken, choose a smaller one before you start.

Serves 2. Plan on 6 to 8 hours on LOW, checking whether the beef pulls apart.

You need: ¾ pound chuck roast, 1 small onion sliced, 1 cup beef broth, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 2 sandwich rolls, 2 slices provolone.

Place the onion in a small cooker and set the beef on top. Pour in the broth and add the garlic powder.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours, checking for beef that pulls apart easily. Shred the beef, pile it into the rolls and add the cheese. Ladle the cooking juices into two small bowls.

No provolone? Leave it off. The dipping broth is the point.

A full roast is tempting when you see it in the meat case. Buy a smaller cut, or portion a larger one before cooking. Zona Cooks’ French dip for two uses a 4-quart cooker and serves the juices alongside two sandwiches.

Here, the onion does double duty. It flavors the broth, then goes right into your rolls.

Serves 2. Plan about 3 hours on LOW, and check the chicken before serving.

You need: 2 boneless chicken thighs, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 teaspoon vinegar, ½ cup dry rice, 1 cup water.

Stir the honey, soy sauce, garlic and vinegar together in a small cooker. Turn the thighs in the sauce, cover and cook on LOW for about 3 hours, checking that the chicken is cooked through.

Simmer the rice in the water on the stove for about 15 minutes. Serve the thighs over rice with the sauce spooned on top.

No honey? Use 2 tablespoons of brown sugar stirred into the sauce.

There’s very little in this pot. Give the thighs an insert that holds them snugly, so the sauce coats the meat instead of spreading across a wide crock.

A Weekend Cook’s small-batch version uses boneless thighs for one or two servings. The time above is a cooking plan for these amounts, not a tested time from that source. Your doneness check decides when dinner is ready.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 2½ hours on LOW; allow 10 minutes for noodles.

You need: ½ pound ground beef, 4 ounces mushrooms sliced, ½ small onion chopped, ½ cup beef broth, ½ teaspoon paprika, ¼ cup sour cream, 3 ounces egg noodles.

Brown the beef and onion in a skillet, then drain off excess fat. Transfer them to a small cooker with the mushrooms, broth and paprika.

Cover and cook on LOW, checking the mushrooms and sauce after about 2½ hours. Boil the noodles until tender, then stir the sour cream into the beef and spoon it over them.

No sour cream? Use plain yogurt, stirring it in after the cooker is off.

Browning costs you a skillet to wash. It also keeps the sauce from tasting like boiled hamburger. Keep the noodles out of the crock so they’re ready to catch the sauce when you sit down.

Zona Cooks’ stroganoff for two pairs ground beef, mushrooms and sour cream, but uses the stovetop. This is a slow-cooker adaptation, so watch your pot rather than treating the clock as a guarantee.

Serves 2. About 2 to 3 hours on LOW, with a thermometer check and a short rest.

You need: ¾ pound pork tenderloin, 2 small potatoes cut into 1-inch pieces, 2 carrots cut into thick pieces, ¼ cup broth, 1 teaspoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon dried thyme.

Place the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of a small cooker. Set the pork over them, add the broth, oil and thyme, and cover. Cook on LOW for about 2 to 3 hours, checking early. Rest the pork for 3 minutes once its center reaches 145°F (63°C), then slice and serve.

No thyme? Use dried rosemary.

The American Heart Association puts dense vegetables at the bottom, closest to the heat. Tenderloin is lean, so don’t wait for it to fall apart like a shoulder roast.

Give the thermometer the final say. The USDA safe-temperature chart calls for 145°F (63°C) and a 3-minute rest for pork roasts and tenderloin.

Slice your pork after that rest while the potatoes and carrots are still hot.

Serves 2. About 3 to 4 hours on HIGH, with two generous sandwiches.

You need: ¾ pound pork tenderloin, 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 2 tablespoons water, 2 sandwich rolls, ½ cup shredded cabbage.

Stir the hoisin, ginger and water in a small cooker. Add the pork, turn it in the sauce and cover. Cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, checking early for tenderness. Shred the pork, return it to the sauce and pile it into the rolls with cabbage.

No fresh ginger? Use ¼ teaspoon ground ginger.

