11 Slow Cooker Tips For Healthy Eating

By Nutritional Weight & Wellness Staff
September 29, 2025

Ask our nutritionists what helps them keep real food on the table when life is busy, and the slow cooker is always near the top of the list. It’s one of those tools that makes healthy eating feel doable — even on the days when schedules are packed and energy is low. With a few minutes of prep in the morning, you can come home to a meal that’s warm, comforting, and full of whole-food flavor.

Slow cooking also has a hidden health perk: because it cooks at a lower, steady temperature, more of the vitamins and minerals stay in your food. And since everything simmers together in one pot, the nutrients that do cook out end up in the broth or sauce — right where they belong.

For our team, slow cookers aren’t just about convenience. They’re about making it easier to feed yourself and your family real, nourishing meals without the stress.

11 Slow Cooker Tips For Healthy Meals

1. Prep Ahead for Easy Mornings

One of the best ways to make the slow cooker work for you is to set yourself up the night before. Our nutritionists often recommend trimming excess fat from meat, chopping vegetables, and measuring out spices in the evening when the day has slowed down. Store everything in separate containers in the fridge so that in the morning it’s just a matter of putting ingredients into the slow cooker insert, adding liquid, and turning it on.

This small step takes the rush out of busy mornings and makes it more likely you’ll stick with real, home-cooked meals instead of relying on takeout.

2. Use It as Extra “Oven Space”

During the holidays, oven space is precious. Slow cookers work beautifully as an extra heat source, keeping mashed potatoes, squash, or other dishes warm while the rest of your meal finishes cooking. It’s also a great way to save money by keeping food warm at potlucks or family gatherings without firing up the oven again.

3. Test Your Cooker’s Heat

Not every particular slow cooker is the same. Some run hotter than others, which affects the actual cook time. Try a standard recipe at least once before serving it to guests so you know how your cooker handles cooking temperature. That way, you can avoid food safety issues like undercooked meat or overcooked, dried-out chicken breasts.

Tip: A classic method is to fill the slow cooker with cold water (half to two-thirds full), put on the lid, set it to low, and let it run for 8 hours. Check the water temperature — it should be roughly 185°F (~85°C).

4. Choose a Programmable Model with a Warm Setting

Look for a slow cooker that gives you flexibility. A model with a keep warm setting is great, but even better is one that allows you to switch manually between low setting, high setting, and warm. This ensures you’re not locked into a longer cooking time than necessary, and your meal will still be hot and ready when you are.

5. Don’t Peek

It’s tempting to lift the lid to check on dinner, but each time you do, heat escapes and steam is lost. That can extend the cooking time by 15–20 minutes. Trust the cooking process—keeping the lid closed helps meat stay tender and vegetables finish cooking with better texture.

6. Know the Difference Between Low Setting & High Setting

Both low setting and high setting reach the same cooking temperature (just below simmering). Cooking on high will bring your food up to 209°F (just below the simmering point) in about 3-4 hours, compared to cooking on low which takes about 7 hours. Use this general rule to plan your slow cooker recipes around your schedule—low if you’re gone all day, high if you’re starting later in the afternoon.

7. Choose the Right Proteins

Slow cookers are at their best when you use the right cuts of meat. Fatty cuts like pork shoulder, beef chuck, or bone-in chicken finish cooking into tender, flavorful meals. Leaner chicken breasts benefit from being fully covered in broth or sauce, while whole chickens do beautifully when stuffed with onions, fresh garlic, and other vegetables. Fish and seafood, however, don’t hold up well in a slow cooker. For food safety, always check doneness with a thermometer: 160°F for beef and 170°F for poultry.

8. Capture More Nutrients

Slow cooking isn’t just an easy way to get dinner on the table—it also preserves nutrients. Because food cooks at a lower temperature, heat-sensitive vitamins are better protected. And since liquid isn’t discarded, the minerals and antioxidants that leach out during the cooking process stay in the sauce or broth you eat.

Tip: Don’t pour off the cooking liquid — it’s full of flavor and nutrients. Use the broth as a base for soup, stir it back into shredded meat to keep it juicy, or spoon it over rice or vegetables for an easy sauce.

9. Think Beyond Soup and Meats For Slow Cooking

While soups, stews, and meat are slow cooker staples, slow cooking comes in handy for many dishes. Try shredded pork in the summer when it’s too hot to use the oven, or make stuffed peppers for perfectly portioned dinners.

Example: Try our homemade applesauce or baked potatoes in the slow cooker — both are easy, hands-off options that make mealtime (or snack time) a little simpler.

And remember, you don’t always need a slow cooker–specific recipe. Many stovetop dishes can be adapted: brown the meat or sauté veggies first, then let the slow cooker finish cooking.

10. Don’t Overfill

For best results, keep your slow cooker no more than two thirds full. Overfilling leads to uneven cooking and bubbling over as liquids expand. Keeping the pot at the right level helps everything cook evenly and makes cleanup easier too.

11. Make Healthy Eating Affordable

We often hear people say that eating healthy is too expensive. A slow cooker is a great way to prove otherwise. It allows you to use more affordable proteins — like tougher cuts of beef or pork — and cook them low and slow until they’re tender and flavorful. It also makes batch cooking simple, so you can portion meals into leftovers or freeze extras for another day. And adding budget-friendly vegetables like squash, turnips, or parsnips is an easy way to stretch a recipe and make it more filling without spending more.

Once you get the hang of it, having a few go-to slow cooker recipes under your belt makes it easy to put healthy, comforting meals on repeat. For busy homes, slow cookers can mean the difference between scrambling at the last minute and walking in the door to your family dinners already done — nourishing, simple, and ready to serve.

Try These Slow Cooker Recipes

Ready to put these tips into action? Check out some of our favorite slow cooker recipes:

• White Chicken Chili

• Crockpot® Mexican Chicken Wraps

• Stuffed Peppers

• Slow Cooker Squash or Baked Potatoes

• BBQ Chili

• Baked Beans