Slow cookers are a great addition to any kitchen. Think of them as the equivalent of a TiVo box for cooking. You still have to throw the ingredients together, but you can time-shift the results. So while the idea's old-fashioned, the results are perfect for today's busy lives, and here you'll find the five best slow cookers that you can currently buy.
The most popular way to take advantage of a slow cooker is to throw a bunch of ingredients together in the morning and then return from work to a delicious, piping hot soup, stew or curry – but you can also make gourmet overnight porridge and more.
Larger-capacity slow cookers are great for batch-cooking healthy meals for the week. And some dishes – for example, pulled pork – just need to be cooked sloooooow.
Read on for our pick of five of the best, along with a guide to what to look for in a slow cooker.
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The best slow cookers to buy
1. Morphy Richards 460005 Digital Slow Cooker: The best all-round slow cooker
Price when reviewed: £34
When you make a one-pot dish, you usually start by searing the meat or sautéing base ingredients such as onions and garlic. Most slow cookers don't let you do this, but the Morphy Richards' non-stick bowl lifts out and is hob-safe (gas or electric but not induction) so you can sear or sauté on the hob with no need to dirty another pan.
Its other unusual feature is digital controls for the cooking time. There's no way to delay the start time but you can cook for anywhere between 4 and ten hours (in half-hour increments) on low or high heat. Plus there's a Keep Warm setting for when it's done – your food stays ready to eat for two hours.
The only downside is that the pot is made of lightweight metal, which means it's easy to carry to the table but doesn't retain its heat like a traditional crock pot.
Key features – 3.5-litre capacity; hob-safe pot; digital controls; non-stick, dishwasher-safe pot
2. Tefal RK302E15 8-in-1 Multi Cooker: The most versatile slow cooker
Price when reviewed: £55
Eight is perhaps an exaggeration, but this is certainly the most versatile slow cooker you can buy. Technically its modes are: quick rice, white rice, brown rice, grains, porridge, slow cooking, steaming and dessert.
It will serve you well both as a slow cooker and a rice cooker. And it comes with a plastic tray for steaming. We also rate the porridge setting highly – throw in all the ingredients, put the lid on and it cooks superb porridge without bubbling over and making a mess.
Much like the Morphy Richards, its pot is made of lightweight metal, so it's easy to carry but doesn't hold heat well when serving.
The Tefal represents great value for money thanks to its multiple functions – in particular slow cooking and rice cooking.
Key features– 2.2-litre capacity; digital controls; non-stick, dishwasher-safe pot
3. Crock-Pot Slow Cooker 6 Litre: The best slow cooker for big families
Price when reviewed: £67
This is an attractive-looking slow cooker with a large 6-litre capacity – enough for a big family or batch-cooking. Like the Morphy Richards, its pot is designed to be hob-safe. This means you can sear and sauté in the pot on your hob (gas or electric but not induction) at the beginning of your recipe, which saves you from washing an extra frying pan.
It also boasts digital controls which let you select the cooking time, in increments of 30 minutes. The remaining time is shown on the digital display. A knob beside this selects between high and low slow cooking temperatures. The cooker automatically switches to a Keep Warm setting when the time's up.
The only minor niggles are that the power cable is a bit shorter than most, and that the non-stick aluminium pot is easy to carry to the table but doesn't hold heat well.
Key features– 6-litre capacity; hob-safe pot; digital controls; non-stick, dishwasher-safe pot
4. Sage by Heston Blumenthal Risotto Plus: The best slow cooker for foodies
Price when reviewed: £90
The Sage Risotto Plus – previously known as the Sage Multi Cooker – is a bit like the Tefal 8-in-1 in that it offers a number of cooking modes. But as with all Sage products, it's been designed with foodies in mind – most notably, it has an innovative Risotto setting.
To make a risotto you simply combine all the ingredients and press a button. The stock is then bubbled in a special way to agitate the rice as it cooks – effectively it's using bubbles to stir the risotto so you don't have to.
There are slow cooking and rice cooking/steaming programmes. And very usefully the Sage also has a Sear setting, which means that before slow cooking or making a risotto, you can sear the meat or sauté the base ingredients.
Build quality is superb, but it's expensive, and despite the price tag there's no timer for the slow cooker. You set the cooking mode and then it just cooks until you turn it off again, whereas if you use it as a rice cooker, the cooking stops as soon as it's done.
Key features– 3.7-litre capacity; digital controls; sauté/sear mode; non-stick,dishwasher-safe pot
5. Lakeland 3.5 Litre Brushed Chrome Electric Family Slow Cooker: The best budget option
Price when reviewed: £29
This is a simple slow cooker with a traditional "crock pot" design: it has a heavy ceramic bowl rather than a lightweight metal one. So it's heavier to carry to the table, but in return it holds its heat well when it gets there. It's also oven-safe to 150°C, but sadly not non-stick.
Controls are very simple – you switch it onto high, low or auto. The latter heats on high until the dish is hot, then automatically switches to a low setting for slower, more economical, all-day cooking.
It's big enough for a family meal, but if you want to cook huge dishes, there's a near-identical 6-litre Lakeland slow cooker too.
Key features – 3.5-litre capacity; oven-safe, dishwasher-safe pot
The best slow cookers: Buying guide
How much do I need to spend?
Slow cookers are affordable as small electricals go, starting at around £30. Expect to spend a little more if you want a bigger capacity (for a huge family or batch cooking), and more still if you want fancy features.
Does it matter what the pot is made of?
Traditionally slow cookers use a big, ceramic casserole dish that is slow to heat up and slow to cook down. These are heavy and will break if you drop them, but they hold their heat well so they're lovely to carry to the table and serve from.
Many modern slow cookers have a metal pot instead. This is usually made from aluminium with a non-stick coating, making it lightweight and easier to clean, but it doesn't hold its heat so well.
What kind of special features should I look out for?
When you make a one-pot dish, you usually start by searing the meat or sautéing base ingredients such as onions and garlic. Most slow cookers don't let you do this, but there are a few that do.
Some, such as the Morphy Richards 460005 Digital Slow Cooker, simply have a metal pot that's sturdy enough to heat on your own hob (gas or electric but not induction). A few premium slow cookers, such as the Sage by Heston Blumenthal Risotto Plus, actually have a sear and sauté setting so you can do it in the slow cooker itself.
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.
Do I need a slow cooker with digital controls?
Slow cookers don't need fancy controls because they cook so slowly. They usually have two settings: slow and even slower. Some also have a Keep Warm function, which the cooker switches to after a set time.
But if you do want a delayed start to your cooking, because for some reason you want to prepare your dinner more than eight hours in advance, look out for a slow cooker with digital controls.