We recently bought half of an organic, grass-fed cow. That’s, like, a whole freezer full of meat, and my mind is reeling at all of the unfamiliar cuts. (My meat selection growing up was limited to ground beef, steak, roasts, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I’ve come a long way!) Beef short ribs is one of those cuts, so I wandered around Tasty Kitchen looking for recipes. When I saw TK member Shelbi Keith’s recipe for Crockpot Korean Short Rib Tacos, I knew it was going to be a winner.

Why?

1. Unfamiliar cuts of meat + slow cooker = deliciousness
2. Tacos make my world go round. I love them almost as much as my children.

Let’s start!

Gather up the ingredients for the sauce that goes in the slow cooker with the short ribs: soy sauce (I used tamari), rice vinegar, sesame oil, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, and brown sugar (I reduced it to 1/3 cup).

Peel the garlic and ginger and roughly chop them both. For the ginger, I just cut the skin off with a sharp knife. Yes, you may lose some ginger in the process, but the thought of scraping it off with the back of a spoon makes me crazy. So, I slice it off.

Put the garlic and ginger in a food processor and give it a few pulses until it’s nice and minced. You could also mince it really well with a knife. Or use a Microplane grater.

Transfer to a medium-ish bowl. Preferably one with polka dots.

Add the soy sauce …

And the rest of the ingredients: brown sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper.

Give it a stir. You can make this sauce ahead and keep it in the fridge for several days.

Unwrap your beef short ribs.

Grab the slow cooker your mom used when you were a kid. (Those are the best kind! The newer ones cook way too hot.) Place the ribs inside. I used a 4-quart slow cooker, and it did wonderfully.

Pour that sauce over the ribs, put the lid on, and walk away.

For about 10-12 hours. It took my ribs 11 hours to loosen up and start falling off the bones. It was a lot longer than I anticipated.

So, instead of having these for dinner, I took the meat off the bones, poured the sauce into a container, and went to bed. That’s why the fat is so hard in the photo above. It was nice, though, to be able to remove so much of it. And it made for a nice, quick Saturday lunch the next day!

I had to show you this. This is what the sauce looked like when I removed the fat, after it had sat in the fridge all night. Sort of like a beef broth-soy sauce gelatin. *shudder*

No need to fear, though. I threw the meat into a skillet with about half of the gelatin-ized sauce and after a few minutes it got all juicy-like. Meat’s ready!

Now let’s make the carrot-cucumber slaw to go on top. Don’t slack on this. This taco needs this slaw.

Peel a carrot and a cucumber. (I made more slaw than the recipe suggested and used every bit.)

Julienne them both and place them in a bowl. You can do it by hand or use a julienne blade on a mandoline slicer. I really, really love my mandoline. It’s a dangerous thing for me to have, given my track record with sharp objects, but it makes thin, beautiful, uniform cuts. Totally worth the risk.

The dressing for the slaw is simple: just rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and some crushed red pepper flakes. Combine them in a bowl …

And pour it over the carrots and cucumber. You can do this a couple of hours ahead of time, but if you do it earlier, the cucumbers might get soggy. Toss it around, and it’s ready!

Grab some tortillas and assemble the tacos, placing some slaw over the shredded meat. Top it with some chopped fresh cilantro and you are in business, my friends.

Thank you, thank you, Shelbi for making these tacos a part of my life! They were fantastic and every solid-food-eating member of my family loved them!

Be sure to check out Shelbi’s Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box and her blog, Look Who’s Cookin’ Now for more great recipes! (Her Lime Grilled Steak with Smoky Cilantro Butter is calling my name.)

Printable Recipe

Crockpot Korean Short Rib Tacos

by Shelbi Keith on February 13, 2012 in Main Courses, Slow Cooker February 13, 2012 Main CoursesSlow Cooker

See post on Shelbi Keith’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 15 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 7 hrs

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 3

Share f a e

3

• Print
• Leave a comment
• write a review

x

Print Options

Page size

Letter 3x5 4x6

Text Size

Small Medium Large

Content

Include description
Include prep time, etc.
Show image

Print

Description

After taking one bite, my husband proclaimed this his new favorite meal!

