Slow cookers can feel heaven sent, giving you an oven-free way to have a hot cooked meal waiting for us at the end of a long day. But chances are, you're unaware just how incredible your slow cooker is. There's a lot more you can be making in yours than you may have ever imagined.
Stock
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Yes, you probably know you can make all sorts of soups in a slow cooker, but this is also a great way to make your stock. Stock is best when it simmers low and slow, and as this recipe from The Kitchn points out. It's easy, too: Just place the chicken carcass in the slow cooker with carrots, celery, onions, bay leaf, herbs and water. Cook on high for five hours or low for 10. That stock will help in endless recipes so you may want to make a big batch and freeze some. (Find out what's behind the hype about bone broth.)
Roast chicken
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Roast chicken is a Sunday dinner staple and a source of leftovers to enjoy in lunch salads and sandwiches throughout the week. Taste of Home demonstrates that you don't have to use the oven: That chicken can be perfect and juicy in the slow cooker! Place the chicken and vegetables in the slow cooker with your favorite herb mixture breast-side up on low for four to five hours. Check out these healthy slow cooker recipes.
Beer
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Would you ever imagine you could make beer in your slow cooker? You can! You just need to create an infusion mash out of specialty grains and water, running it through the step mash process of temperature cycles. Sounds complicated but ultimately it's rather easy. Trust us.
Soap
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The slow cooker is a great way to hot process the soap. This makes soap "cook" faster than would happen during a traditional slow-making process. Using a slow cooker allows a user to hot process the soap (basically the soap is actively cooking) as opposed to letting the reactions happen on their own (a cold process). Just follow the recipe by measuring your oils and lye and putting in the slow cooker and stirring by hand until it reaches a batter like consistency (known as a light trace). Then walk away and let it cook for about 20 minutes before turning the heat off, adding the rest of your soap ingredients, and pouring into your soap molds. While you can make soap in any slow cooker, you may want to designate an older one you are not using for cooking anymore.
Brownies
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A slow cooker is a godsend for all sorts of baked goods but especially those you want to be extra rich and indulgent, like a brownie. This recipe from Oprah takes fairly traditional brownie staples and pours them into a slow cooker, atop greased parchment paper. You'll cook on low for three hours and it should be gooey and rich when it's ready.
French toast
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Breakfast is extra fun to slow cook because it's delicious to wake up to. While the breakfast options are endless, this French toast is pretty special, involving whisking eggs, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon and pouring over diced bread in a slow cooker, and cooking on low for at least six hours. In the morning you will have a gorgeous soufflé-like French toast.
Pizza
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Jeff Mauro of the Food Network shared a fun trick for making pizza in the slow cooker. Spray the bottom of the pot so that your crust doesn't stick, but beyond that it's as simple as making dough, cooking it on high for an hour and then going back into the pot to add your toppings and cook on high until your toppings are melted and the crust is a golden brown.
Candles
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Crazy but true: You can make homemade candles in your slow cooker! It's no mess, no fuss, and no double boiling. You just need to spoon pieces of wax into candle holders and arrange them at the bottom of your slow cooker, and cook on high for about a half hour before coming back to check on them. Your wax will have melted down a bit, so add more wax to each candle holder. When each candle holder is full of melted wax, add some essential oils to each and stir. Then, add your wicks and turn the slow cooker off. Over the next few hours, that wax will harden into candles.
Yogurt
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While it feels easy enough to pick up some containers at the supermarket, making your own yogurt can be fun and healthy. You'll need a yogurt starter culture, which you'll add to milk you have slowly warmed in the slow cooker. You'll then culture it overnight before storing in glass jars in your fridge. You can choose any ingredients you want to go in it, which is half the fun. (Check out these foods that help boost the good bacteria in your gut.)
Bread
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If you want to make fresh homemade bread, you do not need to own a bread machine. This is an especially great option when it's way too hot out to consider heating up the kitchen by baking. You'll want to line the slow cooker with parchment paper so that it doesn't stick, and cook the bread dough on high for two and a half hours. If you want your bread to have a darker char, you can then brown under the broiler for a few minutes.
Hot cocoa
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Having a winter get-together and want to have hot cocoa at the ready for all your guests? This is a genius and easy way to make it, keep it warm all party long, and not use the stove. Plus, you can easily spike it once the kids go to bed...
Mac and cheese
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Mac and cheese is a time-honored favorite, often involving lots of stovetop stirring followed by baking in the oven. None is necessary! Just create your macaroni, roux, and cheese mixture and place in a slow cooker on low for two and a half hours—this side will be so popular you may have to double or triple that recipe.
Baked potatoes
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One may think that making baked potatoes involves taking up oven space, but it doesn't. Just wash, poke, and wrap those potatoes in foil. No liquid is necessary to add for this recipe. If you leave the slow cooker on low, eight hours later you'll have perfect potatoes. Feel free to mash them after, but we kind of love the baked without baking concept! If you like your potatoes loaded, that's an option in your slow cooker as well.
Crayons
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Chances are you have lots of old broken crayons around the house. These can be given second life by peeling and breaking down the crayons into a muffin tin and placing in a slow cooker on high for an hour and a half. The crayons will melt down. Then, place them in the fridge and let them set – your crayons will harden again and set and be ready to use. In other news, here's how to get crayons off the wall quickly.
Lasagna
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Lasagna is such a great winter's night meal, but it requires a lot of layering and work. This way is just dump it and forget it—throw your favorite ingredients in the slow cooker and let it do the work as you go about your day. You can cook on low for around 8 hours and the noodles will crisp toward the end of the process, just like in the oven!
Grits
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This southern staple can be a little tedious to make right, but when cooking low and slow, the flavors come together perfectly. You will cook the grits, water, and salt low overnight. Add your cream, butter and cheese when you wake up and cook just long enough for the cheese to melt. Breakfast perfection.
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