Slow Cookers 101 What You Need To Know

Slow Cookers are a great solution for busy cooks on a budget. Delicious meals that require very little prep can be hot and ready to serve at the end of a busy workday. Learn everything you need to know about how to buy a slow cooker and use one with the tips below.

Black and silver slow cooker with beef stew in it and text above the image.

Prepare scrumptious roast dinners and melt-in-your-mouth chicken with ease. Create luscious soups and stews without hovering over the stove.

A slow Cooker yields delectably easy meals and get you out of the kitchen. Here’s how to master yours.

Not only does a slow cooker save you time in the kitchen, but it can also save you money in the supermarket.

Grocery dollars don’t go nearly as far, in today’s economy, but a slow cooker turns inexpensive cuts of meat into tender, flavorful stews.

They also make it easy to get dinner on the table, helping you avoid buying expensive takeout.

A well-chosen and properly cared for slow cooker will last many years, help to save money, and reduce your meal-prep stress immeasurably.

Jump To

Features To Look For When Buying A Slow Cooker
Size Of Slow Cookers
Caring for Slow Cookers
Benefits of Slow Cooking
Timing Perfect Slow Cooker Dishes
Practice Makes Perfect
Slow Cooker Recipes For Busy Moms
Frequently Asked Questions About Slow Cookers

Features To Look For When Buying A Slow Cooker

Whether purchasing a slow cooker for yourself or as a gift for mom, there are important features to consider.

A Glass Lid

A tight-fitting lid that holds in heat is essential to proper slow cooking.

Removing the lid over and over to check your food allows that important heat to escape.

Choose a model with a glass lid, so you can check progress without lifting it. No need for a locking lid though. A locking lid, though a great feature for traveling, isn't necessary for every day cooking.

Functions

Standard, less expensive slow cooker models can have analog or digital controls. Most offer HIGH, LOW, and KEEP WARM functions.

More expensive models can have features that include searing/sauteing, braising, baking, sous vide, and even proofing bread. Choose a slow cooker that fits your needs, budget, and cooking style.

Timers

While it’s not a necessary feature, having a timer on your crockpot can be a nice feature. They can automatically shut off the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time.

And they can often be set up to switch to that keep warm setting to maintain temperatures.

Heating Method

Standard slow cookers usually have a base that heats from the bottom and encloses a removable insert.

More expensive models may have bases that also heat from the sides. This definitely allows for more even cooking, but is considered a premium, rather than a necessary feature.

Avoid slow cookers that are designed with a flat base and no sides. The free-standing crock sitting on top of the base doesn’t hold heat as well.

Size Of Slow Cookers

Do you like having leftovers to work into another meal? Do you regularly cook for more than three or four people? How much space do you have for storing a slow cooker?

An average slow cooker recipe is usually written for six-quart slow cook er, or larger, models. If you are a small household and don’t mind scaling recipes, a three- or four-quart slow cooker may be just right for you.

Smaller slow cookers don’t allow as many options for leftovers, however.

A six-quart slow cooker is the size most cooks begin with. It’s perfect for roasting whole chickens, making slow cooker banana bread, or creating hearty pastas like dairy-free chicken alfredo and to brown meat.

I personally have a 7-quart p rogrammable slow cooker with a glass lid. For a family of five, I find this the perfect size.

If you often double recipes, to create intentional leftovers, then you may find that eight- or 10-quart slow cooker is even better suited to your cooking style. Choose the slow cooker size that is right for you.

Caring for Slow Cookers

A slow cooker requires only a minimum of care and are fairly easy to clean.

It’s important to choose a slow cooker with a removable crock. Being able to remove the inner cooking pot means you can easily put it into your sink for cleaning.

You can purchase liners for slow cookers that help make clean-up quick and easy. But if you want a more affordable solution, simply soaking the crock for 30 minutes to an hour makes cleaning it a breeze.

If you find a stubborn spot, sprinkle baking soda on a damp cloth and then firmly rub the area. Baking soda won’t scratch glass or porcelain and is an inexpensive and effective cleanser.

