The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes
Judith Finlayson
Everyone wants food that is easy and flavorful, whether it's an old favorite that evokes fond memories such as Classic Boeuf Bourguignon, Shepherd's Pie with Creamy Corn Filling or Pineapple Upside-Down Spice Cake. New taste sensations that reflect today's globalized world can be found in Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp and Lime, Stuffed Pot Roast in Cumin-Flavored Gravy or Thai-Style Coconut Flan. Old standards or new classics, The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes has an abundance of appetizing and dependable recipes.
Find Out More About Using a Slow Cooker from Judith Finlayson
Slow Cooker Basics
Ensuring Food Safety
Maximizing Convenience
Preparing Great-Tasting Food
Slow Cooker Tips
Dried Beans and Lentils
Slow Cooker Basics
About six million slow cookers are sold every year, making it one of our most popular appliances, which isn't surprising since it is also one of the easiest to use. Once the food is in the slow cooker, you can usually turn it on and forget about it until it's ready to serve.
Slow cookers are generally round or oval in shape and range in size from 1 to 7 quarts. The small round ones are ideal for dips and fondues, as well as some soups, main courses and desserts. The larger sizes, usually oval in shape, are necessary to cook whole roasts or chickens and desserts that need to be cooked in a dish or pan which fits into the stoneware. Once you begin using your slow cooker, you will soon get a sense of what your model does best.
Slow cookers work by cooking foods very slowly - from about 200°F (90°C) on the Low setting to 300°F (150°C) on High. They have crockery inserts and a heat source that surrounds the stoneware. All the recipes in this book were tested in either a round 31⁄2-quart slow cooker, or an oval 6-quart slow cooker with a timing device. The advantage to the slow cooker with a timer is that it allows you to set the cooking time and temperature, and automatically switches to the Warm setting when the food is cooked. This is particularly helpful when cooking poultry or pork chops, which become overcooked if cooked for too long a time, even at a Low temperature.
Some manufacturers sell a "slow cooker," which is actually a multi-cooker. These have a heating element at the bottom and, in my experience, they cook faster than traditional slow cookers. Also, since the heat source is at the bottom, scorching is a possibility if the food is not stirred during the long cooking time.
Your slow cooker should come with a booklet that explains how to use the appliance. I recommend that you read this carefully and/or visit the manufacturer's web site for specific information on the model you purchased. I've cooked in a variety of slow cookers and have found that cooking times can vary substantially from one to another. Although it may not seem particularly helpful if you're just starting out, the only firm advice I can give you is: Know your slow cooker. After trying a few of these recipes, you will get a sense of whether your slow cooker is faster or slower than the ones I use and you will be able to adjust the cooking times accordingly.
Other variables that can affect cooking time are extreme humidity, power fluctuations and high altitudes. Be extra vigilant if any of these circumstances affect you. (top)
Maximizing Convenience
Your slow cooker is one of the most effective time management tools available. Once the ingredients are assembled in the stoneware, you just select the appropriate temperature and get on with the rest of your life. Because the slow cooker does its work unattended, you can be away from the kitchen all day and return to a hot, delicious meal.
A little advance preparation can make your slow cooker an even more effective helpmate. If I have to be out of the house all day, I prepare my ingredients to the cooking stage the night before I intend to cook the dish so I have a minimum amount of work to do in the morning. Sometimes, I cook a recipe overnight in my slow cooker and refrigerate until I'm ready to serve. Where appropriate, all my recipes contain a make-ahead tip to help you maximize the convenience your slow cooker can bring to your home.(top)
Slow Cooker Tips
Brown Meats and Soften Vegetables
There isn't a good cook in the world who won't sing the virtues of browning. Browning does much more than add color to ingredients. It initiates something called the Maillard reaction, which breaks down the natural sugars in foods, releasing sweet, complex flavors. This process of caramelization increases the flavor of dishes by extracting the fat soluble components of foods that enrich the taste. After browning, the fat can be emulsified by adding flour, cooking it briefly, then stirring in liquid that will thicken into a rich, homogeneous gravy when cooked. Although these steps take a few minutes at the front end of a recipe, I believe they balance out overall. Most of the recipes in this book can be served directly from the slow cooker. There are no extra steps required to reduce and/or thicken the liquid, which has usually cooked to a nice consistency.
