How do I adapt an oven recipe for a slow cooker?

A slow cooker is a sealed pot at a very low temperature. Almost nothing evaporates and nothing browns, and those two facts explain every adjustment an oven recipe needs.

Step by step

1. Reduce the liquid by about half.The lid condenses steam and returns it, and the ingredients release their own liquid. An oven recipe's quantity gives a thin, watery result.
2. Brown the meat and aromatics first.In a pan, or in the pot if it has a sear function. Nothing browns in a slow cooker, so a dish made without this step tastes pale and flat however long it cooks.
3. Convert the time.Roughly: 1 hour in the oven equals 4 hours on high or 7 to 8 on low. 2 hours equals 6 on high or 9 to 10 on low. Low is more forgiving and generally gives better texture.
4. Fill it between a third and three-quarters.Below a third and it cooks too fast and dries; above three-quarters and it may not reach a safe temperature quickly enough.
5. Put dense ingredients at the bottom.Root vegetables and potatoes go under the meat, where the heat is. They take longer than meat in a slow cooker, which is the reverse of an oven.
6. Hold back the quick things.Peas, greens, courgette, fresh herbs and seafood go in for the last 20 to 30 minutes. Anything added at the start will be gone.
7. Add dairy at the end.Cream, milk, yoghurt and cheese split over long cooking. Stir them in during the final half hour.
8. Keep the lid on.Every lift adds around 20 minutes because it loses so much heat. Resist checking.
9. Thicken at the end.A cornflour slurry stirred in for the last 30 minutes on high, or lift the meat out and reduce the sauce in a pan. Flour added at the start does very little at these temperatures.
10. Adjust the seasoning last.Long cooking mutes some flavours and concentrates salt. Taste and correct with salt, acid and fresh herbs before serving.

Tips

• Half the liquid. It is the adjustment people miss and it is the reason slow cooker food is often watery.
• Low rather than high, wherever the schedule allows. The texture is noticeably better.
• Brown first. It is twenty minutes of work that changes the whole dish.

Common mistakes

• Using the oven recipe's full quantity of liquid — Nothing evaporates from a sealed slow cooker, and the meat and vegetables add their own. The result is a thin, dilute sauce with the flavour spread through twice as much liquid as it should be.
• Putting everything in at the same time — Slow cookers are gentle but relentless. Peas, greens and delicate herbs added at the start are colourless and flavourless after eight hours, and dairy splits.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask