Best Slow Cookers for the Best Stews in the UK

With a vast variety of slow cookers on the market today, there is always a question mark as to how well-made they are. And if you're one of those who cherish quality above all, you may really like the Crock-Pot Slow Cooker. Without the multi-function cooking and fancy programming features, it isn't digital or high-tech but it's carefully made from premium materials and is extremely easy to use. Actually, it has only high, low, and warm settings.

If you set the dial to 'Low', the Crock-Pot will deliver a tender meal, and if you switch to 'High', you'll get quicker yet not less tasty results. Typically, dishes need 6-7 hours when cooked on the low mode or 4-5 hours on the high setting. The pot will keep the temperature steady so your food will always get delicious, flavoursome and cooked to perfection, be it a curry, soup, porridge, or stew. And to keep finished meals ready to eat for longer, you can activate the 'Keep Warm' setting.

With a generous 6.5-litre capacity, the Crock-Pot is currently one of the largest pots on the market, making it ideal for large companies and big families. Per one go, this mighty one can cook enough food for eight people.

As a nice touch, the box includes three useful utensils and a booklet with 24 recipes. The recipe book is very informative and particularly useful because of the cooking time conversion chart that enables users to figure out how long different ingredients need to be cooked.

For those who cherish style above all, the Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Slow Cooker 460016 should be high on their wishlist. The folk behind this model have put a great effort into making this slow cooker not only usable but also stylish, fitting it in a refined casing with a rose gold trim, subtle branding, and matte black finish that all give it a very expensive feel. The cooker like this will definitely look smart on your kitchen worktop and rid you of the need to hide it every time your guests are pushing the doorbell.

Another effort has been put into the design of the unit's controls. The dial of the 460016 is made to be fairly large, well-readable and very responsive. On the dial itself, there are three heat settings including High, Medium, and Low, which enables you to cook from 4 to 10 hours. At the bottom of the dial, there is an indicator light showing whether the slow cooker is working or not.

Basically, you need to sear food in a frying pan before stewing it in a slow cooker, meaning you need to use additional cookware and clean it afterwards. With the Morphy Richards 460012 slow cooker, however, no longer will you need to do that!

The main benefit of this model is that you can simply take the pot out from the base and use it first on a stove top to sear some meat before adding other ingredients. This way, you'll be able to fry the meat until it gets crispy, golden crust but stays soft and tender inside with incredible mesmerising flavour. The pot features a no-stick coating, so you don't need to worry about burns and sticking.

Unlike ceramic cooking pots used in most other slow cookers, this hob-proof pot is very durable and lightweight. Hence, you can take the pot right to the table and serve directly from it. For easy carrying, it has two ergonomic handles.

On top of that, the pot, as well as the lid, is dishwasher-safe, meaning it can go straight into the dishwasher when you've finished your meal. So, cleaning up will be a doddle too.

The Russell Hobbs Slow Cooker 23200 will give a helping hand to any homemaker. Instead of bending over the stove after a busy day at work, you will come back to a ready meal waiting for you to serve to the table. The capacity of the pot isn't very big (3.5 L) but more than sufficient for making a meal for 3-4 people with leftovers. Like all slow cookers, it doesn't cook quickly. Yet, that's is exactly what sets slow cookers from other appliances. You can pop the food into the pot early in the morning, select the program, and leave it on for the biggest part of a day. When you get back home, the meal will be ready and warm. The Russell Hobbs Slow Cooker 23200 has three standard cooking settings: high, low, and keep warm, which allows you to customize the temperature to different meals. The keep warm function will let you preserve your meal warm for several hours and warm it up quickly later on.

Struggle for space in your kitchen, dorm or motorhome? Then we recommend considering the Swan 1.5 Litre Oval Stainless Steel Slow Cooker. Produced by a trustworthy UK brand, this pot will fit the bill perfectly.

As the name implies, it's a small pot - with a 1.5-litre capacity, it will be ideal for a single person and for couples that usually cook no more than two portions at a time. Also, it will be suitable for those occasions when you want to cook some kind of side dish and need an extra burner. At a price of about £20, the device is a real snip.

Furthermore, a device this small doesn't use a lot of electricity. Actually, it drains just 120 watts of power, which keeps it on the lower side in terms of electricity consumption, making it perfect for caravans or camper trailers that use generators.

Think because it's so energy-low and small, it's not functional enough? It's not the case. The Swan slow cooker packs quite a punch and offers a good set of cooking options including Low, High, and Auto so you can cook a variety of different meals. Whereas the Auto mode is versatile and works for all types of food, the Low setting should be used for cooking meals like stews, casseroles, or curries while the High setting will come in helpful when you need to cook large chunks of meat and other food that need more heat processing.