Off, Low, High, and Keep Warm settings– Offering both simplicity and versatility to your cooking experience. Not quite what you’re looking for? Discover more ways to make tasty hearty meals using our vast range of air fryers to microwaves, you can find everything you need at Robert Dyas. Find more ways to save on energy around the home with our super handy blog post. Save time - Prep your meals the night before then turn your slow cooker on low all day and come home to a delicious meal Some things can deter us all from cooking. Having to transfer food from a pan to a pot, cleaning up or that annoying puddle of water you get from putting the lid down on the worktop when it comes to the best slow cookers. If that's you, you need this model, which can act as a cooker and a serving pot that you can plonk down straight on the dining table. Beef: From briskets to ground beef dishes, our slow-cooker beef recipes are a snap to put together with a little help from your skillet.

Below you'll find the best slow cookers according to our experts, as well as everything you need to know before shopping – from must-have features to their energy efficiency. How we test slow cookers Pro tip: Only some meats can be cooked from frozen in a slow cooker. This list will give you the do’s and don’ts. Slow cookers are nifty appliances that do all the cooking for you, so you can whip up scrumptious meals without spending hours working away behind a stove. Using a slow cooker is fairly simple. Just plug in your slow cooker, add your chosen recipe’s ingredients, set the cooker to low or high, depending on the recipe’s instructions, add the lid and let it cook. Once your dish is done cooking, you can either switch the slow cooker off to turn off the heating element, or warm if you’re not ready to enjoy it yet. That’s it! As easy as using a slow cooker is, we do have some tips for getting the best results possible. Here are some of our top pieces of advice:Yes, you can turn almost any recipe into a slow cooker meal! Find a similar recipe that’s written as a slow cooker recipe and use those instructions, or follow these steps. Turkey: These slow-cooker turkey breast recipes will make holiday dinners stress-free while these slow cooker ground turkey recipes are perfect for any night of the year. Functions: additional functions on the slow cooker including browning, reheating, reducing and whether it is hob or oven-safe When testing these slow cookers we were keen to try out each of their main cooking settings, so while a more simple manual slow cooker was used to make a stew or simple curry, we pressure cooked meat and steamed fish in the more complex slow cookers on the market. When slow cookers came with digital settings we attempted delay-start recipes and tested how easy they were to use. Heat retention: how the cooker holds heat for safety on the worktop and whether the food catches or burns

Independent heat controls- Each 1.5L pot has a heating element control for cooking at different temperatures. Removing the need to sauté in a pan before transferring to the pot, the Sage Fast Slow Go is as useful for slow cooking converts as it is to experienced cooks. Functioning as both a slow cooker and a pressure cooker, it includes sensors at the top and bottom to monitor temperature. This makes inconsistently cooked stews a thing of the past. Cook a range of delicious family dishes such as casseroles and soups, with the large 3.5 litre capacity providing enough space to serve up to 5 portionsSlow cookers are a wonderful invention, but most are one-pot wonders that are ideal if all the family are happy to eat the same thing, offering no allowances for different dietary requirements, or side dishes and desserts, so we’re delighted to introduce our Lakeland 2-Pot Slow Cooker to solve the problem. Two independently controlled ceramic cooking pots sit inside the brushed stainless steel exterior, enabling you to cook different versions of the same dish, ensuring everyone can sit down together at the same time and enjoy what’s right for them.][So whether you’re avoiding an ingredient that one diner just can’t eat, making a choice of curries to entertain friends, offering a veggie or vegan option to someone who’s gone meat-free, or serving a slow-cooked pudding to follow the melt-in-the mouth main course, we think this clever little twin-pot slow cooker is fab. Size: With sizes starting at 1-litre through to a whopping 6.5-litres, choosing the right size for you is imperative. The smallest sizes are suitable when cooking for one or two. 3-litres to 4.5-litres (one of the most popular sizes on the market) serve four, and the large 6-6.5-litre models are super for families and batch cooking. It's also worth bearing in mind that the capacity stated on the sales blurb is the size of the bowl, not the working capacity, which can sometimes be half that. With a 3.5 litre cooking bowl, you have ample space to serve up to 4-5 people, making it perfect for serving the family a delicious meal or even storing some away for another day. The advantage of this is not leaving all that lovely seared flavour behind in a pan, and it reduces washing-up. Finally, look for a slow cooker with a transparent lid, so you can keep an eye on your food’s progress. Lifting the lid of a slow cooker while it’s in use lets out heat and steam, prolonging cooking time. It’s always best to be able to see what’s going on without doing so. Are slow cookers easy to clean? Design: Are you looking for a simple, budget-friendly option that just slow-cooks (but does it extremely well) or something more versatile that sous-vides, pressure cooks, bakes and roasts too? Do bear in mind that the more technological the slow cooker, the higher the price.

