Here's A Quick Way To Solve The Slow Cooker Problem
11 Tips for Making Healthy Food in a Slow Cooker
To fulfill our goal of developing healthy recipes with a slow cooker, we needed to find ways of building taste
Without adding extra fat while at the same time packing more hearty vegetables and grains into our recipes. Here's what
we learned.
Choose the Right Cut and Trim Carefully
Once trimmed, cuts such as chuck roast, eye-round roast, and blade steaks are great choices when you are trying to
Eat healthy, especially in recipes with a high proportion of vegetables to meat.
Used boneless, skinless breasts, bone-in breasts, and meaty chicken thighs; be sure to remove the skin from
Bone-in breasts and thighs, which will drastically reduce calories and fat. Pork loin and pork tenderloins are
When recipes are thinner, building a flavorful base is key. Browning aromatics, vegetables, and meat generates a
Flavorful fond in the bottom of the pan which, when deglazed with wine or broth, provides the foundation for a rich
sauce. And browning some roasts like pork loin or eye-round roast adds additional flavor and attractive colour. The
Additional 10 minutes or so it takes to do so can make all of the difference in many recipes, such as Pork Loin
with Warm Spiced Chickpea Salad.
Heavy, clad construction performs best, and you want to look for a 12-inch skillet (the best all-around dimensions)
With a comfy, ovensafe handle.
We found a teaspoon or two of canola oil was all that was necessary to correctly sauté aromatics,
To add richness to a dish at the end of cooking, we often turned into extra-virgin olive oil (see our taste test
Results)--drizzling a bit over a completed grain, vegetable, or pasta dish made a major impact without tipping the
scales. In Terms of butter, there are times when there is no substitute for its nutty richness; occasionally adding just a
Little can lead to a creamy and satisfying dish.
Use the Microwave
When There's No need to get out a skillet, we used the microwave to soften aromatics and vegetables and
bloom spices. This helped us use a minimum of fat because we found that, in general, we had to add only a
Teaspoon of vegetable oil; stirring the mixture partway though cooking assured that everything softened
properly. The microwave also came in handy when it was necessary to steam vegetables before adding them to
The finished dish; when making simple glazes or sauces; and for heating up last-minute additions to a recipe
(such as coconut milk, for example).
There's absolutely no opportunity for flavorful browning or caramelizing. We found many ways to add flavor: Pungent
Spice rubs add taste and attractive color; sauces made by reducing flavorful cooking liquids add richness
Without much fat; glazes made with fruit preserves and other ingredients coat meat amazingly well; lively
Vinaigrettes, relishes, and chutneys can be made while the food cooks and make all the difference in the
Finished dish without adding much in the way of fat or calories.
Certain ingredients need only a brief stint in the slow cooker to heat through and meld into the dish. Delicate
vegetables and other ingredients, such as rice noodles, frozen peas, baby spinach, escarole, and corn, turned
Mushy or lackluster when cooked for hours in the slow cooker, so we stirred them in at the end, letting them
Heat briefly until perfectly cooked.
Canned beans, could cook alongside proteins or cook quickly in the cooking liquid left behind (that was
Accurate with couscous). In some instances vegetables needed to be wrapped in a foil package to stay tender, while in
Others, they cooked in a flavorful broth along with the fish or meat, soaking up large flavor on the way.
We wanted a recipe for fish tacos that provided the same great flavor that we can prepare in our slow cooker.
When made in the toaster because they cook more gently
. To harness the energy of the toaster for
These and similar recipes for fish, we created a simple and flavorful poaching liquid with wine and aromatics,
Elevating the fish on pieces of citrus. As the slow cooker heated up, the liquid steamed the fish perfectly. For
Some recipes, you can take things a step further by placing a sheet of parchment paper over the vegetables to
Trap the steam and cook them perfectly.
Gives Recipes a Fresh Finish
You can earn easy-to-make sauces and toppings using healthy and nutritious ingredients. For some recipes,
Like Turkish-Style Eggplant Casserole, the difference between a merely good recipe and a great one is the
Finishing touch, in the kind of a healthful but lively sauce or topping that takes just minutes to whip together; for
Both these recipes we created a lively topping with Greek yogurt, fresh herbs, and other seasonings.
Use Cheese Wisely
Some low-fat cheeses turn grainy from the moist warmth of the slow cooker, especially when used as a topping--
Which is why we occasionally reached for a full-fat cheese when meltability was crucial. Hard cheeses like
Parmesan and Asiago added big flavor with few calories and were a winning choice for many recipes. Fresh
Cheeses, such as feta, goat, and queso fresco are a healthy way to add big flavor and texture to casseroles and
A number of other dishes.
Mind the Sodium
We know that many people need to watch their salt intake, so we used a minimum of salt in our
Recipes and left the seasoning in the end up to you. But the real culprits in terms of sodium are ingredients like
Commercial broths (read our guide on broths), canned tomatoes, and canned beans, all of which often have
Fairly high levels of sodium per cup. For recipes such as these components, if the sodium level per serving
Was above 600 mg, we have provided the sodium level if you select low-sodium or no-salt-added
alternatives. Of course you can also choose not to add the salt define in the recipes if you want to reduce
The sodium further.
