6 High Fiber Crockpot Recipes Dietitians Love

February 25, 2024

Courtesy of Ambitious Kitchen

Whether I’m using it for meal-prepping chicken or pork or letting a soup simmer all day, my crockpot gets a lot of use. As a dietitian, it’s one of my favorite kitchen appliances to keep things simple and healthy with as little work as possible—especially when it comes to getting more fiber in my diet. If you’re trying to incorporate more fiber into your meals and also need to save time, turn to your crockpot.

Fiber is essential for keeping your gut happy, as some types of fiber help feed good gut bacteria, and keep digestion operating as it should. Fiber is also essential for a healthy heart by helping to lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, and possibly even lower blood pressure. However, only an estimated 7% of Americans get the recommended amount of fiber each day. It’s clearly a challenge to get enough, so planning a few high-fiber crockpot recipes is a great place to start.

The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories we eat, which adds up to about 28 to 38 grams per day. To reach that goal, try some of these dietitian-approved high-fiber crockpot recipes.

1. Sweet Potato and Lentil Curry

This vegan curry is loaded with fiber from sweet potatoes, lentils, peppers, and onions. As is, the recipe has 11 grams of fiber per serving. But you can increase this even more if you serve it with brown rice, quinoa, farro, or another whole grain. Lentils are a great source of plant protein with 18 grams of protein per cup as well as 15 grams of fiber.

Try the recipe from Lettuce Veg Out.

2. Healthy Crockpot Cincinnati Chili

This recipe features all the flavor of traditional Cincinnati chili, but also bumps up the fiber. Cincinnati chilis have a sweeter side using spices like cinnamon, cumin, allspice, and clove. This version has more than 13 grams of fiber per serving from carrots, mushrooms, onions, lentils, and whole-wheat spaghetti.

Try the recipe from Being Nutritious.

3. Crockpot Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

You may usually think of the crockpot for savory dinners, but it’s also clutch for breakfast. Start a batch of steel-cut oats before you go to bed and wake up to a piping hot batch of apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Just 3/4 cup of this spiced oatmeal has 8 grams of fiber from steel-cut oats and apples. Leave the peels on your apples to take advantage of the soluble fiber found there. Soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar, and reduces the risk of heart disease.

Try the recipe from It’s a Veg World After All.

4. Quinoa Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

If you’ve never tried making stuffed peppers in the crockpot, you’ll love this delicious time-saving hack. Start these peppers in the morning or at lunchtime and have soft, savory, and delicious peppers stuffed with quinoa and black beans by dinner time.

One stuffed pepper has more than 14 grams of fiber — plus, one sweet red bell pepper also adds 169% of your daily value for vitamin C and 21% for vitamin A.

Try the recipe from Pinch of Yum.

5. Pumpkin Chicken Chili

This pumpkin chicken chili has 10 grams of fiber from the beans and the pumpkin puree, which also adds lots of flavor plus vitamins A and C, and iron. Besides being full of fiber and other important nutrients, pumpkin makes this chili the perfect fall slow cooker meal with a super creamy texture and subtle squash flavor.

Try the recipe from Bucket List Tummy.

6. Slow Cooker Taco Lentil Soup

This vegan and gluten-free soup is full of plant protein and fiber. Beans, lentils, peppers, onions, and tomatoes all combine for the perfect taco flavor and 20 grams of fiber per serving. Adding corn to this taco soup adds festive Mexican flavor and beautiful color, as well as 4 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein per recipe.

Try the recipe from Ambitious Kitchen.