Slow-cook
Slow-cooking simmers food for hours at a low, steady heat, usually in an electric slow cooker or low oven, until tough meat and dried beans turn tender.
Also called Slow cooking, Slow-cooked.
To slow-cook is to cook food at a low, steady heat for many hours, usually 4 to 10. The term most often means using an electric slow cooker, a covered pot that holds food at a gentle simmer. A low oven or the lowest heat on a stove works the same way. It suits stews, chili, pulled pork, beef shin, curry, dried beans and stock.
How to do it
- Brown meat and soften onions in a pan first. A slow cooker cannot brown food, and this step adds a lot of flavor.
- Put dense root vegetables on the bottom, where it is hottest, with meat on top.
- Add less liquid than you would for a stovetop stew. The lid traps steam and very little evaporates. The liquid should come about halfway up the food.
- Fill the cooker between half and two thirds full.
- Cook on low for 7 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 6. Keep the lid closed.
- Stir in soft vegetables, fresh herbs, dairy and peas in the last 30 minutes.
How to tell it is done
Meat is fork-tender and pulls apart. Beans are creamy inside. The internal temperature of meat dishes reaches at least 74°C (165°F) by the end.
Why it works
Long, gentle heat gives connective tissue in tough cuts time to break down into gelatin without drying out the meat. A slow cooker set to low still reaches simmering temperatures, usually around 90°C (195°F), just more slowly than high.
Common mistakes
- Cooking frozen meat. USDA advises thawing it first, so the food does not spend too long in the danger zone, 4 to 60°C (40 to 140°F).
- Opening the lid often. Each time adds 15 to 20 minutes of cooking.
- Raw dried kidney beans. They contain a toxin that slow cooking may not destroy. Boil them hard for 10 minutes first, or use canned.
- Too much liquid. The sauce comes out thin and watery.
- Lean cuts such as chicken breast or pork loin cooked all day. They turn dry and stringy.
- Leaving leftovers to cool in the cooker. Move them to shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours.
In recipes
"Cook on low for 8 hours" is the usual form. A recipe written for a slow cooker can be done in a Dutch oven at about 150°C (300°F), usually in about half the low-setting time. Check it as it cooks.
Recipes that use this technique
80 recipes from the sites we collect.
Super Easy Slow Cooker Pork
pinchofyum.com · 490 min
Super Easy Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup
pinchofyum.com · 250 min
Crockpot Mexican Chicken
pinchofyum.com · 250 min
Crockpot Pork Adobo with Black Beans
pinchofyum.com · 495 min
Crockpot Chalupas
pinchofyum.com · 485 min
Mexican Polenta Pie
pinchofyum.com · 255 min
Crockpot Sweet Potato Lentils
pinchofyum.com · 285 min
Crockpot Braised Beef Ragu with Polenta
pinchofyum.com · 470 min
Related terms
- Slow cookerA slow cooker is an electric pot that cooks food at low heat for hours, ideal for stews, pulled meat and beans. Here is how to use one safely.
- BraiseBraising browns meat, then cooks it slowly, covered, in a small amount of liquid until tough cuts turn tender and the liquid becomes a rich sauce.
- StewA stew is small pieces of meat or vegetables simmered slowly in enough liquid to cover them, until tender. The liquid becomes the sauce.
- Pressure-cookPressure-cooking cooks food in a sealed pot where trapped steam raises the boiling point to about 120°C (250°F), cutting cooking times by half or more.
- Fork-tenderFork-tender means cooked until a fork slides in and twists with almost no resistance. It is how you know braised meat and root vegetables are ready.
- Danger zoneThe danger zone is the temperature range where bacteria grow fastest, 4 to 60°C (40 to 140°F) in USDA guidance. Keep food out of it as much as you can.