25 summer slow-cooker breakfast recipes

As this Food.com recipe states, preparing homemade apple butter only takes five ingredients and about 13 hours of time in the slow cooker. It doesn’t tell you, however, the endless ways to use your finished product. Slather it on bagels, biscuits, and toast for breakfast, or even on top of pork chops or chicken later in the day! And in case you’re wondering: Yes, it tastes just like apple pie in a jar.

This crumble may seem like a dessert dish at first glance (especially when topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream), but apple, granola, and cinnamon are all super-healthy ingredients that you should absolutely use to kick off your day — especially if it’s a Saturday or Sunday and you’ve earned it after a hard work week. Head over to Vegan in the Freezer for the recipe!

We’re not making this up: You can actually bake banana bread in your slow cooker, as long as you don’t mind it being a little round. This six-ingredient Betty Crocker recipe (seven if you add raisins) even suggests using Bisquick mix to save on time, and we’ll trust it since the crockpot is named after Betty Crocker. (OK, we made that last part up.)

Waking up to homemade burritos is basically the American Dream, even though burritos are Mexican. Make your dreams a reality with this breakfast burrito slow cooker recipe from Moms with Crockpots, and feel free to leave out the ham or substitute bacon and/or sausage. Emphasis on the word “and.” 

We know what you’re thinking: “Aren’t breakfast burritos and breakfast tacos basically the same thing?” Come on, reader. We wouldn’t do that to you. Although the fillings can be the same, these slow-cooker tacos have one important difference: The tortilla is a pancake! Unfortunately, you’ll have to fire up the stove for the pancake, but it will be totally worth it, and the filling can be made using the slow-cooker instructions from the previous slide. For a little visual guidance, check out this recipe from Mr. Breakfast.

As the name suggests, this egg dish contains cheese (two types: parmesan and mozzarella), spinach and artichoke hearts, as well as garlic powder, salt, and pepper. That’s it! For further instruction, please consult the cheesy spinach-artichoke egg bake recipe from Betty Crocker here.

Forget buying cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon — that’s only for when you’re stuck at the airport. Instead, make your own rolls at home without ever turning on the oven, thanks to this slow-cooker recipe from Creme de la Crumb. The recipe even teaches you how to make your own icing! 

Ever wonder if you can make a coffee cake in your slow cooker? Like almost any other food, it is indeed possible. Follow this recipe from Crazy for Crust and you’ll have moist, fresh-baked coffee cake in a little more than two hours — not to mention a kitchen that will smell amazing for the rest of the day.

You let the bread get stale again, didn’t you? This time, instead of throwing it out, throw it in the crockpot! You can turn that old bread into your new favorite dish with this recipe for creamy banana French toast from Diethood. And yes, you can also use the bananas that have turned dark in this one, just in case those started to go bad too. No judgments.

No, you’re not just taking that sugar-packed, store-bought yogurt for kids and adding fruit to it; you’re actually making your very own yogurt. It may sound tricky, but as this recipe from Eating On A Dime shows, it’s so easy that a kid could do it. You can customize the yogurt with your favorite fruits.

If you enjoy granola but have only experienced the pre-packaged variety, start thinking outside of the box with this recipe from Barefeet in the Kitchen. Whether you dig in when it’s soft and sticky or crispy and crunchy, you’ll never want to go back to the boring, old, mass-produced granola after trying this one. Plus, you can customize your batch however you’d like!

Try this Greek yogurt recipe from Daring Gourmet. It will take a whopping 18 hours to make, but 17 hours and 59 minutes of that work will be completed by your slow cooker, so don’t be afraid to try this healthy and delicious treat for your next breakfast! (Or maybe the breakfast after that, because 18 hours is a long time.)

For centuries, the human race has attempted to merge ham and hash browns into a single dish. Today, we are happy to report that humanity has finally achieved that goal. Not only that, but this ham and hash brown casserole recipe from Taste of Home can be made in your slow cooker — because after reaching every great milestone, the next step is always figuring out how to replicate the results in a lazier way.

Huevos rancheros is a popular Mexican breakfast dish consisting of fried eggs served over corn tortillas and a tomato-chili sauce. You can take this meal from south of the border to your own kitchen and slow cooker thanks to this recipe from Clean Eating.

Want something a little more zesty than regular toast? Try your hand at this lemon-poppy bread recipe from Better Homes & Gardens. It’s sweet with a touch of citrus and crunch, and is made with Greek yogurt! Oh, and it’s all topped with lemon icing that you can also make at home with just a few extra ingredients.

Don’t love grits? We think you'll still fall for this recipe for loaded grits from Delish, because of bacon. And cheese. And you can make it all in the slow cooker. What else could you ask for? (Other than some more sweet tea.)

Kids and adults alike will go bananas over this monkey bread, even though it doesn’t actually contain any bananas (or monkeys, for that matter). Instead, it’s made of biscuit dough, butter, sugar, and cinnamon, and everything is topped with pecans and caramel sauce. After trying it, you’ll divide your life into two eras: the person you were before discovering this recipe from Creme de la Crumb, and the new-and-improved, much happier person you are now.

Instead of using the microwave to make your oatmeal, as Nourishing Joy suggests in this recipe, slow cook those oats in your crockpot, and the added apple chunks (or peaches, cherries, berries, etc.) will caramelize while cooking.

This slow cooker oatmeal recipe from Delish is similar to the last slide, except it also contains maple syrup, coconut, and fresh blueberries. We’ll limit our oatmeal entries to two different versions, but you should feel free to create your own custom recipes. The possibilities are endless!

Black beans, bell peppers, corn, cheese, and eggs make up this scrumptious Southwest-style breakfast casserole recipe from Simple Nourished Living. To reduce the calories a bit, SNL suggests substituting fat-free evaporated milk for half-and-half and using reduced-fat cheese. To kick your morning up a notch, add some hot sauce to the finished product.

Don’t you think rhubarb owes a lot of its success to its friend, the strawberry? It’s like the two are inseparable, at least when it comes to pies and jams. While we can’t exactly advocate eating cake for breakfast, this strawberry-rhubarb jam has all the same flavor and, like the apple butter, can be spread on anything your heart desires. Get the recipe from The Cottage Mama here. 

If grilled cheese was a breakfast food (not to say that it can’t be), it would probably be something like this stuffed French toast. The big difference, however, is that the breakfast version can be made in your slow cooker, and it goes great with strawberries. Get all the recipe info you need right here via Who Needs a Cape?

As far as healthy slow-cooker breakfasts go, you really can’t beat this vanilla cinnamon spice quinoa from Kat’s Health Corner. It combines the protein-packed power of quinoa and nuts with the vitamins and antioxidants found in fruit. Kat suggests using blackberries, but personally, we’d go with blueberries and raspberries — or maybe all three!

We all know the risks when making an omelet. You’ve got your eggs cooking in the pan, and everything is going fine. Then comes time to flip the omelet, and suddenly it looks like you’ll be having scrambled eggs instead. Avoid this tragic situation by preparing a flip-less omelet in the comfort of your slow cooker. This SkinnyMs recipe calls for onions, carrots, string beans, red peppers, and zucchini, but feel free to personalize yours with other veggies such as broccoli and green peppers.

This recipe is similar to the banana bread at the beginning of this slideshow, but instead of bananas, its primary ingredient is zucchini. (You probably figured that part out already.) Although we adore the banana version, summer is the perfect time to enjoy zucchini, so we couldn’t possibly leave out this easy-to-make breakfast treat from Recipe 4 Living.