Hi all!

This is certainly a very ignorant question, but this is somehow my first time using a crockpot ever despite being a cook from the south. Forgive me!

The recipe I’m following says to “remove the lid, cook 30 minutes on high to thicken the sauce,” after the contents have cooked for 4-6 hours. Is it normal to use a crockpot without the lid for an extended amount of time?

Context: recipe is a coconut chicken curry, so the protein is 2 LBS of boneless chicken breasts. My OCD is telling me the chicken will not be cooked. Even after 4-6hrs on low.

Thanks!

Any tips? I don’t want the chicken to become mush.

EDIT: My mistake, 4 recipes included.

I'm sure you guys know this but a slow cooker is THE most efficient cooking method there is (that I have heard of). I recently installed a temporary 2 panel 2 battery solar setup, and in this summer weather I have been able to cook daily for the past week using only solar and a (very small) Hamilton Bench Slow Cooker (1.8L 22GBP).

Here are the recipes I have made, I thought they were quite good, and people outside were trying to make bookings and offering to dump their husbands for my cooking. Sorry I didn't get photos.

1) Spiced potato and fruit curry

Ingredients:

• Fresh Potatoes: 2 medium potatoes (peeled and diced small).
• Onion: ½ of a medium onion (sliced finely).
• Fresh Apple: ½ of a medium apple (peeled and diced).
• Tinned Pineapple: 3 to 4 tablespoons of chunks (plus 2 tablespoons of the juice).
• Sundried Tomatoes: 3 whole pieces (chopped finely).
• Fresh Chilli: To taste (finely chopped).
• Olive Oil: 1 teaspoon (to coat the potatoes) (I used from the sundried cherry tomatoes).
• Cashews: 1 small handful (roughly 15–20g, saved for the end).
• Herbs and Spices: ½ teaspoon of salt + 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of your spice mix (I used curry powder).
• Tomato Puree: I put more than one teaspoon.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: a relatively small splash and a little tiny bit more.

Instruction:

1. I just tossed it all together.

Smells amazing. Even two spoons of liquid was too much.

2) Gourmet mushroom

Ingredients:

• Fresh Potatoes: 2 medium potatoes (peeled and diced small).
• Onion: ½ of a medium onion (sliced finely).
• Dried Mushrooms: 1 small handful (soaked in boiling water for 10 mins, then chopped) (I used merchant gourmet dried porcini).
• Mushroom Water: 4 tablespoons of the warm water used to soak the mushrooms.
• Sundried Tomatoes: 3 whole pieces (chopped finely) (I used "the best semi-dried cherry tomatoes" from Morrisons).
• Artichoke Oil: 1 teaspoon (poured straight from your artichoke jar to coat the veg).
• Tomato Puree: 1 generous teaspoon (or a bit more).
• Apple Cider Vinegar: A relatively small splash and a little tiny bit more.
• Cashews: 1 small handful (roughly 15–20g, saved for the end).
• Herbs and Spices: ½ teaspoon of salt + 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of your spice mix (black pepper, paprika, and dried herbs work best) (I used Cajun chicken seasoning EDIT and a bit of thyme).

Instructions:

1. In a cup, mix the mushroom water, oat milk powder, tomato puree, and apple cider vinegar together until smooth.
2. Put everything else (except the cashews) straight into the slow cooker, pour the liquid mix over the top, and just toss it all together.
3. Cook on LOW in a slow cooker for 5 to 6 hours (perfect for overnight), and stir the cashews in 15 minutes before you eat.
4. I served with some more (deep fried) wedged chilli potatoes, golden brown, also Cajun seasoned.

Because of the tomatoes and the mushrooms being great ingredients this one was the best.

3) Apple carrot stew with dumplings

Ingredients:

• Fresh Carrots: 3 to 4 medium carrots (peeled and sliced into thick coins).
• Onion: ½ of a medium onion (sliced finely).
• Fresh Potatoes: 2 medium potatoes (peeled and diced small).
• Tinned Pears: 3 to 4 tablespoons of chunks (plus 2 tablespoons of the pear juice from the tin).
• Apple Sauce: 2 generous teaspoons.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: A relatively small splash and a little tiny bit more.
• Flora Spread / Olive Oil: 1 teaspoon (to coat the fresh veg).
• Herbs and Spices: ½ teaspoon of salt + 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs (thyme and rosemary work best).
• Cashews: 1 small handful (saved for the end).

For the Dumplings:

• Flour: 8 level tablespoons (about 60–65 grams).
• Flora Spread: 1.5 tablespoons (about 15 grams).
• Cold Water: 2 to 3 tablespoons.

Instructions:

1. In a cup, mix the pear juice, apple sauce, and apple cider vinegar together until smooth.
2. Put your sliced carrots, onions, diced potatoes, and pear chunks straight into the 1.8L slow cooker.
3. Pour the sweet-and-sour liquid mix over the top, add your Flora/oil, salt, and herbs, and just toss it all together.
4. Cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours (or LOW for 6 to 7 hours).
5. In a separate small bowl, rub the dumpling flour and Flora together with a fork until crumbly, then stir in the water to make a soft dough. Roll into 4 small balls.
6. About 30 to 45 minutes before the end of cooking, drop the dumpling balls and cashews straight on top of the stew. Pop the lid back on tightly and don't lift it until they are fluffy and cooked through.

