Share your easy and delicious big-batch recipes

[OtherJen]

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs were on sale this morning, so I bought a family pack (roughly 2 lbs worth) and made this in the crock pot today:

https://www.budgetbytes.com/sticky-ginger-soy-glazed-chicken/

Added some water to the sauce so that it mostly covered the meat.  I'm probably just going to save the sauce and throw it in the freezer for the next time I make it.  You could probably make twice as much chicken with double the sauce ingredients if you want to feed a ton of people or make tons of freezer portions.

Would love to know what else people are cooking -- with the crock pot or otherwise -- on hot days.

I love Budget Bytes but haven’t tried that recipe yet. Yum!

I did a big batch of crockpot marinara sauce loosely based on the Budget Bytes recipe, but added a few crumbled slices of bacon, sautéed veggies in the grease, added a half lb. of mushrooms, and skipped the sugar. We had a good pasta dinner last night, lunch today, probably a couple more lunches this week, and an extra quart of sauce for the freezer.

https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-marinara/

[Dancin'Dog]

An alternative to big batch cooking is to simply cook a big amount of your meat of choice and using that meat in different easy to cook meals. 5 lbs of shredded chicken can be tossed in tacos, salads, sandwiches, mole, scrambled eggs. Can be accomplished by a big roast or big thing of pork (pork butt great for carnitas).

Ditto.


Just add the apropriate spices or sauce for whatever you want it to be.  You can really bend the rules as much as you care to.  We enjoy mixing a variety of meats together. 

[FInding_peace]

I've often had good luck with Real Simple magazine's slow cooker recipes. 

Here's a sample of some:
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/recipes-slow-cooker
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/best-slow-cooker-recipes-0
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/easy-slow-cooker-recipes

I've made several of these, including the chicken and biscuits, white bean soup with andouille sausage and greens, asian short ribs, pulled pork, brats and sauerkraut, squash lasagna, veggie enchiladas, corned beef, split pea soup, etc. and they've always come out pretty tasty without a lot of effort. 

[soccerluvof4]

throw as many frozen chicken drumsticks in a crockpot as possible as you can buy them cheap! Dump a half a bottle of BBQ sauce of your liking over them and set Slowcooker on high for about 4 hours. At 3 hour mark add rest of bottle of BBQ sauce. Should be able to make at least 24 legs for 3$ or less. And there delicious.

[katsiki]

throw as many frozen chicken drumsticks in a crockpot as possible as you can buy them cheap! Dump a half a bottle of BBQ sauce of your liking over them and set Slowcooker on high for about 4 hours. At 3 hour mark add rest of bottle of BBQ sauce. Should be able to make at least 24 legs for 3$ or less. And there delicious.

This is great!  I have some similar recipes that are really simple.  Probably from Budget Bytes.  One is basically soy sauce, honey and maybe one more ingredient.  The IP will really change your life.  :)

[drunkatthejug]

SilverHydra's Meat Slop makes a ton of food in like 30 minutes.

http://www.silverhydra.com/2011/10/meat-slop/

I recommend extra lean beef and something to make it spicy - sriracha, jalapenos, red pepper, etc.

[sparkytheop]

I made this a couple weeks ago, and it lasted me several meals (opinions may vary on how healthy it is...)

https://natashaskitchen.com/spinach-and-artichoke-pasta-recipe/

Next time I may use half marinated artichokes and half "plain" to give it a little more flavor.  I made it following the recipe this time, but will probably add some chicken next time too.  It was fast and easy, and tastes even better the next day when all the flavors get a chance to soak in.

[firehelp]

The dahl sounds great.
When you say gheera, is that another term for cumin?
How much is a "whole" gheera?
Thanks!

Gheera is jeera is cumin is probably something else too.

Each seed is itty bitty.

So if I was to pretend to follow a recipe...
6 cups water
1.5-2 cups lentils
2 cloves of garlic minced
Oil (1T)
And 1.5 tsp cumin

If you only have ground cumin, you mix it with a bit of water and cook until it smells.

