How To Cook Any Meal In The Slow Cooker: Simple Tips You Must Know

Want to learn how to cook any meal in the slow cooker? We all have favorite dishes that everyone in the family enjoys.

Why not adapt them to the slow cooker so you can enjoy them even on the busiest of days or when you’re not really in the mood to cook.

While not every single recipe lends itself to preparing it in the slow cooker, you’ll be surprised how many dishes do. Soups, stew, and casseroles are a no-brainer. But have you tried making your famous spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker? Just cook some pasta when it’s ready and dinner is served. Or how about cooking your grandma’s meatloaf recipe in the crockpot?

Obviously, you can’t make a traditional pizza in the slow cooker, but how about a mock pizza that has all your favorite pizza flavors and toppings.

There’s so much you can do with this one little kitchen appliance. You’ll be amazed once you start to experiment.

Which brings up a good point. Adapting your favorite family recipes for the slow cooker takes a little experimenting. There may be some trial and error involved. If it doesn’t turn out the way you want it the first time, don’t give up. With a few tweaks, you might just come up with something everyone will love.

There are a couple of things you need to know before you start changing your recipes into slow cooker recipes. I’ll share them below.

Another option is to search for a slow cooker recipe someone has already made. Let’s say you want to adapt your turkey chili recipe for the slow cooker. Look up a few different slow cooker chili recipes paying attention to ingredients and cooking time.

Then give it a try with your ingredients, but possibly adjust things like the amount of liquids you add and of course allowing for longer cooking time. That should give you a great starting point to play with your recipe until you get it just right for slow cooking.

Slow Cooking Conversion Tips

I promised to share some general tips that will work with most recipes for you. Use what applies to whatever dish you are converting into a slow cooker recipe and remember that these are just guidelines. They give you a starting point but it may still take some trial and error to fine-tune your recipes into an amazing slow cooker meal.

Cooking Time – I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that things take much longer to cook in the slow cooker than they do in the oven or on the stove. It’s one of the appeals of slow cooking since that longer cooking time allows complex flavors to develop and even the toughest cuts of meat get nice and tender.

But how much is longer? Here are some rough guidelines:

• If you usually cook something on the stove or in the oven for 15 to 30 minutes, cook it in crock pot on High for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or on Low for 4 to 6 hours.
• If you usually cook something on the stove or in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes, cook it in crock pot on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 10 hours.
• If you usually cook something on the stove or in the oven for 50 min. to 3 hrs. cook it in crock pot on High for 4 to 6 hours, or on Low for 8 to 18 hours.

Cooking Liquids – The other thing you need to adjust is your cooking liquids. This is particularly important if you’re adapting a recipe that you usually cook on the stovetop. On the stove and to a lesser extent in the oven, much of the cooking liquid evaporates.

In a slow cooker on the other hand everything cooks slowly (so less steam) and the lid is closed the entire time allowing almost no moisture to evaporate. Cutting your cooking liquids in half is a good start for most recipes. (You can always add more water but you can’t take it out unless you cook the meal without the lid on for quite a while)

Dealing With Pasta and Rice – Yes, you can make pasta and rice dishes in the slow cooker. But you have to keep a couple of things in mind. For rice stick with the long rain plain variety that takes at least 20 minutes of boiling to cook. Stay away from pre-cooked and quick-cooking rice. These will likely turn to mush. If you want a simpler option for cooking rice I suggest you get a steamer like this one.

Pasta can be cooked from the beginning in the slow cooker, but it comes out gummy in most recipes I’ve tried. What’s worked better for me is to boil the pasta until it is about halfway done and then add it to the slow cooker for the last hour of cooking if I’m home around that time. This is more for things like chicken noodle soup or spaghetti.

To be frank, sometimes it’s easier to just cook the pasta and rice separately and then assemble everything on the plate or stir it in right before you’re ready to serve dinner.

But sometimes life just doesn’t allow for that and it can be difficult to do things separately.

One of the things people mess up with is not allowing for mess-ups in the kitchen. I had a hard time with this when I was learning to cook new foods that I could eat with all of my stricken food allergies. You will have mess-ups and that’s ok. Learn from your mistakes and don’t give up. Find the right slow cooker you enjoy using and try again.