Anne Morgan Delia Smith never wrote a slow cooker cookbook, but plenty of her recipes work in one without any fuss. These are the Delia Smith slow cooker recipes I have tested myself, from chicken casseroles to Christmas puddings, and every one of them turned out as good as the original or better.
Some of these are dedicated slow cooker recipes, and some are Delia’s oven or hob dishes that I have adapted over the years. I have included the times and settings for each one so you do not have to guess.
1. Slow Cooker Chicken Casserole
This is the one I make most. Chicken thighs, potatoes, carrots, leeks, and rosemary stock, all in one pot with 20 minutes of prep. You come back hours later and dinner is done, the chicken falls off the bone, and the potatoes have soaked up the stock.
Cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours or High for 3 to 4 hours. The lemon juice goes in at the end, which lifts the whole dish. This is the Delia Smith slow cooker chicken recipe I recommend if you have never used a slow cooker for a full meal before. Once you have this one down, beef is the natural next step.
2. Slow Cooker Beef Brisket
Delia’s English Pot-roast calls for rolled brisket braised in the oven at 150°C (300°F) for 3 hours with onions, carrots, celery, swede, and mushrooms. The slow cooker version takes longer but the meat comes out even softer, falling apart with a fork instead of slicing cleanly.
Brown the brisket and vegetables on the hob first, then transfer everything to the slow cooker with hot stock and herbs. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or High for 5 to 6 hours. The gravy will be thinner because there is less evaporation, so pour it into a saucepan and reduce on the hob for 10 minutes before serving. That browning-then-transferring method works for French braises too, starting with Delia’s bourguignon.
3. Beef Bourguignon in a Slow Cooker
Delia’s beef bourguignon is already a long, slow braise, so it takes to the slow cooker like it was built for it. The wine, herbs, and bacon do all the heavy lifting, and 8 hours on Low gives the beef a texture you cannot get in 2 hours in the oven. I have made this beef bourguignon in a slow cooker twice and the meat was even softer than the original.
Brown the meat and bacon on the hob first because the slow cooker will not give you that dark crust. Add the shallots in the last hour so they hold their shape, and reduce the sauce on the hob before serving. The same method works for Delia’s other French wine braise.
4. Coq Au Vin in a Slow Cooker
The hob version takes about 80 minutes, so the slow cooker coq au vin is not about saving time. It is about the chicken. On Low for 4 to 6 hours, the meat gets so tender it practically falls off the bone, which does not happen in the shorter cook.
Brown the chicken and bacon first, transfer everything with the wine and herbs, and add the mushrooms in the last hour. The beurre manié thickening still happens on the hob at the end. That covers the main courses, but two of Delia’s best side dishes also work in a slow cooker.
5. Braised Red Cabbage in a Slow Cooker
This is the one that saved my Christmas. The red cabbage normally takes 2 hours in the oven, and at Christmas every shelf is already full with the turkey and roast potatoes. Moving it to the slow cooker gave me the oven space I needed without changing the flavour at all.
Layer everything as Delia directs and cook on Low for 4 to 5 hours or High for 2 to 3. The red cabbage slow cooker version comes out the same deep purple colour with the same soft, vinegary sweetness. Speaking of Christmas, the gammon benefits from the same oven-space trick.
6. Slow Cooker Gammon
Delia’s gammon recipe has two stages: a long poach in cider, then a short blast in the oven for the mustard and demerara sugar glaze. The slow cooker handles the poaching perfectly. Set the gammon in cider with onion, carrot, bay leaf, and peppercorns on Low for 6 to 8 hours, then finish in the oven at 220°C (425°F) for 30 to 40 minutes for the crust.
You cannot skip the oven part because that is what gives you the sticky, caramelised top. But the slow cooker gammon poach is completely hands off, and the meat comes out just as tender. The slow cooker handles desserts just as well, starting with the simplest one on Delia’s site.
7. Slow Cooker Rice Pudding
Delia’s rice pudding is one of the simplest recipes on her site and the slow cooker version is even simpler. Butter the pot, add the pudding rice, sugar, both milks, and nutmeg, then cook on Low for 2 to 3 hours with one stir after the first hour.
The one thing you lose is the golden baked skin that the oven version is famous for. If that is the part you love, stick with the oven. But the creamy rice underneath tastes the same, and this slow cooker rice pudding is what I make when there is no oven space to spare. If rice pudding is the easy end of slow cooker desserts, the Christmas pudding is the serious one.
8. Christmas Pudding in a Slow Cooker
This is where the slow cooker earns its place in the kitchen. Delia’s Christmas pudding needs 10 hours of steaming on the hob, and you have to check the water level every hour. The slow cooker holds a steadier temperature, the water drops much more slowly, and you can walk away.
Place the sealed basin on a trivet, pour boiling water halfway up, and cook on High for 8 to 10 hours for a large pudding or 5 to 6 for small ones. I set mine going before bed and it was done by morning. The texture was exactly the same: dark, sticky, and dense all the way through. If you only try one Delia Smith slow cooker recipe from this whole list, make it the Christmas pudding slow cooker method. Nothing else saves you this much time.
