Crock Pot Tips: What to Cook Besides Stew and Chili
By Linnea Covington
Credit: Giorgio Magini/Stocksy
Hands down the easiest way to get a meal together is to whip out your Crock Pot and and start filling it with all sorts of delicious ingredients. That means browned pork, chopped onions, whole potatoes, garlic, a cup of red wine, a can of beer and raw chicken. Yup, that’s right, even uncooked poultry can be prepared in a slow cooker, and you have nothing to fear.
“I truly tested every which way to cook different types of proteins, especially chicken since I am from California and that’s what we eat,” says Stephanie O'Dea, author of three slow cooker cookbooks with a fourth coming out in November. “The thighs hold up real well in the slow cooker.”
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In fact, she has a recipe for cooking a whole chicken from her first book, Make it Fast, Cook it Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking, that she shares below. The trick, she says, is to skin the bird and let it simmer for eight hours on low. Just to be sure, she suggests you use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. And that’s just the tip of iceberg: with choices like chicken adobo, apricot chicken and barbecued chicken and cornbread casserole, there are tons of chicken-filled options to choose from, all tested by the author and her family.
But that’s not all — you can also make pasta dishes in a Crock Pot. In fact, it might be easier than the traditional way. “It works really well, and you don’t even need special noodles,” says O'Dea, who has made lasagna (here’s one to try from Betty Crocker) and even a classic macaroni and cheese. Think of it almost like a casserole, but slowly cooked without an oven. Another great thing about making meals in a slow cooker? You can use up all your leftovers and no one will be the wiser. Just toss them into the pot with a protein, beans, spices and voila, dinner.
MORE: 16 Slow-Cooker Recipes for Cold Weekends
Credit: Courtesy of A Year of Slow Cooking
Desserts are another unexpected dish you can make in your slow cooker. Try this classic baked apple dish, or, according to O’Dea, making tapioca pudding is as simple as combining milk, sugar, small tapioca pearls, eggs, and a dash of vanilla. Mix the first half of that up in the slow cooker and let sit for two to five hours. Then finish the dessert by whisking eggs and vanilla, combining the two and letting rest around 30 minutes. She also has recipes for peach pie, cheesecake and bananas foster, to name a few.
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“The one I am most famous for is creme brulée, it landed me on the Rachel Ray Show,” says O'Dea. “I used the Crock Pot as a water bath, and the custard came out beautifully. Also, it’s an awesome recipe for a brand-new cook intimidated by such a fancy dish.”
It’s not just home cooks that find the slow cooker useful. Southern chef Ford Fry has been known to utilize this kitchen tool as a means to braise. First, he chars tomatoes, onions, and chiles over a wood grill and blends them into a liquid to cook pork in. All this goes into the slow cooker where he lets it simmer low for hours. The result is a tender meat perfect for taco night with his family, or whatever he might have going on in one of his seven Atlanta restaurants.
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As for the difference between a slow cooker and Crock Pot, there really isn’t one. The Crock Pot was created by the Rival Company in 1971, and today is owned by Jarden. The actual moniker Crock Pot is a trademarked name, but essentially it’s the same thing as a slow cooker, and many people use the names interchangeably. When deciding which device is best for you, keep in mind there are tons of options on the market from $40 to $400. O'Dea suggests buying one that’s programmable. That way you can turn it on and have it click off when the dish is done.
“There is no easier way to cook from scratch than with a Croc-Pot,” says O'Dea. And, given that she is releasing her fourth cookbook on the subject, titled 5 Ingredients or Less Slow Cooker Cookbook, there are still plenty of new recipes worth exploring.
Credit: Lee Avison/Stocksy
Crock Pot Chicken
From Make it Fast, Cook it Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking by Stephanie O'Dea
1 chicken, 3 to 5 pounds
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ prepared Italian salad dressing
Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Pull the skin off the chicken. Salt and pepper the bird, inside and out. Put the chicken into the slow cooker, breast side down. Pour on the salad dressing. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours. The chicken will be quite tender and fall off the bones.
