Your favourite tried and tested slow cooker recipe

[Crazyoldmaurice]

Sent our slow cooker to charity last year as I was fed up with stuff coming out bland and watery and it took up so much room in our little kitchen. Lo and behold OH came home last week from aldi with yet another slow cooker. No receipt either or I would have sent him back with it.

Tried to do a beef stew last week and left it on low for 9 hours and the beef was as tough as old boots. Did a curry at the weekend which was really nice but last night did chicken teriyaki which was a watery mess. Tried thickening up a bit with cornflour but it was still a fail.

Can anyone give me their number 1, guaranteed to be tasty slow cooker meal ideas please before I send this slow cooker away again?

Beef stew -
Boil the beef in a large pan to remove all the fat, once you've got the skin on the top of the water (like the brown residue), put in the slow cooker.
Add casserole veg, a tonne of gravy granules, 2 beef oxos and 1 x veg oxo
Fill with boiling water level to your ingredients
I usually leave it on over night and then in the morning, add a tin of Vegetable soup and leave on whilst I'm at work and ready for when we're in!

(obviously drain the water and fat from the beef before it goes in the slow cooker!)

You're probably using too much water. The water doesn't evaporate off with slow cooking so I always use less water than stated.

Dear god, do not do that, unless you want to eat salty, nasty crap.

My easiest recipes for the slow cooker are from Slow Cooker Packet sauces, the Chicken Provencal one is a family favourite. Really easy just tinned tomatoes, peppers and chicken thighs. Not sure who make them but Asda sell them.

If you want to do something from scratch - don't add your herbs, spices etc at the beginning. Especially if you are going to cook for 9 hours. i have never cooked anything that long

Braised steak is one I do regularly at this time of the year: brown steak pieces off with chopped onion in a pan. Add black pepper, a chicken or beef stock cube and garlic puree and tomato puree to your SC. I use about three tablespoons of each because I use the pureed garlic. But you should measure to your own taste. Make a gravy from Bisto gravy POWDER not granules and pour over. Not too much just enough to cover. Put on high for two hours and add carrots at the two hour mark. Cook on high for another two hours. Served with boiled baby potatoes and steamed brocolli my family love it.

I am sure there are other home made recipes that others can come up with to save your SC. I work full time so use it a lot.

Chilli
Brown mince and onions first. Stick in slow cooker with tinned tomatoes and spices. Lovely
The trick, so I hear, is to remove one third of the liquid from a recipe before putting it in... I don't really use mine either unless I want a stew/ chili and I'm going somewhere.

You need way less liquid than you would normally use and much more seasoning. I've never had tough beef after 9 hours though!

The only real successes I've ever had is putting in a dry joint of meat with seasonings but no liquid and letting it cook. So a shoulder of pork for pulled pork, whole chicken, shoulder of lamb etc. Then you have a whole mass of tender shredded meat to eat with something eg. In burritos, with flatbreads, baked into lasagna etc.

It doesn't get much use...I prefer the oven!!

I used to do a slow cooker curry.

1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin coconut milk
1 jar pataks curry paste (to suit, I always used Korma)
Chopped carrot
chopped chicken breast

Makes a nice curry and if you use low fat coconut milk its reasonably healthy.

I don't have a slow cooker so I can't comment on your tough beef problem, but for the wateriness problem, couldn't you just strain the liquid into a pan at the end of the main cooking time, and then reduce it for a couple of mins on high heat? Re-add to the stew contents once it's at the consistency you wanted, adjust seasoning and serve. (This is for stews though, I've never made Teriyaki - I thought it was some sort of glaze?)

I'm not sure what value slow cookers add tbh, but my MiL would never cook for herself without hers so I'm thankful for that.

I've just bought a small one (1.5litre) solely for the purpose of making porridge. It arrived yesterday, haven't used it yet but I'll report back.

Christ whatever you do, do not do what @theydontknowweknow said 😦

That is NOT cooking. That is adding liquid to blocks of salt. Christ, @theydontknowweknow how are you alive with that much sodium???

Reduce the liquid you'd normally add to half. Your food should come out fine.

Your beef will have been tough because it took too long to heat up the liquid.

