3 Slow Cooker Recipes with 200 Calories or Less

Picture this: You get home from a crazy day at work, exhausted and hungry, put the key in the door and open it to find that your home smells incredible. Dinner is ready and waiting for you. All you have to do is sit down, relax, and enjoy. Is it a dream? Nope! That’s the magic of the slow cooker.

Just toss in a few ingredients in the morning before work or in the evening before bed, and let the pot do the work. In anywhere from 2 to 8 hours you’ll have a perfect, hot meal. It’s basically the next best thing to having a private chef!

While traditional slow cooker recipes can often be heavy and rely a bit too much on high-sodium canned foods and sugary processed ingredients, we’ve lightened things up a bit with three incredible (and totally from-scratch!) Latin slow-cooker recipes that are each 200 calories or less per serving.

And we’re not skimping on flavor either. With ingredients like spicy chicken chorizo, creamy sweet potatoes, and silky paella rice, your tastebuds will be just as happy as your waistline. Just a bit of warning—once you try this method of cooking, it’s possible that you may never want to use your stove again! 

Next, three healthy slow cooker recipes to help you set it and forget it… 

Creamy Ancho Sweet Potato Soup 

• 4 large raw sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into large 2” chunks
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered
• 1teaspoons ground ancho chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• juice of 1 large lime

Get the full recipe. 

Slowcooker Mushroom Paella 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
• 2 cups short-grain paella rice (substitute Arborio rice)
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pinch saffron threads (optional, but adds lovely color and flavor)
• 1 1/2 pounds baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 cups fresh spinach

Get the full recipe.

Spicy Chickpea and Chicken Chorizo Stew 

• 3 links smoked chicken chorizo (or other spicy smoked chicken sausage), diced into 1/2″ cubes
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 15-oz cans low-sodium chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Get the full recipe.