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- 6 months ago
Looking for easy, high-protein meals that basically cook themselves? In this video, Nicole shares five protein-packed slow cooker recipes that are perfect for busy days, big appetites, or anyone looking to get more out of their dinner with less hands-on time. She kicks things off with juicy Garlic Butter Steak Bites and tender Crockpot Carnitas, then turns up the comfort with a creamy, cheesy Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese. There’s also a flavorful Slow Cooker Beef Bulgogi packed with sweet and savory depth, and a hearty Midwestern-style Belgian Booyah that’s made for cozy nights (and plenty of leftovers). Whether you're meal prepping, feeding a crowd, or just craving something warm and satisfying, these slow cooker meals deliver on flavor and protein.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Everyone's trying to meet their protein goals
00:02and we're gonna get there slowly but surely
00:04with these five high protein crock pot dinners.
00:07This is the perfect time of year to keep your kitchen cool
00:09by cranking up your crock pot.
00:11And also as school gets back into season,
00:14nobody's got time to be cooking.
00:15These dinners are for you.
00:16Starting with the viral garlic butter steak bites.
00:21Chuck roast, and this is gonna make a lot of steak bites.
00:25So you're gonna cut it into like one inch cubes.
00:28Little extra flavor, I'm going in with some onion.
00:30On top of that, I'm going in with the au jus mix.
00:34This is going to help create a gravy at the end
00:36to serve over our steak bites.
00:39A lot of the recipes also have a pack of onion soup mix.
00:46Then y'all get all mad
00:47because there's too much sodium in it.
00:48So I'm just doing real onion, one pack of this.
00:52And then for the steak, just to make it like,
00:55kind of have that steak feel.
00:57I'm using some Montreal steak seasoning.
01:00And I'm gonna kind of coat that liberally right on in.
01:04And then we can't call it garlic butter steak bites
01:06without garlic and butter.
01:07And I'm going in with lots of garlic.
01:10I've seen this recipe and people only use
01:11like four cloves of garlic.
01:13Don't be scared.
01:15Go right on top.
01:16The garlic and the butter.
01:18Four tablespoons of butter.
01:19See, as that butter starts to melt on this
01:22and it's sitting right with the garlic,
01:25it's all gonna kind of infuse together
01:26and then go into the meat.
01:28And then just a little bit of beef broth.
01:31That's it.
01:32Locked and loaded.
01:34The, whoo.
01:35It's a little steam.
01:38Now it's, you gotta put your hand over the steam.
01:41Why would you do that?
01:43Oh.
01:44The way this smells like garlic butter is amazing.
01:49It's like, it smells like garlic bread dipped in buttery steak.
01:56I always feel like when people are really trying to get in their protein,
02:01they're cutting their carbs a little bit.
02:03So a little trick.
02:07Some mashed cauliflower.
02:09Now my kids can always tell the difference.
02:12So I've got some mashed potatoes
02:16and then you can stretch them
02:18by stirring in a little mashed cauliflower
02:20because steak and potatoes.
02:24Yes, please.
02:25Now, see, I cooked these long enough
02:27to where it's gonna be tender
02:28but not quite like a pot roast where it shreds
02:31because you still want to get that kind of bite
02:33like you would in steak.
02:34Finish it with some parsley.
02:4010 cloves of garlic is the perfect amount.
02:43It's rich.
02:43It's buttery.
02:44You definitely get the garlic.
02:47You're gonna want to serve this with something to sop up that juice.
02:49That's all I'm saying.
02:53I will have no problem hitting my protein dinner goal with this meal.
02:56Just saying.
03:01Crock-pot carnitas.
03:03This happens to be one of my favorite things in the world.
03:07This is your taco Tuesday thing to do.
03:09That's not your normal taco.
03:11So this starts with pork shoulder, pork butt.
03:15If you find this cubed up, you can.
03:17You can get boneless, bone in.
03:18I got what was on sale, which is this bone in.
03:21And this is also gonna make a ton of food.
03:24And then I'm just gonna cut it into kind of big chunks.
03:27Now I'm saving this, like, piece that's left that surrounds the bone, because if you know
03:34me, this is going in my sundae sauce.
03:40Now for the flavors.
03:41So we are going to season well all the sides of this pork in with some salt.
03:46Lots of pepper.
03:50Then a little bit of chili powder.
03:52Then lots of cumin.
03:53This and some citrus is what gives carnitas its, you know, signature flavor.
03:58And then some oregano.
03:59Also heavy on the oregano.
04:00Oh yeah, that smells so good.
