Crock Pot Recipes

 

Easy and Affordable Crock Pot Recipes from the UK

Crock pot cooking is considered smart, not only because it saves time but also for other reasons too.When I purchased a 4.5L Crock-Pot in Manchester on a freezing day, I didn’t think it would become my favorite tool around the house for so long. Rather than having shiny gadgets that only do one thing, a Crock Pot simply helps you prepare hot food whenever you want it.

For the last 10 years, I have experimented with many slow cooker recipes that ensure I always get tasty, nutritious, easy-to-make and affordable meals. Here, I’m passing on a variety of crock pot recipes from the UK that are tried and tested through real cooking, not from endless theories.

Slow Cooker Beef and Root Veggie Stew with a Beef Roast Twist

This is what we cook if we have leftover roast beef or if we can find stewing beef on sale.

Ingredients:

• Use 600g diced stewing beef (or any leftover roast beef), if possible.
• Use 2 peeled and chopped carrots.
• 1 parsnip or swede should be diced.
• Sliced onion
• Just 2 cloves of garlic that have been minced
• Use 500ml of low-salt beef stock made by Knorr or make your own (see recipe).
• Place 1 tbsp of tomato purée in the mix.
• A total of 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce is needed.
• Use 1 tsp of dried rosemary.
• Use the desired amount of salt and black pepper.

Instructions:

1. If you wish, you can sauté your beef in the frying pan for 5 minutes.
2. Place all the ingredients in the Crock Pot.
3. If using low heat, cook the meat for 7–8 hours or choose high heat for 4–5 hours.
4. Remove the lid and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes or stir in some cornflour.

This works because…

• Delicious flavours are achieved without using gravy granules.
• An excuse to use up root vegetables before they feel soft in the refrigerator.
• Healthy casseroles can be served on top of mash or beside a hunk of seeded sourdough.

Slow Cooker Chicken & Leek Hotpot (Recipe Number Two)

I was surprised when my child ate all the leeks…he usually refuses to eat them.

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
• 2 leeks should be cleaned and sliced going into the dish.
• Dice 1 onion.
• Cut 300g of baby potatoes in half.
• Three hundred milliliters of chicken stock
• Use 2 tsp of Dijon mustard.
• Double cream is found in 100ml amounts for most purposeful cooking.
• Use 1 tbsp of olive oil.
• Salting & peppering

Instructions:

1. Cook the leeks and onions with olive oil until they become soft.
2. Throw in all the other ingredients (leaving out the cream) into the crock pot.
3. If cooking at a low setting, cook for 6 hours or cook for 3.5 hours on high.
4. Stir in the cream 10 minutes before you wish to serve it.

The reasons this works.

• A creamy flavour is there, but using only a little cream.
• It uses chicken thighs that are low-priced and veg that is currently in season.
• Potatoes can be put into the water without first being boiled.

Recipe 3: Sweet Potato & Lentil Curry

I made this vegetarian recipe since my goal was to fill weekdays with simple and not-so-bland meals.

Ingredients:

• Take 2 sweet potatoes, peel them, then cut them into cubes.
• A tin that is chopped
• 2
• A can of coconut milk (400ml)
• I used 150g red lentils.
• Chop an onion into small pieces.
• Garlic made up of 2 cloves
• Use 1-inch of fresh ginger, grated, in the recipe.
• You only need 2 teaspoons of curry powder or garam masala.
• Veggies are served with salt, pepper and lime juice.
• A serving of coriander on top

Instructions:

1. All ingredients should be put into the crock pot.
2. Cook at a low temperature for 6 to 7 hours or at a high temperature for 4 hours.
3. Add lime juice just before enjoying the salad.

The reason why it works:

• Soft, filling and packed full of fiber.
• Cooking is as simple as dropping all the ingredients in the pot and letting them cook.
• The per-serving cost is less than £1.50.

Tips I Have Gathered from Cooking in a Crock Pot

• Greed: Place quick-cooking items at the top and harder ones at the bottom.
• No need for expensive stock: Using a Knorr cube mixed with hot water is just as good. However, keep the salt level low while preparing meals for your kids.
• Fill 2/3: Filling the pan with 2/3 of the food will result in the perfect crispiness.
• Freeze and save: Almost every type of vegetarian dish can be kept in the freezer. I enjoy spending time with friends, so I always make and freeze enough for both of us.
• Keep the lid closed: Each time you look, you’ll need another 20 minutes for cooking.

Conclusion: Crock Pot Cooking Will Last for Years

If times are tough and bills keep increasing, the crock pot helps you stay strong, as well as save time. Since I need only a little power, affordable ingredients and supervision, I can serve my family healthy meals every evening.

They are not directly drawn from other sources. Each recipe is a dish I’ve prepared and served to my husband, children and friends and they were usually so good that they were requested again.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q.Do I really need to brown my meat before putting it in the Crock Pot?

A.Strictly speaking, this step can be omitted as well provided you are in a massive, mad rush, but if you leave your meat to quietly brown away in a hot pan for only 5-10 minutes it is still going to make the difference. That yummy, caramel-crust you make boasts your end product a deep-rich, savory goodness that you simply cannot recreate by dropping the uncooked meat directly into the pot. Consider it tiny step to a giant flavor pay off!

Q.Is it safe to put frozen meat directly into the slow cooker?

A.What a good question, and on safety grounds this is to be avoided. According to food safety specialists, it is unadvisable to place frozen meat directly on a Crock Pot since it must thaw and undergo a safe temperature that is time consuming. This implies that there would be too much time when the meat is in the dangerous zone (40 F to 140 F) in which harmful bacteria can grow. Nevertheless, to avoid it, your meat should always be thawed in the refrigerator.

Q.How do I stop my vegetables from turning into complete mush?

A.It is size and timing that is the trick of it! Use hard root vegetables, such as potatoes and carrots which should be large, substantial chunks, since they would be able to hold up to the long cooking process. More fragile veggies such as zucchini, bell peppers or peas should be incorporated at the end of a cook like 30 to 45 minutes. This preserves them to exactly tender-crisp instead of mushy.

Q. Vegetables into mush?

A.So it is only a matter of size and timing! Potatoes and carrots belong to hardy root vegetables; hence, cut them into large and heavy pieces simply because they may stand the long cooking process. In case you need to include more light veggies such as zucchini, bell pepper or peas, add them in during the burning final half-hour or so. This makes them just-crispy all right without being mushy.

Q.My Crock Pot meals always end up so watery. How can I thicken the sauce?

A.It is an overwhelmingly common problem since the lid keeps all the liquid in. A simple solution is to simply put together a slurry by whisking a tablespoon of cornstarch with several tablespoons of cold water, and stir it into the Crock Pot during the final 30 minutes of cooking on high. Alternatively, to evaporate the sauce and make it thicker you can just cook with the lid uncovered during the last hour.

Q.How much liquid should I actually use? Do I need to cover all the ingredients?

A.In Crock Pot-food does not evaporate as much, which means you have to add considerably less liquid in relation to stovetop cooking. A good rule of thumb is that your food should not have more than half full of liquid down the sides. There is almost no need to cover the ingredients with something. A cup of any kind of broth is generally sufficient to cook a porterhouse or a couple of chicken breasts.

Q.Can I cook things like pasta or rice right in the Crock Pot?

A.Sure, you can, timing matters, though! Add regular pasta or white rice into the ORIGINAL start of a 6-8 hour cook and you will have tasteless, starchy slop. Rather than that, uncooked pasta or rice should be stirred into a hot liquid after the start of the cooking at the high setting during the last 20-30 minutes in order to be cooked. This will be all the time they will take them to cook thoroughly without disintegrating.