Slow Cooker Alternatives: Slow Cooking Without a Slow Cooker | The Smart Slow Cooker (2024)

FAQs

Slow Cooker Alternatives: Slow Cooking Without a Slow Cooker | The Smart Slow Cooker? ›

To mimic a slow cooker, you can use a dutch oven or covered casserole dish in a very low oven preheated to 200° Fahrenheit (United States) or 95° Celsius. Some new wall ovens and ranges include a preset “slow cook” function, then automatically switch to “keep warm” when the cooking time is over.

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.

While a slow cooker offers convenience, it's not the only route to slow cooking. With alternative methods like Dutch ovens, stovetop simmering, oven baking, pressure cooking, and utilising crockery, you can still savour the joys of slow-cooked meals. The results will be worth the wait.

A slow cooker and a Crockpot are the same thing, essentially. A slow cooker is an appliance of which there are lots of brands. Crockpot is one brand of slow cooker. Crockpot popularized slow cookers when they launched their version in the 1970s.

Handmade in South Africa, the Wonderbag is a simple, but revolutionary, non-electric slow cooker. ​ After bringing a pot of food to the boil and placing it in a Wonderbag, the food will continue cooking for up to eight hours without any additional energy source. ​

Opt for a heavy, oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid, like a Staub or Le Creuset Dutch oven, to mimic the moisture retention of a slow cooker. This ensures even heat distribution and prevents excessive drying out. Slow cookers are designed to trap moisture, leading to a self-basting environment.

Generally speaking, if it's a slow-cooker recipe for a large, tough cut of meat, then you can braise it on the stove or in the oven. Veggies and beans lend themselves to the low-and-slow heat of braising as well.

Low: 7-8 hours to reach the simmer point. High: 3-4 hours to reach the simmer point.

If you are making a “slow cooker recipe” in your oven, you'll want to add a bit more liquid to your pot. And you'll adjust the liquid for the type of cooking vessel you are using, for example a heavy cast-iron dutch oven will retain more moisture than a casserole dish.

However, Crockpots generally have ceramic or porcelain pots, while most slow cookers have a metal pot. As with a lot of cooking appliances, the biggest difference comes from the distribution of heat.

How does rockpot work? ›

How it works: You heat our food-grade stone (RockTablet) which is made to absorb a tremendous amount of heat. Either over a stovetop or in a fire. The RockTablet will now release enough heat to cook your food and stay warm.

The Crock-Pot Digital Slow Cooker uses slow, gentle heat to produce delicious meals with minimal effort, ideal for soups, stews and meat joints, as well as puddings, cakes and more.

An Instant Pot is a countertop appliance that slow-cooks—and then some. It is a brand of multicooker, an appliance known for having lots of features, typically including slow cooking, pressure cooking, rice cooking, steaming, searing, fermenting, and more. In sum, multicookers do more than slow cookers.

Yes, you can use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker, but our Test Kitchen says it's not as easy as just hitting the “Slow Cook” button.

There are many ways to slow cook food – simmer it in a stockpot, bake it in a casserole in your oven, or use a specially designed device, such as an electric slow cooker or pressure cooker (see Guide to Slow-Cooking Equipment, below).

For example, a cool oven has temperature set to 200 °F (90 °C), and a slow oven has a temperature range from 300–325 °F (150–160 °C). A moderate oven has a range of 350–375 °F (180–190 °C), and a hot oven has temperature set to 400–450 °F (200–230 °C).