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AIBU?

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Original poster

Are slow cookers shit?

209 replies

rainbowstardrops · 05/11/2025 18:41

I mean, I know they’re not shit but I’m currently cooking a Thai beef dish and it looks absolutely nothing like the picture in the recipe book. It looks dull and watery and just so unappetising.
Am I being unreasonable to think that the bloody recipes in these books look nothing like the final result photos?
Oh and I put half of the chilli flakes in because one of mine doesn’t like spicy (I do) but this is even setting my mouth on fire!
Pah!

OP posts:
bakebeans · 05/11/2025 20:52

How long has it been in for?

Left · 05/11/2025 20:51

I think you might be right OP. Been debating whether to give mine away or try again with it. Everything I cook in it has a rank aftertaste which I think is the onion, but I persist in dragging it out when the the weather first drops to see if anything’s changed.

CrumblyMansion · 05/11/2025 20:45

I do quite a lot of soups and stews in the slow cooker. Curries and pasta type things don’t work well for me though, they go mushy and starchy.

AhBiscuits · 05/11/2025 20:44

Yes they are shit. They are only capable of cooking slop.

Jewishbookworm · 05/11/2025 20:43

fatty meat works best in cholent, my butcher sells a meat called 'cholent meat'. Lamb is also great.

Jewishbookworm · 05/11/2025 20:42

I only use mine to make cholent, a meat stew that Jews eat on shabbat. Due to the rules of shabbat cooking it needs to have been cooking since before shabbat. So from friday evening until saturday lunchtime. A lot of people love cholent, my family are meh about it, so I only make it when we have guests. (I am told my cholent is excellent)

Anyway, a few days ago an article popped up on my SM feed. Apparently the slow cooker was invented by a Jewish woman for exactly this reason. I don't know why I didn't know this.

https://jwa.org/blog/love-your-crockpot-you-have-cholent-thank-its-existence

Love Your Crockpot? You Have Cholent to Thank for its Existence. | Jewish Women's Archive

Without cholent, the crockpot might never have been invented.

https://jwa.org/blog/love-your-crockpot-you-have-cholent-thank-its-existence

Lifestooshort71 · 05/11/2025 20:37

Stopped using mine. Any meat went from tough to shredded with no tender melting stage imbetween. Dry and tasteless shreds. Veggies all ended up a sludgy grey/brown colour. Most unappetising.

muddyford · 05/11/2025 20:31

I love mine.

Nobumsonthetable · 05/11/2025 20:30

Every meal I’ve ever had out of a slow cooker tastes exactly the same. Overcooked tasteless institutional slop.

ThatLilacBeaker · 05/11/2025 20:16

I find it quite slow at cooking tbh

fruitypancake · 05/11/2025 20:12

Love my slow cooker

Cakeandusername · 05/11/2025 20:11

Morphy Richard’s sear & stew. Middle bit goes on hob to brown meat then put it in slow cooker. Everything I make in it is nice.

HeadOfGregor · 05/11/2025 20:11

Insipid and turns any meat into the texture of pre chewed stringy slop🤮

I appreciate you can leave it on all day but I'd much rather a good casserole. If you need to brown off in a pan it doesn't save much 'cooking' time than a casserole dish in the oven.

I did use mine for chicken stock before getting rid which is the only thing I found it useful for

Elbowpatch · 05/11/2025 20:11

3ormorecharacters · 05/11/2025 20:01

I'm always so confused by this because so many people seem to live slow cookers and swear by them. I really like the idea but everything I've ever made has been a watery mess and has the same weird aftertaste. I've tried specific slow cooker recipes (in fact have bought several specific slow cooker recipe books) but can't seem to make anything edible. I feel like I must be missing something.

Once I realised that a slow cooker isn’t a bung everything in at the start and cook it all for eight hours cooker, the results improved immeasurably.

Chimneyonya · 05/11/2025 20:11

We have a very basic slow cooker and I use it to cook bolognese, chilli, curries, and pulled BBQ chicken for tacos. We absolutely love these meals and they certainly aren’t “slop”. They’re all really rich and full of flavour. I don’t know what everyone else is doing to their slow cooker meals but ours come out gorgeous.

SumUp · 05/11/2025 20:03

They are a compromise. Brown your meat and onions first, add less liquid than you think you need. The result will be acceptable with lovely tender meat, but not as nice as if you cooked it using an oven or pressure cooker.

Saz12 · 05/11/2025 20:03

Great for some things - tougher cuts of meat, bolognaise, Ragu. Brown the meat first though.
But if you add too much liquid it's v watery, and if you add anything too soft it will be a mush!

3ormorecharacters · 05/11/2025 20:01

I'm always so confused by this because so many people seem to live slow cookers and swear by them. I really like the idea but everything I've ever made has been a watery mess and has the same weird aftertaste. I've tried specific slow cooker recipes (in fact have bought several specific slow cooker recipe books) but can't seem to make anything edible. I feel like I must be missing something.

ranoutofquinoaandprosecco · 05/11/2025 19:58

I love mine just made a prawn and chorizo paella in it!

Elbowpatch · 05/11/2025 19:57

Horses for courses. Good for long slow cooking meat. Other ingredients may need to be added much later in the process to stop them turning to mush.

Elisabeth3468 · 05/11/2025 19:55

I agree. Slow cooker meals deffo don't taste as good IMO and I basically brown everything off first for flavour

Bubnov · 05/11/2025 19:54

I never add liquid to savoury dishes in the slow cooker, generally always put a tea towel under the lid. If things still get a bit watery, I add a couple of teaspoons of potato starch.

I mainly use mine to make brownies, cakes, "baked" custards and cheesecakes, though.

cannynotsay · 05/11/2025 19:53

Always find the texture is mushy hate them

InfoSecInTheCity · 05/11/2025 19:51

And like others I don’t add liquid or if I do then it’s only a tiny amount.

My lunch this week is shredded chicken, I put 400g chicken breast, red onion, mushrooms and sliced peppers in the slow cooker with some peri-peri or bbq dry seasoning, then leave it to cook on high for about 3 hours, or low for about 5 hrs. Onto the hob for 10-15 mins to dry out the liquid released from the chicken and veg then shred the chicken with a couple of forks.