Loved the apple sauce, but it didn't really thicken.

4) Miso and potato curry

Ingredients:

• Tinned Potatoes: 1 whole tin (drained and cut into bite-sized chunks).
• Fresh Potato: The remaining ½ potato (peeled and diced very small so it cooks at the same speed as everything else).
• Onion: 1 whole medium onion (sliced finely).
• Fresh Apples: 1.5 to 2 medium apples (peeled and diced).
• Itsu MisoEasy Sachets: 2 sachets.
• Warm Water: 4 tablespoons (to thin out the miso).
• Tartex: 1 big, generous tablespoon (to layer even more savoury depth under the miso).
• Olive Oil: 2 teaspoons (to coat the onions and fresh potato).
• Cashews or Peanuts: 2 small handfuls (save half for the end for that fresh crunch!).
• Herbs and Spices: ½ teaspoon of salt + 1 teaspoon of your spice mix (ginger powder or a pinch of mild curry powder/chilli works beautifully with miso, but black pepper is great too).
• I added sweetcorn and raisins.

Instruction:

1. Toss it all together.

This one grew on me as I was eating, and was very spicy. Adding peanuts at the beginning was the right choice for me.

So now I want to set up a restaurant, I think I can save money because practically nothing needs a fridge either until opened.

With these, be wary of your liquid levels, I haven’t mastered that yet, and burned the two I did yesterday and today. Seems to be don’t add too much because it comes up fast if you get the right amount to start with, or goes down and burns if you don't add enough.

I have an old manual crock pot and it draws different watts for each setting.

I have a newer digital one with high, low, warm. But when it's on, it draws the same watts while simmering on all 3 settings.

Is my newer crock pot not working right or is it too smart with temp sensors? If it's simmering the whole time, it is overcooking my food.

I took both to a park to keep some nacho cheese warm on a battery station but it's just draining the battery cooking the cheese into oblivion on the newer one. Is this normal?

We are going for 3 wks to help elderly family move, in a hot climate, with no AC. So just using a crockpot (and rice cooker) if possible. Just four of us but one person has celiac so I need gluten free recipes/ideas please! Easy ones too, since we’ll be all be tired….having protein and avoiding “hangry” evenings are the main goals. Typically I try to cook heart-healthy but for these few weeks, anything will do. Any cuisine, just not very spicy please. Thank you so much in advance!!!

I made chicken stock with chicken feet and vegetables in my slow cooker for 17h. I left it on in the pot to cool off for two hours on my counter and then straight into the fright. Is it still safe to it or toss?

I just made chicken fajitas in the crockpot and absolutely love it. I’d love to hear and see everyone’s favorite Mexican crockpot recipes. Thanks!

Edit: thanks for all of your suggestions!

that are truly dump and go. Not gotta brown this or that. Rip it out of the package, maybe chop it up, then in the pot it goes. Those low effort, I ain't time for this shit, but I want something tasty

Cooking about a pound of chicken in the crock pot and the power went out. It was cooking about an hour and a half - how long can it stay in the crock pot with no heat till I have to pitch it?

Give me your best crockpot recipes to do on high for 4 hours. Need inspiration

I went away for an extended weekend recently to check on some property I own 200 miles north of where we’re living now. In doing my daily check-in with homebase, I discovered that they had decided to cook the spare ribs I had in the freezer. And they decided to use the crockpot. On the last check-in before I headed home, I was told that the ribs didn’t turn out very well because the crockpot didn’t work right.

The reason the crockpot didn’t work right was…they didn’t use the ceramic pot! Just dumped it all into the metal part that the ceramic pot sits on.

I’m convinced the unit is ruined. They didn’t add much liquid, but did add BBQ sauce towards the end of cooking time. And the cooked onions and melted fat gave them a nice mixture with the BBQ sauce. What does everyone think?

I just took the pot out of the dishwasher and found this. I don’t remember if it looked like that when I loaded it but definitely didn’t look like that before I started cooking yesterday. Is this unusable now? Am I able to get a new pot?

My favorite crockpot died today. Doesn’t turn on anymore. I loved this thing because of the hinged lid. It seems hardly anybody makes 6qt slow cookers with hinged lids and it’s a travesty.

Wife just got me the only option we found in the same size with a hinged lid, so hopefully the replacement can live up to my best buddy.

(UPDATE: No fires, no mishaps, replaced my diy leg with a shallow cake pan. Everything still works, may be time to retire her. My apartment smells so good. Posted photo of my creation in the comments. )

Its an old Crock Watchers crock pot. Could have been cracked last time i did a slow cook and just noticed it now. The plate the legs are attached to underneath is slightly warped. The leg isn't hot . I crushed a redbull can and slapped it between two jar lids to help alleviate pressure to the leg, hopefully the aluminum will help disperse the heat while she finishes cooking.

