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Slow cookers are the perfect Winter appliance, and the best slow cooker in Australia will make you deliciously hearty meals time after time.
The concept is simple: Cook your meat and vegetables at a lower temperature for an extended period of time, allowing it to break down and absorb the other flavours in the pot.
Because it cooks meals for hours - between four and eight hours depending on your settings and ingredients - slow cookers are perfect for busy workers looking to come home to a tasty home-cooked meal.
The best slow cookers let you easily get everything prepped and started in the morning before work, and by the time you get home it will be ready to eat.
It's worth noting that if you're looking to cook lots of rice, you're going to be better served by a dedicated rice cooker, which cook at a higher temperature then keep your rice warm until it's ready to eat.
These are the best slow cookers in Australia right now:
Sunbeam SecretChef HP5520 slow cooker
The heating element for the SecretChef HP5520 slow cooker wraps completely around the crock inside, ensuring that everything is heated evenly.
It also prevents food from sticking to the bottom of the dish.
It features 5.5-litres of cooking space, which is perfect for the whole family. The pan and lid are both dishwasher safe, too, so clean up is a breeze.
Breville The Smart Temp slow cooker
This 6-litre slow cooker is the most recommended by leading Australian review sites, and it's easy to see why.
A sensor automatically controls the cooker's temperature to ensure that it doesn't get too hurt and burn your food.
Three heat settings (low, medium and high) give you a deeper level of control over your cooking, while a timer lets you cook your meal as the recipe recommends.
Once cooked, the Smart Temp will keep your food warm until you're ready to eat.
Russell Hobbs 7L Cooker
With a single control dial on the front, this slow cooker from Russell Hobbs is simplicity itself to use.
The large 7L ceramic bowl and tempered glass lid are dishwasher safe, while the only controls you need to worry about are setting the slow cooker to low, high or warm settings.
The lid also features a handy lid holder, so you can hang it off the cooker while you stir your food, preventing a big mess through your kitchen.
How we chose the best slow cookers in Australia
Review sites - including this one - are subjective by nature. Everybody has a different opinion of what is best.
To determine this list, we followed the same journey most consumers would follow: we went to Google.
We searched for "Best slow cooker Australia" and identified 8 of the top results. It's important to note that Google results can change often. We listed out all of the slow cookers recommended on each site, tidying up any slight differences in spelling for consistency.
We calculated the frequency in which each product was mentioned across those eight guides. The more frequently a product is mentioned, the more agreement there is between experts reviewing these products that it is, indeed one of the best products available.
We set a minimum of four mentions across all eight guides to be eligible for inclusion here.
Before we created this page we took some time to remove products that are either unavailable, or difficult to find in Australia.
We also leveraged our own experience with products to ensure that we wouldn't be recommending any product that doesn't deliver.
How to choose the best slow cooker in Australia
Finding time to cook a nice, healthy meal when you work long hours can be hard. A slow cooker lets you put dinner on in the morning, slowly cooking it through the day so that it's ready to go when you are in the evening.
Whether you decide to buy one of the slow cookers listed above or something completely different, the things to look for when choosing the best slow cooker are the same.
Capacity
The biggest decision you need to make when buying a slow cooker is what size you need.
Largely, that depends on how many people you typically cook for. If you're cooking for two people, then anything around the four litre mark will be fine.
If you need to cook for a family, or an even larger group, then look at models with five litres at least.
Searing
Slow cookers are great at breaking down cheaper cuts of meat, but to get the best flavour from your recipes you'll want to brown the meat first, creating a caramelised flavour that enhances your meal.
Look for models that let you do this in the pan itself, or by removing the inner pot and placing it on the stove.
This makes it easier to clean up as you'll use fewer pans, as well as ensuring that all your food never leaves the one pan you cook in.
Ease of cleaning
Slow cookers are pretty simple appliances, and as such are fairly easy to pull apart and clean. Keep an eye out for dishwasher safe parts, and make sure you can fit the main pot into the sink to wash up.
Simple controls
At a minimum, look for a slow cooker that offers a low and a high temperature setting. It's worth noting that even a high setting isn't as high as appliances like air fryers or even rice cookers, but will typically cook a meal in about four hours opposed to eight hours.
Some models also offer an Auto mode, which will cook on high to bring the food up to cooking temperature, then drop to low for the remaining time.
Timer function
Having a timer function isn't a necessity when buying a slow cooker, but it can help ensure you don't overcook your meal.
Price
A cheap slow cooker can cost just $20, and it will do a pretty good job if you let it.
More expensive models will set you back a few hundred dollars, and typically offer larger capacities and electronic controls.
One type isn't necessarily better than the other, though. Just make sure you choose a model within your budget that cooks enough food for your household, and you'll never look back.
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