This tenderloin has a different job from the sliced pork above: it needs to pull apart for sandwiches. Watch your pot near the end instead of leaving a lean cut cooking long past tenderness.

Well Plated’s pulled tenderloin uses hoisin and ginger and warns against overcooking. If a fork meets resistance, give the meat a little longer. If it pulls apart, fill the rolls.

Serves 2. About 8 hours on LOW, with potatoes, carrots and gravy.

You need: 1 pound chuck roast, 1 small onion quartered, 2 small potatoes halved, 2 carrots cut thick, ½ cup beef broth, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 tablespoon cold water.

Place the onion, potatoes and carrots in the cooker. Set the roast on top, add the broth and cover. Cook on LOW for about 8 hours, until the beef and vegetables are tender.

Lift out the food, stir the cornstarch into cold water and whisk it into the hot juices. Cover for another 10 minutes, then spoon the gravy over two plates.

No cornstarch? Serve the cooking juices as a thin gravy.

Here’s the pot roast you meant to make all along. Zona Cooks’ small-batch version cooks chuck with onions, potatoes and carrots, then thickens the juices.

If the only roast at the store is larger, cut off the amount for tonight before it goes into the crock. You’ll have a choice about the uncooked remainder instead of a refrigerator full of the same cooked dinner.

Serves 2. Allow about 5 hours on HIGH, including the final half hour for dumplings.

You need: 1 boneless chicken breast, 1 carrot diced, 1 celery stalk diced, ¾ cup chicken broth, ¼ cup cream, ½ cup flour, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ cup milk.

Place the chicken, carrot, celery and broth in a small cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours, then shred the cooked chicken and stir in the cream.

Mix the flour, baking powder and milk into a soft dough. Drop small spoonfuls onto the hot filling, cover and cook about 30 minutes more, until the dumplings are set.

No cream? Use milk for the filling, too.

Dumplings are the part worth being home for. Add them too early and they lose the steamed finish you wanted. Campbell’s chicken and dumplings adds the dough near the end, after the base has cooked.

Make your dough during the chicken’s last stretch. Once the spoonfuls go in, keep the lid on and let them finish.

Serves 2. About 4 to 5 hours on LOW, with crisp strips added at serving.

You need: 1 boneless chicken breast, ½ cup picante salsa, ½ cup condensed cream of chicken soup, ½ cup corn, ½ cup drained black beans, ½ cup water, 2 small tortillas cut into strips, ¼ cup shredded cheese.

Place the chicken, salsa, soup, corn, beans and water in a small cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, until the chicken is cooked through.

Shred the chicken and return it to the soup. Toast the tortilla strips in a dry skillet, then divide the soup between bowls and add the strips and cheese.

No black beans? Use drained pinto beans.

The toppings give this small pot its crunch. Keep them out until your bowls are filled; tortilla strips left in the cooker turn limp. Campbell’s tortilla soup uses chicken, picante salsa, creamy soup, corn and beans.

A single breast gives you plenty to shred without turning soup night into several more soup nights. If you like a thicker bowl, use a wide spoon to lift more beans and chicken into each serving.

Serves 2. Start checking after roughly 7 hours on LOW for tender beef and vegetables.

You need: ½ pound stew beef, 1 small potato diced, 1 carrot sliced, ½ small onion chopped, 3 ounces mushrooms sliced, ¼ cup peas, 1½ cups beef broth.

Place the potato, carrot and onion on the bottom of a small cooker. Add the beef, mushrooms and broth, then cover. Cook on LOW, checking for tender beef and root vegetables after roughly 7 hours. Stir in the peas for the final 15 minutes, then ladle into bowls.

No mushrooms? Add another carrot.

This is soup with enough solids that it eats like dinner. Cut your potato small enough to fit on a spoon. Leave the carrot pieces thick enough to hold their shape.

Zona Cooks’ beef stew for two combines stew beef, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, onions, peas and broth in a 4-quart cooker. The timing here is a kitchen estimate for this smaller soup, not a time supplied by that recipe.

Check your beef before you set out the bowls. If it’s still firm, leave the cooker on and give dinner more time.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 6 hours on LOW, before you mash the potatoes.

