Slow cooker mistakes you'll want to avoid

Easy fixes

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The slow cooker is a fantastic kitchen tool. Add ingredients to the pot in the morning, press a few buttons and by the evening, you'll have a warm, comforting dish. It's ideal for dinners on colder nights, when you want hot soups, hearty casseroles and meaty meals. Although it's a relatively straightforward piece of kit, you could be making some common mistakes. To ensure you're getting the most out of your slow cooker, here's how to avoid these errors.

Removing the lid too often

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It's an easy mistake to make, but do avoid removing the lid to take a peek, unless your recipe tells you to do so in order to add an ingredient. All the heat that has built up inside will be lost, so your recipe will take longer to cook.

Adding too much liquid

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If you add too much liquid to your recipe, it will become very hot and cause excess condensation, which will drip from the lid back into your dish and make the recipe too watery. Ladle out the excess before cooking, if you find there's too much.

Not reducing alcohol first

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If your recipe includes wine, a slow cooker doesn't get hot enough to boil off the alcohol, leaving a strong taste. Bring your wine to the boil in a saucepan on the hob first, and let it bubble and reduce slightly, before adding it to the slow cooker.

Curdling dairy products

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If your recipe includes dairy, such as cream or yogurt, add them right at the end, long enough for them to heat through fully, around 30 minutes. This also applies to coconut milk or coconut cream. Cook them for too long, the fats will separate and curdle.

Check out these tasty yet light slow cooker recipes

Soggy pasta

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Not all foods are cooked to perfection in a slow cooker and pasta is one of them, along with asparagus and fillets of fish. Instead, cook pasta on the hob until it's al dente, then drain it and run under cold water to prevent it cooking. Add to your slow-cooked sauce just at the end to heat it through. Or, follow a specific slow cooker recipe, like this chicken fajita pasta, which is cooked quickly, on a high pressure.

Get the recipe for chicken fajita pasta here

Forgetting to brown meat first

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Some slow cookers have a browning or sautéing function built in. Older models may not. Browning meat adds texture, colour and flavour, so remember to brown the meat over a high heat first, whether on the hob or in your slow cooker.

Overspilled food

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Don't overfill your slow cooker if you want evenly-cooked food and a clean kitchen! When you cook meat and vegetables, they'll produce more liquid than you started with, so ensure your cooker is large enough to accommodate it. Think about the average amount of portions you generally cook, and buy the appropriate-sized slow cooker to begin with.

Lacking "herby" flavour

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When cooking a dish for such a long time, you may lose the flavour of any dried herbs you have added, especially if using a recipe which hasn't been written specifically for a slow cooker. As a general rule, add half the amount in your recipe again. So, if it asks for a tablespoon of oregano, add an extra half tablespoon.

Mushy vegetables

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Vegetables which are relatively quick to cook on the hob should be added towards the end of the cooking time in a slow cooker, around 30 minutes. This applies to courgettes, mushrooms, peas, broad beans and French beans, and any other more delicate vegetables. Otherwise they'll be totally overcooked, mushy and soggy.

Overcooked food

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This problem may be down to a couple of issues. Firstly, don't forget to set the timer! It could also be your recipe. Some slow-cooked recipes call for a certain amount of time on low, then extra time on high. This is to firstly tenderise, then to speed up the cooking process for less dense ingredients. So you may need to experiment but as a general rule, the slower cooked, the better.

Uneven cooking

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If your ingredients are unevenly cooked, you didn't layer them correctly. Begin with root vegetables at the base, which will be closer to the heat of the slow cooker. Adding meat on top of the vegetables will ensure the meat juices drip into the vegetables, adding more flavour to your sauce.

Take a look at more genius cooking hacks

Lacking flavour

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There's a very good chance that if your dish lacks flavour, you've over-filled your slow cooker. The food ends up steaming and becoming watery. As a rule, aim to fill your slow cooker no more than two-thirds full for optimum results.

Tough, chewy meat

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You were so looking forward to that meltingly tender, slow-cooked piece of meat, but it's as tough as old boots. Luckily there's a simple solution to this problem. You probably cooked it on too high a setting for insufficient time. Remember, long and slow is the key here. Try our smokehouse ribs recipe – beef ribs are cooked in a spiced marinade for around six hours, for perfectly cooked meat.