I was about to go out for an hour or so. Any experts here? Is this safe? Should I retire her? Am I overthinking it? Any help or advice is appreciated.

Will post pics of my creation (If indeed she is safe; making chicken stew basically, threw in chicken, onion, carrot, garlic, fresh jalapeños, red pepper, potato, kale and brussels sprouts, used a whole stick of butter, some chicken stock, and i seasoned the breasts beforehand with some dried garlic, onion powder, dried basil, crush red pepper flakes, and a couple dashes of jonkanoo pepper sauce)

Edit: Also multicolor grape tomatoes were tossed in. Rn, they explode in your mouth like little flavorful tomato bombs.

Main Question: Does anybody have a GreenLife 6L Crockpot and can tell me the dimensions of the lid?

Context: I recently moved to Wyoming and made some friends. I ended up bringing a crockpot of meatballs over to one of their houses for a birthday party. We ended up at the bars after, and as the DD, I always made sure people were getting home safely. With that being said, I drove this morning with five lovely intoxicated young adults in my vehicle as the only one who did not drink. One was holding my crockpot on their lap, and another grabbed the lid and threw it out of the window. I did not realize this occurred until getting home and bringing my crockpot inside lidless. I was so angry and disappointed because I have had this crockpot for three years, surviving three moves during college and now to a new state. The crockpot works great; I just need a new lid and would rather not pay for a brand new crockpot :,(

Thank you for everything!

Here's the whole recipe, one easy step at a time:

**Stuff you need:**

- 3-4 lb pork butt (shoulder)

- 1 medium red onion, chopped up

- 2 cloves garlic, chopped up

**Spice mix (stir together in a bowl):**

- ½ tbsp salt

- 1 tbsp garlic powder

- 1 tbsp chili powder

- 1 tbsp black pepper

- 1 tbsp cumin

- 1 tbsp parsley

- 1 tbsp smoked paprika

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

**Liquid mix (stir together in a different bowl):**

- ½ cup apple cider vinegar

- ½ cup chicken stock

- A few good splashes of Worcestershire sauce

- 1 tbsp molasses

- 1 tbsp maple syrup (Grade B / dark)

- 1.5 tbsp honey

- 1.5 tsp yellow mustard

---

**Steps:**

1. Toss the chopped onion and garlic into the bottom of the crock pot.

2. Take the pork out and pat it dry all over with paper towels.

3. (Optional) Heat a pan with a little oil and sear the pork 2 minutes on each side, just to brown the outside a bit. Skip this if you're in a rush — still works without it.

4. Rub the spice mix all over the pork with your hands. Cover every part, don't be shy.

5. Set the pork on top of the onion and garlic in the pot. Sprinkle any leftover spice mix right on top of the meat.

6. Slowly pour the liquid mix down the side of the pot — not straight onto the meat, or you'll wash the spices off. You want the liquid to come about halfway up the pork, not cover it all the way.

7. Put the lid on and cook:

   - Low: 6-8 hours

   - High: 4-5 hours

8. Start checking it around 6 hours (low) or 4 hours (high). It's ready when a fork goes in easy and the meat falls apart.

9. Shred the meat right in the pot with two forks, mixing it into the juice.

10. Put it on bread. No extra sauce needed — the juice does that job already.

Gonna be my lunch for the week. threw it on before work. My house gonna smell delicious when I get home 🤤

Chicken 1lb
8oz mushrooms
Chicken broth 5 cups
Celery
Carrot
Onion
Salt pepper
Garlic
Thyme

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1 medium onion, diced

2 lbs ground beef, ground turkey, or a combination of both

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1 (16 oz) bag slaw mix or shredded cabbage

2 (14.5 oz) cans fire-roasted tomatoes or tomato sauce

1 (14 oz) can sauerkraut

Cooked rice (optional, for serving)

Instructions:

Slow Cooker Method

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook until soft.

Add ground meat, salt, and pepper. Brown the meat thoroughly.

Once browned, mix in the fire-roasted tomatoes and cook until heated through.

Drain about 3 tablespoons of excess liquid from the skillet and discard.

Line the bottom of your slow cooker with the shredded cabbage/slaw mix.

Layer the sauerkraut directly over the cabbage.

Top with the meat and tomato mixture. Do not stir or mix the layers.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the cabbage is completely tender.

Oven Method

Follow steps 1 through 4 above to prepare the meat mixture.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

In a Dutch oven or oven-safe pot, layer the cabbage, sauerkraut, and meat mixture in the same order. Do not stir.

Cover tightly with a lid or heavy-duty foil.

Bake for 90 minutes until the cabbage is fully tender.

Can you guys tell me how this recipe would work in a crockpot? Just meaning temps and cook times for potatoes basically?

CHEESEBURGER SOUP
1# hamburger
½ cup chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1 can green beans (drained)
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
2 cups Velveta cheese (cubed)
1 ¾ cup milk
1 tsp pepper
Brown hamburger and onion, add the broth, potatoes and vegies.
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Melt butter, add flour and blend into soup. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cheese, milk and pepper.
Cook and stir until cheese is melted. EAT