25 slow cooker hacks that MOST people don't know

Try these top tips all year round

If you're new to a slow cooker, or perhaps it's been hiding at the back of the cupboard for a while, these helpful tips and tricks will ensure you get the most out of this versatile piece of kitchen kit. With tempting recipes to try, from pasta sauces to summer sliders, you'll find it can be used all year round, whatever the weather.

Buy the right size for you

Slow cookers generally come in three sizes – small, medium and large. Even if you're just a household of two, it's worth buying a slightly larger slow cooker which comes in handy for batch cooking, so you can make one meal and freeze half, or keep it in the fridge for another day.

Plan ahead

Let's face it, nobody wants to lose a precious hour of sleep to get up in the morning and begin chopping and preparing a meal. So do your prep the evening before, have everything ready to go in the fridge, then just switch on your slow cooker before work.

Remember to preheat

You'll save a significant amount of time by preheating a slow cooker for around 20 minutes before adding your ingredients. If you're new to slow cooking, it's worth following recipes specifically written for slow cookers to begin with, until you gain more confidence into how it works.

Read here about slow cooker mistakes you'll want to avoid

Chop vegetables evenly

Chopping root vegetables, such as celery, onions and potatoes, to the same size ensures they will all cook evenly. These denser vegetables are all ideal for slow cooking.

Don't overfill

A slow cooker should be filled to a minimum of half full and a maximum of three-quarters full. If there's too much in there, it won't work as efficiently and it may spill over and make a mess, which is not ideal.

Invest in an oil spray

It's worth buying a reusable and refillable oil spray. This prevents food sticking to your slow cooker and makes for easier washing up. You can buy disposable plastic liners, but they aren't good environmentally. Simply spray the whole liner before cooking, once the slow cooker has been preheated.

Keep the lid on

It may sound obvious, but it's often tempting to remove the lid to have a look at what's cooking. Leave it intact until the dish is fully cooked so as not to lose valuable heat and increase the cooking time.

Layer ingredients

The heat in a slow cooker comes from below, so take care to correctly layer up the ingredients. Root vegetables and meat should go in first, followed by any seasonings and sauce. Bear in mind which ingredients will take the longest to cook.

Ensure meat is at room temperature

If you put meat straight from the fridge into a slow cooker, it will significantly increase the cooking time. Allow it to come to room temperature first. Give this fantastic slow-cooked Lebanese lamb recipe a try, where the meat is marinated overnight with spices, olive oil and lemon, to make a perfect filling for flatbreads.

Get the recipe for Lebanese lamb

Fry spices first

If you don't fry spices before adding them to a slow cooker dish, they will taste raw and harsh, without their flavours being released. Have a go at our recipe for carne asada nachos, where economical beef silverside is marinated in spices and browned before slow cooking. It's then shredded to serve with tortilla chips, guacamole and grated cheese.

Get the recipe for carne asada nachos

Add dairy at the end

Adding any dairy products – milk, cream or yogurt – too soon to your slow cooker will cause them to split and curdle, so ensure they are added right at the end of cooking. A perfect example is our veggie aubergine masala, where chunks of aubergine are slow-cooked in spices, tomatoes and almonds, before cream and butter are added at the end for a wonderfully silky, rich taste.

Get the recipe for aubergine masala

Avoid tender vegetables

Tender greens, such as asparagus, peas and beans, overcook and become mushy in a slow cooker. They only take minutes to cook on the hob anyway, so save them for quick cooking, not slow.

Don't use shellfish

Fish and shellfish cook so quickly, they aren't really contenders for a slow cooker. In our prawn curry recipe, the slow cooker is used to make the creamy, lightly spiced coconut curry sauce, with the prawns, fresh spinach and lime added at the end of cooking, for just 10 minutes. You could also use chunks of white fish, such as hake or cod.

Get the recipe for prawn curry

Boil off alcohol first

A slow cooker will never reach the temperature required to boil off alcohol. For example, if you're making a stew with red wine, bring the wine to the boil on the hob for three to four minutes, before adding it to the slow cooker. Otherwise, you'll end up with a raw, bitter taste of alcohol, and no one wants that.