Ingredients

• FOR THE KOREAN SHORT RIBS:
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 1-½ whole Inches Of Ginger, Peeled
• ¾ cups Soy Sauce
• ½ cups Plus 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• 3 pounds Beef Short Ribs
• FOR THE CUCUMBER SLAW:
• ½ whole Hot House Cucumber
• ½ whole Carrot
• 4 teaspoons Rice Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 2 pinches Salt
• 1 pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• FOR SERVING:
• 4 whole Tortillas
• 2 Tablespoons Cilantro For Garnish

Preparation Instructions

For the Korean short ribs:

In a mini food processor, blend garlic and ginger until minced. Mix with soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.

Place short ribs in crockpot and pour sauce over ribs. Turn crock pot on low heat. Cover with a lid and cook for 6-8 hours.
Remove meat from pot, discard bones. Place in the fridge to chill to touch.

Meanwhile, skim fat off the top of the sauce. Place in a sauce pan and simmer until thickened.

Once meat is cool to touch, pull apart with your fingers. Pour about 1/2 cup of the sauce back into the meat. You may serve the extra sauce on the side or discard it.

For the cucumber slaw:

Peel cucumber and chop into matchsticks. Peel carrot and shred.

Mix carrot and cucumber with rice vinegar, sugar, salt and red pepper flakes.

Serve meat on a warm tortilla topped with slaw and cilantro.

 
 
_______________________________________

Be sure to check out Natalie’s own beautiful food blog, Perrys’ Plate, where you can see her growing collection of lovely recipes. There’s always something new to see there. Go visit now!

 
Can you ever have too many slow cooker recipes? I don’t think so. I love coming home at the end of the day to dinner all ready in the crockpot, just waiting to be devoured by my hungry family. Slow cooker recipes are a life saver when you’re too busy to mess with dinner prep. Just throw a little of this and a little of that in the pot and you’re good to go. Just don’t forget to plug it in—yeah that’s happened to me before, if I’m being honest. More than once.

If you’re looking for a tasty new slow cooker recipe to try, then these Slow Cooker Peach BBQ Chicken Sandwiches from TK member Marie are perfect to try out. The chicken slowly simmers in a rich sauce of barbecue sauce (I used my own homemade sauce), sticky sweet peach preserves, onions, and garlic. Then top it all off with creamy coleslaw, some fresh sliced avocado, and you’ve got yourself one tasty sandwich.

You’ll need: chicken breasts, spicy barbecue sauce, peach preserves, onion, garlic, bread, butter, coleslaw, and avocado.

Place the onion, garlic, and barbecue sauce in your slow cooker.

Get a nice scoopful of the peach preserves.

Add the preserves, give it a good stir, then place the chicken on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

When chicken is done, remove it from the slow cooker along with some of the sauce, and use a fork to shred the chicken.

Toast your bread with a little butter. I used Hawaiian rolls but your favorite bread will work.

Now assemble your sandwich. Place some of the chicken on your bread.

Top with the coleslaw and sliced avocado.

Top with another slice of bread, stand back, and enjoy your handiwork.

Now dig in! And try not to drool too much.

Thank you Marie for sharing this delicious sandwich with us. Marie blogs at The Little Kitchie, where she shares her joy for cooking, baking and eating. Now if you aren’t already hungry enough, go check out her lovely blog full of yummy recipes!

Printable Recipe

Slow Cooker Peach BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

by Marie @ Little Kitchie on December 4, 2012 in Main Courses, Slow Cooker December 4, 2012 Main CoursesSlow Cooker

See post on Marie @ Little Kitchie’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 3 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 3 hrs

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 4

Share f a e

4

• Print
• Leave a comment
• write a review

x

Print Options

Page size

Letter 3x5 4x6

Text Size

Small Medium Large

Content

Include description
Include prep time, etc.
Show image

Print

Description

Sweet-spicy BBQ made super easy!