You need: ½ pound stew beef, ½ onion sliced, 3 ounces mushrooms sliced, ½ packet onion soup mix, 1 teaspoon tomato paste, ½ cup water, 2 small potatoes.

Place the onion and mushrooms in a small cooker and add the beef. Stir the soup mix and tomato paste into the water, then pour it over everything.

Cover and cook on LOW, checking for tender beef after about 6 hours. Boil the potatoes separately for about 20 minutes, mash them and spoon the beef and gravy over the top.

No mushrooms? Use the other half of the onion.

Half a soup-mix packet is a small amount, but it beats making enough onion gravy for a crowd. Fold the opened packet closed for another dinner. Lipton Kitchens’ larger stew uses soup mix, water and tomato paste for its onion-mushroom gravy.

That source doesn’t supply a time for this halved batch. Treat the 6 hours as your first tenderness check. Keeping the potatoes separate leaves the little crock for beef and sauce.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 5 hours on LOW, before shredding the chicken.

You need: 1 boneless chicken breast, 1 cup drained white beans, ½ cup mild green salsa, ½ cup chicken broth, ¼ teaspoon cumin, 2 tablespoons chopped onion.

Place the chicken, beans, salsa, broth, cumin and onion in a small cooker. Cover and cook on LOW, checking the chicken after about 5 hours. Shred the cooked chicken with two forks. Mash a few spoonfuls of beans against the side of the crock and stir them back into the chili.

No green salsa? Use regular salsa for a different bowl.

That last mash matters. It thickens the broth without opening cream or making a flour slurry.

Budget Bytes’ white chicken chili uses the same bean-mashing trick in its larger dump-and-go version. Its recipe doesn’t establish the cook time for this smaller batch, so check your chicken.

Before you start, look at the food in your insert. If it sits too low, move it to a smaller cooker rather than hoping extra broth will solve the fit.

Serves 2. About 25 minutes on HIGH, starting with hot liquid.

You need: 2 small salmon fillets, ¾ cup hot vegetable broth, ¼ cup white wine, 2 lemon slices, 2 thin onion slices, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.

Pour the hot broth and wine into a small cooker. Add the lemon and onion, then settle the salmon into the liquid. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 20 minutes, checking for opaque, just-cooked fish. Lift the fillets out carefully and scatter parsley over them.

No wine? Use another ¼ cup broth.

This isn’t the recipe to start before an afternoon out. It’s for the evening when you want the cooker’s steady heat but don’t want a long-cooked dinner. Epicurious’ slow-cooker poached salmon uses hot broth, wine and aromatics for a short cook.

Keep a wide spoon nearby. Your salmon needs support on the way to the plate.

Serves 2. About 2 to 3 hours on HIGH, with chicken ready for tonight’s plates.

You need: 2 boneless chicken breasts, ¼ cup chicken broth, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 small potatoes, 2 tablespoons chopped scallions.

Place the chicken in a small cooker with the broth, garlic powder and salt. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours, until cooked through.

Bake the potatoes at 400°F (205°C) for about 45 minutes, until tender. Shred the warm chicken with two forks and turn it in the juices. Split the potatoes, add the chicken and finish with scallions.

No scallions? Use a little chopped onion.

Shredded chicken doesn’t have to be a giant meal-prep project. Two breasts make dinner now, with a planned lunch only if your portions run smaller.

A Couple Cooks’ tested method gives 2 to 3 hours on HIGH or 5 to 6 on LOW and shreds the chicken warm.

Decide where yours is going before it cooks. A baked potato gives those shreds a purpose, and the cooking juices keep them from sitting dry on the plate.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 4 hours on LOW, before shredding the chicken.

You need: 2 boneless chicken thighs, 2 tablespoons cream cheese, 1 teaspoon ranch seasoning, 2 tablespoons water, ¼ cup shredded cheddar, 2 medium potatoes, 2 tablespoons milk.

Place the chicken, cream cheese, ranch seasoning and water in a small cooker. Cover and cook on LOW, checking the chicken after about 4 hours.

Boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes, until tender, and mash them with the milk. Shred the cooked chicken with two forks, stir in the cheddar and spoon it over the potatoes.

No cheddar? Leave it out; the cream cheese still makes a sauce.

