Kitchen equipment · Slow cooker
Slow cooker
An electric pot that cooks food at low, steady heat for hours, ideal for unattended stews and braises.
Useful to have · Electric · 1 recipe
What it is
A ceramic or metal pot set in a heated housing with a glass lid and low, high and keep-warm settings. It holds food just below or at a gentle simmer for several hours. Little evaporation happens, so recipes use less liquid than on the hob. Also known by the brand-derived name 'crockpot'.
What it’s for: Tenderising tough cuts and building flavour slowly without supervision.
How to use it
- Brown meat and onions in a pan first for deeper flavour (optional).
- Put dense vegetables at the bottom, then meat, then liquid.
- Cover and cook on low for longer or high for faster, as the recipe states.
- Avoid lifting the lid; add delicate ingredients near the end.
Good to know
- Tasks
- cooking stews and curries, braising tough meat, making chilli and beans, cooking porridge overnight, keeping food warm for serving
- Cooking methods
- Slow-cooked, Stewed, Braised, Simmered
- Materials
- ceramic insert, metal insert, glass lid
- Care and cleaning
- Let the ceramic insert cool before washing. Do not immerse the heated base.
- Limitations
- No browning, little reduction, and soft results; long planning needed.
Safety
- Dried red kidney beans must be boiled hard first; a slow cooker may not get hot enough to destroy their toxin.
- Do not put frozen meat in; it may stay in the unsafe temperature range too long.
- Move leftovers to the fridge rather than keeping them warm for hours.
If you don’t have one
- Dutch oven / casserole pot — A covered pot in a low oven works the same way.
- Pressure cooker — Many electric multicookers have a slow-cook mode.
Equipment guide
How it works: A heating element wraps around a ceramic or metal pot, heating it gently and evenly. Low settings bring contents to just below a simmer over several hours, and a lid traps moisture. Long, gentle heat turns collagen in tough cuts into gelatin without boiling the meat dry.
| Material | Good | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| Ceramic or stoneware | Holds heat and cooks gently and evenly; non-reactive; attractive for serving. | Heavy, slow to heat, can crack with thermal shock; glazes vary in quality. |
| Metal (aluminium or steel) insert | Can brown on the hob first. | May cook less evenly than stoneware. |
- Manual slow cooker
- Low, high and keep-warm settings.
- Programmable slow cooker
- Timer then switches to keep-warm.
- Multicooker with slow-cook mode
- Pressure, sauté and slow-cook in one.
Buying guidance
Starting out: A 3.5–5 litre programmable cooker with a removable stoneware pot.
- Capacity: 3.5–6.5 litres
- Power: often about 150–300 W
- Keep-warm switchover
- Removable, dishwasher-safe pot
- Hob-safe insert if you want to brown in it
No brands or prices — check current reviews before buying.
Techniques:BraisingStewingSlow-cooked gravyStock makingBatch cooking
Related tools
Recipes that use it
Split pea soup with ham
American · 1 h 45 min · 393 kcal