The best slow cookers, also called crock-pots, are electrical kitchen appliances that you place on the kitchen countertop for simmering food items at low temperatures than baking, frying, broiling.
This item is a great convenience for pot roasts, soups, stews, chili, and other delicious meals like desserts.
Lately, a slow cooker has been making a comeback to house kitchens to help save you time in your busy schedule. A slow cooker is a beautiful, user-friendly, and practical kitchen appliance.
The programmable slow cooker saves time, which allows you to do other things in the house as your food cooks slowly. These appliances are affordable but there are more costly versions based on your preferred features.
A slow cooker offers convenience for those who want home-cooked food but are busy. These small slow cookers have advanced over the years to feature more elegant designs and timers; however, their functionality has stayed the same.
Considerations when looking for the best slow cooker
Heat settings
Many slow cookers feature low, medium, and high settings, and some can feature a ‘keep warm’ mode. You can find some with constant adjustable power, and some don’t have controls for temperature with continuous heat to the meals inside.
Size
You can find different sizes of slow cookers on the market in 17 ounces to 7.5 quarts and up. Many come with a liquid recommendation, and you cannot fill them entirely to the top using fluids. This has to do with heat control.
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Benefits of Slow Cookers
Flavour retention
You can use cheap cuts of meat like sirloin, chuck, and other roasts of pork and beef for tenderer stewing and cooking with the best flavor. The meals will rarely burn, and if not overdone, veggies retain their flavor.
Cooking slowly is easy
It is easy to cook as you just need to layer in the food. After that, set your cooker for the time you need, and the food will be ready for eating in no time.
Cost
Slow cookers amazon products costs anywhere from 30 to 200 dollars based on the material, size, and features. You may spend a lot more on convection ovens, broilers, and toaster ovens.
Health-conscious
Most people would like to prepare “real” homemade food, saving time and money with the advantages of minerals and vitamins. Forget about adding oils, fats, or butter that are harmful to your body.
Remove the fat from the chicken and meat before you use it. The food won’t taste oily, and the individual savors of garlic, celery, carrots, onions, and other vegetables will taste great.
Saves energy
Are you aware that a 250W model can save you money when not firing the oven that uses 4000W of electricity? With this appliance, you can save lots of money. You’ll be able to save another likely 50 percent. In addition, you can save more with the leftovers for your lunch and the children.
Cleaning up the slow cooker
It is easy to clean this cooker. Just toss the crockpot and lid in your dishwasher, and you are done. You can use soapy detergent to wipe the housing, rinse, and then towel dry.
Storing the slow cooker
You can store it in the fridge with its lid on top. Make sure that you allow it to warm before you heat it, so the ceramic does not break or crack.
Product Review of Slow Cookers
1. All-Clad SD700450 Programmable Oval-Shaped Slow Cooker with Black Ceramic Insert and Glass Lid, 6.5-Quart, Silver
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If you are looking for an expensive model, this slow cooker is the best option. This product holds up to 6.5 quarts and is big enough to accommodate even a big group. If you are looking for a smaller version, you can choose a 4-quart type.
You can also program All-Clad up to 26 hours ahead, so you get busy with other things knowing that you will return home to tasty food that is ready to eat.
The outer stainless steel covering makes this item a durable investment. It is also an aesthetically appealing addition to the kitchen counter.
Its black ceramic insert comes with inbuilt handles, which make it simple to grasp and remove. In addition, the glass lid helps in trapping the heat inside for tasty and moist food.
The slow cooker comes with a convenient digital display, and also the inbuilt push-button controls. This will ensure it’s easy to choose different programs to cook food.
Additionally, both the lid and insert are safe to wash in the dishwasher. This means you can toss them in the dishwasher for easy cleaning up.
Features:
- You can use this slow cooker for preparing meals for many people.
- Four to twenty cooking times having a twenty-six hours complete cycle time for cooking your own home food on any no matter how busy you are
- Simple to read LCD as well as big controls which have big buttons. These will help you find the ideal programs easily
- Glass lid for trapping in moisture and heat and easy grasp thanks to built-in handles on insert
- Dishwasher-safe lid and insert for simple clean-up.
- Never use the ceramic insert in your oven or stovetop for cooking foods.
