Crock Pots – Do You Preheat?
September 10th, 2012 | 
Author: I’ve read different opinions on preheating crock pots.
IF you put hot food in a cold crock pot, such as chili, does it cool down the food or does the crock pot get hot fast enough not to change the food temperature?
What do you do when you put hot food in a crock pot?
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I use my crock pot a lot and in fact used it last night when I made a meat sauce and cooked it all night in the garage. But don’t think I’ve ever put cold precooked food in one.
I usually start from scratch, put everything in it, set it for high for an hour and then turn dwon to low for how many hours I want to cook it.
It seems to start getting hot quickly.
I have never heard of preheating a crock pot. When I was working, I used to put everything in the crockpot (the dish, not the electric part) at night, and I then put the whole thing in the refrigerator. I took the pot out of the refrigerator, immediately plugged it in, turned it on, and headed off for work. I never had a problem using this method.
I’ve never preheated a crockpot either. Seems like I’m always in a hurry and am just glad the food landed in the pot to begin with!
I started wondering about it yesterday when I was cooking meat for sloppy joes. The meat was hot and for some reason, I wondered how putting it in a room temperature crock pot might impact it. I’ve never preheated a crock pot for chili or anything which requires cooking the meat and then putting it with other ingredients. We’ve never gotten sick so I guess it isn’t a big deal.
I usually put the crock pot on high to get the temperature up quicker and then turn it down unless I’m trying to cook it faster.
That’s a good question Becky and I have never thought of it that way. I think it must heat up quick enough that it isn’t an issue. I don’t preheat mine either.
I think I would be concerned though if I pre-heated the crock and then put cold food in it. I would be afraid of the crock breaking when I added the cold food to it.
The powers-that-be say the newer crock pots cook hotter than the old ones due to safety concerns. I don’t know if it’s true but my newer one does seem to cook faster. Never thought of preheating it, though.