Ingredients

• 1 pound Chicken Breasts
• 16 ounces, fluid Spicy BBQ Sauce
• 8 ounces, fluid Peach Preserves
• ½ cups Onion, Chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 8 slices Sourdough Bread
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 whole Avocado
• 1 cup Coleslaw

Preparation Instructions

Place chicken, BBQ sauce, peach preserves, onion, and garlic in your slow cooker. Mix well so that everything is combined. Cook for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.

When chicken is finished cooking, remove it from the slow cooker, along with a bit of the sauce, and place it in a bowl. Shred using 2 forks and add more sauce as desired.

To assemble your sandwiches, toast up your bread in a skillet with butter. Top bread with chicken, slices of avocado, and 1/4 cup coleslaw per sandwich. Top with other slices of bread, and enjoy!

 
 
_______________________________________

Amber is a stay at home mom who lives in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. It’s a long way from where she grew up, in Wales (yes, way over in the U.K.). The recipes in her blog Sprinkled with Flour include her original creations as well as her family recipes. Go check them out!

After our recent slow cooker chat here at the Tasty Kitchen Blog, I decided to pull my slow cooker down off the top shelf and dust it off. It really is such a workhouse in the kitchen for me, and yet I don’t utilize it enough. After a quick search on Tasty Kitchen for slow cooker recipes, I had a hard time choosing! There are so many great-looking ones out there!

My favorite kind of slow cooker recipes are those that are literally chop-and-drop. I’m not entirely against recipes that require a little browning of the meat or aromatics first, but there are days when I just don’t have the time. This Slow Cooker Thai Chicken recipe by Tasty Kitchen member Erin is a two-in-one for me: not only is it chop-and-drop, it’s also a homemade version of take-out. Anytime I see a recipe for a healthier version of take-out, I save it!

This recipe is chock full of vegetables in a creamy coconut-peanut butter sauce that I could just slurp with a straw—it is so good! The Thai flavors come from Thai red curry paste, fish sauce, lime and cilantro. I actually didn’t use the fish sauce because I had a bad experience with it in the past (I dropped it on my kitchen floor, and the smell, well, you know). Erin tells us that it doesn’t taste fishy, but it provides savoriness and depth of flavor. I totally trust her but my husband won’t let me bring another bottle in the house yet.

In the vegetable department, you’ll need chopped butternut squash, sliced mixed peppers, onions, peas. The sauce is made up of canned light coconut milk, a touch of brown sugar, peanut butter, chicken broth, red curry paste, crushed red pepper flakes, ginger, garlic, lime and cilantro. If that sounds like all your favorite Thai flavors, you’re right!

First, whisk together the sauce ingredients: coconut milk, chicken stock, peanut butter, curry paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Whisk very well to dissolve the peanut butter and curry paste. I used a natural-style peanut butter that really didn’t want to dissolve, so I had to mash it with a fork first.

Next, stir in the chicken, squash, peppers, and onion. I used a bag of frozen sliced mixed peppers for ease.

Stir it all together. We’re almost done!

Cover and cook on low for 6–8 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, add the peas and lime juice. When serving, top with cilantro. I served mine with hot, cooked brown rice.

Thanks, Erin, for curing my take-out craving and making it super simple, too. Visit her beautiful blog, Well Plated, for more great and healthy recipes like this!

Printable Recipe

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken

by Erin | Well Plated on March 8, 2014 in Main Courses, Slow Cooker March 8, 2014 Main CoursesSlow Cooker

See post on Erin | Well Plated’s site!

4.50 Mitt(s) 2 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 8 hrs

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

Share f a e

6

• Print
• Leave a comment
• write a review

x

Print Options

Page size

Letter 3x5 4x6

Text Size

Small Medium Large

Content

Include description
Include prep time, etc.
Show image

Print

Description

A healthy slow cooker chicken recipe made with a simple, delicious Thai peanut and coconut milk sauce. Easily adapts to whatever vegetables you have on hand. This version is loaded with creamy butternut squash, red and green bell peppers, and peas for a beautiful, wholesome dish.

