Throw in some beans and let 'em go...

December 14, 2012 1:19 PM

Looking for a quality crock pot for a family of 4.

Right now there are only two adults who will be eating what we cook, but eventually our small children will partake as well. We are pescatarians who will primarily be using this for vegetarian dishes. Ideally, it would look nice on our counter, but this is secondary to it just working well. I'd like to keep it around $100, but am open to all suggestions. Thanks!

posted by LizardOfDoom to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Are you set on a crock pot? You might compare what a crock pot does to a decent rice cooker, a la The Pot and How to Use It. Ebert suggests a very simple model with basically two settings: On and Keep Warm.
posted by Madamina at 1:44 PM on December 14, 2012

I find that the West Bend Crock Pot that you buy for around $30 at any big box store is pretty great and they last for about 40 years.

I have one with a removable crock which is great for cleaning.

I find they're great for beans, lentils, split pea soup and other legumes.

Also soups.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:48 PM on December 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: And let me put pressure cooker out there as another alternative. Does just about everything the slow cooker does, just really fast. I have this one which does both pressure and slow cooking, but I haven't tried the slow cooking features out yet.
posted by SampleSize at 2:04 PM on December 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Echoing SampleSize. I have the InstantPot, and I'm obsessed with it. I'd never considered a pressure cooker before, but I love this thing. Dried beans from scratch with no soaking in a hour. It also works well as a slow-cooker. And I love that you can saute veggies in it, then add your liquid/beans/whatever and set it to cook.
posted by purpleclover at 2:16 PM on December 14, 2012

This Breville model holds 7 quarts (It's been fine with smaller recipes in my experience.) and is pretty non-descript. The insert comes out for searing on the stove if needed, and is also oven-safe..
posted by Su at 2:20 PM on December 14, 2012

I have a very basic one and it works fine -- but if I were getting a new one (and I'm thinking about it), I would get this one that was recommended by America's Test Kitchen.

I like that you have more control over time and temperature combinations as I've seen recipes that would be hard to do in my basic Crock Pot which only allows for 4 or 6 hours on high or 8 or 10 on low. ATK preferred this one even over the AllClad which was crazy spendy. This looks nicer than my basic round white one with stains too!
posted by hrj at 2:21 PM on December 14, 2012

Ditto SampleSize * 1000. Since my family was gifted a pressure cooker similar to the one SS linked, we've put both our rice cooker and crockpot in storage for "just in case" use. We use the pressure cooker probably twice as much as we used both of those tools combined.
posted by deadmessenger at 3:12 PM on December 14, 2012

Love my Hamilton Beach Set and Forget crock pot.
posted by michellenoel at 3:33 PM on December 14, 2012

I have to say that I don't think you'll get much use out of a crock pot without red meat, unless you eat a lot of curries, veg stew, etc. Basically obliterates texture of most things, and if you pull it off earlier, you might as well be cooking on the stovetop.

Nthing pressure cooker, but I do like my slow cooker too. (Even chicken dries out, though. Fatty meat is best.)
posted by supercres at 6:28 PM on December 14, 2012

We have this one and it's very nice. There are three crock sizes and it's very handy to have the extra crocks (you can store one in the fridge while cooking with another one, for example).
posted by kindall at 6:55 PM on December 14, 2012