/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I do a lot of my cooking these days using a slow cooker, because I like to set & forget and come home to a piping hot meal. Whats some of the best things I can make in a crockpot? (excluding recipes that make me buy dozens of specific ingredients I won't need for anything else and end up wasting)

At the moment Ive been using it to make:
chilli
spaghetti sauce
bbq pulled pork
pot roast
soups

I'm getting tired of eating these all the time though, Whats the best thing you've made with only a slow cooker?

Slow Cooker thread? Slow Cooker thread.

Post recipes, new equipment, or questions.

Q: I have an instant pot with a slow cooker setting. Will that work fine?
A: Sure, but slow cookers are designed a bit better because they are oval-shaped and the heat is distributed more evenly. Instant pots have a lot of vertical space to them.

Q: What's the difference between models in terms of price for these things? Can I just buy a cheap one?
A: Absolutely! Go cheap. Some might have better material to have better heat distribution but most are the same. They should have a removeable pot for washing and most will have a few heat settings (primarily warm, low, high and usually an off-switch on the cheapest ones I usually see).

Q: What're good uses of a slow cooker?
A: I consider it great for people who have very consistent work schedules who want to throw something in a pot in the morning and come back 7-8 hours later after work to a hot, fresh homecooked meal. They're also great in general for pre-making dinner.

Q: So I can throw shit in a pot and be done with it?
A: That's the idea! But general cooking methods still apply. You will want to par-cook your tougher vegetables like carrots so they heat evenly with your other vegetables and brown your meats in a pan a bit so they can have better texture and flavor.

Recipe:
Take about 32 ounces of fully-cooked, frozen meatballs (the size of those ikea sweedish ones), 18 ounces of BBQ sauce and 18 ounces of grape jelly and place them in the slow cooker. Set it to the "high" setting. You can change the grape jelly/BBQ sauce based on how sweet/savory you want your meatballs to be. Cook for 2-3 hours or even a bit longer. Everything breaks down and you get these sweet, savory meatballs that are really fucking tasty. Just make sure to make something with vegetables in it afterwards you fatty, like a slow-cooked chili.

Slowcooking is a joy