During the colder months, investing in the best slow cooker is a must for busy households. The humble kitchen appliance helps to create warm, hearty meals without the need for spending hours in the kitchen. They’re also great if you’re on a budget, as they work well with cheaper cuts of meat and the longer cooking time results in tender dishes full of flavour.
Whether you’re making stews, curries, casseroles or puddings, slow cookers are a versatile machine that can take the stress out of cooking. When it comes to choosing the perfect one, it’s important to consider size. A 3.5l slow cooker is ideal for couples or small families, while an 8.5l slow cooker is better suited for larger households or batch cooking. Similarly, think about the functions you’ll get the most use out of. Some models also double as multi-cookers that pressure cook, steam and make dishes such as rice and porridge.
Thankfully, I’ve done the hard work for you and found the best slow cookers for every scenario, from a budget-friendly £29 option to the best slow cooker for large households.
The best slow cookers for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Cosori 5l rice cooker: £119.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget option – Cooks Professional 2.5l slow cooker: £28.99 Amazon.co.uk
- Best hob to table slow cooker – Ninja foodi 8-mode 6l possiblecooker rice and slow cooker: £119, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for compact multifunctionality – InstantPot mini: £79.99, Instantpot.co.uk
How I tested
Slow cooking has become one of my favourite ways to whip up dishes in the winter, and, over the years, I’ve used countless slow cookers. I tried a variety of recipes using each one, from chicken curry to vegetarian chilli, to see how well they performed. During testing, I considered ease of use, how intuitive the settings are, the results, and perhaps most importantly, how easy it is to clean. If you’re interested in my full criteria, I’ve detailed it at the end of my review.
Read more: The best air fryers, expertly tested for healthy meals
Cosori 5l rice cooker
Best: Slow cooker overall
Capacity: 5l
Size: 31.2cm x 26.9cm x 23.4cm
Functions: Steam sauté, soup, slow cook, jam/sauce, cake
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: Yes
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Multiple functions
- Compact size
- Easy to use
Take note
- Very short power cable
After countless hours of testing, it’s the Cosori 5l rice cooker that takes the spot as the best slow cooker. Don’t let the fact that this is called a rice cooker fool you. It features a host of other functions, including slow cooking, making it an ideal appliance for streamlining your kitchen set-up. The capacity (5l) is the perfect size for couples or small families, and it’s really compact, meaning it won’t take up too much counter space.
The touchscreen digital display features functions such as steam, soup, jam/sauce, sauté, slow cook, and cake, and it’s easy to use. I loved that I could delay the start time for up to 24 hours, which is great when you want food cooking while you’re out, but don’t want to leave it on the entire time you’re away from home. It also features a warm function that works for up to 24 hours.
I tested a couple of dishes and found the meat, especially a beef dish, was really tender within a couple of hours. Sauces developed depth of flavour, and carrots were cooked perfectly without turning mushy. The rice preset was easy to use and came out perfectly fluffy. I also cooked porridge in the slow cooker, setting it to finish cooking when I got up in the morning, which was a huge time-saver.
It doesn’t just cook well because cleaning it was a breeze. The main bowl is removable and dishwasher-safe, but the non-stick coating means it’s easy to wipe clean. The inner lid at the top of the appliance can be removed to clean or wiped down after cooking, so the machine stays fresh and clean.
Buy now £119.99, Amazon.co.uk
Cooks Professional 2.5l slow cooker
Best: Budget slow cooker
Capacity: 2.5l
Size: 23cm x 26cm x 26cm
Functions: Slow cook
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: No
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Ideal for smaller portions
- Low energy use
- Compact design
Take note
- You have to manually select keep warm
Cooks Professional slow cooker is ideal for making just one or two portions, thanks to its 2.5l capacity. In fact, the machine is compact enough to make it a great choice if you don’t have much space or want to store it in a cupboard when not in use.
