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6 best slow cookers for delicious soups, stews and casseroles
Cook up a fuss-free feast
From casseroles to curries to deliciously tender joints of roast beef, dinnertime possibilities are endless with a slow cooker – and the best part is, once you’ve done your prep you can leave the appliance to play chef while you get on with your day.
What slow cooker should I buy?
The Good Housekeeping Institute has rigorously tested 36 models to find the best slow cooker on the market. Scroll on for the reviews of our winners.
What is a slow cooker and what can you cook in them?
Slow cookers are nifty appliances that do all the cooking for you, so you can whip up scrumptious meals without spending hours working away behind a stove. Once you’ve done your prep and put the ingredients into the cooker, it will cook your food at a steady and controlled temperature over a longer period of time. There’s no need to worry about this drying your food out either, as the lids lock in moisture for soft and flavourful results.
They aren’t just for stews and casseroles either. In fact, they're real multi-taskers, even up to the task of cooking a cut of meat – including sweet and salty coca cola ham or a tender beef joint. Vegetarian family favourites like macaroni cheese are also a go-to. Take a look at our collection of recipes for more ideas.
Below you'll find the best slow cookers according to our experts, and everything you need to know about shopping for a new one – from must-have features to their energy efficiency.
How we test slow cookers
At the Good Housekeeping Institute, we make a beef stew, chicken curry and vegetable soup in every slow cooker we test, using both their high and low settings.
We also measure the energy consumed by each slow cooker to see how economical they are and measure the moisture lost when cooking to make sure meals don’t end up tasting dry.
In fact, we taste the end result of every dish to make sure food is perfectly cooked.
Crock-Pot Lift & Serve Digital Slow Cooker
Score: 91/100
With a generous 4.7-litre capacity, this slow cooker can cook enough food for six people while the removable main pot can also double up as a serving dish.
This model scored full marks on our curry, soup and stew tests, and cooked meat and vegetables to perfection. We also liked the hinged lid, as it allowed us to stir or add to our dish with ease. The bowl and lid are both dishwasher-safe too, for extra convenience.
Key specifications
Capacity: 4.7 litre
Pot: Ceramic
Lid: Glass
Number of heat settings: 2
Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker OP500UK
Score: 91/100
If you want to splash out, then this would be a smart design to go for as this multi-cooker does a lot more than most, from dehydrating to airfrying. In our slow cooker tests it shone, maintaining an outstanding 99.27% of moisture during cooking.
The intuitive design comes with clear instructions too, and cooked our meals consistently. We also found it impressively energy efficient.
It is a bulky bit of tech though that will take up a lot of room in your kitchen and the cooking pot isn’t easy to lift out, but its 7.5-litre capacity will easily feed a crowd. During cooking, we found that bits of beef that weren’t entirely submerged in our sauce ended up tasting dry, so be sure to make sure your meat is covered.
Otherwise, the outside stayed cool throughout and the accompanying recipe book is filled with handy cooking tips.
Key specifications
Capacity: 7.5 litre
Pot: Aluminium
Lid: Pressure lid
Number of settings: 9
Score: 91/100
This easy-to-use slow cooker is large enough to feed a family of six and comes with a 4.7-litre removable ceramic inner pot, which is also dishwasher-safe. The Crock-Pot has the added bonus of an integrated programmable timer too, which will automatically switch the setting to “keep warm” when cooking finishes.
The results didn’t disappoint either – it scored highly when making curry, soup and stew, with meat and veg cooked through to perfection. Our only qualm is that it doesn’t have an auto cook function. If that’s not a priority for you, though, it’s a top buy.
Key specifications
Capacity: 4.7 litre
Pot: Ceramic
Lid: Glass
Number of heat settings: 2
GreenPan Slow Cooker CC005308-001
Score: 90/100
With a 6-litre capacity, this is a great slow cooker for feeding a family or bulk cooking. Our experts said it retained moisture excellently and produced a particularly delicious beef stew, which was full of tender, flavourful meat.
It’s a doddle to use, with a choice of four cooking modes – sauté, slow cook, steam and roast – and an easily adjustable timer. Plus, its non-toxic, non-stick coating was easy to clean, and the cord wraps up for neat storage.
Handles would have been appreciated, as removing the pot was fiddly and fingerprints were quite visible on the exterior, but for mouth-watering dinners, this machine delivers.
Key specifications
Capacity: 6 litre
Pot: Aluminium
Lid: Glass lid
Number of settings: 4
Crock-Pot 5.6L TimeSelect Digital Slow Cooker CSC066
Score: 89/100
This multi-functional machine from Crock-Pot allows you to schedule your cooking up to 12 hours in advance, with plenty of customisable manual and auto-function options. It scored high marks on all performance tests and won top marks for design.
