Using roaster oven as slow cooker?

Has anyone used a roaster oven as a slow cooker?  

Roaster Oven



Slow Cooker



It's that time of year again.  We dusted off the crock pot yesterday to cook dinner. As always, my wife wishes it was bigger.  I got to wondering if a roaster oven could be used as a slow cooker.  

The crock pot has high and low temperature settings, while the roaster has a temp dial.  This morning, I set up our roaster oven and crock pot to measure temperatures, to get an idea of what to set the roaster temp dial to.

Anyone have any suggestions before I start experimenting with food?

Do you have a favorite memory associated with roaster ovens?  I remember my grandma always had hers full to the top with wonderful homemade baked beans for extended family gatherings.

Boffer - YES!!!  You can use the roaster as a slow cooker!  I love mine and use it for slow cooking alll the time. It's bigger and with the temp control, you can set it for the lower temp that you need.

Suggestion would be to go on-line and check what temps YOUR brand of slow cooker is set for - that might be quicker than using the actual machine.  Or:

Assume that you would be using water to find the temps on your cooker????

BTW:Roasters are still being sold.

Oh, Boffer! What have you started? Nice of you to post photos of a roaster and a crock pot for those who are too young to know what a roaster is.

Memory lane of Thanksgiving turkey at my cousin's home 4 1/2 hours away in Long Beach. Her mother, my Aunt, and our Grandma (who lived with them), cooking that stuffed turkey with the extra dressing set around the turkey, soaking up turkey fat and butter basting! The tender, juicy turkey meat just fell off the bones, no worry about undercooked joints. Grandma eating the Pope's nose.

At home, slow, low temp (225 -275*F, can't remember) cooked 7-bone or chuck roast (like 2-3" thick) with a can of Campbell's mushroom soup and a packet of Lipton's onion soup mix on top. We would go snow skiing all day and come home to the tender meat. Little roast beef sandwiches (sliders?) of soft dinner bread rolls with mayo, mustard and little bowls of fatty juice for dipping. Mother would take ice cubes to skim off some of the fat. Side salad of iceberg lettuce and mayo. Real healthy dinner!

Instead of one crock-pot roasted chicken, you can have 2 or 3! And plenty of room for the veggies and/or dumplings (Bisquick drop-biscuits.

Brown the butt or rounder roasts or pork tenderloins, the onions and garlic before putting in in the roaster. Floured and browned stew meat. Oh, gosh! The possibilities are endless. You can fit a whole quartered cabbage or two, lots of potatoes, etc.

When it's my turn to cook in the winter, I like to make enough for 2 or 3 nights. Sometimes the flavors are better the next day.

Enough of me, me, me. Let's see what other memories are out there.

Love slow cookers. It's great to wake up in the morning or come back from work and find hot food waiting for you. I really like making lentil soup and beef stew in them.

Howdy Folks.  I always get a rave of praise with this one.


3 pounds pinto beans
1/2 pound Navy beans
1/2 pound great northern beans
1/2 pound small red beans

2 gallons water
6 (32 oz.) cartons chicken broth
4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
4 oz Bragg's Liquid Aminos.
2 large cans diced tomatoes
3 Celery stalks (chopped)
4 large onions (peeled, chopped)
4 fresh garlic cloves (peeled, chopped)
2 C. frozen whole kernel corn
2 tsp Liquid Smoke
2 bell peppers (chopped)
6 sweet banana peppers (chopped)
1/4 cup dry parsley flakes

Use a 17 quart or larger turkey roaster

Wash the beans and soak in water for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.  Drain and rinse.  To the beans add chicken broth, coarse ground black pepper and salt.  Bring the beans to a hard boil and then lower the temperature and simmer until the beans are about three-quarters done.  Add the following:  Bragg's Liquid Aminos, diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, corn, Liquid Smoke, bell peppers, sweet banana peppers and parsley.  Continue cooking until beans are cooked all the way through, being careful no to overcook.

For a spicy flavor, add cayenne pepper, and or Habanera pepper sauce.  Caution - a little Habanera pepper sauce goes a long way.  When you cooking for a large group of people their tolerance for spicy foods vary, so cook accordingly.

If the soup is thicker than desired, add additional chicken broth.  Water added at the end of the cooking process will dilute flavor.  Adding chicken broth at the end is better.  If the soup is thinner than desired, follow the instructions below.

Into 3 cups of cold water, gradually stir in 2 cups of flour until smooth.  Add slowly to the soup while you continue to cook until the  is the consistency that you like.

Some turkey roasters heat from the sides only and do not have bottom heat.  If yours is the same, you may get boiling around the sides of the roaster, but, not in the center.  Frequent stirring is required for even cooking.  Experiment with the recipe and have fun.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

My M-I-L would always cook her Thanksgiving turkey in the Westinghouse roaster, (from the early 40's). When I inherited her's I continued the tradition of "doing the bird in the roaster - it cooked perfectly and ALWAYS was tender. I believe she either bought it on time or with coupons.

Continued to use that one to make large amounts of veggies for church dinners, and even used it for heating rolls.

Around the mid '90s, I became concerned about the roaster's electrical circuit and looked around for a replacement.  Discovered that Nesco made one with everything from buffet trays to stainless steel coverings  (http://www.nesco.com/products/Roaster-Ovens/

With the cookbook that came with the new one - I discovered that one could bake cakes (and other things) as well  and even condense tomato juices when ready to can. This is literally a moveable oven.

Ward, Is this feed-a-crowd recipe also posted in the Recipe area?

Judy, Thank you for pointing out that Nesco still makes them. Which insert type do you have?

Mine came with the porcelain insert and I later added the non-stick insert and the buffet unit.

Now I see you can order the roaster in colors and different inserts.

Non-stick insert! They were thinking of me! Sort of kidding, because you shouldn't make gravy in Teflon.

sanderson wrote:Ward,  Is this feed-a-crowd recipe also posted in the Recipe area?

Judy,  Thank you for pointing out that Nesco still makes them.  Which insert type do you have?

Sanderson:

I don't recall posting the feed-a-crowd recipe on the forum before.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Ward, Can you copy and paste your post until Recipes - main dishes, or should it be soups? I love the name of it!

sanderson wrote:Ward,  Can you copy and paste your post until Recipes - main dishes, or should it be soups?  I love the name of it!

Sanderson:  I could not figure out if it should be a main dish or soup so I posted it to both!

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Thank you Both works for me.