10 Diabetes-Friendly Summer Slow-Cooker Meals

When it’s hot out, few of us want to turn up the heat by using our ovens. Summer is the perfect time to become best friends with your slow cooker.

While slow cooking is typically associated with the kind of comfort food ideal for winter, slow-cooker recipes can be an easy way to get summer meals on the table without having to sweat over a hot stove.

I use my slow cooker all the time in the summer. Here are a few diabetes-friendly summer slow-cooker recipes in rotation at our house.

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A note on adapting recipes

I love to try new recipes, so I often collect anything that looks tasty on Pinterest and sort it into seasonal idea boards. But many summertime recipes can involve a lot of added sugar — think sweet grilling sauces like BBQ or carb-heavy sides like baked beans or pasta salad.

You can adapt most recipes by swapping the sugar for a diabetes-friendly sugar substitute such as stevia or allulose. And unlike in baking, you don’t have to worry about one-for-one swaps since you don’t usually need to account for weight and bulk in a dinner dish. That means you can sub a teaspoon of stevia for a cup of sugar and still end up with a dish that works.

Additionally, you can serve up these mains with diabetes-friendly sides like brown rice or consider using whole grain buns and corn taco shells with lettuce wraps.

1. Sausage and peppers

Summer naturally calls for sausages such as brats and hot dogs, which are perfect for tossing on the grill. But if you’d rather not heat up the coals, sausage and peppers cooked in the slow cooker is a worthy alternative. This is a go-to summer recipe on regular rotation at our house.

Although you can simplify this recipe using store-bought marinara sauce, store-bought sauces often contain added sugar. Subbing a homemade version made with crushed tomatoes and seasonings, as this recipe does, can help avoid that.

Get the recipe from Delish.

2. BBQ pulled pork sandwiches

Pulled pork is another summer staple. You can use it to make tasty sandwiches, which are a classic for summer BBQs.

But the leftover meat is also versatile for all kinds of dishes. I often cook more than my family of three can eat at once and use the leftovers in a dish such as pork fried rice.

While you could smoke or grill a pork shoulder, you can make pulled pork that’s just as tasty in the slow cooker while staying indoors in the air conditioning.

This recipe uses diet root beer and sugar-free BBQ sauce to keep it diabetes-friendly.

Get the recipe at Just a Pinch.

3. Cilantro-lime chicken tacos

We love making shredded chicken in the slow cooker for tacos. I often use taco seasoning on mine, but you can also make a cilantro-lime version worthy of Chipotle.

To keep this diabetes-friendly, I make a taco bowl with mine by piling the chicken on top of brown rice, black beans, and homemade pico de gallo. You can also dump it into romaine lettuce leaves, which are ideally shaped for “tacos.”

Get the recipe at Eating on a Dime.

4. Jamaican jerk chicken bowls with mango-pineapple salsa

I love spicy jerk chicken, and serving it alongside homemade mango-pineapple salsa tastes like summer in a bowl to me.

This recipe is designed for the grill, but you can make it just as easily in the slow cooker. Put the chicken in the slow cooker and pour the marinade over it. Then, slow-cook on high for 4 hours. When it’s finished, slice or shred the chicken — whichever you prefer.

If you prefer fewer carbs, you can replace the brown sugar with a diabetes-friendly sweetener. If you want to use rice as a base, remember that white rice and brown rice have the same amount of carbs, but brown rice is more diabetes-friendly because it has more fiber.

Get the recipe at Joyful Healthy Eats.

5. Satay chicken

With its balance of protein, fat, and carbs, peanut butter (the defining flavor in satay chicken) can help keep blood glucose steady. Thus, it can be a healthy choice for those with diabetes.

To keep this recipe diabetes-friendly, choose peanut butter that’s made from just peanuts and salt, with no added sugars.

Get the recipe at Real Food Whole Life.

6. Turkey sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes were a staple in my house growing up. But now that I’m an adult with diabetes, the classic recipe is too high in sugar for me.

This version uses a homemade sauce with diabetes-friendly stevia and lean turkey.

Get the recipe at SkinnyMs.

7. Chicken lettuce wraps

As soon as the weather heats up, I add lettuce wraps to the family dinner rotation. The Asian-style filling is easy to make, and lettuce is a cool, crisp wrap alternative perfect for summer.

Get the recipe at Slender Kitchen.

8. Steak fajitas

I often make fajitas on the grill, but the slow cooker is an effective alternative when you want to avoid heading outside.

To make this recipe even more diabetes-friendly, you can replace the flour tortillas with corn tortillas. Other options are to use romaine lettuce leaves and to serve the fajitas with brown rice, which is how I usually eat mine.

Get the recipe at Food.

9. Greek lemon chicken and potatoes

I love Greek flavors in the summer, especially anything with lemon. Even better, this slow-cooker recipe is an all-in-one dish, as the chicken and potatoes are cooked together.

Potatoes can be OK for many people with diabetes. But if they spike your blood sugar, you can try cooling and then reheating them — this turns them into resistant starch, which lowers their glycemic index.

That’s why this dish can be even more diabetes-friendly if you make enough leftovers to eat the next day.

Get the recipe at Cooking Classy.

10. Chicken salad

If I’m looking for an easy make-ahead lunch or a light dinner option during summer, chicken salad hits the spot.

It’s especially perfect for picnics. And while it makes a great sandwich, it’s also good on a bed of lettuce.

Get the recipe at Dinner Mom.

Takeaway

Enjoying tasty diabetes-friendly meals in the summer doesn’t have to mean dealing with a hot oven or grill (unless you want to!). Summer is the perfect time to use your slow cooker so you can avoid heating up the kitchen.

Even better, slow cookers do most of the work for you, so you can dump everything in there in the morning or afternoon, freeing up your summer days to enjoy other activities.