How to Best Use Your Slow Cooker

Thaw frozen meat or poultry first. If you forgot to grab tonight’s meat out of the freezer before going to bed, it’s tempting to throw it into the slow cooker with the rest of the recipe—it cooks for hours anyway, right? But if you place it in the appliance frozen, it might not have time to fully cook or get up to a safe temperature.

Wait to add vegetables. To avoid overcooked vegetables, add delicate ones near the end of the cooking cycle, when there’s about an hour left to go. And don’t use canned or frozen vegetables, because they’ll cook too quickly.

Select the appropriate setting. When converting recipes for a slow cooker, set sauces and dips on the high setting for 1 to 2 hours. Roasts, and large or tough cuts of meat, need the low-and-slow treatment for at least 7 hours.

Don’t add too much liquid. Condensation during cooking will produce plenty, and very little is lost to evaporation. The lid works like a baster, continually keeping food moist. Excess liquid will result in a watered-down dish.

Drain fatty meats. Prevent a greasy end product by using the sauté function (if your cooker has it) to render the fat from ground beef and bacon. Then drain the grease before adding the remaining ingredients. You can do the same thing in a skillet on the stove before adding the drained meats to the slow cooker.

Add dairy products last. Dairy breaks down during extended cooking, so add milk, cream, or cheese during the last 15 to 30 minutes of cooking.

You’ll see 14 models in our slow cooker ratings. Here’s a quick look at three that performed well in our tests, producing tender beef stew every time. They appear in alphabetical order.