Coat your beef in a little flour, just dusted lightly.
Brown off your diced beef in a frying pan.
Add to slow cooker.
Brown off a white onion in the beef fat.
Add to slow cooker.
De glaze the frying pan with half a cup of water and pour that liquid in to slow cooker.
Add one large finely chopped potato (thickens the stew with the browned flour).
Add two large potatos cut in half.
Add two large diced carrots.
Add two large cups of water.
Cook on low for 8hrs.
Add more veg after 5hrs if you like crisper veg.
Add half tsp of white pepper.
Add two melted down Knorr beef stock cubes before the end.
Add more water or reduce down on high depending how thick you like your stew.

Never. Ever. Ever add salt to meat that is cooking. You will end up with tough chewy meat. Always add the stock cube and the salt at the end of cooking as seasoning.

You were probably using beef that was too lean. You need shin of beef for the best results - the fat will not only make it lovely and tasty, it also keeps the beef really tender

Gammon joint + apple or pineappple juice, cook on low for 8 hours

Shredded BBQ chicken here

Potato and Sausage casserole (recipe for 5/6):

4 baking potatoes sliced
6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped
2 onions, sliced
2/3 sausages per person
1/2 stock pots (either chicken or veg), made up with 400ml water
salt + pepper to season

Brown off the sausages in a frying pan and set aside. To the frying pan add the chopped bacon and onion and fry off - I like the bacon to be quite crisp. Whilst waiting, layer 2 of the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker. When the onion and bacon is ready add to slow cooker in a layer on top of the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and then layer the remaining potatoes on top. Pour over the stock and then put the sausages on top in a single layer. Cover and cook on high for at least 6 hours.

This recipe is very forgiving - for less people adjust amounts, including the amount of water used for the stock. The cooking time needs to be at least 3-4hours on high.

Gammon. I just rub it with some marmalade and wholegrain mustard, season with salt and pepper. No water. Cook on low for 8 hours. Comes out really lovely!
Also some weird sausage concoction I do turns out well. Brown some sausages in a pan, put in slow cooker. Chuck in a sliced up onion, 2 sliced peppers, a few cloves of garlic. Tin of chopped tomatoes. Season with salt/pepper/paprika whatever you like. Put it on for 5 hours. Serve with salad and a baguette.
Beef stew always turns out fine for me. I brown it in the pan first.
I did a gorgeous goan fish curry a few times but I've lost the recipe now
Chicken always turns out dry for me in the slow cooker, no idea what I'm doing wrong.

Curry (usually just butter chicken or a korma)
This goulash recipe
Chili (add beans at the last moment)
Bacon-wrapped bourbon chicken (tried to find the recipe but I think I may have altered this so much it's my own now)
Any pulled chicken/beef/pork -- so easy (though I make this in the pressure cooker lately)
Chicken & stuffing casserole
This honey garlic chicken recipe

This turkey & cranberry dressing recipe, too. A little more intense on the prep side but worth it.

Be choosy with the meat you use - pick beef with a bit if fat running through it so it won't be tough. Gammon and shoulder of pork are also good, but anything too lean like pork loin just dries out in my experience.

Look for specific slow cooker recipes, rather than your normal recipes just put in the slow cooker.

My favourite is pulled pork from here using pork shoulder , served with brioche buns and coleslaw pin.it/uapiaroofrdh7i
It hardly has any wet ingredients so doesnt come out watery at all

Bolognaise is pretty foolproof in a slow cooker.

Please, nobody use that first recipe by theydontknowweknow

My beef stew usually comes out really tender. I use beef shin, onions, celery, carrots and potatoes. Add 1 rich beef stock pot & a boquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaf). Fill with water to cover halfway up the veg. On low overnight/all day. Season if needed.

This has always turned out really nicely for us:

skintdad.co.uk/slow-cooker-pulled-pork-recipe/

Yum!

BBQ chicken breast -just Tom sauce , bbq sauce , a slice onion and that’s it . Really good with sweet potato fries and coleslaw .
I also love Hungarian goulash In the slow cooker as even cheap beef ends up lovely and tender but the rest of my family don’t so we don’t have it anymore

3 stock cubes and a tonne of gravy granules

I bung a whole chicken in and go to work. Works a treat. You need to look up some American websites they love a slow cooker. Pioneer woman does a few good ones. As everyone else has said less water is the way forward.

I also do porridge overnight in mine.