Slow Cooker Dinner Dump Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the point of a dump dinner? ›

If you're unfamiliar with dump dinners, it's about time to change that. They're as simple to make as they sound: You just dump a handful of ingredients into a vessel and let it cook, mostly unattended, with a bare minimum of effort.

For many dishes, particularly soups and stews, you really can just throw all the ingredients in.

Simply throw everything you need for your recipe into the appliance, turn on the heat, and wait. A few hours later, you'll find a fully-cooked dinner waiting for you.

When it comes to the relationship between eating and obesity, there appears to be a conventional wisdom that to keep fit and avoid obesity, one needs to"eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper," an advice attributed to Adele Davis, a once popular yet controversial American nutritionist.

If you're unfamiliar, dump dinners are exactly what they sound like: Dump all of the ingredients into a casserole dish, slow cooker, sheet pan or pot, and dinner is just about done.

The difference between "High" and "Low" on slow cookers seems to differ with every brand and model. One thing that is consistent, though, is that food takes seven to eight hours to reach a simmer point (around 210°) on low; versus three to four hours on high.

Can you put meat straight into a slow cooker? Meat can be added directly unseared and not browned. However, browning meat and caramelising the beef is a great way to add depth of flavour and improve the visual appearance of the final dish.

You certainly can add raw ground beef to the crockpot. As a matter of fact, many (if not most) slow-cooker chili recipes ask for the meat to be added raw.

Yes, you most certainly can cook raw meat in the slow cooker! You put it in “cold”, with whatever liquid your recipe calls for, turn it on either “low” or “high” depending on your recipe (I usually start it on “high” for a couple hours, then turn it to “low”), and in 6–7–8 hours, it's now COOKED meat!

Not enough liquid: Slow cookers rely on moist heat to soften food. If you don't have enough liquid in the pot, the carrots won't cook evenly and may stay tough. Aim for at least a cup or two of liquid, enough to reach about a third of the way up on the ingredients.

What is best cooked in slow cooker? ›

The heat bounces off from the lid and allows your food to cook faster. Also, you will not lose any of the steam that usually evaporates.

It can help with cooking

This far side of your slow cooker apparently is prone to be hotter than the other side, and the foil helps keep the temperature even throughout. Wiggly Wisdom points out that the side benefit of using foil is the easy clean-up we all long for.

Meat that is over-cooked, even if it's submerged in liquid, will eventually dry-out, and get tough, and different cuts of meat cook differently. There are a few reasons for that. Not having enough liquid in the pot can do it. A poor cut of meat can result in toughness as well.

Alternate drop menus include two dishes served alternatively around the table. Guests don't actually order their choice of dish, but the idea is that they are free to swap with their neighbour if they wish.

Once everyone is seated at the table, they should stay there for as long as possible. It is bad manners to leave the table unless absolutely necessary. If you do need to get down, do so quietly and discreetly. Wait until the course it is cleared; never get down mid-dish.