Here Are the Best Slow Cookers for Set-It-And-Forget-It Soups and Stews

Best Overall

Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Slow Cooker

$90 at Amazon View on Walmart $94 at Wayfair

When Hamilton Beach named this slow cooker the Set & Forget, the brand really meant it. You can stick the included thermometer probe into a piece of meat and program the machine to switch to keep warm mode when it hits the right doneness, or submerge the probe in liquid and let the cooker maintain the exact simmering temperature you want, down to the degree. That lets you do things other models can't, like ferment yogurt or cook sous vide. (But you don't have to use the thermometer; you can also set the temperature to low, medium, or high and use a traditional timer.)

At 6 quarts in capacity, this model is about standard size for a slow cooker, which is to say it can feed a fairly sizable family. We managed to fit a 7-pound piece of pork roast inside, but that's about the maximum. The lid has a gasket around the edge to make a more airtight seal, something that's helpful to prevent too much liquid from evaporating during longer or overnight cooks. Combined with the integrated lid latches, this also makes the machine portable. You can toss it in the trunk or back seat to take it to a potluck or family dinner. We even successfully transported honey-glazed ham to a Friendsgiving with zero spills.

The dense ceramic pot with the Set & Forget holds heat very well, but it's also quite heavy. You can't put it on the stovetop for high-temperature searing like some models' steel or aluminum pots. On the other hand, you can throw it and the lid right in the dishwasher for cleanup. We loved the previous edition of this slow cooker, and the latest update improved one of our only complaints: the controls. There's now a dial instead of up and down buttons to select the temperature, and the LED screen has a backlight.

The Hamilton Beach Set & Forget is priced on the low end of the average for slow cookers, which makes it a fantastic value given all of its abilities and extra features.

Capacity: 6 quarts | Pot Material: ceramic | Empty Weight: 13.1 pounds | Dimensions: 12 x 17 x 11.9 inches | Stovetop-Safe: no | Dishwasher-Safe: yes

Best Budget

GreenLife Cook Duo Slow Cooker

$70 at Amazon View on Walmart $81 at Wayfair

GreenLife's very traditional slow cooker doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it does a good job at slow-cooking, at a very friendly price. The control options are quite minimal, with three temperature settings and a timer controlled by a very basic LCD screen, but everything works as advertised. On low, it took about 6 hours for the beef to shred and fall apart in a pot roast, while a batch of daal on high cooked in just 40 minutes.

Where this machine stands out from others is the unique material of its pot. It's free of PFOA, PFAS, and other chemicals sometimes found in nonstick coatings and holds onto heat like a dense ceramic, but you can also heat it on the stove or in the oven. It's kind of the best of both worlds of ceramic and metal.

We only found a couple of other minor complaints in testing the GreenLife, impressive for such an inexpensive model: It's laid out in a way that takes up a large amount of cabinet or countertop space for an average-capacity slow cooker. Also, the lid can slide around a lot on top of the pot. You'll need to really secure it well if you want to transport the cooker, but more importantly, you'll need to make sure it has a good seal and plenty of liquid before long or overnight cooking sessions. If too much water evaporates, you could wake up to scorched stew.

Capacity: 6 quarts | Pot Material: Ceramic | Empty Weight: 10.2 pounds | Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 10 inches | Stovetop-Safe: Yes | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Best Multifunctional

GreenPan Elite Slow Cooker

$300 $200 at Amazon $250 at Wayfair $250 at Target

Sure, it takes hours at low temperatures to cook a big cut of meat into tender perfection, but a few minutes of smoking-hot searing at the beginning is also important to add depth of caramelized flavor. With some slow cookers, you have to do the browning in an entirely separate pan, while others have a pot that can go on the stove before it goes in the slow-cooker base.

The Greenpan Elite can instead heat up to searing temperatures all by itself. Its brown/sauté mode worked impressively well in testing, adding nice color to meats and veggies before we slow-cooked them into braised beef, baby back ribs, and a pork roast. It also has a steaming mode, with an included metal rack to put food on. The remaining settings on the "eight-in-one" machine are pretty much just different temperatures for slow cooking, ranging from a buffet setting for holding hot food at serving temperature, to the very simple "hi."

This machine's cooking pot is steel, coated with a special ceramic made to conduct heat evenly and keep food from sticking. It is indeed impressively nonstick and easy to clean, but it also can't go on the stove or in the oven. It's a high-performing slow cooker with an appropriately high price. If you'll use the sear mode a lot, it could be worth the extra cost, but if not, there are cheaper machines that do the same job.

Capacity: 6 quarts | Pot Material: Stainless steel | Empty Weight: 13.7 pounds | Dimensions: 19 x 13.4 x 10.9 inches | Stovetop-Safe: No | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Best Compact

Crock-Pot Mini Round Manual Slow Cooker

$15 at Amazon $28 at Wayfair View on Kohls.com

The baby of the Crock-Pot family, the adorable Mini is intended to hold a warm, melty dip at a party, works nicely as a cooking appliance for one, and is much easier to store than larger, bulkier slow cookers. Setup couldn't be simpler, as it doesn't have any options besides on and off. The ceramic inner bowl helps hold onto heat and keep the temperature steady, and it did so beautifully with a batch of spinach dip. For two-and-a-half hours, the dip stayed nice and melty without even a hint of scorching.