The beef in our stew came out tender and succulent, while the chicken in our curry fell off the bone and absorbed plenty of flavour from the other ingredients. We were pleased with the energy efficiency too, and the clear digital display panel meant it was easy to know when our dish was ready.
Key specifications
Capacity: 5.6 litres
Pot: Ceramic
Lid: Glass
Number of heat settings: 3
Sage Fast Slow Cooker Pro
Score: 88/100
This premium machine produced good results and was economical during testing. There’s a range of useful pre-set settings, including “pressure cook” and “slow cook”, which enable you to cook a variety of foods at set cooking times, as well as at a set temperature or pressure level to get the best results.
There’s a “keep warm” function, too, and you can save your own settings to its memory. On the downside, the hinged lid is a little fiddly to operate and it’s a bit bulky to store, but now we’re being picky.
Key specifications
Capacity: 6 litre
Pot: Ceramic
Lid: Stainless steel
Number of heat settings: 3
What are the benefits of slow cooking?
There are a number of benefits to using a slow cooker, but one of their main plus points is that they’re highly convenient - you don’t even need to check and stir your ingredients.
Cooking for a long time at a low temperature also helps tenderise meat and bring out its flavour, so you can get the best out of a less expensive cut. You also preserve nutrients that are sometimes lost when cooking via other methods. Slow cookers use less electricity than an oven, too.
Slow cooker key features
We've picked out the most important features to look out for when trying to find the best slow cooker for you.
Capacity
Slow cookers range in capacity, from a compact 1.5 litres up to 7 litres. As a general guide, a 1.5 to 2.3-litre capacity is great for two people, a larger 4 to 4.5 litres will feed four, and 5.5 to 7 litres is ideal for four to six people.
Timer
This will come in handy if you’re out for the day. Once the timer you set has been reached, the cooker will either switch off or automatically shift to the “keep warm” setting, depending on the model, so you come home to dinner that's ready to serve.
Controls
The controls tend to be similar on most slow cookers with a “low” setting for longer, slower cooking throughout the day and a “high” setting for faster cooking with similar slow-cooked results.
Keep warm
This function can be found on the majority of slow cookers, as it retains the temperature of your food without cooking it further – handy when you’re struggling to round up the family!
Some slow cookers will automatically shift to this mode after a programme has ended, while others require switching manually.
Auto cook
This function starts off your cooking on a high setting before automatically reducing the temperature to the low setting for the remainder of the cooking time.
It’s useful when you want the overall cooking time to be quicker, as it still enables food to be slow cooked.
Sous vide
An increasingly popular way of cooking, sous-vide is a French term that simply means “under vacuum”. You place your food inside a sealed pouch and then pop it into a temperature-controlled water bath.
By sealing food in pouches, the juices and subtle flavours that would otherwise be lost during conventional cooking are retained.
Lid
It’s a good idea for your slow cooker to have a transparent glass lid, so you can keep a watchful eye on your food. The last thing you want is to be lifting the lid every now and then to check progress, as heat and steam will quickly escape and add to your cooking time.
Pot
All the pots on our list are either ceramic or aluminium. The ceramic pots tend to be heavier than their stainless steel or aluminium counterparts, while the non-stick coating found on aluminium pots makes them easier to wash by hand – although this needn’t be a concern as all of the pots in our roundup are dishwasher-safe.
Indicator light
This light tells you that your slow cooker is on at a glance.
Is it cheaper to use a slow cooker or an oven?
Typically, ovens consume more energy than a slow cooker. According to research by Crockpot, making a stew using a slow cooker will use about 1500W (that’s 51p of electricity based on current prices), while an oven would use double that to make the same dish.
Slow cookers do tend to run for longer though, so if you’re looking to save, look for recipes with a short cooking time and that can be left on a low heat setting.
Multi-cookers are also worth considering, as these machines offer additional cooking methods over slow cooking, including pressure cooking and air frying, which are speedier ways to cook.
Microwaves are also more cost effective than ovens, as they operate for less time.
Hannah is our homes editor, specialising in reviewing the latest kitchen appliances, cleaning products, mattresses and bedding, and crafting equipment. Hannah has written about hundreds of products, from air fryers to smoothie makers to pillows, and is committed to finding the most reliable and best value for money buys.
Hannah is also interested in sustainability in the home and has completed a course with the University of the Arts London in sustainable textiles, so she can help cut through the noise on what’s green and what’s not. Hannah has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously worked as a freelance lifestyle and women’s sports journalist, working for Stylist, Sky Sports and more.
Hannah has also previously worked in a florist and can normally be found caring for her house plants or sewing something new for her home or wardrobe.
