Cooking with a crockpot can make it easy to have dinner waiting when you come home. By filling up the crockpot before you leave for work or school in the morning, you can be greeted by the delicious scent of dinner when you walk in the door at the end of the day.
Tips for Using Your Crockpot
There are a few tips that will help your crockpot meals turn out perfect every time. First, never overfill the crockpot. Make sure when you are filling it up that the pot is between half and three-quarters full. Too full, and your food will not cook enough. If the pot is too empty, the food will cook too quickly and you will come home to a dinner that is overdone.
If you are using fresh vegetables, put them on the bottom. They will take longer to cook than your meat. This is a bit hard to believe, but it is true. If you are using frozen vegetables, place them on top of your meat, since they will cook faster.
If you take the time to brown your meat before putting it in the crockpot, the fat will get rendered a bit and the natural sugars in the meat will caramelize. Your meal will look more appetizing, and you can deglaze the pan afterwards and add the delicious drippings to the crockpot for flavor. It also helps if you remove any skin or excess fat from your meat before you start.
Tomatoes, mushrooms, and other tender ingredients should be added towards the end of cooking. Dairy products should not go in earlier than the last 30 minutes. When adding dairy, make sure your crockpot is on low so they do not curdle. Thickeners like cornstarch can be added in the last hour. Be sure your temperature is on high to activate the thickening. Pasta and rice should be added only during the last 45 minutes so they do not turn to mush.
Do not take the lid off during cooking unless absolutely necessary. If you need to add more ingredients, add them all at once so you only need to open the crockpot once. Opening the lid adds about a half hour to your cooking time every time you do it.
Crockpot Recipes
These easy tips can help make your crockpot useful and versatile. You can make almost anything in the crockpot. Pulled pork with barbecue sauce is easy in the crockpot, as is Asian chicken. Stew and chili are old standbys for the crockpot, as is chicken soup. Vegetable dishes like creamed corn with cream cheese is delicious for a side dish.
You can even bake breads and cakes in the crockpot! Desserts like apple brown betty, boiled peanuts and many different cakes can easily be made in the crockpot. As you can see, crockpots are even more versatile than most people think.
Tips for Using Your Crockpot
There are a few tips that will help your crockpot meals turn out perfect every time. First, never overfill the crockpot. Make sure when you are filling it up that the pot is between half and three-quarters full. Too full, and your food will not cook enough. If the pot is too empty, the food will cook too quickly and you will come home to a dinner that is overdone.
If you are using fresh vegetables, put them on the bottom. They will take longer to cook than your meat. This is a bit hard to believe, but it is true. If you are using frozen vegetables, place them on top of your meat, since they will cook faster.
If you take the time to brown your meat before putting it in the crockpot, the fat will get rendered a bit and the natural sugars in the meat will caramelize. Your meal will look more appetizing, and you can deglaze the pan afterwards and add the delicious drippings to the crockpot for flavor. It also helps if you remove any skin or excess fat from your meat before you start.
Tomatoes, mushrooms, and other tender ingredients should be added towards the end of cooking. Dairy products should not go in earlier than the last 30 minutes. When adding dairy, make sure your crockpot is on low so they do not curdle. Thickeners like cornstarch can be added in the last hour. Be sure your temperature is on high to activate the thickening. Pasta and rice should be added only during the last 45 minutes so they do not turn to mush.
Do not take the lid off during cooking unless absolutely necessary. If you need to add more ingredients, add them all at once so you only need to open the crockpot once. Opening the lid adds about a half hour to your cooking time every time you do it.
Crockpot Recipes
These easy tips can help make your crockpot useful and versatile. You can make almost anything in the crockpot. Pulled pork with barbecue sauce is easy in the crockpot, as is Asian chicken. Stew and chili are old standbys for the crockpot, as is chicken soup. Vegetable dishes like creamed corn with cream cheese is delicious for a side dish.
You can even bake breads and cakes in the crockpot! Desserts like apple brown betty, boiled peanuts and many different cakes can easily be made in the crockpot. As you can see, crockpots are even more versatile than most people think.
About the Author:
Interested in international cuisine like chicken tortilla soup we have a wonderful chicken tortilla soup recipes your whole family will love.
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