The Best Slow Cookers (2024) for taste and ease

The Best Slow Cookers is a great cooking tool that has been used for years. This independent cooking device lets you cook food at a low, steady temperature, like braising in a Dutch oven. You can set it and forget it, so you can do other things or use your stovetop or oven for something else. The foods that come out of a good slow cooker are so flavorful that our test kitchen loves to use them to make recipes for lunch, dinner, and everything in between, like slow cooker chicken recipes, pot roasts, and BBQ jackfruit.

The Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab made chicken soup and beef stew to figure out which slow cookers were the best. We looked at how well the cookers kept temperatures at both high and low settings, how done and tasty the recipes were, how much liquid evaporated over time, and whether or not you can brown food right in the pot of the slow cooker. We also looked at any apps or probes that came with the machine.

Best Slow Cookers Comparison Table

All-Clad Deluxe Slow Cooker with Cast-Aluminum Insert

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In our tests, this 7-quart slow cooker with a removable aluminum base made a rich and tender beef stew and cooked chicken soup and pot roast to safe temperatures. But, unlike the other models we tested, it boiled the chicken soup broth, which made the meat and veggies a little too done.

With the digital controls, you can slow cook on low, high/low, or high, and you can also set a 20-hour timer. The “keep warm” setting will keep your dish at the right temperature for five hours after cooking is done. Both the insert and the unit have handles that are riveted on, so they are easy to carry together or individually. Plus, this model can also be used to brown, steam, and cook rice. Keep in mind that you can’t put the insert in the machine.

BLACK+DECKER 7-Quart Digital Slow Cooker

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This updated model has the same great features as its predecessors, like an easy-to-use control panel, big side handles, and a lid that locks. The brand has also added sous vide and a temperature probe to help keep food from getting too hot. If you haven’t tried slow cooking or even sous vide before, this is a good way to do so.

The Black + Decker 7-Quart Digital Slow Cooker did a Best Slow Cookers of slow cooking a beef roast on low and high, as well as chicken soup on low, when we tested it. Beef stew had a thick, even broth, but the meat was drier than in other versions.

Hamilton Beach Programmable Slow Cooker

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This slow cooker has a variety of settings that allow you to mix and match them, giving you the ability to adjust the preferences according to the needs of the meal. It has a capacity of seven quarts, which makes it easy to accommodate a chicken weighing seven pounds or a roast weighing five pounds.

It has an auto-shift function that, once the cooking is finished, automatically adjusts the setting to warm so that it stays at that temperature. In addition to that, the touchpad can be cleaned quite quickly.

KitchenAid Slow Cooker

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It is time to bring this slow cooker into your kitchen so that you may enjoy slow cooking like you’ve never experienced it before. It has a capacity of six quarts and can be programmed for a full twenty-four hours.

It comes with four various temperature settings, each of which may be adjusted according to the needs of the situation. This cooker has a function that can keep food warm for up to four hours, and it is called the keep warm function.

Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central Multicooker

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The Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central Multicooker provided us with meals that were cooked to perfection, and despite the fact that it is relatively simple to operate, it provides the widest range of useful tasks, including browning, sautéing, and steaming, out of all of the slow cookers that we evaluated. and we can say that this is the Best Slow Cookers.

Instant Pot Duo Nova Pressure Cooker, 6 Qt.

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The extra seal on the lid of a pressure cooker helps keep the temperature very stable and consistent. This cooker got to 185°F in 30 minutes and stayed there for 6 hours without changing. When it switched on its own to the warm setting, the temperature dropped to 160° in 30 minutes. During cooking, I also noticed that the heat was spread out very evenly.

The beans were smooth and whole, and each one was cooked to the same degree. The strata was also cooked evenly all the way through and didn’t have any brown spots. The Instant Pot is more than you need if all you want is a slow cooker, but it’s a good choice in terms of cost and room if you can also use it as a pressure cooker and rice cooker.

Crock-Pot Cook and Carry Slow Cooker, 6-Quart

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This 6-quart oval slow cooker shows that you don’t need a lot of fancy settings to make great food in a slow cooker. We tried the version with manual controls, but you can also get this Crock-Pot with digital controls. The manual model has a simple switch that lets you choose between three settings: high, low, and warm. The digital version has the same heat levels and can cook for 30 minutes to 20 hours at a time.

Even though the manual settings are the same as the first slow cookers, this one has some new features, like a lid that locks and handles that make it easy to move from the kitchen to the dining room or across town for a dinner party. The polished stainless steel and black details on the outside look nice and are easy to clean after you’re done cooking.

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