Slow Cooker - What am I doing wrong?

[Lovestosing]

I bought my slow cooker about 5 years ago thinking it would be the answer to my prayers. I don’t know what possessed me to be honest as we’re not a casseroley taginey family (whatever that is) I have made chilli, bolognese, chicken cacciatore and my Christmas ham in it but that’s it! It was supposed to make my life easier but it hasn’t.

I spend as much time prepping as I usually do and always have to brown the meat off first which means getting up much earlier in the morning in a week days. The other day I looked up slow cooker chilli without browning mince. It was much quicker, I left for work feeling i was winning at life. When I got home the smell was incredible. Unfortunately the mince had completely broken down so the chilli was a weird texture and just not as nice as usual, I could have cried!

What am I doing wrong? I have been cooking for nearly 30 years, I usually cook from scratch so I am experienced but despite this I’m not the quickest so meals usually take me at least an hour to make. When the kids have to leave at 6.45 pm for an activity and the meal isn’t ready until 6.30 at the earliest this is far from ideal! I just want to try to make my life a bit easier during the week.

Any tips/easy recipes please wise mumsnetters?

You’re not doing anything wrong but maybe you were expecting it to solve your problem of saving you time?

prep time is exactly the same, the only difference is that as it cooks slowly all day, it uses less energy and the food cooks slower so food is often more tender.

I think you have to decide if you want to spend the prep time at the start or end of your day. For me, walking in the door after a long day to a delicious smell of a cooked dinner that all I have to is dish up is worth getting up early for.

you could try prepping it all and getting it started in the evening and leave it cooking overnight, then in the morning, add more liquid and leave it cooking through the day.

We have gammon fairly frequently in our slow cooker (except in summer), as it benefits from the long cooking process with brown sugar which draws out the salt.

I have not tried chilli in it. We love casseroles and we like our meat very tender/falling apart. You want to cook cheaper, tough cuts of meat in it - skinless chicken thigh on the bone, tough old bits of beef.

For a chicken casserole I put in whole medium potatoes, whole large carrots, roughly chopped onion and celery in. They seem to end up the right softness after the long cooking time.

I do like to cook pork shoulder in it, I found a recipe which uses honey/garlic/paprika/thyme and the meat tastes great and is extremely tender.

I’ve not been brave enough to do chilli as I’m convinced it will turn to mush, so would be interested to see if anyone else can answer this!

What I do sometimes is chop all of the meat and veg on an evening, add all the seasoning and put in a large covered bowl in the fridge.

The next morning til it all in the slow cooker and add liquid and you are done.

Im rubbish at getting up early so this works really well for me.

I never cook mince in there as I can rustle up a chilli in 15 mins so it feels pointless having it cooking all day. Unless we want a chunky beef chilli with diced casserole beef in which case it comes out lovely.

And I never brown the meat first.

I make a chunky chilli with diced casserole beef, beef shin or, best of all, chunks of beef brisket. I don't think mince should be slow cooked.

I never brown meat in mine, it seems counter intuitive to the supposed time saving!

I pick super simple recipes which really do save time - these are my favourites www.tamingtwins.com/category/collections/slow-cooker/

It’s not you, OP. It’s what happens in slow cookers.

www.seriouseats.com/why-pressure-cookers-are-better-than-slow-cookers

OP, I feel for you. Anything I cook in a slow cooker tastes weirdly metallic/tangy (ceramic slow cooker). We store bread in it now.

That article might answer some of your questions too @SquirrelFan

I’m a good cook and I’ve never managed to make anything particularly lovely in one. Apart from ham or stock. It’s great for stock.

i never liked the taste. I’d prefer to slow cook something in the oven on the weekend while I’m doing other stuff and then reheat in the week.

if I want a hands off meal I’ll do a traybake.

and I’m not sure you can cook a lovely chilli in 15 minutes…

and when people talk about chicken falling off the bone when cooked in it, it’s not a texture I like much.

but a friend swears by hers…

I do whole chicken (crisp in over later) and lamb the same on Sundays

Also makes excellent stewed fruit, chocolate fudge and lemon curd!

Are you leaving it in too long? Mince doesn’t need that long at all. Use a plug in timer so it only comes on at lunch?

I only use our slow cooker for things like pulled pork and ribs. I don’t like the texture of mince that’s been slow cooked. I tend to batch cook chilli & spag bol and freeze down leftovers for a quick meal another day.

I don’t use mince for chilli/Ragu but cheaper cuts of stewing steak that breakdown during the slow cooking process.