The garlic you cook till brown and fragrant. Whole gheera you cook until they pop up and are fragrant

Hmmm... I need to post a real daal (dahl) recipe sometime. :-)

[soccerluvof4]

We eat egg salad like there is no tomorrow in our house and the kids wolf it down as well so I make at least a batch a week. It lasts 3 days but just restir each time before you make a sandwich or eat on crackers.

Fill large 3/4 full of water, add 1 doz of eggs and sprinkle a dash of salt in water. Bring to strong boil, turn off heat , cover and sit for 20 minutes.  In bowl of water and ice slowly place eggs. About 10 minutes in ice water your ready to go. While eggs are boiling/cooking
I pre-cut and place in my egg salad bowl thats perfect for a batch 2 diced green onions, 2 stalks of chopped fine celery after cutting top and bottom off , 1/2 Tablespoon yellow mustard and 1/2 Tablespoon Dijon , Heavy 1/4 of Paprika and a dash of salt and pepper to your  liking. Tad bit more than 1/2 cup of low fat Mayonnaise. Once eggs cool, peel under cold water, dice and add to mixing bowl and stir up. Yummy!! and perfect every time

[Morning Glory]

Zucchini pancakes are a great way to use all the zucchini. I grind up a few zucchini, an onion and some jalapenos in the food processor. For every 2 cups ground veggies add 1 egg and 1/2 cup flour. Season with herbs and spices as you wish, then mix up and pan fry. My kids like to eat them with ketchup

[Morning Glory]

Another good recipe for garden produce is to cook and cut up 1 lb bacon into an 8 qt pot. Fill the pot the rest of the way with chopped zucchini and cook until it shrinks down a bit. Then fill the pot again with chopped tomatoes. Season with garlic and herbs, and cook until it is boiling. Enjoy.

I got this recipe from my late mother in law. Maybe someone should start a separate zucchini thread :)

[kimmarg]

I make a version of this enchilada casserole almost every week and it reheats pretty well:
https://www.thissavoryvegan.com/vegan-enchilada-casserole-jalapeno-cream-sauce/

Instead of canned beans I cook dry beans in the instant pot. It does have vegan cream cheese which is kind of processed but you could substitute with blended cashews and lime juice or real cream cheese/sour cream if you eat dairy products.

I was also going to suggest enchilada casserole only my version is red sauce and not vegan.

Basically layer these items:
1. Enchilada sauce https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/red-enchilada-sauce/
2. shredded chicken (see below) mixed with canned corn and canned black beans
3. corn tortillas
4. shredded cheese.

Shredded chicken:
put 1 bag frozen peppers and onions in the bottom of the crockpot. Add boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs. sprinkle with 2 tsp cumin or an envelope of taco seasoning. Cook on high 3-4 hours until chicken shreds.

[cloudsail]

Posting to follow.

[nancy33]

Thank you for this thread! I was lazy and tired and not sure what I would bring for lunch tomorrow to work. Inspired by this thread I just threw frozen stew meat baby carrots a chopped onion cut up our last three tomatoes, salt pepper and a can v8 and a can of chicken broth in the instant pot and started up rice in the rice cooker. Took about 10 minutes and now we have meals for tomorrow 

[nancy33]

Soy chicken
Put some oil in instant pot. Add frozen chicken boneless skinless breasts. Sautée for a bit while you Shred (or slice) a big chunk of ginger root into the  pot with your salad shooter.
Pour over this a can of chicken broth and about the same amount of soy sauce
Pressure cook 45 minutes and slow release
Serve with rice made in the rice cooker

[cloudsail]

I use my instant pot multiple times a week too.

Last night between kids activities I had less than half an hour to make dinner. Instant pot pasta ftw! From scratch sauce, no draining required, I even had time to chop up a salad.