Can you use a smaller pot inside a large slow cooker?

Question

We bought a massive slow cooker for dealing with the turkey carcass, but can I use it for a small meal by putting a smaller casserole dish inside the the big one?

Answer 1

I *think* it would work, but would just take a longer time perhaps for the heat to reach the food since the exterior of the inside pot wouldn't actually be touching the outer pot (except on the bottom side)... there would be no direct "conduction" of heat, only the heat generated by the air outside the pot.
Hmmm, never thought of this, but might be possible to surround your inner (food-filled) pot with (already warm-hot) water that came 1/2 or 2/3 the way up the inside of the larger pot, then see if that would work for better conduction.

You'd still probably need to check the temp of the innermost part of the food at intervals to see how it does compared to regular cooking in there.

You might also want to ask this question in a group that deals with slow-cookers (like for example
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/slowcooker),
or perhaps call the technical dept of a slower-cooker manufacturer to ask (though they may not be able to answer honestly if they thought there could be any possibility you could do it wrong, etc., and sue them).

Another possibility is to fill up a lot of that unneeded space in your larger crockpot with various other things.
You could of course add potatoes or something similar (to eat later maybe). But to avoid any other flavorings at all, you could also add things like wads of aluminum foil, pieces of ceramic plates, etc., or Pyrex, etc.... most should easily withstand the baking temp inside a crockpot.


Diane B.

Answer 2

I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe try to put the smaller pot in the oven instead

Answer 3

If it isn't made for it, don't do it, you don't want to burn the house down.