I especially love the lid clips for easy transport as well as the thermometer probe. It also retained heat the best and comes with a serving spoon — giving it an slight hamilton beach slow cooker edge in features over the probe-less Crock-Pot model we tested. And it retains all of those desirable classic settings, too, such as Low, High, Warm, and Timer.
That, combined with its practical features and $59 price tag make this a highly recommendable slow cooker. This and the Crock-Pot cooker are both perfect options for when you want to sit back and let your slow cooker handle dinner. Several 7 & 8 Quart Slow Cookers are also designed for spill-resistant travel, thanks to a clip-down lid or Lid Latch™ strap. Taking them along is easy and cleanup is always trouble-free. That’s because every 7 & 8 Quart Slow Cooker by Hamilton Beach® features a dishwasher safe stoneware insert and glass lid for fast, easy cleanup.
One feature common to both the Hamilton Beach and Crock-Pot units is that they come with clips that you can use to secure the lid for safe transport. That means that you can stick this slow cooker in your car and take it to a get-together without worrying about chili spilling all over your seats. But Hamilton Beach also added a thermometer probe to its list of features. hamilton beach toaster Select probe mode, plug the probe into the provided jack and stick it through the lid vent, and the unit will automatically switch to warm mode when your food reaches the desired temperature. Host the best event ever by letting a roaster, slow cooker or crock pot do the heavy lifting. Toss in your ingredients & spend the next few hours enjoying your guests.
And in Probe mode, you need to select the heat setting and desired temperature to get started. While it’s cooking, the slow cooker display will switch between the desired and the actual temperature. When the probe reaches the right temperature, it will beep and automatically switch to Warm mode.
There’s a power button on the left side of the screen and arrows on the right side, mode options below, and an Enter button below the mode options. In some cases, you will have to make at least six different button selections just to start the cooking process. After six hours on Low, the Breville beans were pretty mushy, again followed closely by the Ninja’s beans.
If you pick program, you will need to use the up and down arrows to select a desired cooking time. Next, it will ask you to select a heat setting — either High or Low — then press enter, at which point it will start cooking. The display will alternate between the remaining cooking time and the heat setting, and it will automatically switch to Warm mode when the timer finishes counting down. Conclusion I really like this Hamilton Beach slow cooker. It offers all of the features I want from a slow cooker and none that I don’t.
If not manually turned off, the slow cooker will power down after 14 hours. Prepare a delicious, hot meal at home no matter how busy you are with help from Blain’s Farm and Fleet. Shop online or in-store for Hamilton Beach, Presto, Nesco, and Midea brand programmable slow cookers. Buy one or more of the best Crock Pot sizes to fit big dinner plans, portable potluck side dishes, and game day snacks or dips. Choose from a variety of in stock sizes from 3 quarts to 10 quarts. Simply add your ingredients, set the temperature, and you’re free to do other tasks.
Also, the removable stoneware is dishwasher safe for easy cleanup. Macaroni and cheese We also tested how well the slow cookers would handle more delicate ingredients, so we found a slow-cooker macaroni and cheese recipe and set it on Low for six hours. Now, macaroni and cheese is delicious and not particularly hard to make, but this recipe did not turn out well with any of the five slow cookers. In all fairness, that was the fault of the recipe rather than the slow cookers in this case. The recipe required eggs and it really turned out more like an eggy noodle casserole than it did melty macaroni and cheese.
On High, every model except the Frigidaire reached boiling, with the Ninja in the lead. The Frigidaire slow cooker never exceeded 191 degrees. This is where we began to notice a pattern that would remain consistent throughout testing.
If you can get past its awkward display panel layout, I think you’ll appreciate the value, performance, and transportability of this $59.99 . The Crock-Pot has a lower profile design, so if maintaining counter or cabinet tidiness is a big priority, you might have a look at that one instead. And if you want something a bit more fancy, the $199.80 Ninja is a decent, if less portable choice for its oven mode and other advanced cooking features. All of that is a bit more involved than the simpler, set-and-forget Crock-Pot. It’s certainly not overly complex, but you might need to read through the manual once or twice to get it all down. I do wish the display was a bit more thoughtfully designed — it borders on clumsy.