Using a Crock Pot Slow Cooker

I first fell in love with our Crock Pot brand slow cooker during our suddenly frugal years. That’s when we were tightening purse strings and cutting back on expenses. It’s also when I discovered how valuable a slow cooker could be.

I was able to cook all kinds of things without spending a lot of money. This included melt-in-your-mouth chicken dishes, such as our insanely popular Fried Chicken in the Crock Pot recipe. It’s our number one post on the Bagels and Lasagna blog.

Why You’ll Love Using a Slow Cooker

Not only do slow cookers save you time in the kitchen, but they 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. For the longest time, a slow cooker has been at the top of my list of kitchen must-haves.

A well-chosen and properly cared for slow cooker will last many years, help to save money, and reduce your meal-prep stress immeasurably. If you raise your children learning how to cook with a Crock Pot, they might even ask to take one with them to college, as one of their dorm room must haves.

Slow Cooker Features to Look For

Whether purchasing a slow cooker for yourself or as a gift for mom, there are important features to consider. Here are some of the ones I’ve enjoyed using with our Crock Pot slow cooker

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.

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. This is a feature I love having because my dinners never end up overcooked or burned. Yes, you can burn something in a slow cooker but you have to try really hard to do that.

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.

Slow Cooker Crock Size Matters

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, 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 Mississippi pot roast or creating hearty soups and stews.

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

Caring for Slow Cookers

Slow Cookers require only a minimum of care and are fairly easy to clean. However, just like learning to clean an Instant Pot pressure cooker, there are some things to keep in mind when purchasing and caring for a Crock Pot.

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. Honestly, I’ve tried them in the past and they just seem like a waste of money and wasteful as they end up in the trash.

So a more affordable and eco-conscious solution is my choice. And that would be soaking the crock for 30 minutes to an hour. Then you can hand wash the crock or put it in the dishwasher. Either way, the presoak 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. In fact, baking soda is one of my favorite inexpensive and effective cleansers.

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.

Benefits of Slow Cooking

There are definite benefits to preparing meals in slow cookers.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. One-Pot Meals — The entire meal can be prepared in your slow cooker. Add some bread and a salad and the meal is complete.
8. 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.

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.

Perfectly roasted chuck 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 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.

Our Favorite Crock Pot Slow Cooker Recipes

As I mentioned earlier, our fried chicken in the Crock Pot is our most popular slow cooking recipe. But it is hardly our only one. Here are two other slow cooker dinner recipes on Bagels and Lasagna that employ a slow cooker:

Simple Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken

Pork Loin in the Crock Pot

Overnight Slow Cooker French Toast

I hope to add a few more easy Crock Pot recipes in the coming days and weeks. If you have a favorite to share, do let us know.

Portions of this article originally appeared on Food Drink Life.