04:02I'm gonna spread it on and then also kind of rub it in.
04:05All right, so once it's well seasoned, just pop it in the crock pot.
04:10To our pork, I'm just adding some onion, just some chopped onion and lots of garlic as well.
04:16And then the secret ingredient.
04:17I am orange juice, orange juice, fresh is the way to go.
04:31Oh my God.
04:32That's pretty.
04:33I need to make a cocktail with that juice.
04:35Oh my gosh.
04:36This is gonna be so good.
04:38This one's gonna take a while.
04:39So this is the one you can put on before you go to work.
04:42To up the protein, even though this whole crock pot is full of protein, all it is is protein
04:45in here.
04:46You can find tortillas that have extra protein or like, you know, low carbs too.
04:53And then grill them up a little bit and they're good to go.
04:59You would have thought they were in the oven, but they weren't.
05:01The sugar from the orange juice kind of caramelizes on there.
05:04I mean, these are just literally melt.
05:08You know, the pork's pretty rich.
05:09So things like pickled onions and lime juice are gonna cut through some of that richness
05:14in the most delightful way.
05:16I mean, I could probably eat 20 of these.
05:23Ridiculous.
05:24It's off the charts.
05:25It's so juicy and rich, but like in the best way that meat is so tender.
05:31And then when you put a little bit of brightness with the lime juice and the pickled onions,
05:38your taco Tuesdays just got a lot better.
05:40That was so good.
05:42I have a feeling this one might be my favorite one of the day.
05:46This one is high protein crock pot, Buffalo chicken, Mac and cheese.
05:52Need I say more?
05:53This is like a two-step cooking process because we're going to cook the chicken until it's
05:58shreddable.
05:59And then we stir everything else in and let it finish.
06:01And then we know Buffalo chicken and ranch.
06:04So I am adding in a packet of ranch seasoning, then the Buffalo sauce, it's a lot of Buffalo.
06:09And then for my first added protein trick, I'm going to use bone broth instead of chicken
06:15stock.
06:16This has eight grams per serving.
06:18So this has 32 grams of protein just in this, and then that's it.
06:22This is going to cook on high for about two, two and a half hours, just until the chicken
06:28is ready to be shredded.
06:29You could also do it on low for about four hours.
06:31All right, now it is time to add even more protein to our already protein packed Buffalo
06:38Mac and cheese.
06:39First, I'm going to take out the chicken and chop it up a little bit.
06:43Whoa.
06:44Ah, I love that smell.
06:48This has been just over two hours.
06:51You can shred it if you want to.
06:52I'm just kind of cutting it into small pieces.
06:54I mean, you can cut this with a butter knife, really.
06:57Mm, back in the crock pot.
07:01A lot of flavor that's going to be absorbed into the pasta.
07:05Okay.
07:06Speaking of the pasta, I'm using the protein pasta.
07:09Whole box, uncooked, going in.
07:13I'm going to add a little cream cheese, but instead of just all cream cheese like you
07:17would in your Buffalo chicken dip, I'm going to do some cottage cheese because it's packed
07:21with protein, we know.
07:23Trust the process.
07:25Trust me.
07:26I know you do.
07:27All right.
07:28And then I'm going to go in with about two thirds of the cheese, just cheddar cheese.
07:34And then we're going to cover this back up.
07:36Turn it on high for about a half hour.
07:38So until the liquid has absorbed into the pasta and it will make the pasta tender.
07:43All right, so everything is cooked perfectly.
07:46I'm going to add in some more cheese, let it tighten up.
07:50Now this one will firm up a little bit as it sits and cools slightly, but we're digging
07:55right in.
07:56I'm going to top it with just some simple green onions.
07:58You could also add in some crumbled blue cheese if you like that with your Buffalo chicken.
08:03Just a thought.
08:04Oh my gosh, it smells good.
08:06I wouldn't be mad if you just wanted to drizzle with just like a tiny bit more sauce.
08:11Give me all the protein dinners that also include carbs.
08:15That's what I'm talking about.
08:19Mmm.
08:20A plus, plus, plus, plus.
08:24The chicken cooked to perfection.
08:27The noodles are perfect.
08:29Sauce is super creamy.
08:31The cottage cheese just blended right in.
08:34You don't even see it.
08:35Crock-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese.
08:39You're going to want to make this one.
08:43Mmm.
08:44And for my next trick, easier than ordering takeout, I'm making beef bulgogi.
08:50This is going to be the easiest one of the day.
08:53So I'm starting off with pre-sliced beef that you can get in the meat section.
