Slow Cooker Berry Cobbler {VIDEO} - The Recipe Rebel (2024)

FAQs

How do you make slow cooker meals taste better? ›

If you take an extra 10 minutes to sauté the aromatics before scraping them into the slow-cooker, the finished dish will have deeper flavor and better texture. (And some new slow-cookers allow you to sauté right in the insert, so you don't have to wash a separate skillet.)

We love cobblers for being juicy, but really ripe fruit can make more puddles than a spring rain. The result is a soupy cobbler with a soggy top. Try this: Add one to two tablespoons of cornstarch to the filling. Partnered with a little sugar and lemon juice, this will make a lush sauce for the fruit.

Browning Is Better

And if you dredge the meat in flour before you brown it, your sauce will thicken up to make a gravy. You should always brown ground beef or any ground meat in a skillet before adding it to your slow cooker to prevent the meat from clumping up or from adding excess grease to your cooked dish.

Foods take different times to cook depending upon the setting used. Certainly, foods will cook faster on high than on low. However, for all-day cooking or for less-tender cuts, you may want to use the low setting.

Make sure frozen fruit is thawed completely before baking. You can bake a cobbler with just fruit as the filling, but a little sugar and cornstarch tossed with the fruit before baking will work together to create a lush sauce from the fruit's juices. This is the thing that turns a good cobbler into a knock-out dessert.

A probe thermometer inserted in the center of the cobbler should reach 200°F in the thickest part of the topping. The filling should be bubbly around the sides, and the tops of the biscuits should be more deep amber than golden.

If you use enough batter to completely cover the fruit, you'll end up with a cobbler that's far too bready, more like an upside-down cake.

Use More Spices and Aromatics

The flavors in a slow-cooker dish can become muted over the long cooking time. So we up the amounts of aromatics and spices in the recipes beyond what is normally used. But it's not just increasing spices that does that trick; you'll also want to increase their potency.

Savoury ingredients, like soy sauce, fish sauce, Marmite, or Worcestershire sauce, can add some of the umami depth you're missing. Acidic ingredients like vinegar and lemon juice can brighten up flavours that have been dulled by hours of slow steaming and simmering.

Tomato paste: you'll use some tomato paste to help thicken the broth and to give it a nice tang of sweetness. Worcestershire: the wonderful addition of Worcestershire gives this beef stew recipe an incredible savory umami flavor. Balsamic vinegar: helps to give the beef stew a little tang and sweetness.

How do I get the best results from a slow cooker? ›

Reduce liquid when using a slow cooker

It should just cover the meat and vegetables. Don't overfill your slow cooker, or it may start leaking out the top, and the food won't cook so well. Half to two-thirds full is ideal – certainly no more than three-quarters.