Weeknight Spring Slow Cooker Recipes That Take 30 Minutes or Less to Prep

This load-and-go slow-cooker chicken recipe is perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Serve this Tuscan-inspired dish with crusty bread, a glass of Chianti and a salad.

Chicken is slowly simmered in a mushroom and white wine sauce with herbs, then served on whole wheat pasta or brown rice for a soul-satisfying meal.

Sure, the slow cooker's great for stews and soups, but it also happens to make a mean lasagna! In this ingenious slow-cooker recipe, all you have to do is chop your veggies, then layer the ingredients (raw) into the crockpot. Serve with: Garlic bread and a green salad.

Like most soups, this Moroccan lentil soup recipe gets better with time as the complex seasonings have time to develop. Make it a day ahead if you can--this easy slow cooker/crock pot recipe variation makes it a cinch to get the soup cooking while you do other things.

Busy week coming up? Cook up these easy poached chicken breasts infused with the flavors of the ubiquitous Vietnamese sauce nuoc cham in your slow cooker on Sunday. Then enjoy the leftover chicken three different ways over the days to come--ladled with the broth over rice noodles, layered with vegetables on a sandwich and mixed with mayo to make a creamy chicken salad.

Your favorite restaurant soup just got easier and healthier with this freezer-to-crock-pot recipe. If you keep a special bottle of olive oil on hand for stand-out dishes, this is the recipe to pull it out for. The headiness of the fruity olive oil truly elevates the flavors in this Italian meal-prep slow-cooker soup.

This creamy, veggie-packed chicken dinner comes together easily in your slow-cooker-and makes enough for another night's casserole (see associated recipe)!

This set-it-and-forget-it slow-cooker recipe simmers away all day so you come home to a warm and healthy dinner the whole family will love. Using bone-in chicken is the key to making rich soup without adding broth.