Who needs the hassle of cooking by hand when you have a slow cooker?
Throw everything in there in the morning, then forget it about it until dinnertime — there's
nothing better, right?
But as easy as slow cookers are, they do come with rules.
Here are some of the mistakes everyone seems to make when they use slow cookers, so you
can be sure not to make them yourself.
Taking a peek
We get it.
Whatever's cooking in the slow cooker has your whole house smelling delicious.
Gather up your willpower, though — you need to resist peeking inside.
It took your slow cooker longer than you might think to work its way up to the target temperature,
and lifting the lid for even a second lets out most of that hot air.
Too much peeking means a reduced temp inside the slow cooker, and more time needed for
your dish to finish cooking.
In fact, each time you lift that lid, you add 30 minutes to the time you need to cook
your food.
Using expensive cuts
Those fancy cuts of meat can certainly have their place at your dinner table, but there's
no need to spring for the good stuff when you're shopping for a slow cooker meal.
Since slow cookers cook low and slow, they make even the toughest meats tender and juicy.
So grab a low-cost cut and let it cook all day.
The resulting dish will be so fall-apart tender and full of flavor, no one will guess you
bought the bargain beef.
Not searing meat first
Be honest: if a recipe says to sear your meat before you drop it in the slow cooker, do
you do that … or do you skip it?
It seems reasonable to skip it — it's going to cook all the way through in the slow cooker,
right?
Well, skipping the searing step does change the flavor of your dish, and not necessarily
for the better.
According to the cooking site Kitchn, searing your meat before slow cooking it caramelizes
the outside of each piece of meat, adding texture and an extra layer of flavor.
If you've never seared your meat before slow cooking it, you really don't know what you're
missing.
But after you've tried it once, you'll never skip that step again.
Cooking skin-on chicken
Chicken cooked with the skin in an oven or pan usually ends up gorgeous and crispy.
When you're cooking in a slow cooker, you're probably going to end up with a soft, rubbery
outside that's anything but appetizing.
If you want to be able to serve dinner straight from your slow cooker with no extra steps,
use skinless chicken when you slow cook.
Fortunately, there's a work-around.
If you don't mind an extra step, transfer the cooked chicken from the slow cooker to
a broiler pan and cook it under your oven's broiler for just a few minutes, until the
skin is deliciously golden-brown and crispy.
"Yes!
Yes!"
Fresh vs. dry herbs
With all the props given to fresh herbs, it's kind of refreshing to know that dried herbs
are actually the preferred go-to seasoning in slow cooker meals.
Since they do their best when cooked over long periods of time, dried herbs are the
easy winners when it comes to your favorite slow-cooked recipes.
That's not to say you can't use fresh herbs in a slow cooker recipe — just don't add
them at the beginning.
There won't be anything left when it's time to serve.
Instead, toss those in toward the end of the cooking time, so they're still fresh and full
of flavor when you sit down to eat.
Using the wrong size
Slow cookers come in different sizes, and one slow cooker does not fit every slow cooker
recipe.
The cooking time on each recipe counts on the fact that you're using the same size slow
cooker as the recipe directs — meaning it's filled to the appropriate level.
Your slow cooker should be filled halfway to three-quarters of the way full.
If it's not full enough, your food will end up overcooked.
If it's too full, it may not cook completely, or you may end up with an overflow — and
a big mess on your kitchen counter.
Adding dairy too soon
Dairy products don't do well warm, and the slow cooker is no exception.
If you add ingredients like milk, cheese, cream, sour cream, or cream cheese too early
in the cooking process, you'll have a curdled, disgusting mess at the end.
To save your dish without sacrificing the creamy flavor you love, cook it without any
dairy and then add those ingredients in during the last half hour — cooking them just long
enough for them to melt and blend properly into the dish.
Using too much alcohol
It's usually okay to use a heavy hand when cooking with wine on the stovetop.
As heavy a hand as you want, really.
"And then for Aunt Sandy, a bottle of white wine."
That's not the case with a slow cooker, though, because the lid stays on tight and nothing
really evaporates.
In fact, when you add wine to a slow cooker recipe, you'll taste more of the wine than
you would in a stove-cooked dish.
For that reason, it's best to skip the wine — or add it sparingly — unless you're
really after that boozy tang.
Cooking frozen food
As fabulous as it sounds, it's not a good idea to put frozen food — especially meat
— in your slow cooker.
If your slow cooker is full of frozen food, it'll take way too long to reach a safe temperature
for consumption, meaning your food will spend longer than it should at temps that are less
than safe.
Don't eat that.
Not layering correctly
Believe it or not, your slow cooker doesn't cook evenly all the way through.
The foods at the bottom cook faster, so foods that need longer cooking times, like root
vegetables, should go at the bottom of the slow cooker, followed by the meat, which cooks
faster.
Not greasing
Slow cookers may make cooking a breeze, but they can also make cleanup a pain.
They usually end up soaking in your sink just as long as they spent cooking on your counter
— and even then you still need an awful lot of elbow grease to get them clean.
Save yourself some time and use a cooking spray or a slow cooker liner to make cleanup
that much easier.
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