Recipes with the Slow Cooker
Slow Cookers (or Crock Pots) are back and are a great way to cook hassle-free, tasty food. Dishes that benefit are those with longer cooking times such as: Stews, Curries and Casseroles. Check out my quick guide for Slow Cooker Recipes below.
Not for the Slow Cooker - It's best to steer clear of fish and pasta in the slow cooker to avoid the risk of over-cooking and soggy-ness - nobody wants that!
Timing – Use the conversion chart below for times for traditional oven-cooked dishes.
| Oven | Slow Cooker | |
| Low | High | |
| 15-30 mins | 4-7 hrs | 1.5 hrs |
| 30-40 mins | 6-9 hrs | 3-4 hrs |
| 50 mins - 3 hrs | 8-17hrs | 4-6 hrs |
Prep and Cooking - If you want to maximise taste, make sure you brown your meat/poultry beforehand. It's also said that each time you lift the lid on a slow cooker, cooking time should be increased by 20 mins due to the vast amount of heat loss. So make sure you keep the lid on and avoid the tendency to stir - there's no need to do this in a slow cooker.
Quick and Easy - The best thing about slow cookers is that you can bung everything in before heading out to work and have your dinner waiting for you on your return - Quick and Easy!
Want easy recipes for the slow cooker? Check out my recipes and use the conversion grid above.
Image courtesy of Marnie MacLean
This guide was written by Warren Nash on 13/02/2009
