10+ Slow Cooker Side Dishes for Your Holiday Dinner

A collection of slow cooker side dish recipes, from classic stuffing to potatoes and casseroles, that free up valuable oven space during busy holiday meals!

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3 slow cooker recipes including mac and cheese, candied carrots, and sweet potato casserole

The slow cooker is the perfect way to make holiday side dishes way less stressful. Not only do they free up valuable oven space, you can also prep them hours ahead of time before the rest of the kitchen gets busy, and you don’t need to keep checking on them until they’re practically done. Start with my Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese, made from scratch with an incredibly delicious cheesy sauce. For a holiday classic, try my Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole, made in a creamy sauce and topped with crispy onions. These slow cooker Side Dish Recipes are just as good, and sometimes better, than the oven versions. Save this collection, because once you see how easy your holiday dinner was this time, you’ll want to make these recipes every year!

Closeup of ingredients in slow cooker
Slow Cooker Stuffing Recipe
Slow Cooker Stuffing is a savory side dish that everyone will love and an easy way to free up some valuable oven space this Thanksgiving!
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finished cranberry sauce in bowl
Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce is an easy holiday side with a sweet, tangy flavor and rich texture, making Thanksgiving even more delicious!
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Dinner plate with chicken, veggies, and creamy potatoes.
Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes Recipe
Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes are a no-stress crowd-pleasing side. Creamy, comforting, gooey, and perfect for feeding a group.
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potatoes in slow cooker topped with nuts
Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes Recipe
Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes are a perfect, easy, holiday side you and your guests will love. Just add butter or turn them into a casserole!
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top down view of mac in a pot
Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese Recipe
Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese is super easy and turns out so creamy. Almost no prep work is required and then the slow cooker does all the work!
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Close up of potatoes in crock pot
Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes are so easy to make and practically melt in your mouth. Perfect for any holiday party. Try them this Thanksgiving!
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Slow Cooker Mushroom Rice Recipe
Slow Cooker Mushroom Rice is a rich, buttery side dish that's easy to make and perfect for holidays or weeknight meals.
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Candied carrots with pecans
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Carrots Recipe
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Carrots are an easy side dish for the holidays! Just combine the flavorful ingredients and slow cook to perfection.
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Close up of casserole being scooped out
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole with just a handful of ingredients. You'll have a tasty side dish with little effort and free oven space!
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casserole in the slow cooker
Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole Recipe
This Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole recipe is a classic holiday creamy side dish mixed with mushroom soup and topped with crispy onions.
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brown sugar alliums in pot with green garnish
Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions Recipe
Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions are hands-off, rich, and perfectly sweet. No stirring, no babysitting, just effortless flavor!
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silky golden kernels in a blue bowl with green garnish
Slow Cooker Creamed Corn Recipe
Slow Cooker Creamed Corn is rich, creamy, and easy to make with minimal prep! Perfect for holidays when oven space and time are limited.
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I love making my holiday side dishes in the slow cooker, because you don’t have to worry about needing a different oven temperature for different dishes. Make sure to let me know in the comments section below which of my slow cooker side dish recipes you’ll be making this year. For more holiday dinner inspiration, try my other recipe collections, Thanksgiving Turkey and Ham Recipes, and my 25 Holiday Appetizers You’ll Flip for!

3-image collage of mac and cheese, brown sugar carrots, and sweet potato casserole in a slow cooker

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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