Try beef short ribs

Tender, fall-off-the-bone smokehouse short ribs are always a winner. However, they need long, slow cooking to tenderise them – otherwise they are tough and chewy. Popping them in the slow cooker is easy and more economical than using an oven. Our recipe has them marinated in spices overnight, before cooking them in the marinade.

Get the recipe for smokehouse ribs

Beware of kidney beans

Raw kidney beans contain a natural toxin which is only eliminated when boiled. After soaking dried beans overnight, bring them to the boil on the hob for at least ten minutes, or cook them fully before adding to a chilli con carne for the last 30 minutes. The same timing applies to canned beans. Our chilli recipe uses braising steak with chipotle for a lovely, smoky flavour.

Get the recipe for spicy beef chilli

Couscous is a no-no

Don't even attempt to add couscous to a slow cooker. It just ends up as a ball of mush. It doesn't need proper cooking at all – just cover with boiling water or stock, cover and allow it to steam. Never tried it? Have a go at our recipe for a tasty roasted vegetable couscous, a great dish served hot or cold.

Get the recipe for roasted vegetable couscous

Chicken thighs are best

Lean chicken breasts dry out and become rather chewy in a slow cooker. Good value thighs are a much better option, as they become meltingly tender. In this recipe, they are slow-cooked in barbecue sauce and spices, before being shredded for a great burger or sandwich filler.

Get the recipe for pulled barbecue chicken sliders

Brown meat first

It's an old culinary myth which says browning meat seals in the juices and flavour. It doesn't, but it does add colour, taste and texture to the final dish. Even if your slow cooker does have a sauté function, it's best to brown meat, onions and garlic on the hob first. Try our easy recipe for slow-cooked spaghetti bolognese to see how great it can be.

Get the recipe for spaghetti bolognese

Keep rice for the hob

Rice doesn't work in a slow cooker. It ends up brittle around the edges and uncooked in the centre. Given that it takes less than 30 minutes to cook on the hob, or in a rice cooker, and there's a variety of pre-cooked rice pouches you can buy, it's best to cook it separately.

Read more on how to cook rice perfectly

Use cheaper cuts of meat

Less expensive cuts of meat require long, slow cooking to tenderise them. But the time spent is worth it, as they have so much flavour. We're thinking lamb shanks, pork shoulder, beef shin and brisket, short ribs – all perfect candidates for the slow cooker. Check out our recipe for barbacoa – beef brisket cooked Mexican-style with herbs, spices, stock and smoky chipotle, perfect to serve in tortillas. You could also use pork shoulder instead.

Get the recipe for barbacoa

What to do with too much liquid

When converting a standard recipe to a slow cooker, a rough rule of thumb is to reduce the liquid content by half. It doesn't reduce as much as a dish cooked on the hob or in the oven, and root vegetables release a lot of water. Too much liquid? The quickest solution is to remove the liquid and put it in a saucepan, then heat it on high on the hob until the sauce has thickened and reduced.

Add soft herbs at the end

Any delicate ingredients, such as soft herbs like coriander, mint, basil and parsley, should be added once the dish is ready to serve. Ditto with things like spring onions, fresh spinach, lime or lemon juice. Otherwise, their delicate flavours will be lost. Try cooking our Vietnamese beef and noodle soup, where the noodles and herbs are added to the final dish.

Pasta can be tricky

Usually, we'd recommend cooking pasta separately on the hob if it's served as an accompaniment to a slow-cooked pasta sauce. On occasions when the pasta is included in the dish, it would be added 30 minutes or so before the end of the cooking time. Otherwise, it ends up overcooked and soggy. In a bespoke recipe incorporating pasta, the timings work perfectly though, like in our chicken fajita pasta recipe.

Get the recipe for chicken fajita pasta

Use more mince

Quickly cooked minced meat, whether pork, beef or lamb, can be rather on the tough side and quite flavourless. So, it's time to make some of your favourite mince dishes in the slow cooker. To kick off, try this Vietnamese recipe for pork lettuce cups, where the mince is slow-cooked with chillies, garlic, lemongrass and spices, before being piled into lettuce leaves with chopped peanuts, spring onions, mint and coriander.

Get the recipe for pork lettuce cups