Ingredients

• 2 cans (14 Oz. Size) Light Coconut Milk
• 1 cup Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• ¼ cups Peanut Butter Creamy Or Crunchy
• 3 Tablespoons Red Curry Paste
• 2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Minced Fresh Ginger
• 1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
• ¼ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into 1 1/2 Inch Pieces
• 3 cups Peeled And 1/2-inch Cubed Butternut Squash
• 2 whole Red Bell Peppers, Cored And Sliced
• 2 whole Green Bell Peppers, Cored And Sliced
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Thinly Sliced
• 2 cups Frozen Peas, Thawed
• 2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
• ½ cups Chopped Fresh Cilantro, For Serving
• 3 cups Prepared Brown Rice, For Serving

Preparation Instructions

In a 5-quart or larger slow cooker, stir together the coconut milk, chicken stock, peanut butter, curry paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Place the chicken breast, squash, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and onion in the slow cooker and stir gently to coat with sauce. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

Thirty minutes before you are ready to serve, stir in the peas and finish cooking. Immediately before serving, stir in lime juice. Serve garnished with cilantro, atop brown rice.

 
 
_______________________________________

Growing up in a food-obsessed family and spending a lot of time in her Aunt Rose’s restaurant as a child, Christina was destined to be a fantastic cook. She’s a private chef during the day, but cooks for two at home. Like all of us, she has a sweet tooth that needs indulging after dinner. After becoming frustrated with the lack of recipes made for two, especially in the dessert category, she took matters into her own hands and started her blog, Dessert for Two, to share how she takes Southern classics (and a few surprises) and turns them into recipes that are perfect for just a few people. Her first cookbook is due out in February 2015.

 
Indian food is total comfort for me. There’s just something about the spicy heat, the simple side of white basmati rice and the chewy garlic naan that soaks it all up perfectly. And as much as I love hitting up my local Indian restaurant for take-out, I also really love making my own Indian food at home. So when I stumbled upon Rebecca’s recipe for Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala, I knew it was an immediate must-make.

I adore my cheap slow cooker from Target and had a feeling this recipe would be the perfect meal for a weekend full of cold rainy weather here in Northern California. Turns out, I was right! This recipe was, hands down, the best thing to ever come out of my trusty little slow cooker and I loved it so much that I re-made it two days later for a friend’s birthday dinner. I think you’re gonna love it!

You’ll need boneless, skinless chicken thighs (use thighs for the most flavor!), butter, yogurt, garam masala, coriander, salt, cumin, garlic, a jalapeno pepper, crushed tomatoes, cream, cornstarch, onion, fresh ginger and a pinch of sugar.

Now let’s get started!

First, chop the chicken thighs into small pieces and place in a large bowl.

Sprinkle the chicken with coriander, salt and cumin.

Then add the yogurt and toss everything together. Let this chicken mixture sit for ten minutes so that the yogurt can soak into the chicken a little bit.

Now, throw a little butter in a skillet and raise the heat to medium high. It’s go-time!

Add the chicken and cook quickly, working with half at a time as to not overcrowd the pan. Once the chicken has browned, remove and place in the slow cooker.

Take your jalapeno pepper and pierce it several times with a sharp knife. Place the pierced pepper on top of the chicken.

Then start making the delicious sauce! Melt a little more butter in the same skillet you were working with before and add your onion, garlic and salt.

Once the onion has softened a little, add the garam masala and fresh ginger. It will smell heavenly!

Add the crushed tomatoes to the sauce, then pour over the chicken in the slow cooker. Set heat to low and cook for five hours.

After five hours, the chicken should be fall-apart tender. Finally, whisk together the cornstarch and cream then pour into the slow cooker. Cook for ten more minutes until thick and bubbly.

