It's Fall, which means it's time to pull out the ol' slow cooker! We've shared a few of our favorite slow cooker recipes in the past, including tried-and-true recipes for barbacoa beef, lemon garlic chicken, and curried vegetable stew. But did you know you can also use your slow cooker to make cheesecake? Fruit Butters? Even bread? Yes, indeed.
• 1 Oatmeal: We love steel cut oats, and this recipe makes magic out of them. A perfect way to wake up in the morning!
• 2 Soufflé : this is definitely unusual, and not our favorite way to make a soufflé, but it's definitely doable!
• 3 Baked Potato: just set it and forget it, and make a whole bunch at once!
• 4 Cheesecake: make a cheesecake, pan and all, inside your crock pot. Yes, it's possible!
• 5 Dulce de Leche: a more hands-off way to cook sweetened condensed milk.
• 6 Fruit Butters: our very favorite shortcut for making fruit butters. Cut them up, peel them, and pop them into the slow cooker!
• 7 Artichokes: it really doesn't take long to just boil an artichoke, but making them in a slow cooker is all about "the psychological pleasure of coming home after a long day to a fresh-steamed artichoke all ready to eat," as we wrote earlier.
• 8 Baked Apples, from No Monsters In My Bed: a perfect, easy, and delicious use for all those seasonal apples.
• 9 Brownies, from Martha Stewart: Who knew? Yes, sweet, sticky brownies can turn out wonderfully when baked in a slow cooker.
• 10 Bread, from Food.com: this is perhaps better for summertime baking, when you don't want the heat of your oven to overwhelm your home.
What unusual or surprising foods have you managed to make in your slow cooker?
Related: Back to Basics: How To Use a Slow Cooker
(Image: Faith Durand)
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Granola. Leave the top off and stir occasionally. I cook it 1 hour on high and 3 on low. This way I can make granola while I attend to other things on the weekend--no burning it.
No, you can't bake a potato in a slow cooker. You can cook one, but without high, dry heat, the potato skin will not thicken up, and you won't get that satisfying, crunchy surface that can hold your mashed-up insides together.
But then you probably like potatoes baked in foil, too, don't you?
A souffle in a slow cooker just seems wrong! I do love my slow cooker for chili and pulled pork, and I'll have to try making my apple butter in it soon.
Thank you. You're perfectly correct.
Missed this post earlier. Was hopin for something fun, but alas... It does not follow that just because something CAN be done, it SHOULD be done. All things are permissible but not all are profitable. Although, granted, my definition of profitable might be a wee bit differerent if I were living in a dorm room with few resources available. But I'm not.
Many (many) yrs ago, I supervised the kids as they baked a cake in a tin can in the crockpot. It was mostly to satisfy my curiousity and I thought it would be a fun math lesson for the little ones. They beamed as they served *their* dessert that evening. I suppose that must be considered profitable as well. The cake wasn't half bad either:)
I'm all for dulce de leche in the slow cooker, but I agree on the baked potatoes - sounds like something you'd find at one of those scary places like Golden Corral.
Some slow cooker favorites in my house are meatloaf, beef stew, applesauce, mulled wine or cider, various bean dishes, pea soup, and even homemade yogurt (on low, mine maintains the perfect temperature needed for yogurt culture to grow); I also make a simple and satisfying chicken dinner with veggies and potatoes in the crock pot that requires almost NO prep - just peeling a few potatoes (cut them in half or in quarters if they're big), chopping whatever veggies you like, and rubbing the chicken down with your favorite seasonings. It takes less than 10 minutes to prep in the morning, and will feed and warm a family at dinnertime. I've also made chocolate sour cream cake and apple crisp in one. I love my slow cooker. I've got a massive pot of beef stew going right now, and it smells divine.
what is that in the photo? I can't make it out.
I use mine to make stock - let it simmer for a few days to really get all the minerals and good stuff out of the bones. I did use it to make granola once - worked okay. I tried to make bread in it and we were not fans.
You can also make yogurt in a crockpot: http://abcdsofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-make-yogurt-two-ways.html
You can also make yogurt in a crockpot: http://abcdsofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-make-yogurt-two-ways.html
Caramelized onions! I just made them for the first time, and they came out great. A whole bunch of sliced onions, olive oil, butter, and salt, for 12 hours on low.