There are really no limits of what you can do with a slow cooker. You can use it to cook beans, you can make slow-cooked ribs with it, you can even bake desserts and pies in it (if you use a plastic liner first). Perhaps above all, though, slow cookers are great at making thicker stews and soups which you set and then forget about until dinner time. Today’s recipe is one of those varieties.
With just a handful of simple ingredients, you can use your slow cooker to make a stick-to-your-ribs ham and potato stew, a stew that will be particularly welcome at the end of what has been a very brutal flu season. But who are we kidding—this stew is really good for any occasion.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 5 cups of peeled and diced russet potatoes
- 2 cups of diced and cooked ham
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups of chicken stock
- 1 cup of frozen corn
- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
- salt
- pepper
Here’s what you need to do:
1. After everything has been prepared, throw your potatoes, ham, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, thyme and chicken stock into your slow cooker. Season it with salt and pepper as you see fit and stir everything together. Once that’s done, throw the lid on your slow cooker, set it to low and let it cook for seven hours.
2. After that time is up, take out thyme sprigs and the bay leaf out. Using a fork or another utensil, mash up some of the potatoes (but leave some of them intact for texture differences). Taste the stew and add salt or pepper at this stage as necessary.
3. Next, throw in your frozen corn and the heavy whipping cream. Stir everything up again to make sure it’s evenly combined.
4. Finally, throw the lid back on the slow cooker and turn it on high, cooking for another 20 to 30 minutes until all the corn is cooked and the stew is thick. Turn off your slow cooker and serve the stew while it’s still hot!
As you can see, this recipe is about as simple it gets—all you have to do is throw in your ingredients and let the slow cooker do the work! Although this is pretty delicious as it is, you can also spice things up by throwing in some bacon bits if you want to take the flavors up a notch. Have fun with the recipe and let us know what you think!
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