Learn how to use a slow cooker and get family dinner on the table according to your schedule. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced cook, this guide with 25 slow cooker tips will elevate your slow cooker dishes from good to great. Cook like a pro!
1. Choose the correct shape and size
First, you need to find the right size slow cooker. For most families, a large slow cooker with a 6- to 7-quart oblong insert will be the most versatile. This size is able to accommodate larger roasts or whole chickens and hold main course recipes serving four or more.
Small slow cookers work well for dinner for two, require less storage space, and fit more easily on counters. See more on slow cooker sizes.
2. Using a slow cooker: Get to know yours
Even the best slow cooker brands all have different heating powers, so you’ll want to learn how your particular model cooks: fast or slow. Read more about types of slow cookers available.
In general, slow cookers with a searing function cook a little faster than ceramic crocks. After making a few dishes, you’ll know if you should follow the shorter or longer recommended cooking times on recipes.
And newer slow cookers tend to cook at a higher temperature than older ones. This means older recipes might need to be adjusted for newer appliances and vice versa.
3. Stay safe
Consumer Reports assures us slow cookers are safer than most appliances, but you still want to read up on slow cooker safety. Read through your manufacturer’s instruction manual for information on using your particular slow cooker. Which parts are dishwasher safe? How long will your slow cooker stay on keep warm before shutting off?
4. Use real ingredients for flavor & texture
Use fresh whole foods for the best results. Perhaps you’ve avoided slow cookers because the recipes seem to consist of canned soups and dry packaged salad dressings. But a slow cooker can be used to braise fresh ingredients into a healthy and satisfying dinner.
Convenience products are fine, as long as they approximate what you’d make from scratch. Read labels and choose products that contain ingredients you can pronounce and that have a low sodium content. Think canned tomatoes, chutneys, and preserves.
Fresh slow cooker vegetables are preferred, but if you do use canned or frozen vegetables, add them toward the end, just long enough to heat them through.
5. Sear, sauté, and deglaze
Browning boosts flavor. To maximize flavor, you will want to sear meat, sauté aromatics, and deglaze the pan just as you normally do when cooking a meal. Most slow cooking websites suggest these steps are “putting in a little extra effort,” but caramelizing ingredients is a basic cooking step.
Searing meat, caramelizing vegetables, and toasting dried spices are essential cooking steps that will alway result in a more flavorful dish. Plus, browning meats increases the temperature of your food faster and kills surface bacteria.
Pro tip: Many people report that using raw onions in a ceramic crock pot results in an odd, metallic taste.
6. Buy a rice cooker
If you want family dinner ready-to-eat right when you get home, then a programmable rice cooker will be needed for many dishes.
Pro tip: You do not need special slow cooker accessories to go along with your slow cooker — and some items like plastic crock pot liners aren’t safe — but owning basic kitchen tools makes cooking easier.
7. Season liberally
Slow cookers cook food longer than conventional methods, so the flavor of many herbs and spices can diminish. Strong spices — chile powders, paprika, cinnamon, cumin, cardamom and coriander — become sublime when cooked over time, so it’s okay to add more seasoning than usual to keep your food flavorful. But hold off on extra salt until the end.
8. Use simple but flavorful ingredients
Garlic: Garlic deepens and mellows in the slow cooker rather than fading. Smashing garlic or cutting it into slices (versus mincing) helps it hold up under long cooking times.
Tomatoes: You will often add tomatoes at the end for a fresh flavor boost. If using canned tomatoes, make sure to buy a high-quality brand.
Anchovies: Anchovies are an amazing flavor booster. They add complexity and depth to slow cooker dishes.
Mustard: Mustard is an easy way to add zing to slow cooker stews and other long cooking dishes.
Broths: Opt for low-sodium broths, especially if adding ham or other salted products.
9. Use fresh herbs
Fresh leafy herbs — basil, cilantro, tarragon, parsley — are best added at the end because longer cooking times diminish their flavor.
Fresh herbs with woody stems — thyme, sage, rosemary — can hold their flavors for longer times.
Dried herbs and spices can lose their flavor when simmered too long, so experiment with adding them later in the cooking process. Or if adding dried herbs at the beginning, then try a pinch or two more than you think is necessary.
10. Finish with fresh Ingredients
Tender, quick-cooking vegetables added towards the end of cooking give a boost of fresh flavor and texture: peas, zucchini, tomatoes, baby spinach, peas, or corn. Learn more about slow cooker vegetables.
Fresh leafy herbs or a squeeze of lemon at the end of simmering help to brighten flavors of long-cooked recipes. Fresh parsley or cilantro will be staples in your kitchen.
Other excellent finishing touches can include hot sauce, grated Parmesan, or vinegar. Pickled vegetables, such as no-cook quick-pickled onions or shallots, are a wonderful tangy accompaniment to long-simmered braises and stews.
11. Use dried beans
If you add canned beans to a slow cooker and cook all day, you might get mush. But dried beans cook up perfectly — we like heirloom beans.
Pro tip: Read up on slow cooker beans as kidney beans can be toxic if not cooked properly.
12. Cook pasta separately
Yes, there are slow cooker pasta recipes, but don’t believe the hype. Some small pastas, like orzo turn out okay when added during the last hour of cooking. But in general, it is preferred to cook pasta according to package directions and serve on the side or stir it into the slow cooker just before serving. If needed, learn how to precook pasta to have it ready at dinnertime.
All this said, we do offer a technique for slow cooker lasagna that passes muster.
13. Reduce liquids
Because slow cookers work at low temperatures with lids on, liquids don’t evaporate — they just collect inside the lid and baste the food.
