6 Slow Cooker Breakfasts for Easier, Healthier Mornings

March 30, 2024

Courtesy of Live Eat Learn

If you only rely on your slow cooker for soups and stews, get ready for a revelation: It also can produce excellent make-ahead breakfasts. Don’t get me wrong, we love pull-from-the-fridge classics like overnight oats. But if you enjoy a warm meal in the morning, you can take that breakfast meal-prep effort of the night before and channel it into these slow cooker dishes.

Just as you might set the slow cooker in the morning to be greeted by the warm smell of dinner upon arrival after work, slow cooker breakfasts offer those same, cozy vibes for when you wake up. Rather than set it and forget it, with these healthy slow cooker breakfasts, you can set it and dream about it. Bonus: Knowing there’s a delicious meal waiting for you might make it that much easier to get out of bed.

With everything from eggs to energy bars, here are six slow cooker breakfasts to make for easier, healthier mornings.

1. Crockpot Egg Casserole

Even better than waking up to the smell of a savory breakfast casserole in the morning is the opportunity for your evening self to gently encourage your morning self to eat a serving of veggies first thing. This crockpot egg casserole includes red pepper, spinach, and artichokes, and is loaded with protein.

Plus, you can use this recipe as a template, changing up the protein, vegetable, and cheese components to suit your taste or nutritional needs. You can also omit the bread for more of a frittata-style approach. However you make it, you’re setting yourself up for several days’ worth of healthy breakfasts (or even lunches).

Try the recipe from Well Plated by Erin.

2. Crockpot Sweet Potato Lentils

While probably intended to be a dinner dish, the comments for this Crockpot Sweet Potato Lentils recipe mention that it makes for a cozy breakfast. And why not? The texture is essentially porridge, the stuff that fairytale breakfasts are made of.

Plus, you need not settle for one superfood for breakfast when this provides two. Between sweet potatoes and lentils, you’ve got fiber, protein, and vitamins to energize you and keep you full all morning, as well as also components that can help lower blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.

Savory breakfast aficionados will love this as written, but if you prefer a sweet meal, you can easily change this up by omitting the aromatics, swapping vegetable stock for water or milk, and substituting sweet spices like cinnamon and nutmeg for garam masala and chili.

Try the recipe from Pinch of Yum.

3. Homemade Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Orange juice isn’t the only great source of vitamin C in the morning, as an apple provides 10% of the recommended daily intake. Apples also have pectin, a prebiotic that can improve gut health and aid in digestion. So when life gives you apples, make apple butter, naturally.

Essentially a condensed applesauce, this slow cooker apple butter recipe includes no added sugar, for a naturally sweet, thick spread perfect for multigrain toast.

Try the recipe at Ambitious Kitchen.

4. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Here’s a different way to think about overnight oats. Just as you would assemble refrigerated overnight oats in a bowl or mason jar, you can take those same components and add them to the slow cooker for a warm, cozy version.

This recipe keeps it simple with basic oatmeal ingredients, plus raw apples and cinnamon. Using low-fat milk instead of water provides a creamy texture, as well as a dose of additional protein to start your day.

Like the egg casserole above, slow cooker oatmeal is also highly customizable. Use a different fruit, swap the spices, or both.

Try the recipe at Chocolate Covered Katie.

5. Overnight Quinoa Breakfast Porridge

Oats aren’t the only grain worthy of the slow cooker porridge treatment; protein-rich quinoa also serves as a hearty, healthy slow cooker breakfast. This version includes strawberries, bananas, and almond butter for a morning meal that’s low-maintenance in prep, but high impact in terms of nutrition. It’s a good source of protein, fiber, calcium, and iron, plus it’s filling and tasty.

Try the recipe at Live Eat Learn.

6. Slow Cooker Quinoa Energy Bars

You don’t necessarily have to employ the overnight treatment with the slow cooker to set yourself up for breakfast success. Make these energy bars in your slow cooker at any time, for homemade, whole-food grab-and-go convenience perfect for breakfast or snack time. Sweetened with a touch of maple syrup as well as dried fruit, these protein- and fiber-packed bars are better than anything you would otherwise find individually wrapped.

Try the recipe at Food Faith Fitness.