16 amazing slow cooker hacks, tips, and tricks for Aussie cooks

With a few clever tricks up your sleeve, your slow cooker could save you even more time over the colder months.

If you love using your crockpot, pay attention. We’ve rounded up the best-ever slow cooker secrets from the taste team experts and from you, our users.

Cook two meals at once

Taste’s digital editor Rebecca was blown away when she saw a friend fill one Glad oven bag with a vegetarian bean chilli and another with Mexican beef before cooking them together in the slow cooker, one on top of the other. Two meals, one session!

Sticky cashew nut chicken made in the slow cooker.

Soak up the condensation

Taste user Jenny says she puts a tea towel under her crockpot lid to catch water and stop it thinning too much. This technique is also a favourite with taste’s food editor Miranda.

Party dips hack

Throwing a winter party? Taste content producer Steph saw a Pinterest trick where you line your crockpot with foil and create a divider – then you can have two dips cooking or keeping warm side by side. Be warned: we have not tested this and our food director Michelle thinks warming the dips without leakage and getting them out of the crockpot without spillage will be the tricky part!

Boil dried lentils and beans for 10 minutes before adding to the slow cooker.

Add citrus

Taste user Donna recommends adding mandarin peel to meat dishes made in her crockpot, adding: “It’s a natural tenderiser.”

Convert oven recipes to slow cooker

Writer Cassie loves the slow cooker conversion chart they featured in the latest issue. To make your slow cooker recipe suitable for the oven and vice versa, all you have to do is tweak the time and add or remove some of the liquid. Find out more about how to convert slow cooker recipes with our handy guide here.

The slow cooker should be filled between half and three-quarters full to guarantee even cooking.

Spray the bowl

Taste user Sue reveals she always sprays her slow cooker bowl with olive oil spray before loading ingredients, which makes it much easier to wash at the end.

Buy meat on the bone

The taste foodies say using meat on the bone will give you even more flavour in your sauce. Bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks are more suitable than breasts, while a lamb shoulder will make for a tastier stew than backstrap.

Do the dream clean

Taste user Danielle used to hate cleaning her crockpot, until she worked out that you could add soap and water to it and leave it cooking on low for half an hour or so. “It pulls off all the crust stuck to the sides and makes it really easy to wash later,” she says.

Never use frozen foods

Taste’s food director Michelle warns that you should always thaw meat, poultry and frozen veg before adding to your crockpot. “The slow cooker takes too long to reach a safe temperature for frozen food to be cooked safely,” she says.

Coating meat in cornflour before browning helps make the sauce thicker in the slow cooker.

Layer roasts

Taste user Wendy says that she batch-cooks the same types of meat at once to save on time, effort and power. For example, put “pork shoulder on the bottom for pulled pork and place pork belly on top of it. The belly can be taken out early and crisped up under the grill.” One cook, several different meals!

Don’t overfill

Recipe writer Miranda says slow cookers should be filled between half and three-quarters full to guarantee even cooking.

Use up leftovers

Digital director Laura loves using fridge leftovers to make pies in her slow cooker and freezes them for later. “Pretty much anything I slow cook can make a pie filling – especially if you have a pie maker or muffin pan,” she says.

Brown, always

Taste user Sheryl says she always browns meat before adding to the slow cooker, saying: “It adds more flavour and looks better, too.”

Be safe with legumes

Senior producer Rosie says: “Adding legumes to your crockpot? Boil dried lentils and beans for 10 minutes before adding to the slow cooker because some legumes contain toxins that aren’t destroyed when cooked at low temperatures.”

Make an onion layer

Taste user Adamina says she always adds a layer of sliced onions under the meat you’re cooking so it doesn’t stick and also to add flavour.

Add cornflour

Taste user Jo says she swears by coating meat in cornflour before browning and adding to the slow cooker, to make the sauce thicker.

Best-ever slow cooker inspiration

The ultimate slow cooker recipe collection

All our slow cooker galleries, in one place

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as 16 amazing slow cooker hacks, tips, and tricks for Aussie cooks