Some high-tech models feature sous-vide settings and specific ingredient pre-sets to help you make the most of your meal. This will feed five to eight people in one go, and it's ideal if you like batch cooking for the freezer.

slow cooker 2023 - batch cooking made easy | Ideal Home Best slow cooker 2023 - batch cooking made easy | Ideal Home

As Head of Reviews, her job is to test all the wackiest product launches, whether they're air fryers, bread makers, or juicers, and give you her honest experience.

After 6 hours of slow cooking we had a delicious chicken stew, although we did wish that some recipes were included with the cooker. Either way, the advantage is that you don’t have to dirty a frying pan preparing your ingredients before slow cooking, so you’ve halved the number of dishes to wash. The keep warm function is equally handy, not least when I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back home to devour my latest one pot wonder. To help you find the ideal slow cooker for your needs, we put each one through its paces with a series of tests and assessments. Millie is the Head of Reviews for Ideal Home, working to ensure that the products we feature have been thoroughly tested before we recommend them to you.

Slow cookers - Cheap Slow cookers Deals | Currys Slow cookers - Cheap Slow cookers Deals | Currys

Flavours won't become more concentrated because the liquid doesn't reduce, so try to pack in as much flavour as you can. It has a modern-feel with intuitive controls and an outer casing that only gets warm to the touch, rather than excessively hot.The sear mode took only a few minutes to pre-heat and we were able to brown our onions before adding curry ingredients, which delivered a lot of extra flavour. Investing in one of the best slow cookers is a guaranteed way to save on energy costs while still prioritising tasty homecooked meals, with a variety of models available to make your meals more wholesome. Another hybrid slow cooker, this innovative offering takes space-saving to a new level, folding away flat when not in use. This can either be bowls that you use on your hob or in your oven in place of a pan (some will even be induction compatible). Without a hob-safe cooking pot, searing your meat before it goes in the slow cooker often comes with the admin of having to transfer it from one vessel to another – creating twice the amount of washing-up.

slow cookers of 2023 from Crock Pot, Morphy Richards and Best slow cookers of 2023 from Crock Pot, Morphy Richards and

When you make a one-pot dish, you usually start by searing the meat or sautéing base ingredients such as onions and garlic. When testing these slow cookers we were keen to try out each of their main cooking settings, so while a more simple manual slow cooker was used to make a stew or simple curry, we pressure cooked meat and steamed fish in the more complex slow cookers on the market. The Time Select is a lot more high-tech than the Sizzle and Stew above, but still produced fantastic results. Slow cooking uses low temperatures, while pressure cooking uses high-pressure steam, but both methods allow you to make meals with tender meat and great depth of flavour. If you want to slow cook a whole extra-large chicken overnight to feed a family of six or batch cook a stew for storing in the freezer, this gadget is a great choice.

Most slow cookers will have similar standard controls – high heat for meals cooked in less than a few hours, low heat for all-day cooking. Some, such as the Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Digital Slow Cooker 460015, simply have a metal pot that’s sturdy enough to heat on your own hob (gas or electric, not induction). This means you can start cooking at a time to suit you – while it’s hard to overcook recipes with a lot of liquid, this gives more freedom with dishes that could potentially start to dry out.