Pros:
- Easy to keep an eye on the cooking progress thanks to the glass lid
- Digital display is easy to read and use
- Even cooking
- Clean up is a breeze
- Looks great for serving
- Easy to grip thanks to riveted handles on the outer side
- Easy to program from four to twenty hours
- Three heat programs with a helpful ‘keep warm’ option of up to six hours
- Two-year warranty
Cons:
- The large size makes it heavy for some people
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Crock-Pot SCCPVL610-S-A 6-Quart Cook & Carry Programmable Slow Cooker with Digital Timer, Stainless Steel
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At times, it’s hard for a slow cooker alone to give the best results. Specific foods need a pan-sear finish, which is hard to get from ordinary cookers.
With this slow cooker, it’s easy transferring the ceramic-coated stoneware insert straight onto your stove for easy browning.
In addition, you can program this model to cook for any time frame between thirty minutes and twenty hours.
The timer on this cooker will count down the remaining time to allow you to monitor how much longer it will be before your dish is ready for eating. When it is eating time, take the insert to the table to allow everyone to help themselves.
Having a dinner or party event? This product’s size will make enough dishes for serving at least 6 people. You can use the dishwasher to clean the glass lid and insert. Enjoy mess-free cooking thanks to the locking lid.
Pros:
- Healthy meals thanks to stainless steel material
- Programmable timer
- Dishwashing stone and lid
- Automatic changing warm, once cooking is done
- Mess-free cleaning
Cons:
- Requires improvement with the lid’s quality
- Requires some customizable option with temperature
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Hamilton Beach Portable 6-Quart Set & Forget Digital Programmable Slow Cooker With Temperature Probe, Lid Lock, Stainless Steel (33969A)
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This crockpot covers almost all the bases you would need in a kitchen appliance. It is programmable, so you only need to set your preferred cooking time and leave it to get the job done, or operate it manually by choosing warm, low, or high temperatures without keying the time.
In addition, the slow cooker has a temperature probe that helps determine when your meal is ready. When cooking is done, this slow cooker automatically switches over to warm setting. It will maintain a safe temperature until it is time for eating.
This appliance will continue working even during short blackouts. This means you will still return home to food that is ready to enjoy. The reasonable cost means that anyone can purchase it.
This slow cooker will help you cook quality and delicious meals. Its patented temperature probe will help you cook the big meat cuts with high accuracy. The control panel will show you the food temperature.
Proper locking of your meals thanks to the tight gasket lid with tight locking capacity. This slow cooker is safe to wash in the dishwasher, and it comes with an easy-to-clean glass lid.
Pros:
- Power interrupt protection
- The compact and tight lid offers a comfy experience
- Simple to cook with accurate temperature
- Control panel shows the food’s temperature
- Dishwasher-safe
Cons:
- Weak feel to the base
- Screen peels off after two uses
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Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Sterilizer, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Saute, Yogurt Maker, and Warmer, 6 Quart, 14 One-Touch Programs
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While the appliance will do the best work at slow cooking, it will also do much more. Actually, this appliance can serve as a food warmer, steamer, rice cooker, and yogurt maker.
The easy-to-use control panel will make it clear which program you are choosing, and you can even delay cooking time up to a day. Ideal for preparing food the night before a big dinner party.
This product is a safe addition to the countertop, with ten safety mechanisms. The stainless steel steam rack and stainless steel pot withstand frequent use, even if you throw them into the washer after eating.
You can get this cooker in 3 sizes. There is a big 8-quart Instant Pot Duo80, a 6-quart Instant Pot Duo60, and a Three-quart Instant Pot Duo Mini.
There’s a built-in microprocessor that helps to monitor your food’s temperature and pressure. This appliance will cook up to 70 percent quicker speed.
It comes with dishwasher-safe and fingerprint-resistant accessories. This dishwasher-safe feature makes this the best product to invest in.
Pros:
- An array of features available
- No issue with lead leakage thanks to stainless steel material
- The best choice for families
Cons:
- Expensive accessories
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Instant Pot Aura Multi-Use Programmable Slow Cooker, 6 Quart, No Pressure Cooking Functionality
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This slow cooker can sauté/sear, steam, stew, slow cook, bake, roast, make yogurt, rice, warm, and ferment, all in one cooker. It has ten smart programs to make cooking easier by simply the push of a button.