A timer plug might be useful if you leave the house super early and aren’t returning until very late. Most recipes seem to be for 8 hrs on low.

Chicken breast rarely works and I find it gets dry. Thigh/legs/diced always.

Normally you need less liquid than you think.

Pinch of Nom recipes (most seem available online), are mostly slow cooker friendly and are great for getting you used to using the slow cooker. I hated mine (sloppy food) until I really did get used to using it. I wouldn’t be without it now.

There are only a couple of things that I do in mine, because Iove my pressure cooker.

But the few things I do, are tasty enough for mid week dinners during winter.

For mince.
I buy frozen chopped onions
Add those to herbs, seasoning, some chilli, passata, un chopped salad potatoes the night before.
Mix the lot.
First thing in the morning mix in nice mince, mix well.
Turn on low.
Serve in a bowl later topped with sour cream, grated cheese, chopped avocado.
Delicious and demolished.

Half leg of lamb.
Into the bottom of the slow cooker pour two inches of thick as mud gravey.
The gravey is granules gravey with wine, tomatoe puree, spoon of mint jelly, spoor of red currant jam or raspberry jam if stuck, add the boiling water and mix it up.
It needs to be really thick.
Lamb placed on top, lots of chopped 2 inch chunks of carrot.
Cook on low all day.
Steam potatoes, quickly mashed and dinner done.
Delicious and not too much work if the potatoes have been done before bed and left in water ready to steam.

Curry is simple.
Mix nice curry paste with 500gr passata, 2 tins of coconut milk. Mix in the slow cooker.
Add chicken thighs, (prefer them to breast in slow cooker).
Add peas or some tinned lentils if you like.
Stir the lot, on low for the day, serve with rice.

I have never ever used a pressure cooker, but what do people think of the instant pot?

I agree, my slow cooker gathers dust because things are just... bland.
And life is too short for bland food, IMO.

And I hate the taste and texture of chicken, meat etc done in it.

Not really slow cooker related, but something we did for a while was to prep dinner the night before - for example chop all the veg and stick it in the fridge in tupperware ready. Then the next evening you just crack on with cooking and can do any prep while it's on/after everyone has eaten. Needed some planning but it made it much easier to get dinner in the table early. If its something like a tray bake you can even prep the whole thing in a pan then just bung it in the oven the next day

As said bigger pieces of meat do well in a slow cooker, stews with dumplings chucked on top for last 30 mins are fab. I use frozen chuck casserole veg , Tesco £1. Frozen Onions , meat and a sauce mix you just add water and walk away.
Gammon drowned in cheap cider and marmalade.
Tomatoes fresh made a great soup.
I can't see why would would cook mince in a slow cooker, mine takes 15 mins in a frying pan

As a vegetarian I've found they just turn a vegetarian meal into mush .

I’m amazed by people saying things turn out bland! Are you using actual slow cooker recipes? Because they should turn out wonderfully, deeply rich in flavour!

I'm not mad keen on my slow cooker but discovered that a lot or recipes were too long and my cooker runs too hot. So i do things for less time on the lower heat setting - but this means i cant go for a long day out, more 6 hours and you dont need much liquid.

Also you can bulk cook and save meals for later

I spend as much time prepping as I usually do and always have to brown the meat off first which means getting up much earlier in the morning in a week days.

When the kids have to leave at 6.45 pm for an activity and the meal isn’t ready until 6.30 at the earliest this is far from ideal! I just want to try to make my life a bit easier during the week.

How long are you cooking in the slow cooker for? It reads like you are starting it off in the early morning and leaving it until 6:30pm. This is far too long for most slow cooker recipes which take 4-6hrs.

I don;t use one, but my mum used to make lovely stews in a slow cooker.
But mince? - by the time you've browned it it's nearly cooked!

My slow cooker has a timer - after the set cooking time it switches to the warm setting. Favourite recipes are:

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/174543/slow-cooker-butter-chicken/

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-sausage-casserole

dinnerthendessert.com/slow-cooker-thai-peanut-chicken/

I love my instant pot!

I like that i can brown meat in it before slow cooking without having to use a seperate pan.

Slow cooker wise i mainly use it for veggie curries

We use it a couple of times a week as a rice cooker.

It makes a really quick lentil dhal for lunch about once a week if im home and fancy something warm and healthy.

There are millions of functions ive never used like the yoghurt maker bit.

I guess it depends on what kind of foods you like. Some people buy one because of mn hype and never use it, others love it. They are quite often on sale on prime days, etc. Not sure if I'd pay full price for one but if mine died id definitely replace it rather quickly.