Slow Cooker vs. Crockpot: What's the Difference? | America's Test Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Slow Cooker vs. Crockpot: What's the Difference? | America's Test Kitchen? ›

A slow cooker and a Crockpot are the same thing, essentially. A slow cooker is an appliance of which there are lots of brands. Crockpot is one brand of slow cooker.

Even though both can produce similar results, there is a main difference between a slow cooker and a pressure cooker. A slow cooker will cook food longer at a lower temperature, whereas a pressure cooker uses hot steam to cook food much quicker.

Low: 7-8 hours to reach the simmer point. High: 3-4 hours to reach the simmer point.

An Instant Pot is a countertop appliance that slow-cooks—and then some. It is a brand of multicooker, an appliance known for having lots of features, typically including slow cooking, pressure cooking, rice cooking, steaming, searing, fermenting, and more. In sum, multicookers do more than slow cookers.

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.

If a dish usually takes: 15-30 mins, cook it for 1-2 hours on High or 4-6 hours on Low. 30 mins – 1 hour, cook it for 2-3 hours on High or 5-7 hours on Low. 1-2 hours, cook it for 3-4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low.

Foods take different times to cook depending upon the setting used. Certainly, foods will cook faster on high than on low. However, for all-day cooking or for less-tender cuts, you may want to use the low setting.

When we look at the material, it's evident that slow cookers and Crockpots consist of the same three components: Glass lid, pot, and heating element. However, Crockpots generally have ceramic or porcelain pots, while most slow cookers have a metal pot.

Can you put raw hamburger in a slow cooker? ›

Absolutely, which is why you should always adjust times and amounts as needed. Smaller amounts of slow cooker hamburger only need a few hours before they are done.

Raw meat

A crockpot's gentle heat means meat will never get a chance to brown, but it's the golden colour from frying that gives it depth of flavour. If you don't want your stew to taste bland, brown the meat first, then put it in the slow cooker.

What are the disadvantages of a slow cooker? Slow cookers only apply heat to the bottom of the crock, which cuts down on their ability to reduce liquids and brown foods, and develop flavor the same way a Dutch oven or pressure cooker can.

Can you overcook something in a slow cooker? Slow cookers are specially designed to cook food for long periods of time, but yes, you can still overcook in a slow cooker if something is left on the wrong setting for longer than it's supposed to be.

A slow cooker and a Crockpot are the same thing, essentially. A slow cooker is an appliance of which there are lots of brands. Crockpot is one brand of slow cooker. Crockpot popularized slow cookers when they launched their version in the 1970s.

Update the cooking time: Instant Pots are designed to cook much faster than slow cookers, so you'll need to adjust the cooking time accordingly. As a rule of thumb, you can cook most slow cooker recipes in an Instant Pot on high pressure for one quarter of the slow cooker time.

Still, most electric pressure cookers and nearly all multicookers have a “Slow Cook” button as part of a whole suite of options on the pot. And yes, almost all work like a separate slow cooker does.

So can a Crock-Pot cook better chicken than an Instant Pot? Well, it really depends on what you're making. The Instant Pot cooks chicken much faster than its non-pressure counterparts, but the resulting texture isn't going to be the same as what you'd get with a slow cooker or Dutch oven.

“I don't see them as a gadget, but just as a saucepan with a specially adapted lid,” says the author of Modern Pressure Cooking. “You can use them for everything you would a normal saucepan, and much more besides, plus you're also cutting down 70-75% of the cooking time.”