The roasting/steam rack, the lid, and the cooking pot are all safe to wash in the dishwasher. This model doesn’t come with a pressure cooker function.
Features:
- 1500W heating element offers optimal yogurt making, roasting, searing, and baking
- Ten smart programs guarantee all the preferred meals are cooked to excellence with just the push of a button
- Automatic keep warm feature will maintain the temperature of your food until it’s time for serving
- Sauté/sear, steam, stew, slow cook, bake, roast, make yogurt, rice, warm and ferment
- Delay Start of 24 hours to let you delay the food preparation time. This will allow you to have dinner on time
- Dishwasher-safe roasting/steam rack, lid, a cooking pot
- Accessories include measuring cup, recipe booklet, and stainless steel roast/steam rack
- Get your favorite cooking results by customizing the cooking temperature and time
- Ceramic coated nonstick aluminum detachable cooker, six-quart oval design slow cooker, programmable
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Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Sterilizer, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker, Cake Maker, Egg Cooker, and Warmer, 6 Quart, 16 One-Touch Programs
This is a premium pressure cooker with ten functions and sixteen integrated programs: Ultra, warm, sterilizes, porridge, rice, slow cook, cake, stew/meat, pressure cook, yogurt, steam, multigrain, searing/sauté, egg, chili/bean, and broth/soup.
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This product comes with a dial that toggles between the different programs, a steam release button for simpler manual pressure release, and a big LCD display with progress indicators.
For delicious meals, you can customize parameters such as time, temperature, and altitude so you will be more precise with the cooking.
In addition, you have eleven safety features, automatic altitude modification, and more than 21 temperature settings. In general, this slow cooker has everything you need to suit your needs.
The cooker comes with a black, sleek steel design that’s present in most modern kitchen appliances today.
In addition, on the top of the lid, you’ll find a separate Quick Release button. This feature lets you keep your hand away from steam when opening the lid.
The big blue NASA-looking display features the best angles to view and will show you lots of beneficial information, which include warmth graph, cooking, and preheating.
Features:
- You can cook perfect eggs quickly thanks to the egg set
- The display has a cooking indicator that offers your food’s progress from warming, cooking, and preheating settings
- Safe to handle steam release reset after cooking
- It combines the functions of a sterilizer, steamer, yogurt maker, rice cooker, pressure cooker, warmer, searing/sauté, cake maker, and slow cooker
- Sterilize program, will sterilize utensils and jars, baby bottles, pasteurize dairy products and do specific kinds of canning
- Cakemaker is made to bake moist and soft cakes
Pros:
- A wide variety of size options
- A lot of preset features and cooking choices
- Energy-saving
- Well built
- Display is big and instructive
- Customized cooking setting
Cons:
- A bit hard to use
- Not as pocket-friendly as other choices
Small slow cookers
If your family is small, you’re a couple, or a single adult; a small slow cooker is the best option to add to your kitchen. However, selecting the right one is difficult, as the range is so big.
Before deciding on which small slow model to buy, it’s vital you take the time first to know you or your loved one’s needs.
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Advantages of small slow cookers
Using small slow cookers comes with lots of advantages, including the fact it makes different kinds of meat tender.
These cookers let you cook an array of meals, from stews to one-pot foods, different kinds of roasts, casseroles, and chili, soups complete with desserts, dips, potatoes, rice, and even sauces.
In addition, these appliances use less energy, which helps save you money, and you get ready food while you are at the office the entire day. This saves you lots of time during the evening when you are exhausted.
Small slow cookers with timers help to avoid the risk of mushy and overdone food. This setting is important unless you are planning to be home whenever preparing food to turn your cooker off. You can get the timers in an option between presets cooking times or in digits form.
Importance of a slow cooker with a timer
Safe
If you do not make it home early to switch the slow cooker off when it’s done cooking the food, you require a model with a timer. It will automatically make the appliance switch off once the food is done.
Keep warm function
You want the slow-cooked meal to maintain the correct temperature until it is ready to eat. As a result, the keep warm feature, whether on a manual or digital model, can automatically ensure the food stays at the correct temperature to prevent the likelihood of the breeding of bacteria.
