Healthy Italian Slow Cooker Recipes for bolognese, lasagna, beef ragu, chicken caccaitore, and more Italian classics that are made right in the crockpot.
Healthy Italian Slow Cooker Recipes are the perfect comfort food to come home to after a long day. There is nothing better than coming home, knowing dinner is ready waiting for you in the crockpot, and then indulging in your favorite Italian meals without guilt.
It's no secret that I absolutely love my slow cooker. It's one of the easiest ways to get dinner on the table and I love the deep, rich flavors it is able to create. Since Italian foods, especially sauces, are only better when they have more time to simmer, the slow cooker is an excellent tool for building really delicious Italian dishes. Plus since everything cooks for a long time and allows the flavors to deepen, you don't need lots of fat to get really deep, amazing flavor.
These are some of my best healthy Italian crock pot for dishes ranging from lasagna to Bolognese to meatballs and more.
Chicken Italian Slow Cooker Recipes
Chicken is always a go-to protein and cooking it in the slow cooker almost guarantees it will stay moist and tender. To keep things light and healthy, I usually opt for boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs and then pack in fresh herbs, tomatoes, and veggies to build flavor. Most chicken dishes will cook in about 4 hours on low in the slow cooker, although you can usually cook it for 8 hours on low as well without any problem. This is especially true if the recipe has a good amount of sauce that will keep the chicken from drying out.
1. Slow Cooker Mediterranean Chicken that's made with olives, capers, and red peppers.
2. Five Ingredient Chicken Parmesan Lasagna takes all the flavors of the classic dish but in lasagna form.
3. Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore packed with peppers, tomatoes, capers, onions, and plenty of garlic.
4. Slow Cooker Italian Red Pepper Chicken is a simple dish made with tomatoes and red peppers that has so much flavor and is perfect with pasta, polenta, or spaghetti squash.
5. Slow Cooker Tomato Balsamic Chicken is a reader favorite with diced tomatoes, spinach, and a good dose of balsamic vinegar that really kicks up the flavor.
6. Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore with Mushrooms is everything you love about the classic dish with the addition of mushrooms and plenty of peppers.
Italian Crockpot Recipes with Beef, Pork, and Turkey
There are so many options for healthy crockpot Italian dishes using beef, turkey, and sausage. The slow cooker lends itself to leaner cuts of beef that need lots of time to cook to become tender. Both the slow cooker beef ragu and Italian beef recipes below use these these types of cuts to create a deliciously tender beef dish that will quickly become a family favorite. Ground beef, ground turkey, and ground sausage also work great in the slow cooker and are perfect for creating rich spaghetti sauces.
7. Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with melt in your mouth, fork tender beef in a rich tomato sauce that is perfect for pasta, spaghetti squash, cauliflower mash, or polenta.
8. Slow Cooker Italian Beef cooks in a combination of tomatoes and red wine for the ultimate, fall apart beef dish.
9. Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs made with a combination of ground beef and turkey sausage in a homemade tomato sauce.
10. Slow Cooker Sausage and Gnocchi Soup is perfect for a cold night when all you want to do is curl up on the couch with a comforting bowl of soup.
11. Slow Cooker Sausages and Peppers in Tomato Sauce take this classic dish to another level since the sausages have hours to cook and flavor the peppers, onions, and tomato sauce.
Vegetarian Italian Slow Cooker Recipes
The slow cooker isn't just for meat dishes and there are plenty of ways to make delicious slow cooker dishes that are completely meatless. Many of these are delicious served with polenta, pasta, whole grains, spaghetti squash, or cauliflower rice.
12. Slow Cooker Tuscan Lentil Sloppy Joes create a rich, hearty meatless version of sloppy joes that are seasoned with Italian spices for a twist on traditional sloppy joes.
13. Slow Cooker Mediterranean Chickpeas combines the flavors of tomatoes, red peppers, capers, and olives to create a filling chickpea dish.
14. Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lasagna packed with fresh veggies, ricotta cheese, and perfectly cooked pasta without all the work.
15. Slow Cooker Italian White Beans with Mushrooms is a filling vegetarian slow cooker dish where white beans cook low and slow in a tomato based sauce packed with mushrooms.
16. Slow Cooker Italian Eggplant with Lentils combines two of my favorite ingredients with a hearty tomato sauce flecked with basil, rosemary, and thyme.
17. Slow Cooker Italian White Beans are easy to prepare and can be stored all week for a hearty main dish or side.