This is a good use for the last bit of cream cheese in the refrigerator. Break it into small pieces before it goes in so it melts into the juices.

A Weekend Cook’s small slow-cooker ranch chicken uses ranch seasoning, cream cheese and cheddar, then shreds the meat. The 4-hour check is for this version, not a time supplied by that source.

Keep your potatoes separate. They’ll catch the sauce instead of thickening it inside the crock.

Serves 2. About 2 hours on LOW, with broccoli added near the end.

You need: ½ pound thinly sliced chuck beef, 2 cups broccoli florets, ¼ cup beef broth, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 tablespoon cold water, ½ cup dry rice, 1 cup water for the rice.

Place the beef, broth, soy sauce and oyster sauce in a small cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for about 90 minutes, checking that the beef is tender.

Stir the cornstarch into the cold water, add it with the broccoli and cook about 30 minutes more. Simmer the rice in its water for about 15 minutes, then serve the beef and broccoli over it.

No oyster sauce? Add another teaspoon of soy sauce.

Broccoli has no reason to spend the whole cook in there. It goes in late so your florets reach the table with some bite. Damn Delicious’ beef and broccoli uses a soy-oyster-broth sauce and adds broccoli in the last 30 minutes.

Slice the beef before it enters the cooker, not when you’re already hungry and the rice is done. Keep the broccoli beside the crock until its turn.

Serves 2. About 7 to 8 hours on LOW, with sauce mixed into the shredded pork.

You need: ¾ pound pork shoulder, ½ cup regular root beer, ¼ cup chili sauce, 2 sandwich rolls, ½ cup shredded cabbage.

Place the pork in a small cooker and pour the root beer around it. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, until the meat shreds easily. Lift out the pork, discard excess cooking liquid and pull the meat apart. Stir in the chili sauce, then serve on rolls with cabbage.

No chili sauce? Use barbecue sauce.

The name sounds like a two-ingredient dinner, but your sandwich still needs a roll.

Pork and root beer do the long cooking; the sauce goes in after shredding. Betty Crocker’s root beer pulled pork specifically warns against diet root beer.

Check the bottle before you pour. Then let the cooker handle the long part while you decide whether those rolls need toasting.

Serves 2. About 3 to 3½ hours on HIGH, plus a short cooling spell.

You need: 1 apple diced, ¼ cup flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons rolled oats, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons milk, ¼ teaspoon baking powder.

Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and oats to make a crumbly topping. Beat the egg, milk and baking powder together, then stir in half the crumbs.

Spread the batter in a lightly greased small cooker, add the apple and scatter the remaining crumbs over it. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 3½ hours, until set, then cool briefly before serving.

No oats? Use another tablespoon of flour in the topping.

Dessert for two is where the big baking dish gives you away. Betty Crocker’s slow-cooker apple crisp coffee cake cooks in a 3 to 3½-quart cooker and is inverted to serve.

For this little batch, scoop it straight into two bowls. You still get warm apple and crumbs, without a cake waiting for attention tomorrow.

Serves 2. About 9 hours on LOW, followed by a brief broil.

You need: 2 large onions thinly sliced, 1 tablespoon butter, 2 cups beef broth, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, 2 slices bread, ½ cup shredded Gruyère.

Place the onions, butter and thyme in a small cooker and stir. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, until the onions are deep golden.

Pour in the broth, cover and cook for at least 1 hour more. Ladle into oven-safe bowls, top with bread and cheese, and broil for 2 to 3 minutes until bubbling.

No Gruyère? Use Swiss cheese.

Those onions ask for almost no work, but they do ask for time. Start them in the morning, not when you decide you want soup at six. Zona Cooks’ French onion soup for two gives the onions their long cook before adding broth.

Set your bowls on a baking sheet before broiling. It’s easier to lift one sheet than two hot bowls.

Serves 2. Allow 6 to 8 hours on LOW from frozen, after a short assembly session.

You need: 2 boneless chicken breasts, ½ cup salsa, ½ teaspoon taco seasoning, 2 ounces cream cheese, 4 small tortillas.

Place the chicken, salsa and taco seasoning in a freezer bag, press out excess air and freeze it flat.

Transfer the frozen contents to a small cooker, cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours, until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the cream cheese and shred the chicken. Spoon it into warm tortillas.