It’s a basic machine with three heat settings (warm, low and high) and no fancy features, such as timers or cooking delays. But for the price point, you can’t beat it. It also works really well on both low and high settings. I tested it out with a mince dish on low, and it cooked perfectly within six hours. I also cooked another beef dish on high, and it cooked quickly – the beef was perfectly tender within five hours. The downside is that it doesn’t automatically switch to the keep warm function – if your food is cooking while you’re not at home, it could be simmering away for longer than needed, but it’s not the end of the world.
The dish is ceramic, but it doesn’t feel too heavy (even when full), owing to its size. Although be warned, the handles get very hot, so you will need oven gloves to handle the pot. Food does get stuck to the bottom, but don’t fret, it’s dishwasher-safe.
Buy now £28.99, Amazon.co.uk
Ninja foodi eight mode 6l possiblecooker rice and slow cooker
Best: Programmable slow cooker
Capacity: 6l
Size: 28cm x 42cm x 29cm
Functions: Slow cook, steam, sear/sauté, white rice, brown rice porridge, pasta
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: Yes
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Multiple functions
- Lightweight
- Can keep food warm up to 12 hours
Take note
- Only two temperature options
Ninja foodi’s possiblecooker rice and slow cooker is a great choice if you want to cut down on the number of kitchen appliances you have. Alongside slow cooking, it steams, sears, and cooks rice, porridge and pasta. At 6l, it has a pretty generous pot, which is ideal for making larger portions or even batch cooking for meal prep. And the digital interface is a joy to use, as there aren’t too many buttons, so it’s not overwhelmingly complex.
You can set the timer so that the slow cooker runs for up to 12 hours before it automatically switches to the keep warm setting (this function is also very good). A couple of hours after my food had finished cooking, it was the ideal temperature to eat, and the meat wasn’t dry.
I tested it with chicken thighs, which often need a bit of extra cooking time, and it did incredibly well. I set it on low for six hours in a curry sauce, but I used the sear/sauté function first to brown off the meat, which really helped the chicken maintain its texture and not get too soft. The steamer worked quickly, and it cooked rice perfectly. On top of this, cleaning was easy – the inner pot is removable (and very light), and the non-stick coating wipes clean.
What makes this slow cooker brilliant is the design. The handles are large and don’t get too hot, so you can lift the pot out and carry it to your table to serve.
Buy now £119.00, Amazon.co.uk
Morphy Richards accents sear and stew
Best: For small families
Capacity: 3.5l
Size: 25cm x 33cm x 20cm
Functions: Slow cooker
Keep warm setting: No
Timer: No
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Inner bowl can be used on a hob
- Very light
- Easy to clean
Take note
- The outside gets very hot
With its 3.5l capacity, this Morphy Richards slow cooker is a really good size for a small family. It’s simple to use – no fancy functions, just set it to low, medium or high. While there isn’t a keep-warm function, I found leaving food on the low setting kept it nice and warm until my family and I were ready to eat.
The inner bowl is removable and easy to handle (even when full), and it can be used on a hob (except for an induction hob) to sauté vegetables and sear meat. While I tested a variety of foods in this cooker, one of my favourites was the filling for a cottage pie – the mince fully cooked in two hours on high. I then left it to bubble away on medium for the sauce to develop, then on low until I was ready to add the topping.
The slow cooker is lightweight and easy to move around. It’s dishwasher-safe, and the non-stick coating is easy to clean by hand. One thing to note, especially if there are small children nearby, is that the outside gets very, very hot.
Buy now £34.99, Amazon.co.uk
InstantPot mini
Best: Compact slow cooker
Capacity: 3.8l
Size: 35.1cm x 31.8cm x 25.6cm
Functions: Slow cooker, pressure cooking, sauté, steam, eggs, yogurt
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: Yes
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Small and compact
- Multiple functions
- Timer
Take note
- The lid can sometimes get stuck when removing
InstantPot’s mini slow cooker is the best compact multi-functional slow cooker – at 40 per cent smaller than the original, I was amazed by its size. I’d recommend it for couples or small families as it can cook up to four portions. It’s also ideal for smaller kitchens because it doesn’t take up much space.
