When it comes to Thanksgiving I am always worried about precious oven space, counter space, stovetop space, and getting everything done on time. A few years ago I started using our crockpots to make Thanksgiving prep so much easier. To help you plan your day today we are sharing our list of favorite Thanksgiving CrockPot Recipes!
Thanksgiving Crock Pot Recipes
If you haven’t used a slow cooker to prepare a Thanksgiving feast, this year is the time to do it!
Thanksgiving meals often include a protein or two, such as turkey or ham, and many different sides, and with all the food you’ll need to cook, your kitchen can get crowded quickly.
The CrockPot is one of our favorite kitchen appliances because of how easy it makes preparing large amounts of food to feed a crowd. Many slow cooker recipes are set-it-and-forget-it, only needing you to dump ingredients into the bowl and wait. Even better, with the different recipes you can prepare in a slow cooker, from side dishes to desserts and beverages, you’ll rely less on your oven, saving valuable oven real estate.
CrockPot Thanksgiving Side Dishes
CrockPot Dressing
Whether you call it stuffing or dressing, no Thanksgiving turkey is complete without a side of this beloved holiday side dish! Make it with your favorite bread or a mix of bread for custom layers of flavor and texture.
This slow cooker stuffing is a family favorite!!!
CrockPot Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet potatoes are naturally sweet, making them the perfect vegetable for those who aren’t typically veggie fans. This slow-cooker sweet potato casserole features brown sugar and gooey marshmallows, giving it a dessert flair while filling you up with beta-carotene, vitamin C, and potassium.
CrockPot Green Bean Casserole
This green bean casserole made entirely in your CrockPot uses pantry staples for prep-free and stress-free cooking, even for the optional garnishes. You can make it with canned or frozen green beans.
Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Do layers of sweet potatoes and apples slow-cooked to perfection and scented with cinnamon brown sugar sound delicious to your palate? If so, you’re in for a side dish treat that magically combines veggie and fruit slices and makes them taste fantastic.
CrockPot Sweet and Spicy Nuts
The holidays involve lots of merriment, which usually comes with lots of joyful drinking (at least, in our household, and only for those of age!). These slow-cooker sweet and spicy nuts leave a lovely scent behind once done cooking, are perfect for cocktail hour charcuterie boards, and are a treat for DIY holiday gifts.
Crock Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes
This slow-cooker recipe results in garlicky mashed potatoes - need we say more? Prepare the recipe as-is, or add sour cream, chives, parmesan cheese, or your favorite herbs that complement garlic for some CrockPot mashed potatoes with a personal spin.
CrockPot Glazed Carrots
These CrockPot carrots cook as they soak in the melted butter, cinnamon, and orange juice glaze, giving this veggie-based side dish warm layers of flavor that complement other warm pairings typical on the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Crock Pot Fried Apples
My love of Cracker Barrel Fried Apples inspired this CrockPot version of apple slices, slow-cooked to perfection in warm butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The scent they leave behind in your kitchen is nothing short of divine!
Slow Cooker Loaded Mashed Cauliflower
Thanksgiving is all about eating all the hearty, indulgent foods we can muster, but we understand that some folks at the table may want to moderate their intake more than others. For your more health-conscious guests, here’s a recipe for loaded CrockPot mashed cauliflower!
CrockPot Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Do you reach your breaking point with ham sandwiches and omelets midway through the holiday season? Turn your leftover ham into a brunch-worthy meal with this recipe for scalloped potatoes and ham made in your CrockPot!
Slow Cooker Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
Similar to our last recipe, here’s a nifty way to repurpose leftover Thanksgiving turkey into a warm, creamy, and oh-so-comforting CrockPot Turkey and Wild Rice Soup!
CrockPot Mushrooms
The holidays are full of parties and cocktail hours, so having some charcuterie recipes on hand is great when you’re in a pinch and have company coming over. I like pairing these herby Italian-style mushrooms with tiny forks for easy serving from a platter.
Crock Pot Spinach Artichoke Dip with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
This creamy, upgraded spinach and artichoke dip is one of our favorites to prepare for guests for any gatherings we host, especially around the holidays! It even comes dressed for the party, with the spinach and artichoke giving it some green and the red from the sun-dried tomatoes.
CrockPot Corn Pudding
Depending on where you live, you may have also seen this dish called a corn casserole. Regardless of what name you give it, it’s an easy side dish that slow cooks to perfection in just over two hours, making it one of our quicker slow cooker dishes from start to finish.
Crock Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes
Remember the loaded mashed cauliflower recipe we shared earlier in the roundup? Here’s the traditional version loaded with bacon and cheese for our standard meat-and-potato-loving friends seeking to indulge this holiday season.
CrockPot Pumpkin Soup
The love for pumpkin-anything starts in the fall, but who says it has to end once winter hits? You can add bacon pieces to give it extra meatiness or make it vegetarian and vegan with a few swaps if you’re serving any animal-loving friends.
Crock Pot Butternut Apple Soup
This warming fall soup is similar to classic French onion soup; we use butternut squash and granny smith apples to make it more filling and celebrate the best of the season’s harvest. It’s an excellent palate cleanser when you want something more rustic and vegetable-based in between the heavier meals that the holiday season is known for.
Crock Pot Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes
This recipe is similar to our CrockPot Garlic Mashed Potatoes recipe, but with fresh parsley, basil, and oregano to give it a herby Italian twist.
CrockPot Creamed Corn
Check out the recipe post for why you should keep frozen fruit and veggies as freezer staples, both for and outside of this slow-cooker recipe for cream-style corn!
