Do you know when to use a slow cooker and when to use a pressure cooker? Sandy Wolner, RDN, shows us why both slow cookers and pressure cookers are great additions to your kitchen and when to use them.
In this episode of “In the Kitchen With Pampered Chef,” Sandy spotlights how both a slow cooker and a pressure cooker are fantastic "hands-off" cooking methods for those times when you have a lot going on, but still want to make a fresh, homemade meal. Deciding whether the slow cooker or the pressure cooker is the right tool for you just depends on what your personal schedule looks like.
Featured Products
The Rockcrok® Slow Cooker Stand turns a Rockcrok® Dutch Oven or Everyday Pan into a slow cooker. Saute onions and meat on your stovetop, then transfer it to the stand stand without changing pots or pans.
Make one-pot dinners fast with our Quick Cooker—Pampered Chef’s 16-in-1 pressure cooker. Pressure cooking can reduce cook times by up to 70%, and you can even cook frozen foods without thawing.
Featured Recipes
This 5-star recipe is delicious whether you make it with cauliflower or substitute red potatoes. Sautéing the chicken in the pan before adding the cauliflower means that none of the wonderful flavor from the meat is lost when the dish is transferred to the slow cooker stand. There’s no boring vegetables here!
This recipe is another favorite from our website! It’s a great first recipe to try if you’re just learning to use a pressure cooker, or if you just need a hot dinner fast. This recipe definitely earned its place on our Top 10 Recipes of the Year when it launched in 2018.
Sandy's Top Tips
- Cooking recipes in the slow cooker on low takes about twice as long as cooking the same recipe on high. Choose the setting that works best for your schedule, the results will be very similar.
- Some foods are better for one cooking method vs the other. Cauliflower would dissolve in a pressure cooker but turns into a delicious mash in a slow cooker. But pasta holds up in a pressure cooker far better than it does when subjected to long cooking times in a slow cooker.
- Quick-to-cook foods like pasta or lentils usually call for a manual release of pressure from a pressure cooker, while longer-to-cook foods like potatoes or brown rice benefit from the additional cooking time that comes with letting the pressure release naturally.
Can you use Chicken breasts instead of the chicken thighs?
yes you can. They cook up just as great as the thighs do.
My husband hates the quick cooker. Rice doesn’t steam. It gets mushy. It hasn’t held up to cooking meats either. I am able to make delicious taco soup but haven’t tried anything potatoes related. I need instructions on preparing simple things. Especially settings and times. Is there some sort of recipes book that can give me all that info? I am diabetic and about to begin an entire new way and what to cook for diabetics that my picky guys will eat. Even if I have to lie about what is in it.bThey are eat and potatoes kind of guys so a change up for better benefits amd items is needed as well.