Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes

There's butternut squash, leeks, and spinach as well as white beans in this hearty, rich, and flavorful vegetarian soup. It's a recipe that proves the slow cooker is as well suited to vegetable recipes as to big pieces of meat.

This slow-cooker version of split-pea soup is as easy as it gets and is packed with healthy fiber and protein. Serve it with crusty bread and you've got a soul-warming meal ready to go.

Nothing hits the spot on a chilly winter night like a hearty bowl of stew. Boost the feel-good factor with this lighter version.

Instead of roasting your vegetables, try giving them the slow-cooker treatment. Here, carrots, parsnips, and beets are poached in a spiced oil until silky and flavorful. Serve with pesto over grains or alongside roasted meats. This recipe appears in our cookbook "Martha Stewart's Slow Cooker" (Clarkson Potter).

Here a baked potato dish provides enough sustenance to make a meal in itself. Start this in the morning.

These vegetarian wonders are fast to prep and come out tender and tasty.

Lots of spice adds a layer of warmth to this turkey chili that you can make in a slow-cooker. This recipe calls for boneless, skinless turkey thighs, serrano chiles, chipotle chile in adobo, whole peeled tomatoes, and chili powder.

Whether you use a slow cooker or the oven, you'll be rewarded with tender meat and deep flavor. If you have New Mexico or Anaheim chiles, swap 5 or 6 for the poblanos.

Cindy Pawlcyn serves this cabbage alongside her Mongolian Pork Chops at her Mustards Grill restaurant in Yountville, California.