Reduce and Concentrate Liquid
As you use your slow cooker, one of the first things you will notice is that it generates a tremendous amount of liquid. Because slow cookers cook on Low heat, tightly covered, liquid doesn't evaporate as it does in the oven or on top of the stove. As a result, food made from traditional recipes will be watery. So the second rule of successful slow cooking is to reduce the amount of liquid in recipes. Naturally, you don't want to reduce the flavor, so I suggest using concentrated broth, undiluted, whenever possible. The liquid generated as the dish cooks will thin the broth to its expected strength.
Cut Root Vegetables into Thin Slices or Small Pieces
Perhaps surprisingly, root vegetables - carrots, turnips and particularly potatoes - cook even more slowly than meat in the slow cooker. As a result, root vegetables should be thinly sliced or cut into small pieces no larger than 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes. I have found the mandoline, a device for cutting fruits and vegetables, to be particularly useful for producing thinly sliced potatoes for use in some recipes.
Pay Attention to Cooking Temperatures and Times
To achieve maximum results, less tender cuts of meat should be cooked as slowly as possible at the Low setting. Expect to cook whole cuts of meat such as roasts for 10 hours on Low and give brisket 12 hours on Low to become truly succulent. If you're short of time and at home during the day, cook whole cuts of meat or whole chicken on High for 1 to 2 hours before switching the temperature to Low. As noted in Ensuring Food Safety (see page 10), if adding cold ingredients, particularly large cuts of meat, to the slow cooker, set on High for 2 hours before lowering the temperature.
Many desserts, such as those containing milk, cream or some leavening agents, need to be cooked on High. In these recipes, a Low setting is not suggested as an option. For recipes that aren't dependent upon cooking at a particular temperature, the rule of thumb is that 1 hour of cooking on High equals 2 to 21⁄2 hours on Low.
Take Extra Care with Some Ingredients
Although slow cooking reduces your chances of overcooking food, it is still not a “one size fits all” solution to meal preparation. If you want your slow cooker to cook while you are away, you should plan your day carefully if you have pork chops or chicken in the pot. It is very easy to overcook poultry, particularly chicken breasts, in the slow cooker, and unless you're cooking a whole chicken, poultry shouldn't require more than 6 hours on Low. If cooking white meat, which dries out easily, I recommend leaving the skin on, which helps to maintain precious moisture and flavor. Remove the skin when serving, if desired. Because legs and thighs stand up well in the slow cooker, remove the skin before cooking, which helps to reduce the fat content in the sauce.
Pork chops are usually cooked in 5 hours on Low. Some ingredients, such as zucchini, peas, snow peas, fish, seafood, milk and cream (which will curdle if cooked too long), should be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Use Peppers Appropriately
In my experience, several kinds of peppers (notably fresh green bell peppers and dried red peppers) become bitter if cooked for too long. The same holds true for cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauces such as Tabasco. For that reason, I add fresh green bell peppers to recipes during the last 30 minutes of cooking, use cayenne in small quantities and add hot pepper sauce after the dish is cooked. I have also found that several varieties of dried peppers, such as New Mexico chilies, which become bitter if added to the slow cooker when dry or not fully rehydrated, work well if they are thoroughly soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes before being added to slow cooker recipes. All the recipes in this book address these concerns in the instructions.
Whole Leaf Herbs and Spices
For best results, use whole rather than ground herbs and spices in the slow cooker. Whole spices, such as cumin seed and cracked black peppercorns, and whole leaf herbs, such as dried thyme and oregano leaves, release their flavors slowly throughout the long cooking period, unlike ground spices and herbs which tend to lose flavor during slow cooking. If you're using fresh herbs, add them, finely chopped, during the last hour of cooking unless you include the whole stem (this works best with thyme and rosemary).
Using Dishes and Pans in the Slow Cooker
Some dishes, notably puddings and custards, need to be cooked in an extra dish which is placed in the slow cooker stoneware. Not only will you need a large oval slow cooker for this purpose, finding a dish or pan that fits into the stoneware can be a challenge. I've found that the standard 7-inch (17.5-cm) square, 4-cup (1-L) and 6-cup (1.5-L) ovenproof baking dishes are the best all-round dishes for this purpose and I've used them to cook most of the custardlike recipes in this book.
A 7-inch (17.5-cm) springform pan, which fits into a large oval slow cooker, is also a useful purchase as it allows you to make perfectly formed cheesecakes in your slow cooker.
Before you decide to make a recipe requiring a baking dish, ensure that you have a container that will fit into your stoneware. I've noted the size and dimensions of the containers used on all relevant recipes. Be aware that varying the size and shape of the dish is likely to affect cooking times.(top)