Be sure the base is unplugged and cool. Then, you can use the same baking soda on a damp cloth trick to remove any baked on drips that have made their way into the slow cooker base.

Clean and dry both the insert and the base, after each use. Store your slow cooker with the crock in the base and the lid on the crock.

Close up of a wooden spoon holding a chicken thigh covered in honey mustard sauce with parsley over a black slow cooker.

Benefits of Slow Cooking

Don’t overlook the benefits of slow cooking when it comes to a busy lifestyle.

Fix It and Forget It

The few minutes it takes to prep ingredients and load them into a slow cooker are usually the only hands-on minutes a cook spends cooking their dish.

Saves Electricity

Depending on energy costs in your area, slow cookers use less energy than your range or oven. And they won’t heat up the house like your oven.

The House Smells Amazing!

Just like baking bread or cookies in the oven, or simmering a pot of soup on the stove-top, the meal in your slow cooker will send delicious aromas wafting through your home.

Especially from something like this slow cooker French toast casserole.

You Avoid Takeout

Knowing there is a delicious, hot meal waiting at home curbs the temptation to hit the drive-thru or call for takeout.

Meat Is Tenderized

Slow cooking allows the breakdown of tougher cuts of meat. They’ll become melt-in-your-mouth tender, while remaining succulent and juicy.

Flavor Is Magnified

Slow cooking ingredients with seasonings, herbs, spices, and aromatics creates a much deeper flavor profile than can be achieved in short cooks on a stove-top.

One-Pot Meals

The entire meal can be prepared in your slow cooker. Add some steamed rice or a salad and the meal is complete.

Save Money

Choose affordable, tougher cuts of meat and more cost-effective recipe ingredients for fabulous slow cooker meals.

Slow cooking means they’ll be as delicious as more expensive cuts.

Black slow cooker with peppers, raw beef, and carrots in it topped with homemade taco seasoning and limes around the slow cooker.

Timing Perfect Slow Cooker Dishes

You will quickly find that most recipes written for slow cookers fall back on the standard three to four hours on HIGH or six to eight hours on LOW instruction.

This is a best-estimate timing at best, and one that can turn perfectly good food to dust, at worst.

You wouldn’t roast chicken breasts in the oven for the same length of time that you would a chuck roast.

So you shouldn’t cook them for the same amount of time in a slow cooker, either (which is why having a temperature probe comes in handy).

Perfectly roasted tender roast can withstand, and even needs, the full eight hours recommended by most slow cooker recipes to become tender.

A delicious pork loin may require only six. And whether you want to serve slices or serve it shredded will affect the amount of time it should cook.

Perfectly juicy, slow cooker chicken breasts require only two and one-half to three hours on LOW in most slow cookers. They will be tender and can be cut into beautiful slices or even chopped or shredded to add to other recipes.

A reliable meat thermometer/temperature probe is the best way to test the doneness of meat whether you slow cook a homey family meal or prepare an elegant dinner for a properly set table.

Practice Makes Perfect

The more you use your slow cooker, the more adept you will become at preparing easy, delicious meals with it.

Start with slow cooker recipes from trusted sources and from any recipe book your manufacturer has provided.

Learning to slow cook is a huge win for modern cooks! They save you time. Slow cookers help save money on grocery and energy bills. And they help you prepare flavorful meals like a pro.

Slow Cooker Recipes For Busy Moms

Check out the best dairy-free gluten-free slow cooker recipes for busy weeknights. Likewise, the recipes below are great additions to your repertoire.

Now is the perfect time for you to choose the best slow cooker for your kitchen and your cooking style.

You’ll soon be creating delectable slow-cooked meals for any occasion.

Two images of a slow cooker with stew in it and text between the image.

Frequently Asked Questions About Slow Cookers

Do slow cookers use a lot of electricity?

No. Slow cookers are energy efficient. Even though they’re “on” for longer, they use roughly the same amount of energy as a lightbulb.

Are crockpots and slow cookers the same?

Slow cookers are the item itself whereas crock pot is a brand. So, they’re both the same item/appliance but slow cooker is a term for the appliance itself but crock pot is the name of a brand of slow cooker.

This article originally appeared on Food Drink Life.