Few cooking tools are as convenient and versatile as the slow cooker—especially if you dont have hours to spend stirring at the stove. After all, whats better than throwing a bunch of ingredients in a pot, walking away, and returning several hours later to find a hot, delicious meal ready and waiting for you? But even if youre a slow cooker master, there could still be ways youre using your slow cooker wrong.
There are a few things to know about using a slow cooker, like how much liquid to use and when to lift the lid. If youre not careful, any of the following 15 things could seriously wreck the perfect meal you had planned. Know what you should avoid so you can have a tasty hot meal ready when dinner rolls around.
Slow cookers have tight-fitting lids, which means they create rather than evaporate liquid in the cooking. A slow cooker does not need any liquid added at the beginning of the cooking process, because it will generate steam, which will become liquid in the bowl.
You use too much liquid.
If you dont know exactly how much liquid to add to a slow cooker, your recipe could be ruined. One of the most common slow cooker mistakes is adding liquid to every recipe, but unless youre making a soup or stew, you really dont need extra liquid. If you add liquid to every recipe, youll probably end up with too much leftover once the cooking time is up. Why? “You get a lot less evaporation in the slow cooker than the oven or stovetop,” says Sarah DiGregorio, recipe developer and author of Adventures in Slow Cooking: 120 Slow-Cooker Recipes for People Who Love Food. As a result, any water in your ingredients (veggies, meat, poultry) will seep into the crockpot. Start with less liquid than you normally would and think of your ingredients as providing all the moisture you need, DiGregorio explains. Adding too much liquid isnt the end of the world, but it will change the texture and flavor of your dish.
You don’t add enough flavorful ingredients.
Weve already established that slow cooking mellows out flavors over time. This means that if you want a flavor to stay strong and carry through to the end, you need to add a little more of it than you normally would. If youre cooking a dish with garlic, for example, put in more at the beginning or throughout if you want to taste the flavor at the end, DiGregorio says.
Does a slow cooker need water in the base?
FAQ
What happens if you don’t put liquid in a slow cooker?
Do you need to put water in a crock pot?
What happens if a slow cooker runs dry?
Do I have to put liquid in a slow cooker with with the roast?
Should you add liquid to a crock pot or slow cooker?
When using a crock pot or slow cooker, adding liquid is often necessary for several reasons. First, the liquid provides the necessary environment for the food to cook, break down properly, and become tender.
How much liquid do you add to a crock pot?
However, if you’re cooking soups or stews, you will need to add a considerable amount of water or (ideally), stock or broth. The liquid should at least reach the 3/4 mark on the Crock-Pot when adding stews. The amount of liquid you add to the slow cooker depends on how thick you want your stew. Most meats also release liquids during cooking.
Do I need to add water to a crock pot?
You only need to add water to a crock pot if the meal or recipe you’re using requires it. Some foods will produce their own liquid as they cook, like fatty meats and vegetables. Some leaner meats will need to have liquid added so the slow cooker dish does not get scorched. I have some specific recipes that I’d like to share with you as examples.
What liquid can you add to a slow cooker?
Common choices for adding liquid to a slow cooker include water, wine, broth, fruit juice, soup, and tomato paste. When it comes to choosing the right liquid for your slow cooker recipes, there are numerous options available.