Slow cookers for cozy autumn dinners at home

Once the evenings start getting dark in Halifax, a lot of us end up staying in and having people over for dinner. A slow cooker suits that kind of night, because the food simmers away while you catch up with friends. The Curator at Global News published a guide to the best slow cookers of 2026 on October 17, sorted by budget and household size, and a few of its picks fit well with hosting at home.

For a larger get-together, the Ninja MC1001C Foodi PossibleCooker PRO has an 8.5-quart pot, which the guide says is big enough for chili for up to 20 people. It can also sear, bake and steam, so you can brown the meat in the same pot before the slow cooking starts. It sells for C$199.99 new on Amazon.ca and has a 4.6 out of 5 rating from 1,786 reviews. If you would rather serve two dishes at once, the Crock-Pot MultiMeal has two 3.7-quart ceramic pots, each with its own temperature and cooking settings, and its DualSync timer can have both dishes ready at the same time. It costs C$245.78 on Amazon.

Some hosts prefer a spread of several dishes, and the triple slow cookers are built for that. The Culinary Chef model sold at Costco has three oval pots of 2.5 quarts each, individual temperature controls and tempered glass lids, and it comes with a one-year limited warranty. The Amazon Basics version is C$121.53 and offers three removable non-stick pots with separate Low, High and Warm dials, which lets you keep one dish warm while another finishes.

If the budget is tighter, the guide points to the Hamilton Beach programmable model 33463. It holds 6 quarts, which the guide says serves seven people or more, and it has 15 cooking options and an automatic keep-warm setting once cooking ends. The stoneware crock and glass lid are dishwasher safe, and the price is C$79.96 new on Amazon, with a used copy listed at C$56.03. Between these options, you can pick a model that matches how many people usually sit at your table and how much you want to spend.