Despite being small, it packs in seven functions: pressure cooker, steamer, yoghurt maker, slow cooker, sauté, and even one for eggs (it uses pressurised steam to cook eggs). Crucially, the slow cooker function works brilliantly.
There are three heat settings, and you can set the timer for up to six hours, so whatever you’re cooking can bubble away whilst you get on with your day. The keep warm section comes on automatically once cooking is done, so it’ll stay warm until you’re ready to eat, which is handy if you’re not home when the timer is up.
Of the variety of dishes I made with this cooker, my favourite was meatballs. They were perfectly cooked after four hours on high, and nice and firm after the keep warm function, despite my concerns they’d break down with the longer cooking time. I also tried out some of the other functions, including sauté for onions before adding the meatballs and sauce.
The pressure cooker function cooked potatoes very well, and the way it releases steam is much safer than other pressure cookers I've tested – there’s a small button to pull down so you don’t have to touch the valve.
The only issue I encountered was that the lid gets stuck to the pot when trying to remove it, so water splashes everywhere. That said, the inner bowl is stainless steel, so it’s easy to clean – and it’s dishwasher-safe.
Buy now £79.99, Instantpot.co.uk
Cooks Professional 8l digital slow cooker
Best: Slow cooker for batch cooking
Capacity: 8l
Size: 28cm x 30.5cm x 39.5cm
Functions: Slow cook
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: Yes
Dishwasher safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Large capacity
- Easy to use controls
- Helpful delay cooking function
Take note
- Dish bowl
- Handles aren't heatproof
Cooks Professional 8l digital slow cooker is best large families (or those who enjoy batch cooking). The digital control panel on the front sets the temperature, which is simple and very easy to use. It also has a delay cooking function, which is super handy if you don’t want your slow cooker to run all day long.
The handles on the side of the cooker make moving it around effortless. However, because it has a ceramic bowl, it is quite weighty, especially when it’s full. And there's no heat-proofing on the handles of the dish, so you’ll need to invest in a good pair of oven gloves if you’re planning on carrying it to the kitchen table.
Because it’s so big, this slow cooker is better suited to bulky meals. I used it to cook a curry and a stew, and there was plenty of room for the vegetables and sauce without them overflowing. The high mode worked really well and heated up quickly, but the low didn’t really have a great deal of power to it, so if you’re cooking a tougher cut of meat or root vegetables, I’d recommend high.
There’s no sauté or sear function, so you will need to brown your meat separately, but the keep warm function holds the dishes at a good temperature without drying the food out. The bowl is dishwasher-friendly, which is good news considering it definitely takes a bit more elbow grease to clean than some non-stick coatings I’ve seen, owing to food sticking to the ceramic.
Buy now £59.99, Cooksprofessional.co.uk
Lakeland 6l slow cooker
Best: For large families
Capacity: 6l
Size: 37cm x 28cm x 26cm
Functions: Slow cook
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: No
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Encircling element for even cooking
- Glass lid so you can check the progress of the food
- Good for larger families
Take note
- The ceramic dish is heavy, especially when full
Lakeland’s 6l slow cooker is a reliable, no-frills workhorse that is perfect for feeding a family. The generous capacity makes it great for cooking hearty meals. It’s simple to use, with just three settings: low, high and auto, which can be selected by turning the dial. The auto setting is basically a keep-warm function. There are no advanced features, such as searing, digital timers, or start delay, but for simple, fuss-free cooking, this slow cooker is perfect.
The appliance has an encircling heating element, so food is cooked evenly. I tested it with chicken and found that, after being cooked on low for several hours, it was super juicy and full of flavour, while beef cooked a little quicker.
The inner bowl is ceramic, so it is quite heavy to lift and can get very hot. It’s also not the easiest to clean, and I found that food burnt onto it easily, but it is dishwasher-friendly, so no elbow grease is required.
