Your slow cooker should make cooking an evenly delicious meal easy and enjoyable, whether that means stew, beans or braised chicken breast.
We look for models with simple controls that adjust temperature over time as well as features like browning and sauteing capabilities.
We conduct tests on models which keep food at an ideal, bacteria-killing temperature while you're out.
1. Cuisinart Cook Central 3-in-1 6-Quart Multi-Cooker
Cuisinart Cook Central 3-in-1 6-Quart Multi-Cooker was our pick as the most flexible slow cooker we tested.
With its sleek brushed stainless steel housing and nonstick cooking pot, its three fully programmable cooking functions - Brown/Saute/Steam/Slow Cook--can all be customized by temperature or timer settings to your specifications, with convenient Keep Warm setting that automatically shifts into low heat once cooking is finished allowing you to store meals ready to be eaten when ready.
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Cook, Sauté, and Steam: All in One with the Cuisinart Multi-Cooker |
One of the best features of slow cookers is that they allow you to easily brown ingredients directly in them, eliminating the need for sauteing first on your stovetop.
This makes them great for making recipes like beef stew, chicken chili and soup that require meats and vegetables to be sauteed before slow cooking them.
One handy feature of this slow cooker is its locking lid, making transport of full pots of food much simpler.
Plus, our testers loved its larger plastic handles on both top and sides that made carrying and lifting off its base much simpler without burning your hands!
Plus it comes equipped with an easily graspable glass lid.
2. Hamilton Beach Temp Tracker 6-Quart Slow Cooker
The Hamilton Beach Temp Tracker 6-Quart Slow Cooker stands out as one of the highest performing multicookers we've tested.
With eight different cooking functions that make meal prep simple - sear, saute, bake and roast included along with traditional slow cooking and pressure cooking functions- this multicooker offers the complete dining experience in one convenient appliance.
In our pot roast and vegetable meal test, the Temp Tracker produced vegetables that were tender but not soggy and juicy meat that fell off the bone with ease.
Furthermore, this slow cooker excelled when used to cook tricky ingredients such as squash, potatoes, and carrots that require different temperatures and cooking times to prepare perfectly.
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Cook Smart, Eat Well: Discover the Benefits of Slow Cooking |
It comes equipped with a digital display that shows your settings, and will switch automatically to warm when your programed time has elapsed.
Furthermore, its temperature probe adds another level of precision that helps prevent under- or overcooked meals - an ideal option for chefs who frequently prepare delicate or difficult-to-cook foods like dried beans or low-and-slow pulled pork dishes.
Clean-up after slow cooker dinners has never been simpler!
Both crock and lid are dishwasher-safe for easier cleanup, and its latches stay cool during use to provide peace of mind while traveling.
3. Black & Decker 7-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker
Black & Decker 7-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker is an inexpensive option that works efficiently.
It comes equipped with all of the basic features, such as a programmable timer that automatically switches into "keep warm" when finished cooking and an additional simmer setting to provide slow simmering for soups and stews.
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Effortless Cooking: Meet the Black & Decker 7-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker |
Notes on This Model: Keep in mind when purchasing this unit that its control panel can be difficult to read, which can prove frustrating when searching for settings.
Also, the cook time on this particular model was longer than most others we tested - making it ideal for hearty dishes like chili or stew.
This appliance is an economical and effective slow cooker; however, if you require something with more versatility such as browning or sauteing capabilities and can even be used in the oven.
The attractive Drew Barrymore 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker may look appealing, but in testing it ran hot.
After eight hours, dried beans that should have been perfectly tender turned mushy while honey-based braising sauce scorched to the bottom of its pot.
Furthermore, its handles became extremely hot during testing; overall it's a solid choice if you want an attractive slow cooker with minimal added costs.
4. GreenPan Elite 8-in-1 Electric Slow Cooker
GreenPan's multicooker differed from others we tested because it does not contain any PFAS chemicals - which have been linked with increased cancer risks, harm to fetal development and decreased vaccine effectiveness.
Instead, this slow cooker features ThermolonTM Volt coating developed specifically by GreenPan.
Although not as flexible or user-friendly as our top pick, with only three temperature settings and an LCD timer display, this slow cooker proved excellent at slow cooking.
On low setting a pot roast took six hours to shred into manageable chunks while high heated daal cooked in only 40 minutes!
Plus it features "reheat" mode which provides short bursts of high temperature heating as well as "buffet" to keep food warm longer!
Both inner pot and lid can also be removed for dishwasher safe cleaning!
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Healthy Cooking Made Easy: Enjoy Delicious Meals with GreenPan |
GreenPan's multifunctional slow cooker offers more functionality than just slow cooking alone, with settings for high and low slow-cooking as well as sear/sauteing, steaming and an automatic keep-warm feature lasting 8 hours - not to mention an easily portable circular shape and lightweight body making taking it along to parties or potlucks a breeze.
