Welcome to Slow Cooker Week! We’re sharing all our favorite Crock Pot recipes, tips, tricks, and advice this week—and including the Instant Pot, of course, since it slow cooks too. Here, find the best slow cooker appetizer recipes that are a total low-stress lifesaver when you’re throwing a cocktail or dinner party.
When you’re hosting people for a dinner party, you simply can’t give every dish equal attention. Appetizers can keep your guests sated while you focus on the main course, so you don’t want to spend too much time on them. Even for appetizer-only or cocktail parties, well, some of those hors d’oeuvres will still need to sit on the back burner while you focus on others. Enter the Crock-Pot (or another type of slow cooker).
Related Reading: Enter to Win a Wolf Gourmet Slow Cooker Through March 9!
Typically tasked with breaking down tough cuts of meat, a slow cooker can also be your secret weapon in the easy appetizer space too. And we’re not talking just meatballs or chili, though of course it does those beautifully. You can totally use your Crock-Pot for fancy-schmancy or unexpected starters that seem like they took a whole lot of planning and effort. And since most slow cookers do their thing in a single pot, making your party appetizers with a Crock-Pot means less of a mess to cleanup later.
So next time it’s your turn to host cocktails at home, bust out these easy recipes for perfect Crock-Pot party appetizers.
The Pioneer Woman Floral 6-Quart Slow Cooker, $34.99 at Walmart
You can even dress your Crock-Pot up for a party.
1. Crock-Pot French Onion Dip
Chowhound
Caramelized onions are so sweet and succulent, and you get them that way like nothing else when you put them in a Crock-Pot or sow cooker for seven hours. This is a crazy good dip to serve at parties. Get our Slow-Cooker French Onion Dip recipe.
KooK Ceramic One-Piece Chip & Dip, $24.95 on Amazon
Perfect for serving sweet or savory dips with all the accompaniments.
2. Crock-Pot Duck Confit
Chowhound
Making duck confit legs in a slow cooker is as easy as combining the melted fat and cured duck legs and walking away, only to return a few hours later to ultra tender, flavorful meat. When it’s done, shred the meat, season it, and pile it on toasts with cranberry or plum preserves for a great and easy holiday app. Get our Slow Cooker Duck Confit recipe.
3. Crock-Pot Bacon Compote
Chowhound
A spoonful of rich, sweet, and smoky bacon compote spooned onto crostini or mini biscuits spread with goat cheese is one of our all-time favorite appetite stokers. Nothing could be simpler—you start by frying lots of bacon and draining, then cooking onions down with vinegar, garlic, molasses, and coffee for several hours, till everything is luscious and dark and studded with salty bits of bacon. Try it on sandwiches and burgers too. Get our Slow Cooker Bacon Compote recipe.
4. Crock-Pot Bourbon Ribs
Chowhound
Small, succulent baby back ribs are fantastic appetizers when you cut them into single pieces before setting out a platter—especially for tailgating parties. Here, you start by making a barbecue sauce flavored with bacon, bourbon, and a shot of strong coffee. Add the ribs (previously dry-rubbed with an herb, salt, and sugar mix) and simmer up to 5 hours, till the meat is falling off the bones. Get our Slow Cooker Bourbon Ribs recipe.
Wolf Gourmet Slow Cooker, $599 on Sur La Table
This luxe slow cooker has a sous vide and sear function for a true one pot experience.
5. Crock-Pot Hot Wings
Chowhound
The secret to these wings—which can skew Buffalo-style, Asian, or Latin, depending on your choice of hot sauce—is crisping them in a preheated oven at the very end for a browned color, flavor, and texture (a lot like the reverse sear method, actually). Get our Slow Cooker Hot Wings recipe.
6. Crock-Pot Steamed Artichokes
Chowhound
For a healthy yet elegant starter, try steaming whole globe artichokes in your Crock-Pot. Serve them with red wine vinegar and olive oil for dipping, or get rich with a bowl of aioli. Get The Kitchn’s Slow Cooker Artichoke recipe.
7. Crock-Pot Cocktail Meatballs
Chowhound
Cocktail meatballs feel appropriate for any occasion, whether you’re throwing a tailgate or a highbrow holiday fete. Bonus idea: Prep and freeze, then defrost and pop ’em into the cooker when it’s go time. Weird as it may sound, grape jelly is a pretty common (and beloved) meatball glaze ingredient, but you can switch these up with any sauce you like. Get I Heart Naptime’s Slow Cooker Cocktail Meatballs recipe.
8. Crock-Pot Party Mix
Chowhound
Chex is shaking at this slow cooker version of a classic party mix. It’s a fact that the best party mixes are evenly seasoned, and leave your fingers a little sticky with spice. Achieve this by combining a medley of bite-sized crackers and cereal pieces with butter, soy sauce, liquid smoke, and hot paprika, then heating the party mix in the Crock-Pot or slow cooker until crisp and warm. Get our Slow Cooker Party Mix recipe.
Related Reading: Uncommonly Good Trail Mixes Worthy of Any Party Snack Bowl
9. Crock-Pot Boiled Peanuts
Boiled peanuts, a Low Country favorite, are simple to make but usually require a watchful eye. Eliminate the caveat here by cooking peanuts in a slow cooker instead. Get Add a Pinch’s Slow Cooker Boiled Peanuts recipe.
10. Crock-Pot Cheese Fondue
Chowhound
Here’s a dirty secret that specialty kitchen stores don’t want you to know: You don’t need a fondue pot to make great fondue. Use your Crock-Pot for our Alpine-inspired fondue recipe; just make sure to stir the dip often. Get our Cheese Fondue recipe.
11. Crock-Pot Queso Fundido with Chorizo
Chowhound
OK, fondue is nice and all but it doesn’t quite have the cult allure of creamy, cheesy and sometimes spicy queso. Make this simple queso recipe and top with spicy chorizo or jalapenos in the slow cooker or Crock Pot, serve with tortilla chips and thank us later. Get Cookie Rookie’s Queso Fundido with Chorizo recipe.
12. Slow Cooker Roasted Garlic
There’s hardly a more gratifying pleasure than the simple act of smoothing a clove of roast garlic on toast; step away from the oven in favor of the lower-maintenance slow cooker instead. Get Shockingly Delicious’s Slow Cooker Roasted Garlic recipe. (And heads-up, you can also roast garlic in an air fryer…)
