If You Don't Slow Cooker Now, You'll Hate Yourself Later

11 Tips for Making Healthy Food in a Slow Cooker


To meet our goal of developing healthy recipes with a slow cooker, we needed to find ways of building flavor
Without adding extra fat while also packing more hearty vegetables and grains into our recipes. Here's what
we learned.
Choose the Right Cut and Trim Carefully
Once trimmed, cuts like chuck roast, eye-round roast, and blade steaks are good choices when you are trying to
Eat healthy, particularly in recipes with a high proportion of vegetables to meat.
Used boneless, skinless breasts, bone-in breasts, and meaty chicken thighs; make sure to remove the skin from
Bone-in breasts and thighs, which will drastically reduce fat and calories. Pork loin and pork tenderloins are

Get Out Your Skillet
When recipes are leaner, building a flavorful b

ase is key. Browning aromatics, vegetables, and meat generates a
Flavorful fond at the bottom of the pan which, when deglazed with wine or broth, provides the basis for a rich
sauce. And browning some roasts like pork loin or eye-round roast adds additional flavor and attractive color. The
Additional 10 minutes or so it takes to do so will make all the difference in many recipes, such as Pork Loin

Heavy, clad construction performs best, and you want to Search for a 12-inch skillet (the best all-around dimensions)
With a comfy, ovensafe handle.
Be Smart About Oil and Butter
We discovered that a teaspoon or 2 of canola oil was all that was necessary to correctly sauté aromatics,
vegetables, or meat in a skillet.
To add richness to a dish at the end of cooking, we frequently turned to extra-virgin olive oil (see our preference test
Results)--drizzling a bit over a finished grain, vegetable, or pasta dish made a big impact without tipping the
scales. As for butter, there are times when there is no substitute for its nutty richness; occasionally adding just a
Little can result in a creamy and satisfying dish.
Use the Microwave
When there is 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 since we found that, in general, we needed 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 final dish; when making easy glazes or sauces; and for heating up last-minute developments to a recipe
(like coconut milk, for instance).
Build Layers of Flavor
Lean meats and fish need a flavor boost, especially when they are cooked in a moist heat environment where
There is not any chance for flavorful browning or caramelizing. We discovered many ways to add flavor: Pungent
Spice rubs add flavor and appealing color; sauces made by reducing yummy cooking liquids add richness
Without much fat; glazes made with fruit preserves and other ingredients coat meat surprisingly 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 just a short stint in the slow cooker to warm through and meld into the dish. Delicate

Mushy or lackluster when cooked for hours in the slow cooker, so we stirred them at the end, letting them
Heat temporarily until perfectly cooked.
Make It a Healthy Meal

Canned beans, could cook alongside proteins or could cook quickly in the cooking liquid left behind (this was
Accurate with couscous). In some instances vegetables had to be wrapped in a foil packet to stay tender, while in
Others, they cooked in a flavorful broth along with the meat or fish, soaking up large flavor along the way.
We wanted a recipe for fish tacos that offered the same great flavor that we can prepare in our slow cooker.


When made in the toaster because they cook more softly. To exploit the power of the toaster for
These and similar recipes for fish, we created an easy and flavorful poaching liquid with wine and aromatics,
Elevating the fish on slices 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 veggies to
Trap the steam and cook them through perfectly.
Gives Recipes a Fresh Finish
You can make easy-to-make sauces and toppings using healthy and nutritious ingredients.
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 healthy but lively sauce or topping that takes just minutes to whip together; for
Both these recipes we made a lively topping with Greek yogurt, fresh herbs, and other seasonings.
Use Cheese Wisely
Some low-fat cheeses turn grainy from the moist heat of the slow cooker, especially when used as a topping--
That 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 feel to casseroles and
Many other dishes.
Mind the Sodium
We know that many people need to watch their sodium intake, so we used a minimum of salt in our
Recipes and abandon the seasoning in the end up to you. But the real culprits in terms of sodium are ingredients like
Commercial broths (see 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 ingredients, if the sodium level per serving
Was above 600 mg, we have provided the sodium level if you choose low-sodium or no-salt-added
alternatives. Of course you can also choose not to add the salt specify in the recipes if you want to lower
The sodium even further.