To fulfill our goal of developing healthy recipes with a slow cooker, we needed to find ways of building taste
Without adding extra fat while at the same time packing more hearty vegetables and grains into our recipes. Here's what
we learned.
Choose the Right Cut and Trim Carefully
Once trimmed, cuts such as chuck roast, eye-round roast, and blade steaks are great choices when you are trying to
Eat healthy, especially in recipes with a high proportion of vegetables to meat.
Used boneless, skinless breasts, bone-in breasts, and meaty chicken thighs; be sure to remove the skin from
Bone-in breasts and thighs, which will drastically reduce calories and fat. Pork loin and pork tenderloins are
When recipes are thinner, building a flavorful base is key. Browning aromatics, vegetables, and meat generates a
Flavorful fond in the bottom of the pan which, when deglazed with wine or broth, provides the foundation for a rich
sauce. And browning some roasts like pork loin or eye-round roast adds additional flavor and attractive colour. The
Additional 10 minutes or so it takes to do so can make all of the difference in many recipes, such as Pork Loin
with Warm Spiced Chickpea Salad.
Heavy, clad construction performs best, and you want to look for a 12-inch skillet (the best all-around dimensions)
With a comfy, ovensafe handle.
We found a teaspoon or two of canola oil was all that was necessary to correctly sauté aromatics,
To add richness to a dish at the end of cooking, we often turned into extra-virgin olive oil (see our taste test
Results)--drizzling a bit over a completed grain, vegetable, or pasta dish made a major impact without tipping the
scales. In Terms of butter, there are times when there is no substitute for its nutty richness; occasionally adding just a
Little can lead to a creamy and satisfying dish.
Use the Microwave
When There's No need to get out a skillet, we used the microwave to soften aromatics and vegetables and
bloom spices. This helped us use a minimum of fat because we found that, in general, we had to add only a
Teaspoon of vegetable oil; stirring the mixture partway though cooking assured that everything softened
properly. The microwave also came in handy when it was necessary to steam vegetables before adding them to
The finished dish; when making simple glazes or sauces; and for heating up last-minute additions to a recipe
(such as coconut milk, for example).
There's absolutely no opportunity for flavorful browning or caramelizing. We found many ways to add flavor: Pungent
Spice rubs add taste and attractive color; sauces made by reducing flavorful cooking liquids add richness
Without much fat; glazes made with fruit preserves and other ingredients coat meat amazingly well; lively
Vinaigrettes, relishes, and chutneys can be made while the food cooks and make all the difference in the
Finished dish without adding much in the way of fat or calories.
Certain ingredients need only a brief stint in the slow cooker to heat through and meld into the dish. Delicate
vegetables and other ingredients, such as rice noodles, frozen peas, baby spinach, escarole, and corn, turned
Mushy or lackluster when cooked for hours in the slow cooker, so we stirred them in at the end, letting them
Heat briefly until perfectly cooked.
Canned beans, could cook alongside proteins or cook quickly in the cooking liquid left behind (that was
Accurate with couscous). In some instances vegetables needed to be wrapped in a foil package to stay tender, while in
Others, they cooked in a flavorful broth along with the fish or meat, soaking up large flavor on the way.
We wanted a recipe for fish tacos that provided the same great flavor that we can prepare in our slow cooker.
When made in the toaster because they cook more gently
These and similar recipes for fish, we created a simple and flavorful poaching liquid with wine and aromatics,
Elevating the fish on pieces of citrus. As the slow cooker heated up, the liquid steamed the fish perfectly. For
Some recipes, you can take things a step further by placing a sheet of parchment paper over the vegetables to
Trap the steam and cook them perfectly.
Gives Recipes a Fresh Finish
You can earn easy-to-make sauces and toppings using healthy and nutritious ingredients. For some recipes,
Like Turkish-Style Eggplant Casserole, the difference between a merely good recipe and a great one is the
Finishing touch, in the kind of a healthful but lively sauce or topping that takes just minutes to whip together; for
Both these recipes we created a lively topping with Greek yogurt, fresh herbs, and other seasonings.
Use Cheese Wisely
Some low-fat cheeses turn grainy from the moist warmth of the slow cooker, especially when used as a topping--
Which is why we occasionally reached for a full-fat cheese when meltability was crucial. Hard cheeses like
Parmesan and Asiago added big flavor with few calories and were a winning choice for many recipes. Fresh
Cheeses, such as feta, goat, and queso fresco are a healthy way to add big flavor and texture to casseroles and
A number of other dishes.
Mind the Sodium
We know that many people need to watch their salt intake, so we used a minimum of salt in our
Recipes and left the seasoning in the end up to you. But the real culprits in terms of sodium are ingredients like
Commercial broths (read our guide on broths), canned tomatoes, and canned beans, all of which often have
Fairly high levels of sodium per cup. For recipes such as these components, if the sodium level per serving
Was above 600 mg, we have provided the sodium level if you select low-sodium or no-salt-added
alternatives. Of course you can also choose not to add the salt define in the recipes if you want to reduce
The sodium further.
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