Serve tikka masala with basmati rice and cilantro and experience comfort food at its best! You’re gonna love it. A big thanks to Rebecca for supplying us with yet another wonderfully delicious recipe. Have you checked out her blog Foodie with Family yet? You should. You really should.

Get the handy dandy printable version of the recipe below!

Printable Recipe

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

by Rebecca on September 2, 2011 in Main Courses, Poultry September 2, 2011 Main CoursesPoultry

See post on Rebecca’s site!

4.85 Mitt(s) 26 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 5 hrs

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

Share f a e

6

• Print
• Leave a comment
• write a review

x

Print Options

Page size

Letter 3x5 4x6

Text Size

Small Medium Large

Content

Include description
Include prep time, etc.
Show image

Print

Description

This classic Indian dish is sure to win over even the pickiest eaters with its creamy, rich, complex comfort food bona fides. This dinner is the perfect fall or winter warm-me-up and it reheats like a dream.

Ingredients

• FOR THE CHICKEN:
• 9 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Coriander
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 cup Yogurt
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Jalapeno Pepper, Stem Removed, Pepper Pierced Several Times With A Sharp Knife
• FOR THE SAUCE:
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Large Onion, Peeled And Diced
• 6 cloves Garlic, Peeled And Minced
• 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Garam Masala
• 1 piece Fresh Ginger, About 2-3 Inches, Peeled And Grated
• 4 cups Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoon Raw Sugar (can Substitute White Granulated If Necessary)
• 2 teaspoons Cornstarch Or Cleargel
• 1-½ cup Heavy Cream
• TO SERVE:
• Hot Buttered Rice And Peas
• Chopped Fresh Cilantro

Preparation Instructions

Cut the boneless, skinless chicken thighs into 1- 1 1/2 inch pieces. Sprinkle the coriander, cumin and salt over the chicken, then stir in the yogurt until all the pieces are evenly coated. Cover lightly and let sit for 10 minutes before proceeding.

Melt 1 tablespoon the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Raise the heat to medium high and quickly brown about 1/4 of the chicken. Transfer browned chicken to the slow cooker as it is finished, using 1 tablespoon of butter per batch, and repeat until the chicken is all in the slow-cooker. Throw the pierced jalapeno in on top of the chicken.

Prepare the sauce. Return the pan to the heat and melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and kosher salt, then stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to lightly brown around the edges.

Stir in the garam masala and ginger and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute) before raising the heat to high and adding the crushed tomatoes and raw sugar. Stir well, scraping the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan, and bring to a boil. Pour over the chicken in the slow-cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours, or until the chicken is very tender.

Use a fork or whisk to stir the cornstarch or cleargel into the heavy cream until smooth. Pour into the slow-cooker and stir gently until the colour is even. Replace the lid and let cook for 10 minutes or until bubbly around the edges.

Serve over hot rice and peas, topped with a generous amount of chopped cilantro.

 
 
_______________________________________

Jenna is a food writer who has worked as a pastry chef and bread baker. Her blog Eat, Live, Run has great recipes, travel stories, and the perfect slogan: “Celebrating life, one crumb at a time.”

  Thanks to TK member (and fellow TK Blog contributor) Faith, I am now addicted to this Smoked Salmon Dip. It is perfect for a party appetizer, or to keep in the fridge all week long as a snack. The smokiness from the salmon infuses into the cream cheese and sour cream over time and […]

Pungent spices. Tangy vinegar. Sweet maple syrup. A hint of smoke. These rich flavors meld together to make the perfect BBQ sauce. Not only is this BBQ sauce wonderfully tasty, it's also super easy to make. Just whisk a few ingredients together, and you're done! Plus, it's much less expensive than the gourmet sauces you find at the grocery store. And you know exactly…

  With spring quickly approaching in the next few weeks, I fear my warm and comforting soups may be on their way out. I easily love a bowl of soup no matter the season, but sometimes the thought of standing over a large stock pot for a few hours just isn’t as appealing as laying […]