25 slow cooker secrets from tips to recipes
Nice and slow
Buy the right size for you
Plan ahead
Remember to preheat
You'll save a significant amount of time by preheating a slow cooker for around 20 minutes before adding your ingredients. If you're new to slow cooking, it's worth following recipes specifically written for slow cookers to begin with, until you gain more confidence into how it works.
Chop vegetables evenly
Don't overfill
Invest in an oil spray
Keep the lid on
Layer ingredients
Ensure meat is at room temperature
If you put meat straight from the fridge into a slow cooker, it will significantly increase the cooking time. Allow it to come to room temperature first. Give this fantastic slow-cooked Lebanese lamb recipe a try, where the meat is marinated overnight with spices, olive oil and lemon, to make a perfect filling for flatbreads.
Fry spices first
If you don't fry spices before adding them to a slow cooker dish, they will taste raw and harsh, without their flavours being released. Have a go at our recipe for carne asada nachos, where economical beef silverside is marinated in spices and browned before slow cooking. It's then shredded to serve with tortilla chips, guacamole and grated cheese.
Add dairy at the end
Adding any dairy products – milk, cream or yogurt – too soon to your slow cooker will cause them to split and curdle, so ensure they are added right at the end of cooking. A perfect example is our veggie aubergine masala, where chunks of aubergine are slow-cooked in spices, tomatoes and almonds, before cream and butter are added at the end for a wonderfully silky, rich taste.
Avoid tender vegetables
Don't use shellfish
Fish and shellfish cook so quickly, they aren't really contenders for a slow cooker. In our prawn curry recipe, the slow cooker is used to make the creamy, lightly spiced coconut curry sauce, with the prawns, fresh spinach and lime added at the end of cooking, for just 10 minutes. You could also use chunks of white fish, such as hake or cod.
Boil off alcohol first
Try beef short ribs
Tender, fall-off-the-bone smokehouse short ribs are always a winner. However, they need long, slow cooking to tenderise them – otherwise they are tough and chewy. Popping them in the slow cooker is easy and more economical than using an oven. Our recipe has them marinated in spices overnight, before cooking them in the marinade.
Beware of kidney beans
Raw kidney beans contain a natural toxin which is only eliminated when boiled. After soaking dried beans overnight, bring them to the boil on the hob for at least ten minutes, or cook them fully before adding to a chilli con carne for the last 30 minutes. The same timing applies to canned beans. Our chilli recipe uses braising steak with chipotle for a lovely, smoky flavour.
Couscous is a no-no
Don't even attempt to add couscous to a slow cooker. It just ends up as a ball of mush. It doesn't need proper cooking at all – just cover with boiling water or stock, cover and allow it to steam. Never tried it? Have a go at our recipe for a tasty roasted vegetable couscous, a great dish served hot or cold.
Chicken thighs are best
Lean chicken breasts dry out and become rather chewy in a slow cooker. Good value thighs are a much better option, as they become meltingly tender. In this recipe, they are slow-cooked in barbecue sauce and spices, before being shredded for a great burger or sandwich filler.
Brown meat first
It's an old culinary myth which says browning meat seals in the juices and flavour. It doesn't, but it does add colour, taste and texture to the final dish. Even if your slow cooker does have a sauté function, it's best to brown meat, onions and garlic on the hob first. Try our easy recipe for slow-cooked spaghetti bolognese to see how great it can be.
Keep rice for the hob
Rice doesn't work in a slow cooker. It ends up brittle around the edges and uncooked in the centre. Given that it takes less than 30 minutes to cook on the hob, or in a rice cooker, and there's a variety of pre-cooked rice pouches you can buy, it's best to cook it separately.
Use cheaper cuts of meat
Less expensive cuts of meat require long, slow cooking to tenderise them. But the time spent is worth it, as they have so much flavour. We're thinking lamb shanks, pork shoulder, beef shin and brisket, short ribs – all perfect candidates for the slow cooker. Check out our recipe for barbacoa – beef brisket cooked Mexican-style with herbs, spices, stock and smoky chipotle, perfect to serve in tortillas. You could also use pork shoulder instead.
What to do with too much liquid
Add soft herbs at the end
Any delicate ingredients, such as soft herbs like coriander, mint, basil and parsley, should be added once the dish is ready to serve. Ditto with things like spring onions, fresh spinach, lime or lemon juice. Otherwise, their delicate flavours will be lost. Try cooking our Vietnamese beef and noodle soup, where the noodles and herbs are added to the final dish.
Pasta can be tricky
Usually, we'd recommend cooking pasta separately on the hob if it's served as an accompaniment to a slow-cooked pasta sauce. On occasions when the pasta is included in the dish, it would be added 30 minutes or so before the end of the cooking time. Otherwise, it ends up overcooked and soggy. In a bespoke recipe incorporating pasta, the timings work perfectly though, like in our chicken fajita pasta recipe.
Use more mince
Quickly cooked minced meat, whether pork, beef or lamb, can be rather on the tough side and quite flavourless. So, it's time to make some of your favourite mince dishes in the slow cooker. To kick off, try this Vietnamese recipe for pork lettuce cups, where the mince is slow-cooked with chillies, garlic, lemongrass and spices, before being piled into lettuce leaves with chopped peanuts, spring onions, mint and coriander.
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