Long safe period
With your hectic schedule, you may have to leave your home early in the morning then return late. It will take between 8 to 12 hours out of your home. With many timers in slow cookers, it will go to keep warm function after the cooking time.
With the keep warm function, keeping warm may take between two to four hours. This is sufficient time to return home and find your food still being safe and ready to eat.
Triple slow cookers
Do you want to host an event or party? Or just want a simpler way of cooking the best treats? Triple slow cookers are certainly worth investing in. This model is basically 3 slow cookers in one.
If you are a slow cooker fan, you are aware that it can add an outstanding amount of convenience to cooking in lots of ways. Be ready to use less time and effort to cook entire meals. You can prepare food for events without any issue.
A triple slow cooker will come in handy as it will allow you to hots dinner parties or cook for groups.
8 quart slow cookers
Slow cookers are one of those things you require in your kitchen when you have a hectic schedule yet still desire to enjoy tastily cooked, nourishing food for yourself and your loved ones. With the 8 quart slow cookers, you can fix any meal and continue with other chores.
Just put the ingredients together, put them in your slow cooker, select your preferred settings, and the machine takes care of the rest, with tasty food as a result. It is one of the biggest models, so it’s ideal for special events, large families, and much more.
The good thing about using a slow cooker is that you can make anything you want, whether it is a tasty chicken noodle soup or chicken breast. User-friendliness and versatility are two qualities that entice people to buy this model.
Most 8 quart slow cookers models are available on the market; however, you can get a hint from slow cooker reviews.
Each review will show how best a model is; however; you should do your research well to get the best one that will suit your needs and surpass your expectations.
Hamilton beach 8 qt slow cookers
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You will be mesmerized by the user-friendly features, appealing design, and easy to wash in the dishwasher of the Hamilton beach 8 qt slow cookers. Great for big meals, it will hold an 8 lb. chicken or a 6 lb. roast.
It comes with features such as free of mess lid rest; full-grasp handles for serving, and safe to wash in the dishwasher glass lid and stoneware.
Features:
- Low, high and keep warm settings
- Easy serving thanks to free of mess lid rest
- Full-grasp handles
- Ideal for an 8 lb. chicken or 6 lb. roast
- Great for big meals
- Dishwasher-safe glass lid and stoneware
West bend slow cookers
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This slow cooker, like most other slow cookers, offers a simple, hands-off choice to cook food. It roasts veggies, meats, and other food items for several hours inside a covered cooking pot.
The lid will help keep in moisture, letting meals simmer and get particularly tasty.
West bend slow cookers feature an electric heating base, with a separate ceramic pot and adjustable temperature that you can remove for storing in the refrigerator, cleaning, or serving.
The electric griddle base can be used to cook pancakes and other simple grilled foods.
Corningware slow cookers
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Slow cookers are a great addition to a household for people who have a hectic schedule and often spend lots of time outdoors. You can safely leave them alone and help cook healthy and delicious food if you are busy. But a slow cooker can occupy lots of countertop space.
Corningware slow cookers, particularly, are available in an array of vintage and gorgeous sizes. They are made of Pyroceram, a glass-ceramic blend that withstands fast changes in temperature and extreme temperatures.
This means you can use the stove for cooking food, serve it on your table. After that, keep the leftovers in your refrigerator.
Each Corningware slow cookers are safe in the microwave, in the oven, and on the stove, and you can also store them in the fridge or freezer. You can clean them easily in the dishwasher and manually.
Hamilton Beach slow cookers
If you are planning to host a party and want to have the time to prepare for it, Hamilton Beach slow cookers are a must-have. This item lets you leave the cooking while you do other tasks.
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Here are some benefits of Hamilton Beach slow cookers:
Perfect for Busy people
The hectic schedule of many people makes them eat fast foods or skip meals. Since food is a necessity, you should make sure that you maximize each mealtime. These appliances are the ideal companion for busy people.
Due to its slow feature, you prepare meals while you’re away and return home with the delicious food awaiting you. This appliance will do all the cooking while you are busy in the office. Since its 100 percent safe, forget about fire hazards when unattended.
