Secrets to Cooking Vegetables in a Crockpot

You can really bring out the flavor in vegetables by adding them to slow cooker recipes. Vegetables help to pad out stews and soups and the come out juicy, succulent and with a very rich taste. Onions are added to many different slow cooking recipes, as are shallots and leeks.

Garlic is often paired with onions. Slow cooking might increase the taste of spicy ingredients like curry paste and chilies but it decreases the potency of onions and garlic, so you might need to add more if you are going to be slow cooking something for more than three hours.

Crockpot

Root vegetables are nice with pot roasts, stews and soups. They take a long time to cook because of their density, so slow cooker recipes will normally tell you to add the chopped root vegetables first and layer any meat or fish on top. Chop them into very small pieces for a shorter cooking time.

Other Tasty Vegetables for Slow Cooker Recipes

Cauliflower and broccoli are good in a slow cooker, as are mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms and field mushrooms are strong, portobello and chestnut mushrooms are mid-range in flavor, and button mushrooms are mild. Portobello mushrooms can be used as a meat substitute if you are cooking for vegetarians. The amount of liquid in mushrooms infuses your dish with juiciness and gives it a dark color.

Squash and pumpkins will stay firm in a crockpot and they do not need you to add a lot of liquid, like some other ingredients in slow cooker recipes would. Squash and pumpkins produce moisture when you heat them, like mushrooms do, which makes them good for crock pot cooking.

Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

You can use many forms of tomatoes for your crock pot recipes, including tomato sauce, whole tomatoes, canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Bell peppers are frequently used in such recipes but green bell peppers can become bitter if you cook them for too long, so add them towards the end of the cooking time, along with any leafy vegetables like cabbage or spinach.

Canned and frozen vegetables are often partially cooked already so they will not need much time in the crock pot. Drain as much liquid from canned vegetables as you can before adding them and rinse off any excess preservatives or salt. Thaw frozen vegetables, at least partially, before adding them to your slow cooker recipes.

If you are new to making slow cooker recipes it is best to follow any recipes you choose carefully, to ensure you prepare the ingredients correctly and add them to the crockpot in the right order. You can add extra spices if you like a fiery flavor or experiment with herbs and seasonings. You will find that most vegetables do really well in the crockpot, as long as you add the ones that do not require much cooking time near the end of cooking.

Secrets to Cooking Vegetables in a Crockpot

You can cook vegetables in a crockpot with your meat, poultry or fish, or by themselves to make tasty vegetarian slow cooker recipes. If you are looking for crockpot meal inspiration, what about making a healthy, tasty dish with some seasonal vegetables?

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