Get the recipe for smokehouse ribs here

Rubbery, tough chicken skin

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Even if you cooked chicken pieces in a casserole on the hob, you won't have that deliciously crisp skin you find with a roast or grill. There are two options here – remove the skin before cooking and blast in an oven separately or once cooked, put the chicken under a grill until the skin has crisped up.

Find more top tips for cooking chicken

Forgetting to sauté onions first

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You'll have a much better flavour if you sauté the onions for your recipe first, before adding them to the slow cooker. Otherwise you may end up with the taste of boiled onions, rather than the soft sweetness you are looking for. In this recipe for aubergine masala, the onions are sautéed with spices to intensify the flavour, before being slow-cooked.

Get the recipe for aubergine masala here

Food is consistently over-cooked

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If all your slow cooker recipes are coming out over-cooked, it's highly likely your slow cooker is operating at too high a temperature. It happens with domestic ovens too, which often have hot spots. Experiment by turning your slow cooker down to a lower setting than stated in the recipe, and your problem should be solved.

Sauce is too fatty

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If you have a large slick of oil on the surface of your finished dish, there are a couple of options to remedy it. Firstly, you could skim it off with a large spoon. Otherwise, if you're using a fatty cut of meat, such as lamb shanks or brisket, trim as much of the fat off as you can before cooking. Or try a leaner cut which lends itself to slow-cooking, like the leg of lamb used in this Lebanese recipe.

Get the recipe for slow-cooked Lebanese lamb here

Dry, overcooked meat

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If you have this problem, it's likely you under-filled your slow cooker to less than half full. Try to always keep it two-thirds full. Your slow cooker may also be too big for the recipe, so think about doubling up the recipe, then freezing half of it.

Discover our best freezer-friendly meal ideas

Soggy cheese and breadcrumb topping

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As condensation or steam builds up on the lid, it drips back onto the surface of your recipe, making the topping soggy. To avoid this, line the lid of your slow cooker with two layers of kitchen paper to absorb the steam. You may need to replace it during cooking if it becomes too wet. Alternatively, leave off the topping, add it when the dish is cooked and flash it under a hot grill instead. You'll have a better texture this way.

Using the wrong cut of meat

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Keep your fillet and sirloin for the grill! The beauty of the slow cooker is that you use cheaper cuts of meat, such as beef chuck or shin, or chicken drumsticks, which need long, slow cooking to become tender. Expensive cuts will just dry out and become tough with an extended cooking time. Try our recipe for slow-cooker beef chilli made with braising steak.

Get the recipe for spicy beef chilli here

Thin, watery sauce

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There could be a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, you may have added too much liquid which dilutes the flavour. Remember that the vegetables and meat release their juices too. The condensation builds up on the lid and goes back into the dish. If it is too watery, try adding an extra stock cube at the end. You could also thicken it with cornflour mixed with cold water – bring it to the boil on the hob to thicken it. Tossing meat in flour before browning will also thicken the sauce.

Converting a recipe incorrectly

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If you want to use a classic slow-cooked recipe from the oven to make in your slow cooker, as a general rule you would reduce the liquid content by about half. Otherwise the result may be too watery. Until you gain confidence, try to use recipes specifically written for a slow cooker. Our recipe for fall-apart beef short ribs in Vietnamese pho, with spices and aromatic herbs, is a great place to start.

Get the recipe for slow-cooked short rib pho here

Unevenly-cooked meat and poultry

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If you consistently have this problem, your ingredients haven't been equally layered and not submerged in sufficient liquid to just cover them, to ensure they will be cooked evenly. Try our recipe for barabcoa beef tacos, where brisket is slow-cooked in stock for meltingly tender, perfectly cooked meat.

Get the recipe for barbacoa tacos here

Add fresh herbs at the end

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Adding fresh herbs too early in the recipe will take away that delicate, aromatic flavour. So wait until your dish is fully cooked then stir them in. The only exception is if your recipe asks for a bouquet garni – a bunch of bay leaves, thyme and parsley with stalks, tied up and cooked in the sauce to add more flavour, and removed at the end of cooking.

Hard to clean

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Long, slow cooking can takes its toll when it comes to washing up. Either use an oil spray or kitchen paper dipped in oil to fully coat the inside bowl of your slow cooker to prevent sticking.

Find our favourite slow cooker recipes here