If you’re adapting your favorite recipes from the stovetop or oven to the slow cooker, decrease the amount of liquid you use by as much as a half, then make adjustments as needed. Remember almost all the ingredients in the pot will produce a certain amount of liquid. So even if the dish looks dry in the beginning it will accumulate more juices during cooking.
Pro tip: Using air-chilled chicken can help cut down on watery dishes.
14. Thicken the Sauce
As mentioned above, moisture in a slow cooker pot doesn’t evaporate like it does with traditional cooking methods. And any added liquids won’t thicken up much on their own. So in addition to reducing liquids, you’ll want to know how to thicken slow cooker sauces.
15. Choose the right Meat to save money
If you plan to use a slow cooker for longer cooking times, then stay away from lean cuts of meat (i.e. more expensive cuts). Lean meats like chicken breasts or pork tenderloin will dry out and get tough if cooked for a long time. If cooking lean meats, you’ll want to opt for shorter cooking windows.
Cheaper, less tender cuts like chuck roasts, short ribs, pork shoulders, or lamb shoulder are ideal when cooked low and slow. When cooking large, fatty cuts you’ll cook on LOW anywhere from 6 to 10 hours — this will make the meat much more tender than cooking on HIGH for half the time. The longer cook time produces tender, juicy meat.
16. Trim the fat
For the best results, take a minute to trim excess fat from the meat. If you don’t, you risk ending up with oily sauces. Removing chicken skin is also recommended. If you brown your meat in the slow cooker insert, pour off any excess fat before adding other ingredients.
17. Reduce the wine
A splash of wine or alcohol goes a long way. If you add wine/liquor to a slow cooker without allowing it to reduce first, the alcohol won't boil down and reduce. This means you could end up with a pronounced alcohol flavor. To avoid this, cut back on the liquor called for in a standard recipe. Or adjust recipes and use any alcohol to deglaze the pan after browning.
18. Add dairy At the End
Dairy products like sour cream, cheese, milk and yogurt can break down or split in the slow cooker, so stir them in at the end of cooking. That said, if a recipe only cooks for a few hours on low — such as slow cooker rice pudding — then it is fine to use milk in the slow cooker.
19. Add seafood and fish at the end
Fish and shellfish don’t do well in a slow cooker over long periods. But you can use your slow cooker to prepare a sauce, then turn the heat to high, and add fish or shellfish just for the short time it requires to cook. Slow cooker fish stew makes a great dinner when you are tired of pork or beef.
20. Crisp things up
Some recipes for foods such as chicken wings or slow cooker ribs might suggest using a broiler for crisping after cooking in the slow cooker. This extra step can help with presentation.
Pro tip: You can skip this optional step.
21. Fill the pot properly
Avoid overfilling or under filling. For the best results, fill a slow cooker between one-half and two-thirds full (check your owner’s manual). This ensures foods cook evenly. When cooking large roasts or a slow cooker whole chicken, make sure the lid fits snugly on top.
22. Cut & layer your ingredients
For even cooking, cut veggies into evenly-sized pieces. If you’re cutting up meats, follow the same guideline.
Not every recipe suggests an order for ingredients to be placed into a slow cooker. The general rule: ingredients that take longer to cook should go in first because food at the bottom will be cooked faster than food at the top.
Pro tip: Typical advice is to place firm, slow-cooking root vegetables like potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the crock, then add any meat and liquid. But if you prefer some vegetables to not overcook, consider placing them on top of other ingredients, such as the carrots in Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken.
23. Adjust for high altitude
At an altitude over 4,000 feet your cooking time increases. Add 30 minutes for each hour of time specified in the recipe. Legumes can take about twice as long as they would at sea level.
24. Keep the lid On
When first learning how to use a slow cooker, it can be tempting to open the lid and look, but just like opening an oven door, the heat escapes. In some cases, when you take off the lid you potentially add an additional 15 to 30 minutes of cooking time.
Crock pots are designed to cook without interference — no stirring needed. And most slow cookers have a glass top to allow you to see what’s going on. That said, it is fine to open it near the end of the cooking to check for doneness or if a recipe tells you to cook off excess moisture or to add an ingredient.
Pro tip: This rule really applies more to foods that aren’t surrounded by liquid — a pot full of slow cooker soup or stew retains heat just fine if you briefly remove the lid.
25. Make cleanup easy
If your slow cooker insert is nonstick like the GreenPan Slow Cooker (read our review) then you won’t have any cleaning issues. But if you don’t have a nonstick pot, you can apply a bit of cooking spray or oil before adding food to help prevent food sticking.
Pro tip: For health reasons avoid slow cooker liners, i.e. cooking in plastic bags.
And … Consider an upgrade
If you are using an older crockpot, consider purchasing a new slow cooker. If you want the appliance to be your right-hand in the kitchen, consider a machine with the latest features. A searing insert makes cleanup easier and a keep warm setting lets you relax when sports practice runs late.
Depending on the brand, some new models might be referred to as multi-cookers. But remember, no matter how versatile the appliance, it won't replace your intuition and common sense. All brands of slow cookers cook a little differently — knowing your machine and how it cooks will let you tweak measurements, ingredients, and cooking time to make perfect dishes.
more on how to use a slow cooker:
Review kitchen tools to have on hand.
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If you are looking for a new slow cooker, review our slow cooker buying guide.
Read more on slow cookers and safety risks.
Explore more tips, tricks, how-to’s with our slow cooker recipes.
See our collection of 8+ hour longer-cooking slow cooker recipes.