Durable
When purchasing kitchen appliances, you should select those that will last for a long time. Since they can be very costly, you should choose wisely. If you want durability, these cookers are one of the best options out there.
The different parts of these appliances are made of highly durable materials. Porcelain or ceramic for the crockpot, tough glass for the lids, and heater housing made of stainless steel.
All the materials are 100 percent resistant to heat, which makes them the best option for lots of most people.
Safe to use
They are safe to use in the kitchen. Since this model uses low-pressure heat to work, you shouldn’t worry when you don’t monitor it. The temperature offers protection against fire hazards and lots of heat.
With this appliance, you will be able to cook and forget. Simply return to it when you’re all set to eat. The various control programs let you take control of the cooking even when you’re away.
It comes with 3 timer setting choices; know the needs preparation time, setting the need time, and the time frame for keeping it warm until you serve it to the guests or your loved ones.
User-friendly
They come with, easy to use features. The materials are safe to wash in the dishwasher, which makes clean up easy. You can manipulate the control panel easy to minimize the difficulties of cooking.
It comes with durable side panels to ease carrying, particularly during a tour outside town. In addition, it offers a reservoir for the spoon for clutter-free serving.
Cuisinart slow cookers
You can use Cuisinart slow cookers for cooking dishes that need slow cooking at a low temperature. You can use them for cooking quite tasty dishes that you can serve for your friends and loved ones.
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They come with a programmable timer system, meaning you can cook the food without the need to keep an eye on the cooking process.
The cookers come with other features like automatic switching for warming mode as soon as the food is done, slow cooking settings, a 24-hour cooking timer, and other features that you’ll best for slow cooking dishes.
A benefit of the slow cooking process is you can cook the food the night before and then switch it on in the morning before going out, and it will be ready when you return home from work.
You can get a slow cooker in different shapes and sizes, allowing you to select the type of slow cooker that will suit your needs.
The new cooker comes with retractable rubber feet and a cord for increased product stability and easy storage. These appliances feature chrome color that makes them stylish to look at in the kitchen.
Another feature is the automatic switching for warming mode after the food is done. But you should take care when setting the temperature level since there’s the likelihood the food can get overdone if you set the temperature too high.
You can use Cuisinart slow cookers for cooking meals for a longer time at a lower temperature that lets the dishes develop the best flavor.
Elite Gourmet Slow Cookers
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You can get Elite Gourmet slow cookers in a variety of sizes, ranging from a small one that is 1.5 qt to a much bigger size of 8.5 qt. They are well priced and popular not just for the good pricing but convenience and efficiency.
This means you have an option of going for a smaller and more affordable slow cooker, depending on your family size.
They have an attractive stainless steel exterior and a dishwasher safe glass lid. The glass lid is a plus as it allows you to observe your food as it cooks to avoid overcooking.
However, the exterior stainless steel surface gets hot for some of the models and hence care is required in handling. Ensure you handle the pot using the handles and not the sides.
Toastmaster slow cookers
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Toastmaster slow cookers are versatile enough for cooking everything from roasts and stews to soups and much more. You can control the temperature, which lets you prepare an array of meals.
Simply cook the food in the morning, cook it the entire day, and it is ready when you return home from work. You can also consider getting cooks brand slow cookers to suit your needs.
It is not as popular as other brands but is a convenient size and the temperature controls are generally adequate.
Do slow cookers use a lot of electricity?
A slow cooker uses less electricity, which makes it an energy-saving item. The ones from crockpot use between 75 and 150W of electricity on low and a high of between 150 and 210W.
You can use a slow cooker for cooking throughout the day; however, it can use the same energy as a normal light bulb.
Based on the cookware’s size, their wattage is between 50 and 300W. This is less power, and even when you take into consideration you leave one cooking three quarts of food for eight hours daily, a 200W model can use just 1.6kWh.
Slow cookers use less electricity, though it cooks for a long time, and is thus energy-saving. In addition, it means these models are one of the most energy-saving appliances in your kitchen.
They use the same energy as a traditional light bulb and are a more energy-saving choice than ovens.
Several factors determine how much energy the appliance uses. The essential factor is, purchasing a modern model with efficient energy ratings. Other factors include:
- Cooking time length
- Temperature
- The sight slow cooker size