No taco seasoning? Add a pinch each of cumin and chili powder.

This is for the day when even opening several containers feels like prep. Assemble your bag when you already have the salsa out. Six Sisters’ Stuff’s freezer version gives a 60 to 90-day freezer window and cooking times from frozen.

Keep the cream cheese out of this bag so it’s ready to stir into the finished chicken. Mark the bag with what’s inside before it disappears under everything else.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 3 hours on HIGH, before shredding the chicken.

You need: 2 boneless chicken thighs, ¼ cup buffalo sauce, 2 sandwich rolls, ½ cup shredded lettuce.

Place the thighs in a small cooker and pour the buffalo sauce over them. Cover and cook on HIGH, checking the chicken after about 3 hours. Shred the cooked chicken and stir it through the sauce. Fill the rolls and add the lettuce.

No rolls? Serve the chicken in tortillas.

The two ingredients are the chicken and sauce in the cooker. Bread and lettuce come afterward, when you turn it into dinner. There’s no skillet to wash and no sauce to mix in a separate bowl.

Campbell’s two-ingredient buffalo chicken uses that dump-and-go idea; it doesn’t supply a time for this smaller batch. Check your chicken before you shred it. If the sauce looks thin afterward, leave the lid off while you set out the rolls.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 3 hours on LOW, before shredding the chicken.

You need: 2 boneless chicken thighs, ½ cup tomato sauce, 1 small onion sliced, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, 2 small rolls.

Place the onion in a 3-quart cooker and add the chicken. Pour over the tomato sauce, sprinkle in the oregano and cover. Cook on LOW, checking the chicken after about 3 hours. Shred the cooked chicken, stir it into the sauce and serve in the rolls.

No oregano? Use a pinch of dried basil.

This is a tomato chicken recipe first. The 3-quart pot is a way to judge its fit, not a required purchase.

Crock-Pot labels its 3-quart-and-under category as serving two to three people. That label doesn’t establish a cook time for tomato chicken; the 3-hour mark above is when you begin checking.

If you have a different cooker, look at how your ingredients fill it. Don’t buy a dial to make a sandwich.

Serves 2. Start checking after about 5 hours on LOW, before serving the stew.

You need: 2 boneless chicken thighs, 1 small potato diced, 1 carrot sliced, ¼ small onion chopped, 1 cup chicken broth, ¼ teaspoon dried thyme.

Place the potato, carrot and onion in the cooker. Add the chicken, broth and thyme, then cover. Cook on LOW, checking the chicken and vegetables after about 5 hours. Pull the cooked chicken into bite-size pieces and divide the stew between two bowls.

No thyme? Add a pinch of dried parsley.

This stew isn’t tied to a brand. Its diced potato, carrot and chicken need a setting that holds the batch properly. The 5-hour check is a kitchen estimate for this recipe, not a tested time from a manufacturer.

If you already own a variable-capacity cooker, choose its capacity after you see the ingredients together. The Hamilton Beach Right Size cooker, for instance, offers 2-, 4- and 6-quart capacities.

Put the vegetables on the bottom and the chicken above them. Your reward is two bowls of stew, not an appliance comparison at dinnertime.

Serves 2. Begin checking during a roughly 3-hour cook on LOW, then rest the pork for 3 minutes.

You need: 2 pork chops, 1 sweet onion thinly sliced, ¼ cup cherry preserves, 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, ½ teaspoon dried thyme.

Place the sliced onion in a small cooker and lay the pork chops on top. Stir the preserves, vinegar, water and thyme together, then spoon the mixture over the chops.

Cover and cook on LOW, beginning thermometer checks before 3 hours. Rest the chops for 3 minutes once the thickest part reaches 145°F (63°C), then serve them with the onion and glaze.

No cherry preserves? Use apricot preserves for a different glaze.

There’s no tested source recipe or established slow-cooker time for this combination.

Treat the clock as a reminder to check, not permission to leave the chops until they shred. The USDA pork guidance supplies the finish temperature and rest.

You get two distinct plates rather than a mound of meat waiting for tomorrow. Spoon the onion over each chop, put the glaze beside it, and see whether the crock is finally empty after dinner.