15 Slow Cooker Dinner Recipes | Gimme Some Oven (2024)

FAQs

How do I use my oven instead of a slow cooker? ›

Preheat the oven to about 160 C. Follow the slow cooker recipe, but use a baking dish with a lid instead of a crockpot or slow cooker. If the recipe calls for slow cooker setting, then divide the cooking time by 4. Eight hours on low then becomes 2 hours in the oven at 160 ºC.

That means we want to slow-cook at 210F or 220F for an all-day cook or slightly higher 240F or 250F for a shorter cooking time. If you want to safely "hold" a dinner that's ready to eat but nobody's home yet, just lower the oven to 180F. Long Cooking Time The time range can be 8-10 hours or 4-6 hours.

If you have a model that runs “hot", 15 hours may be too much and will result in an overcooked taste. If this is new model to you, try it out on other dishes to get a feel for it. If you are using a lean cut of meat, long cooking time is not the way to go. The meat will get tougher the longer it cooks.

If you take an extra 10 minutes to sauté the aromatics before scraping them into the slow-cooker, the finished dish will have deeper flavor and better texture. (And some new slow-cookers allow you to sauté right in the insert, so you don't have to wash a separate skillet.)

Slow-roast

Best cooked at 150-170C, recipes that require slow-roasting are trickier to control using a domestic oven. Brown the joint first to give it a bit of colour, cook it covered on low, then turn up the heat at the end to brown the meat.

Slow cookers typically cost less to run than an oven. They won't necessarily save you money compared with using an induction hob, or even a gas hob. Making exact comparisons is difficult, because there can be lots of variables, such as the type of hob and how you use it.

With this low-and-slow method you simply set your oven to the temperature you want your joint to reach and let the meat do the work. The good thing is once the temperature is reached, the meat won't cook any further, so you can't overcook it! It's actual science.

The slow cooker cooks foods slowly at a low temperature, generally between 170 and 280 degrees F, over several hours. The combination of direct heat from the pot, lengthy cooking and steam, destroys bacteria making the slow cooker a safe process for cooking foods.

If you don't have a slow cooker, you can slow cook right on stovetop using a cooking pot that has a heavy build (like a Dutch oven) so it can disperse heat evenly to the food cooking inside. You should cover it well with a lid, keep the heat low and keep checking food in between so it does not run out of liquid.

Yes, you can put raw chicken in a slow cooker! Slow cookers and Crock-Pots are designed to cook raw meats. The direct heat from the pot, lengthy cooking time and steam created from the tightly covered container destroys bacteria, making slow cooking safe. You can put frozen chicken in a slow cooker, too!

What is the best meat to cook in a slow cooker? ›

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.

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.

Reheat with a liquid: One way to add moisture back into the beef is to reheat it in a liquid such as broth or gravy. You can do this by placing the beef in a pot or slow cooker with the liquid and heating it until it's heated through and tender.

If you don't have a slow cooker, you can slow cook right on stovetop using a cooking pot that has a heavy build (like a Dutch oven) so it can disperse heat evenly to the food cooking inside. You should cover it well with a lid, keep the heat low and keep checking food in between so it does not run out of liquid.

What temperature is 'Low' on a slow cooker? Most slow cookers have two slow cooker temperature settings. The 'Low' cook setting reaches temperatures between 164-182°F (reaching a peak of around 205°F after 4 hours).

The high setting on a Crock-Pot is between 170 and 280 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature range will cook the food quicker, but it is more likely to overcook or dry out the food. We recommend using this setting only when you're in a hurry or if your Crock-Pot doesn't have a low setting.

Most cookers have two or more settings generally operate between 170° and 280° F. If possible, turn the cooker on the highest setting for the first hour of cooking time and then to low or the setting called for in your recipe. Foods take different times to cook depending upon the setting used.