CrockPot Thanksgiving Entree Recipes
CrockPot Turkey
If you’ve ever wondered whether your CrockPot comfortably accommodates a whole Thanksgiving turkey, this recipe is for you! Depending on the size of your slow cooker, you should be able to fit a two to four-pound bird.
This slow-cooker turkey breast is great anytime of the year! I make it just so I have leftovers for turkey sandwiches.
CrockPot Ham
Our go-to ham recipe features bone-in or boneless ham (your preference), slow-cooked to perfection in pineapple juice, brown sugar, and maple syrup for ample flavor and delight. It’s an excellent alternative protein if your guests don’t want turkey this Thanksgiving.
Crock Pot Orange Glazed Ham
Also, in the name of alternatives to holiday turkey, here’s a slow-cooker holiday ham with an orange marmalade and Dijon mustard glaze.
CrockPot Coca-Cola Ham
Southern Living has an excellent explanation of why Coca-Cola and ham are a match made in hog heaven. This retro recipe is a simple one that’ll surprise you!
Crock Pot Apple Raisin French Toast
Consider holiday breakfast or brunch served with this delicious, easy-to-make overnight brunch recipe! Set your slow cooker at night, wake up to the irresistible aroma of apples, raisins, vanilla, and cinnamon wafting in your kitchen, then grab a bowl and enjoy.
Crock Pot Pumpkin Oatmeal
Serve a hot bowl of this pumpkin and raisin oatmeal with our Crock Pot Pumpkin Spice Latte featured below for a pumpkin feast to warm the soul when the temps drop.
CrockPot Chicken and Dressing
Let this chicken and stuffing dish made entirely in your slow cooker be a stand-in when you want a hearty meal that’ll stick to your ribs but can’t bring yourself to consume more holiday turkey.
CrockPot Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes
Crock Pot Apple Spice Dump Cake
You only need three ingredients - apple pie filling, spice cake mix, and butter - and five minutes of prep time to make this ultra-simplified take on classic apple cobbler. Whenever I make it, the hardest part is finding the can opener.
Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream...hello yum!!!
CrockPot Cherries Jubilee
My inspiration for this slow cooker version of the decadent dessert came from a conversation with John where he not-so-subtly revealed that we’d last had it on our last cruise, which I took as a cue to recreate the dish in our kitchen.
Crock Pot Pumpkin Pie Pudding Cake
Would you rather have pumpkin pie or pumpkin pudding? Why not have both with this easy-peasy pudding cake recipe requiring only Bisquick baking mix and other pantry staples?
Crock Pot Caramel Apple Crisp
This slow cooker Caramel Apple Crisp has all the flavors and aromas of the classic fall fairground treat in a nifty, brunch-worthy dish perfect for crisp fall and winter mornings.
Crock Pot Apple Butter
You can use a single apple variety or a blend of apples in this delicious apple butter, perfect for toast, pancakes, or anything that could use a cinnamon and apple infusion.
Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter
Here’s our pumpkin version of the previous recipe if you’re still craving pumpkin for breakfast well into the winter months. Add a few drops of vanilla extract during the cooking process for extra decadence.
Crock Pot Pumpkin Bread
Others may look at me with amazement when I tell them I make cakes and bread using my slow cooker, but they’re just as quick to inhale any baked goods I offer them for testing, including this pumpkin bread that begins with canned pumpkin!
Crock Pot Apple Crisp
Here’s my juicy confession of the day: I used to buy store-bought apple crisp until I realized how easy it is to make at home with the help of my trusty CrockPot.
CrockPot Caramel Sauce
This rare one-ingredient recipe is one of the simplest you’ll find! Even better, it guarantees you delicious caramel sauce every time without the need for any complicated directions or methods.
CrockPot Thanksgiving Drink Recipes
CrockPot Pumpkin Spice Latte
Skip the coffee shop trip and turn to your slow cooker and pantry for enough Pumpkin Spice Latte to fill your cup and more! Pair it with our Crock Pot Pumpkin Liqueur for a boozy, adult-only version.
Crock Pot Hot Buttered Rum
Hot buttered rum may not drive away the snow and cold that winter is known for, but it will warm you up! Leave the slow cooker set to warm if you’re serving this hot libation for a holiday party and want guests to help themselves to additional servings.
Crock Pot Hot Chocolate
This slow-cooker hot chocolate only requires a few minutes of prep to yield a potful for a crowd. We love setting up a hot chocolate bar on the side so guests can garnish their cups to their heart’s delight.
CrockPot Mulled Wine
While you may think of Germany when you think of mulled wine, did you know that this treasured Christmas beverage came from the Romans, spread during their conquest of Europe, and wasn’t associated with the holidays until the 1890s?
Great Recipe Collections
Fall Drink Recipes - Easy Fall Cocktails everyone will love! These Fall Cocktail Recipes include apple cider, Fireball, Cinnamon, Pumpkin, and all of the best fall flavors.
Apple Cider Recipes - Delicious Apple Cider Recipes for fall! Everything from apple cider cocktails to desserts everyone will love.
Desserts with 5 ingredients or less - All the recipes in this collection are made with five or fewer ingredients, ensuring you’re never more than a few steps and ingredients away from sweet treat bliss.
Fall Dessert Recipes - All of our favorite desserts with nutmeg, maple syrup, brown sugar, and the flavors of Fall.
Apple Dessert Recipes - All of the fun fall desserts you can make with apples!
Pam Avoledo
Green bean casserole is a must! It's such a great side dish.