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5 Slow Cooker Tricks for PERFECT Taste & Texture

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Dump, cook, wait, and serve. Nothing beats the convenience of your trusty slow cooker (except maybe a rapid rice cooker!) You can truly set it and forget it, meal prep in bulk, and soften tough meats like a pro.

But for all the perks, there are still a few cons to work around.

With these tips, Aroma will help you change your love/hate opinion of slow cookers to all love:

Spend less on groceries

Grocery prices are going up, but a slow cooker rice cooker can help you keep costs down. This low-and-slow cooking method turns less expensive meat cuts into pull-apart, mouthwatering meals! Now you can choose budget-friendly meats that are traditionally tough, like pot roast, rump roast, shoulder, brisket, and ribs.

Slow cooking meat naturally breaks down collagen and connective tissue, so the texture is completely transformed by the time it’s ready to serve.

Cabbage, onions, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are also typically less expensive than other fresh vegetables, and their hearty, high fiber content holds up well with slow cooking. The result? Enjoy tender and sweet veggies to round out more affordable meals.

Meal prep more effectively

Variety is one of the best ways to enjoy (and stick to!) a cheap meal prep plan. Remember: just because you cooked a one-pot recipe doesn’t mean you have to serve everything together. Slow cook everything at once, then pull tender meat for sandwiches, use softened vegetables for sides, and turn the broth into a new sauce with dinner.

A 2-in-1 slow cooker rice cooker also comes in handy for batch cooking healthy carbs, like whole grain farro, beans, and lentils. Slow heat easily softens and breaks down robust whole grains and turns dry beans into a usable staple for recipes, all week long.

Mellow or enhance rich flavors

Slow cooking doesn’t just break down collagen and fiber, it also changes the taste of most spices and aromatic ingredients. With the right strategy, this is a cooking superpower!

After several hours in your rice cooker slow cooker, flavors become softer, more mellow, and deeply absorbed into the heart of the dish, so every bite tastes cohesive. But that softening effect can also make everything taste same-y.

Maximize the slow caramelization of flavors by sautéing aromatics (base flavors, essentially) and add more umami to deepen the taste. Umami-rich soy sauce, porcini mushrooms, and tomato paste can make a huge difference in the depth of your dish.

And with slow cooker recipes, the toppings and final touches are often the most important part of the entire recipe. It’s amazing how a squeeze of citrus, sprinkle of strong cheese, spoonful of kimchi, or fresh herbs can liven things up!

Achieve the perfect, never-soupy texture

Traditional slow cookers are designed to cook with the lid on, trapping moisture and steam inside to drip back onto your food. But when you slow cook in a rice cooker, you can get an even better result with moisture-rich recipes that are neither dry, nor soupy. Rice cookers have a small, built-in steam vent that releases a little extra moisture when pressure builds up during the slow cooking process.

To avoid moisture overload, it’s also a good idea to sauté onions, garlic, and root vegetables before starting your slow cooker recipe. This helps deepen caramel flavors and also evaporates some of the water that could otherwise soak your dish while cooking. If your Aroma slow cooker rice cooker is also equipped with the Sauté-then-Simmer (STS)® mode, you can do everything in one pot!

Do more with a single appliance

One of the biggest complaints about slow cookers is simply about storage space. It’s hard to fit yet another appliance into your kitchen! That’s why slow cooker rice cooker combos are in high demand, and Aroma is designing even more digital rice cookers with built-in slow cooker modes.

An all-in-one digital rice cooker can slow cook with adjustable heat settings, switch to auto-warm on a timer, start with a delay timer, and more. Plus, with Aroma’s patented Sauté-then-Simmer (STS)® mode on most digital rice cookers, you can improve your slow cooker recipes by browning meat and sautéing aromatics before starting the slow cooker (and there are no extra pots or pans to clean!)