Dump Meals

Put it all in, walk away, and dinner is ready.

A dump meal is dinner with the hard part taken out. You put everything in the slow cooker or the baking dish, walk away, and come back to a meal that's ready. No browning in three pans, no standing at the stove.

See all 36 recipes Plan freezer bags

How it works

  1. Dump it in

    Each recipe starts with a short list of everyday groceries: a cut of meat, a sauce or a can of soup, some seasoning, and vegetables that hold up to long cooking.

  2. Walk away

    The slow cooker does the work, on low for most of a day or on high for an afternoon. Oven recipes bake while you set the table.

  3. Check it and serve

    Every recipe tells you what done looks like, and for meat, the temperature to check with a thermometer, so you're never guessing.

Slow-cooker dinners

The pictures are made by computer to show what each finished dish looks like. They aren't photos of these recipes.

  • Salsa Chicken Low 5 to 7 hours, or high 3 to 4 hours Freezer bag Chicken thighs, salsa, beans and corn in one pot. Shred and serve in tortillas, over rice or on its own.
  • Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs Low 4 to 6 hours, or high 2 to 3 hours Freezer bag Boneless chicken thighs in a sweet, salty honey and garlic sauce, thickened at the end and served over rice.
  • Chicken Tortilla Soup Low 3 to 5 hours, or high 1½ to 2½ hours Freezer bag Chicken breasts, beans, corn and tomatoes with green chiles in a cumin-spiced broth. Top with crisp tortilla strips.
  • White Chicken Chili Low 3 to 5 hours, or high 1½ to 2½ hours Freezer bag Chicken and white beans simmered with green chiles and cumin, then finished with cream cheese for a creamy broth.
  • Teriyaki Chicken Low 4 to 6 hours, or high 2 to 3 hours Freezer bag Chicken thighs and carrots in a ginger and garlic teriyaki sauce, thickened at the end. Serve over rice.
  • Creamy Italian Chicken Low 3 to 5 hours, or high 1½ to 2½ hours Chicken breasts in a creamy sauce made from Italian dressing mix, soup and cream cheese, served over noodles.

All 25 slow-cooker dinners

Freezer dump bags

Most of the slow-cooker dinners here can also be made weeks ahead as freezer dump bags. You fill the bags on one afternoon, freeze them flat, and on a busy day you thaw one in the refrigerator and dump it in. The free Dump-Bag Planner adds up the groceries for every bag you choose into one shopping list, and prints a big, clear label for each bag with the cooking directions on it.

Open the Dump-Bag Planner How to make freezer dump bags

17 recipes work as freezer bags, including salsa chicken, honey garlic chicken thighs, chicken tortilla soup, white chicken chili.

Dump and bake

Oven suppers on the same idea: everything goes into one baking dish, uncooked pasta and rice included, and the oven does the rest.

  • Baked Ziti from Uncooked Pasta Bake at 375°F, 60 to 70 minutes Uncooked ziti, browned ground beef, marinara, water and cheese baked covered in one dish. No boiling the pasta first.
  • Chicken and Rice Bake Bake at 375°F, 60 to 75 minutes Raw chicken thighs and uncooked rice baked under foil in a creamy broth. Serve with green beans.
  • Enchilada Casserole Bake at 350°F, 30 to 40 minutes Layers of corn tortillas, shredded chicken, black beans, enchilada sauce and cheese, baked until bubbly.
  • Meatball Sub Casserole Bake at 350°F, 35 to 45 minutes Cubed Italian bread, meatballs, marinara and mozzarella baked together. All the flavor of the sub, with a fork.

Dump cakes

Fruit in the pan, dry cake mix on top, butter over that, and into the oven. The dump cake guide explains the formula.

  • Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake Bake at 350°F, 45 to 55 minutes Cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple under a yellow cake mix and butter, baked into a bubbly cobbler-style cake.
  • Peach Cobbler Dump Cake Bake at 350°F, 45 to 55 minutes Canned peaches, cinnamon and a yellow cake mix topped with butter, baked into an easy peach cobbler.
  • Apple Pie Dump Cake Bake at 350°F, 45 to 55 minutes Apple pie filling, cinnamon and cake mix with butter and optional pecans, baked until the top is crisp.
  • Blueberry Dump Cake Bake at 350°F, 45 to 55 minutes Blueberry pie filling with lemon juice under a yellow cake mix and butter. Bakes into a purple, bubbling dessert.

Print it and cook from paper

Every recipe prints as a large-type recipe card on a single sheet, with no ads, so you can cook from paper and keep the ones you like in a binder.

Guides

  • What Is a Dump Meal?
    A dump meal goes into the slow cooker or baking dish with almost no prep. Here is the idea, the formula, what to skip and where it came from.
  • How to Make Freezer Dump Bags
    Step-by-step freezer dump bags: assembling, freezing flat, labeling, how long they keep, and why you thaw in the refrigerator first.
  • Slow Cooker Safety: The Rules and Where They Come From
    The USDA-based slow cooker rules: thawing, fill level, done temperatures, beans, leftovers. Each one sourced.
  • Slow Cooker Cooking for Two
    Which slow cooker size to buy, how to halve a recipe, how timing changes, and how to freeze the other half. Written for one or two people.
  • Dump Cake Basics
    The dump cake formula of fruit, dry cake mix and butter: pans, why the butter pattern matters, how to tell it is done, and easy swaps.