Slow-Cooker Recipes - Recipes by Cooking Style | Taste of Home (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to do slow cooker recipes on low or high? ›

Foods take different times to cook depending upon the setting used. Certainly, foods will cook faster on high than on low. However, for all-day cooking or for less-tender cuts, you may want to use the low setting.

Make-ahead when possible: If your slow cooker has a removable insert, assemble the ingredients the night before and refrigerate the entire insert overnight. It's important to note that starting with cool ingredients may lengthen cooking time (but be sure to keep them out of the temperature danger zone).

Use More Spices and Aromatics

The flavors in a slow-cooker dish can become muted over the long cooking time. So we up the amounts of aromatics and spices in the recipes beyond what is normally used. But it's not just increasing spices that does that trick; you'll also want to increase their potency.

The difference between "High" and "Low" on slow cookers seems to differ with every brand and model. One thing that is consistent, though, is that food takes seven to eight hours to reach a simmer point (around 210°) on low; versus three to four hours on high.

If a recipe calls for cooking on the HIGH setting for three hours, you can cook it for seven hours on the LOW setting instead. Or if a recipe calls for eight hours on HIGH, it can be cooked for up to 12 hours on LOW.

Yes, you can add raw steak to a slow cooker to cook it to your desired doneness level.

However, if you are planning to leave your slow cooker on overnight, make sure it's on a low heat. You may wonder how long can you leave a slow cooker on low for? Well, the recommendation is a maximum of 8 hours on a low heat for most slow cookers.

Choose the right cut: Chuck roasts, short ribs, pork shoulders and lamb shanks (think fatty and tougher meats) become meltingly tender with the moist, low heat of a slow cooker. Leaner cuts like pork tenderloin tend to dry out. Likewise, dark meat chicken — thighs, drumsticks, etc.

Is a Crockpot the same as a slow cooker? ›

A slow cooker and a Crockpot are the same thing, essentially. A slow cooker is an appliance of which there are lots of brands. Crockpot is one brand of slow cooker. Crockpot popularized slow cookers when they launched their version in the 1970s.

Information. It is best to thaw meat or poultry before putting it into a slow cooker. Frozen pieces will take longer to reach a safe internal temperature and could possibly result in foodborne illness. Frozen or partially frozen foods can also cool everything else in the slow cooker.

It can be nice to cook the onions beforehand, as the flavour is different to when you put them in raw, but experiment both ways as you may find you prefer one. It can also be good to brown meat to give it some colour, but again, this is not essential.

Due to the nature of a slow cooker, there is no need to stir the food unless it specifically says to in your recipe. In fact, taking the lid off to stir food causes the slow cooker to lose a significant amount of heat, extending the cooking time required. Therefore, it is best not to remove the lid for stirring.

Just slice up a bunch of onions. (You can use white, yellow, or red onions, or a combination of any of those.) Toss them with some melted butter. Then let them cook on low for about 12 hours total until they reach that perfectly caramelized, deep golden brown, sweet and savory perfection.

Change cooking times depending on your schedule. One hour on HIGH generally equals two hours on LOW.

Slow Cooker Low and High Settings

The high setting will cook the food quicker, while the low setting will cook it slower. We recommend cooking on the low setting whenever possible. This allows for the food to evenly and slowly cook, resulting in a juicier and more flavorful dish.

It also makes the meat far more flavorful. Moreover, the slow-and-low method ensures you get that fall-off-the-bone tender meat. The same results just aren't achieved when cooking meat on high heat for a shorter period of time.

The difference between the two settings isn't a higher temperature, it's the time it takes for the slow cooker to reach the simmer point. On high, that's around three to four hours, and on low, it's seven to eight, according to Crock-Pot. So imagine if your dinner is cooking away on high all day while you're at work.