08:59The recipe suggests marinating.
09:01So you could prep this the night before and then throw it in your crock pot.
09:05In the morning, I have a feeling it's going to be just as delicious without that step.
09:10More garlic.
09:11One of my favorite shortcuts in the kitchen is buying pre-peeled garlic.
09:15So I'm just going to smash and rough chop two or three cloves.
09:20So I'm going to start with soy sauce and then sesame oil.
09:24So it's just soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil.
09:26Just want to make sure everything is well coated.
09:29Doesn't get much easier than that.
09:30I'm going to go low and slow for about, I don't know, four to six hours.
09:34Or until I tell you it's ready.
09:36After about two hours, our bulgogi is just kicking.
09:39And I'm going to go in with some fresh green beans.
09:41I just bought some, you know, pre-trimmed ones.
09:44Giving them a little chop and throwing them right in.
09:46And then we'll go another couple hours.
09:48Oh, it smells so good.
09:50Now all we have to do is cook up a little rice.
09:54Our bulgogi and green beans.
10:00Oh, it smells so good.
10:02You can really smell that sesame in there.
10:05Just a little salt for those green beans.
10:08All right.
10:09And then finish it off with a little bit of green onion and sesame seed.
10:14This right here is the mill your whole family will love.
10:17Perfect bite.
10:19The meat is tender and it still has a little bit of chew like the steak does.
10:28So it kind of reminds you, you know, of a steak dinner.
10:33There's nothing not to like here.
10:34It's basically a two ingredient dinner packed with flavor and protein.
10:38It's a win-win.
10:41This is slow cooker Belgian Booyah.
10:45Talk about protein has both chicken thighs, boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
10:49As well as beef stew meat.
10:51So this is classic to include both.
10:53I'm just going to chop up a little celery and onion.
10:56And I'm just going to start dumping.
10:58Also like it doesn't require any like browning of the meat or anything beforehand.
11:03Okay.
11:04Also a little bit of green bell pepper.
11:06Everything but the kitchen sink kind of meal.
11:09We know boneless skinless chicken thighs or just chicken thighs in general are good budget friendly option.
11:14But also when it comes to the slow cooker cooking chicken thighs is really good.
11:19That's really the way to go.
11:20You don't really run the risk of overcooking them.
11:22I did find a pretty pack of stew meat for this one.
11:26So it's already cut up.
11:28I'm just going straight in.
11:29So you want about half as much of the beef as you have the chicken.
11:33Okay.
11:34Still adding stuff.
11:35Carrots, corn and green beans.
11:38All right.
11:40And because we have beef and chicken in here, we're also going to use beef broth and chicken broth.
11:45The potatoes.
11:46I forgot the potatoes.
11:47All right.
11:48Red potatoes.
11:49I know we talked about like a lot of times when you do high protein, people do low carb, but give me all the carbs too.
11:55It's the heartiest pot of vegetable beef or chicken stew I've ever made.
12:00Final veggie to cut.
12:01A little bit of cabbage.
12:02Kind of like short shreds.
12:04All right.
12:06Now time to season it up and bring it together.
12:08Going in with a can of diced tomatoes, salt, a little oregano, basil and celery salt.
12:17The biggest challenge of this meal is stirring it up.
12:20Getting it all incorporated.
12:22I feel like I'm about to get in here with my hands.
12:24And then as it cooks, it's going to shrink down a little bit.
12:27So you'll be able to stir it better in a little while.
12:30Let's go kill some time.
12:32Cause we got lots of it.
12:36Booyah.
12:40I couldn't not do it.
12:44Okay.
12:45A pot full of protein in the form of booyah.
12:50It does make you want to say booyah.
12:52Those potatoes have kind of broken down and it's made this a creamy kind of stew situation.
12:59The heartiest vegetable soup I've ever made.
13:04Of course, got to brighten it up.
13:07Parsley and a little crack of pip.
13:12My first bowl of booyah.
13:16Mmm.
13:17This just makes you feel good inside.
13:19I don't have to add any other salt or anything right now.
13:23It is perfectly seasoned.
13:26That's a perfect 10 out of 10.
13:28And it makes you feel healthy eating it.
13:29I love the way some of the potatoes have broken down in here.
13:32It's something different, but it is the perfect protein packed meal to end a long day.
13:38Mmm.
13:39It's so good.
13:40If you've been looking for something different, give these recipes a try.
13:43You can now go beyond the grilled chicken and steak to pack your dinners with protein.
13:48And that's one less scoop of protein powder you can take.
13:54I think we nailed it.
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