Don't Be Fooled, Crockpots And Slow Cookers Are Basically The Same Thing

If you haven't tossed a meal into a slow cooker and left it for hours, then you have not experienced one of the easiest cooking methods on the market. Slow cookers, sometimes interchangeably called Crockpots, essentially cook food at a low, slow temperature. This means it takes hours for a dish to come together, but that's actually a good thing; you can leave the appliance on all day, do whatever you need to do (work, errands, etc.), then return home to a perfectly cooked meal.

Whether you're referring to it as a Crockpot or a slow cooker, there is no real difference between the two. The former is noticeably capitalized, but that's because it is actually a trademarked term, whereas as slow cooker is the more generic term for the appliance. Still, both operate using the same "set it and forget" cooking method that we know and love.

Think of a Crockpot as a Band-Aid. We call adhesive bandages Band-Aids because Band-Aid is the most popular brand that sells these bandages, despite that, this isn't their true name. A slow cooker is the name of the appliance, while Crockpot is the brand that makes the appliance. All Crockpots are slow cookers, but not all slow cookers are Crockpots — just like how all Band-Aids are adhesive bandages, but not vice versa.

Crockpots and slow cookers utilize the same method for heating and cooking food. Typically, a slow cooker has two heat settings: low and high. The low temperature setting is somewhere around 170 degrees, though this can vary depending on the brand. On high, slow cookers prepare food at about 280 degrees, which allows the food to cook quicker. The low setting might take six to eight hours, while the high setting takes about four hours, depending on what you're cooking. Slow cookers and Crockpots cook the food by not only heating it but also creating steam, which acts as an additional heat source and helps to kill any bacteria.

While Crockpots are convenient, they do operate differently than a traditional oven or microwave, so there are some food safety rules to consider. In order to create steam, which plays an important role in safe cooking practices, make sure to add some liquid to the slow cooker. There should be enough liquid to adequately cover whatever you're cooking.

When using a slow cooker or Crockpot, make sure to never cook food from frozen. Since the food cooks at such a low temperature, the frozen food won't heat up fast enough to keep it out of the danger zone (between 40 and 140 degrees). This leads to a greater risk of food poisoning.

Finally, don't remove the lid when using the slow cooker. Since the internal space is small, exposing it to room temperature causes it to drop 10-15 degrees each time the lid is opened. This not only adds cook time but also could keep the food in the danger zone, depending on what point in the cooking process the lid is lifted.