Buy now £59.99, Amazon.co.uk
Sage the fast slow go
Best: Multi-cooker with slow-cook function
Capacity: 6l
Size: 31.3cm x 34.7cm x 33.3cm
Functions : Soup, stock, meat, stew, steam, sauté, legumes, rice/grains, risotto, yoghurt, reduce, and sous vide
Keep warm setting: Yes
Timer: Yes
Dishwasher-safe: Yes
Why we love it
- Automatic steam release
- Easy-to-use digital display
- Dual sensors for more accurate cooking
Take note
- The lid is a faff to get aligned
There’s very little Sage’s the fast slow go appliance can’t do. It’s a hybrid between a pressure cooker and a slow cooker, and has 14 presets, from soup, sauté, and risotto to yoghurt and sous vide. It’s also great for cooking up big dishes.
Using it isn’t difficult, but it does take some getting used to. The instructions aren’t very in-depth, but the digital display is well labelled and features small icons so you can figure out what you’re doing.
I used this slow cooker to make a few different dishes, the first being a sausage casserole. I used the sauté function to brown off the sausages and fry the onions, then slow-cooked everything on low for six hours, and the results were brilliant. The sausages were perfectly done and not too soft, and the sauce was full of flavour. I also slow-cooked porridge overnight so it was ready for a fuss-free breakfast the next morning, and the oats were well-cooked. The pressure cooking function is outstanding. I cooked a chicken curry in just 40 minutes, and the meat was so tender you’d think that it was slow-cooked – the only difference was that the sauce didn’t quite thicken up in the same way.
The downside is that food got stuck to the stainless steel inner bowl, and it required a bit of elbow grease to get clean, but it is dishwasher-friendly. The other issue I found was that the hinged lid was tricky to open and close, and the chunky handle on top was difficult to manoeuvre, especially when covered in steam. Other than that, though, the Sage the fast slow go is a great all-rounder.
Buy now £169.99, Johnlewis.com
Your questions about slow cookers answered
What is the best slow cooker?
After hours of testing, Cosori’s rice cooker is the best slow cooker. It has a variety of different functions, is easy to use, and cooks food to perfection. While the Ninja possiblecooker was a very close contender, which also earned top marks, in the end, the Cosori took the top spot thanks to its compact design, consistency and straightforward one-touch controls.
Whether you’re on a budget or looking for something a little smaller, the Cooks Professional 2.5l is a great choice. It’s basic, but it does a brilliant job of slow cooking. I also highly recommend the InstantPot mini, which is ideal if you want lots of cooking functions but are short on space, as it’s small and compact.
Are slow cookers cheap to run?
Slow cookers are an energy-efficient appliance, making them cheap to run. Energy company USwitch noted that slow cookers use a little more energy than a traditional light bulb to run. While they take a little while to cook food, they use just 1.3kWh per meal cooked. According to research by energy company Utilita, an electric oven is one of the most energy-intensive cooking appliances, costing on average £1.05 per day to run, while a slow cooker is typically five times cheaper.
How I selected the best slow cookers
When it came to selecting the best slow cookers, I tested them with the following criteria in mind:
I also considered the following factors:
How long should you leave things in a slow cooker for?
The general rule of thumb is that if a dish usually takes 15 to 30 minutes in an oven, it will cook in one to two hours in a slow cooker on the high setting, or in four to six hours on the low setting. If it takes one to two hours to cook in an oven, it will take three to four hours on ‘high’ in a slow cooker, or six to eight hours on ‘low’. If it takes two to four hours in an oven, cook it for four to six hours on your slow cooker’s ‘high’ setting, or eight to 12 hours on ‘low’.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
As The Independent's review section, IndyBest has a team of testers who put products through their paces in real-world settings using objective and thorough testing criteria to bring you their honest and helpful verdict. You can trust that when we recommend something, you can feel confident that it’s actually worth buying.
Rachael Penn is one of our kitchen appliance writers. She has written reviews on everything from the best microwaves and the best air fryers to the best ice cream makers. She has put dozens of culinary gadgets through their paces and knows which brands are worth having on your radar. As for this guide to the best slow cookers, she’s been slow cooking for years and has come to learn the features to look for in your appliance.
For more ways to make weeknight meals a little easier, read our guide to the best air fryers
