Good Food: Slow cooker favourites

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Simple, manual slow cookers are great for the job at hand, but often the only thing missing to elevate them (without overcomplicating things) is a timer. Every recipe in the book uses one of three pans: slow cooker, a sauté pan/casserole dish or a baking tray – so you don’t need tons of equipment.

Slow cookers tend to leach meat of its colour, so it’s important for appearance and flavour that they are well browned to start with. The prunes in the marinade give a lovely rich sweetness that goes hand-in-hand with the roasted garlic and slight tang from the pomegranate molasses. Marking their first foray into the world of appliances, this slow cooker from GreenPan impressed us with its wealth of settings and brilliant cooking results. Cooking for six to seven hours on low allows the meat to reach a point of being fall-apart, making for a satisfying family stew.If you want to find the best slow cooker for your family, as well as clever tips for getting the most out of your new gadget, check out our review of the best slow cookers plus 10 top tips for using a slow cooker. Use just a few ingredients to create this no-fuss slow-cooker chicken dish with a creamy honey and mustard sauce. For a lighter option, make this nutritious slow cooker chicken curry using budget-friendly chicken legs, or turn up the heat with an injection of madras curry paste in our slow cooker lamb curry. As well as 80 recipes, there's a useful general guide on how to approach slow cooking different ingredients such as jacket potatoes, a whole chicken or lamb chops.

If you've kept a slow cooker dish in the fridge, you must wait for it to warm up before turning it on. Or, keep it meat-free with this hearty veg-packed pasta e faglioli, velvety pumpkin soup or comforting Danish-style yellow split pea soup.

It has a modern-feel with intuitive controls and an outer casing that only gets warm to the touch, rather than excessively hot. If you've just bought a slow cooker and aren't sure where to start, this slow cooker bible is a good place to start. We've also got plenty of slow cooker recipes on BBC Good Food – from slow cooker chicken recipes to healthy slow cooker recipes. For something a bit lighter, our slow cooker spiced apples with barley is full of warming spices, yet low in calories and fat. Ideal for families with young children, this slow cooker chilli is quick and hassle-free and can be batch-cooked, allowing leftovers to be frozen for when you’re short on time.