With a large capacity in each, these 3 slow cooker pots are ideal for cooking casseroles, curries, chillies and more. With individual temperature controls and three heat settings on each, these pots allow you to cook a variety of dishes at once. Most slow cookers will have similar standard controls – high heat for meals cooked in less than a few hours, low heat for all-day cooking. A 'keep warm' mode should hold food at a serveable temperature without actually cooking it. Some cookers will switch to 'keep warm' automatically after an elapsed cooking time, while more basic models need this altered manually. Slow cookers are also brilliant for less-than-confident cooks, easily creating all those meals that seem a bit scary on the hob. That’s because slow cooking develops the flavours of food for richer, tastier results. It’s not just dinners that slow cookers excel at making either. They make great porridge, granola, stewed apples, bread and butter pudding, fudge and dips. You can use your slow cooker to melt chocolate, as a Bain-marie. How much should I spend on a slow cooker? Food warmer- Ideal for large family gatherings as it can be used as a food warmer for a self service buffet.With two individually controlled compartments, the Tower 2–Pot Slow Cooker prides itself on its versatility and generous food storage space. With a combined 5.2L capacity, divided evenly between the two ceramic bowls, this impressive slow cooker is perfect for preparing two separate meals at once – or a single meal with mulitple parts, for example, curry and rice. For reasons of hygiene and safety, personal grooming products, cosmetics or items of intimate clothing cannot be returned. No liquid escapes from a slow cooker, so when adapting a recipe not specifically written for a slow cooker, reduce any added liquid by a third. There are a few surprising things you might not know to turn to your slow cooker for, too. Hands-free breakfast and brunch recipes are a reality with slow-cooker hashbrowns, oatmeal and even cinnamon rolls. You can also plan ahead for a party with slow-cooker appetizers like cheese dip or fondue. Or try out a slow-cooker pasta recipe—but be careful not to let your pasta cook for too long or it will become grainy.

Slow cookers with digital controls may also have a delay start, which is ideal if you’re out of the house for more than eight hours. This means you can start cooking at a time to suit you – while it’s hard to overcook recipes with a lot of liquid, this gives more freedom with dishes that could potentially start to dry out. A timer is another handy feature – this will either turn the machine off after cooking or put it into a limited time keep warm mode. When it comes to buying a slow cooker, there are several factors to consider, such as how many people you’re usually cooking for, what price point you’re at and what features are a must. The first thing you need to consider with any slow cooker is its capacity – each will list its bowl size in litres. Bear in mind that this won’t translate to the same amount of food, as you shouldn’t fill slow cookers to the brim. This gap allows your food to bubble and simmer properly. The usable cooking space will be around three-quarters of its bowl size, for example, a five-litre cooker can accommodate around four litres of food. The controls are a little cluttered, but the illustrations make the Sage The Fast Slow Go easy to use and very clear. The lid his hinged, which we don't love, but it does mean the Sage The Fast Slow Go will transition easily between slow cooking and pressure cooking for a range of the cooking modes.

Learn how to use a slow cooker, what to cook in it and so much more with this definitive guide to everything slow cookers.

This function starts your cooking off on a high setting before automatically reducing the temperature to the low setting for the remainder of the cooking time. Cook up a delicious and nutritious storm from our range of slow cookers. Alongside work and daily life tasks, cooking a fresh dinner from scratch can often feel daunting at the end of the day. A slow cooker is the perfect hassle-free way to make hearty meals whilst you’re at work or completing daily tasks. Ready to be eaten when you get home, as the slow cooker completes all the hard work for you - like magic! There are 3 different heat options - low and high - letting you tailor the temperature to a wide range of dishes, as well a warm function so food is cooked throughout the day, ready for when you get home from work. Sausage: Put your Italian and kielbasa sausage to work with these flavorful slow-cooker sausage recipes. Unwanted Food or Drink Products - Once supply conditions are broken, there are a number of factors outside of our control that can affect the quality of a product. Therefore perishable goods such as food and drink cannot be returned.