Best slow cooker: Enjoy delicious, slow cooked meals without the hassle
Enjoy one-pot suppers and family favourite dishes such as pulled pork and chilli with these easy-to-use cookers
The best slow cookers should be great at cooking both healthy meals for the week and joints of meat that need as much time as possible for the tastiest results. This idea is actually pretty old-fashioned, but it’s fair to say that the results are perfect for a busy home.
You still have to throw the ingredients together, but a slow cooker dramatically reduces the time you spend in the kitchen when you get back from work. Set everything going the evening before, or before you go to work, and you can return home to have a delicious meal ready and waiting.
Read on and you’ll find our pick of the best slow cookers money can buy. If you’re not sure which features to look out for, or how much to spend, then fear not – our buying guide will answer all the key questions you might have.
Best slow cookers: At a glance | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best cheap, large-capacity slow cooker | Cookworks 6.5l Slow Cooker (~£33) | Check price at Argos |
| Best all-in-one slow cooker | Tefal 8-in-1 Multi Cooker (~£100) | Check price at Amazon |
| Best slow cooker for family fun | Russell Hobbs Chalk Board Slow Cooker (~£35) | Check price at Amazon |
How to choose the best slow cooker for you
Why should I buy a slow cooker?
They’re a handy tool for experienced cooks, but they’re also a great buy for the more reluctant, or nervous, cooks out there.
If you’re not confident in your culinary skills, many slow cooker recipes require you to do little more than quickly fry a few ingredients in a pan, throwing them into the cooker and pressing the on button.
How much do I need to spend?
Slow cookers are affordable as small electricals go, with the cheapest and most cheerful starting from as little as £20. Expect to spend a little more if you want a bigger capacity (for a large family or batch cooking), and more still if you want fancy features.
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Does it matter what the pot is made of?
Traditionally, slow cookers use a large, ceramic casserole dish that’s slow to heat up and slow to cool down. These are heavy and will break if you drop them, but they hold their heat well so they’re lovely to carry to the table and serve from.
Many modern slow cookers have a metal pot instead. This is usually made from aluminium with a non-stick coating, making it lightweight and easier to clean, but they usually don’t hold heat so well.
What kind of special features should I look out for?
When you make a one-pot dish, you usually start by searing the meat or sautéing base ingredients such as onions and garlic. Most slow cookers don’t let you do this, but there are a few that do. Some, such as the Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Digital Slow Cooker 460015, simply have a metal pot that’s sturdy enough to heat on your own hob (gas or electric, not induction).
A few premium slow cookers, such as the Sage by Heston Blumenthal Risotto Plus, actually have a sear and sauté setting so you can do it in the slow cooker itself. Either way, the advantage is that you don’t have to dirty a frying pan preparing your ingredients before slow cooking, so you’ve halved the number of dishes to wash.
How we test slow cookers
To help you find the ideal slow cooker for your needs, we put each one through its paces with a series of tests and assessments. Initially, we assess how well each slow cooker actually cooks, using the same recipe for each model on both the low and high heat settings. What we’re after is a well cooked meal, with juicy, tender meat and perfectly cooked veggies. No dried out bits and no overcooked ingredients.
After our recipes tests, we turn our attention to features. Good slow cookers will have plenty of useful features, be it a well constructed lid to keep the heat in or a high performance warming setting that keeps food toasty without drying it out. Capacity is also important, which is why we take note of the best size models for families, couples and even solo households. Finally, for slow cookers with other cooking functions, such as sautéing or pressure cooking, we test these as we would any other multi cooker.
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The best slow cookers you can buy in 2023
1. Argos Cookworks 6.5l Slow Cooker: Best budget slow cooker with a huge capacity
Price when reviewed: £33 | Check price at Argos
Feed the whole family – and maybe some of the kids’ friends, too – with this deep-dish slow cooker. It can easily feed five or six people with chilli, curry or stews cooked in its large black ceramic bowl, topped with a glass lid so you can keep an eye on dinner’s progress.
The bowl’s oven-safe, although it can’t be used on the hob, so you’ll need to sauté ingredients in a separate pan beforehand. It’s also not dishwasher-safe, meaning the relatively heavy pot has to be washed by hand – but for sheer size combined with affordability, it’s hard to beat.
Its high and low settings are great for cooking but you may find that its keep-warm function struggles to maintain the temperature throughout.
Key specs – Capacity: 6.5l; Pot type: Oven-safe ceramic; Controls: Manual
2. Lakeland 3.5l Slow Cooker: Best slow cooker for small portions
Price when reviewed: £40 | Check price at Lakeland
This is a simple slow cooker with a traditional “crock pot” design: it has a heavy ceramic bowl rather than a lightweight metal one. This means it’s heavier to carry to the table, but in return, it holds its heat well when it gets there. It’s also oven-safe to 150°C, but sadly it isn’t non-stick.
Controls are very simple – you switch it onto high, low or auto. The latter is ideal if your dinner has finished cooking but you’re not quite ready, as it will keep food at serving temperature until you want to dish it up. It’s big enough for a family meal, but if you want to cook huge dishes, there’s a near-identical 6-litre Lakeland slow cooker, too.
Key specs – Capacity: 3.5l; Pot type: Oven-safe, dishwasher-safe; Controls: Manual
3. Russell Hobbs Chalk Board Slow Cooker: Best slow cooker for family fun
Price when reviewed: £35 | Check price at Amazon
Finished with a matte-black powder coating, the Chalk Board Slow Cooker allows you to write on the front of it – for example, what’s cooking inside, what ingredients need to be added and when or what time dinner will be ready.
Comprising a glass lid and round ceramic pot, both of which are dishwasher-safe, it can be used to sauté food on a gas or electric hob before placing in the base. The cooker can accommodate up to four portions of food and has three settings: a high, low or a keep warm controlled by a manual dial.
However, there’s not much of a seal between the lid and the bowl, so you might find some condensation escaping. The exterior of the cooker can also grow hot, so use oven gloves.
Key specs – Capacity: 3.5l; Pot type: Hob-safe (not induction) ceramic, dishwasher-safe; Controls: Manual
4. Tefal RK302E15 8-in-1 Multi Cooker: Best all-in-one slow cooker
Price when reviewed: £100 | Check price at Amazon
Eight is perhaps an exaggeration, but this is certainly the most versatile slow cooker you can buy. Technically its modes are: quick rice, white rice, brown rice, grains, porridge, slow cooking, steaming and dessert. It will serve you well both as a slow cooker and a rice cooker. And it comes with a plastic tray for steaming. We also rate the porridge setting highly – throw in all the ingredients, put the lid on and it cooks superb porridge without bubbling over and making a mess.
Much like the Morphy Richards, the pot is made of lightweight metal, so it’s easy to carry but doesn’t hold heat well when serving. The Tefal represents great value for money thanks to its multiple functions – in particular, slow cooking and rice cooking.
Key specs – Capacity: 5l; Pot type: Non-stick, dishwasher-safe; Controls: Digital