We also discovered a fantastic new use for a slow cooker: baked potatoes. Ok, they're technically steamed, but when we cooked both regular and sweet potatoes in the Crock-Pot Mini, they took on a moist, evenly fluffy texture that was a big hit. We also used it to make a buttery sauce for clams, letting everything melt together in the slow cooker while we prepped the rest of the meal.

You can theoretically adapt standard slow-cooker recipes for the Mini by cutting down the amounts, but it's so small that the math can be tough. (The Crock-Pot website doesn't even have recipes small enough!) And the lack of temperature control means the cooking time required will be tough to estimate.

The fact is that the teeny-tiny Mini is unlikely to replace a full-sized slow cooker in a larger household. But it's great for a dorm room or office, or (assuming you secure the lid very well) you can bring it to a potluck.

Capacity: 1.4 quarts | Pot Material: Ceramic | Empty Weight: 4.1 pounds | Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.5 x 7.8 inches | Stovetop-Safe: No | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Best for a Buffet

Elite Gourmet Maxi-Matic Triple Slow Cooker

$76 $68 at Amazon View on Walmart

You can be your own caterer with this simple appliance. It's essentially three small and basic slow cookers stuck together, for the cost of one large and basic slow cooker. Each of the 2.5-quart pots has its own separate controls, which means you can boil, simmer, and keep warm three different dishes all at the same time.

We tested the Elite Gourmet with a series of party favorites—two different cheese dips, mini-sausages, and slow-cooker brownies—and were impressed by the performance of its pots' dense ceramic material. Despite their small sizes, the vessels heat evenly and were able to maintain a consistent temperature without scorching. The nonstick surface also makes them easy to clean up; we didn't need more than a rinse and wipe, although the pots are dishwasher-safe if necessary. Another nice feature is the included lid rest, which gives diners access to the food without needing to find a place for a hot, condensation-dripping lid.

The major downside to the triple-pot design is that each individual vessel is fairly small. You can use this machine to make traditional slow-cooked items like chili or stew, but you'll have to either cut the recipe down or divide it among multiple pots. It's really intended more for serving and entertaining, and it does a stellar job at that.

Capacity: 2.5 quarts per pot; 7.5 quarts total | Pot Material: Ceramic | Empty Weight: 25.2 pounds | Dimensions: 25.6 x 26.5 x 8.8 inches | Stovetop-Safe: No | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Best Large-Capacity

Crock-Pot Programmable Slow Cooker

$119 $80 at Amazon View on Walmart $90 $80 at Wayfair

Crock-Pot is synonymous with slow cookers, and we included eight different models from the venerable brand in this round of tests. Our favorite of the bunch is this extra-large machine, whose 8-quart capacity can hold chili for a dozen, or enough queso or beer cheese dip to satisfy the biggest Super Bowl party on the block.

This model isn't terribly expensive, especially given its increased size, and it held its temperature remarkably steady throughout the cooking process, both for 5-hour pork tinga on high and 9-hour chili on low. There's also a keep-warm mode and an up-to-20-hour timer, but that's all the Crock-Pot offers in terms of settings. Plus, the ceramic pot isn't stovetop-safe, and you'll have to do any searing or sautéing in a separate pan.

The advantage of the huge, heavy ceramic pot is that it holds onto a lot of heat to keep the temperature stable, but the downside is that it's a huge, heavy ceramic pot that can crack if you drop it. It and the lid are dishwasher-safe, but we couldn't actually fit the pot in our dishwasher. We wrangled it into a farmhouse sink for hand-washing, though, and didn't need to do much scrubbing.

Capacity: 8 quarts | Pot Material: Ceramic | Empty Weight: 14.3 pounds | Dimensions: 9.5 x 15.4 x 15.3 inches | Stovetop-Safe: No | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Best for Small Servings

Proctor Silex Dual Slow Cooker

$82 at Amazon

This cooker is the best of both worlds, and the possibilities for dual cooking are endless. We were able to make a normal batch of soup stock using the ceramic pot, and later we were also able to cook two smaller batches of food using the included inserts that nestle perfectly in the cooker.

The inserts are thin, nonstick metal, so they’re easy to clean and they transfer heat well. In order to use the inserts, a few cups of water need to be added to the ceramic pot before they are placed in the cooker. The water helps transfer heat and ensures even cooking. Each insert has a 2-quart capacity, so while they’re not tiny, they are great for smaller batches. They’re perfect for cooking a main dish and side, a pair of side dishes, or even for a pair of dips or sauces that can be kept warm during a party.

Besides using the full-size ceramic pot for making soup stock, we also used it to reduce the stock after we defatted and strained it, with the lid off to allow evaporation. When using both of the smaller pots, one cooked faster, so we were able to carefully remove that pot while continuing to cook the other.

This is a fairly simple cooker, with no automatic features. A knob on the front of the cooker can be set for off, warm, low, or high, and it stays at that setting until you change it. This means you can't cook something and then have it automatically switch to warm, which we miss. Both the ceramic pot and the inserts are dishwasher safe, although it’s best to hand-wash the inserts to preserve the nonstick finish.

Capacity: 6 quarts | Pot Material: Stoneware | Empty Weight: 13 pounds | Dimensions: 8.8 x 13.8 x 13.7 inches | Stovetop-Safe: No | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes