What to make instead of cholent in crockpot?

Amarante

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 9:18 am

There are literally thousands of recipes for delicious foods cooked in a crockpot.

Anything that you would normally braise in the oven like a stew works well in a crockpot.

I have often made a whole chicken in the crockpot - it isn't pretty like a roast chicken from the oven but it is delicious and very easy.

I wouldn't cook fish in a crockpot because fish doesn't lend itself to long cooking. White meat chicken also doesn't tend to be really good in a crockpot but thighs are fine.

One reason I don't do it that much is that a lot of the time to cook doesn't work for me because even with a crockpot you can't leave it in for more than 6 to 8 hours for most things and I am either gone longer or if I am home it is just as easy to braise in the oven.

What kinds of foods do you enjoy eating - there is probably a crockpot version of it

Here is an example of meatballs cooked in a crockpot. If you don't like the actual ingredients use it as a template for meatballs with a sauce that you like.

Chicken Meatballs in Tropical Sauce

Excerpt From: Dena G. Price - The Everything Kosher Slow Cooker Cookbook

This is a festive appetizer for a party! Serve leftovers with hot cooked rice for a quick and easy meal.

INGREDIENTS | SERVES 15

Nonstick spray

Sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 cup pineapple juice
1⁄3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1⁄4 cup teriyaki sauce
1⁄4 cup ponzu sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 cups frozen pineapple chunks

Meatballs

2 pounds ground chicken breast
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1⁄2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1⁄4 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced

Spray the inside of 4-quart slow cooker with nonstick spray.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a 3- or 4-quart saucepan. When hot, add the onion, jalapeño, and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until the onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the pineapple juice, brown sugar, teriyaki sauce, and ponzu sauce. Mix the lime juice together with the cornstarch and whisk into the sauce. Stir in the pineapple chunks and bring the sauce to a boil.

While sauce is heating, mix the chicken, ground ginger, bread crumbs, egg, minced onion, and garlic together in a large bowl. Form the mixture into 1" balls and place in prepared cooker. Pour sauce over meatballs. Cover and cook on low for 4–6 hours or until meatballs are no longer pink in the center.”

Amarante

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 9:24 am

ZA’ATAR CHICKEN

Excerpt From: Taste of Home Cool Kitchen Cookbook

PREP: 20 min. • COOK: 5 hours • MAKES: 6 servings

¼ cup za’atar seasoning
¼ cup olive oil
3 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground turmeric
3 lbs. bone-in chicken thighs
1 cup pimiento-stuffed olives
½ cup dried apricots
½ cup pitted dried plums (prunes)
¼ cup water
Hot cooked basmati rice, optional

1. In a large bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients. Add chicken; toss to coat.

2. Arrange olives, apricots and plums on the bottom of a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker. Add water; top with chicken. Cook, covered, on low until chicken is tender, 5-6 hours. If desired, serve with rice.

1 serving: 484 cal., 32g fat (7g sat. fat), 107mg chol., 1367mg sod., 18g carb. (10g sugars, 2g fiber), 30g pro.”

Amarante

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 9:31 am

Here is a recipe for beef stew in a crockpot. Again, use it as a template for your own beef stew recipe as I generally improvise my beef stews and use my favorite vegetables

Slow-Cooker Beef Stew

This super-simple beef stew features spoon-tender chunks of beef and a sauce that gets a deep, dark flavor from stout beer and maple syrup. The recipe calls for carrots, parsnips and potatoes, but feel free to swap in similar quantities of other root vegetables, like turnips and rutabaga, cut into large pieces. But do make sure to avoid precut stew meat from the grocery store, which is often unreliable and cut too small. A chuck roast that you cut yourself is a far better option.

Yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1½-inch chunks
2 large parsnips, peeled and cut into 1½-inch chunks
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1½-inch chunks
3 thyme sprigs (or 1 teaspoon dried)
2 rosemary sprigs (or 1 teaspoon dried)
3 to 3½pounds chuck roast, excess fat trimmed, cut into 2-inch chunks
⅓ cup stout beer, or beef broth
⅓ cup maple syrup
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, preferably aged
Kosher salt and black pepper

PREPARATION

Combine the carrots, parsnips, potatoes, herbs, beef, beer, maple syrup, garlic, onion and garlic powders and 1 teaspoon vinegar in a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and a generous amount of pepper. Mix well to combine (feel free to use your hands). Cook on low until the meat and vegetables are very tender, 10 to 12 hours, stirring the stew once if possible; this helps the beef and vegetables cook more evenly, but if it’s not possible, it will be fine.

Remove and discard the herb sprigs. Stir in the remaining 2 teaspoons vinegar. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you like. Serve in shallow bowls with the meat, vegetables and some sauce.

TIP
If you have extra time, brown the meat before you start cooking for a richer, more complex flavor: Season it with salt, then work in two batches, searing the meat in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker, and add a few spoonfuls of water or broth to the pan, and scrape up the browned bits. Add those to the slow cooker, too.

amother

Smokey

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 9:36 am

There are many options.
Soups (mushroom barley, split pea are my 2 favorite, you can add some meat to them. Delish!)

Chicken, I have 2 great recipes, it's best if you start it right before shabbos, but not necessary.

Roast. (Basically like cholent, but more meat forward lol)

And yapchick in crock pot, obviously also similar to cholent, but different bc it's just shredded potato, onion and meat...

Google some crock pot recipes and you'll see a ton!

Amarante

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 9:43 am

amother Papaya wrote:

I think she means to make it for Shabbos lunch. Where the food is cooking for more than 18hrs.

Honestly there aren't a lot of foods that taste good when cooked for 18 hours LOL

But any kind of beef stew would probably be the best best because the meat would just get more tender (not dry out) and the root vegetables are intended to be very soft.

But cholent works beans require that kind of long cooking which is how cholent developed when people would bring their pots to the baker on Friday nights. Not that different from non frum baked beans for example which also require long slow cooking

amother

Smokey

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 9:53 am

Amarante wrote:

Honestly there aren't a lot of foods that taste good when cooked for 18 hours LOL

Which is why if its not cholent and yapchick, I always start it right before shabbos.

Amarante

Sun, Feb 11 2024, 10:02 am

amother OP wrote:

Amarante, thanks you. Recipes sounds delicious, but I'm assuming they're for a weekday meal not for prolonged crockpot cooking

The beef stew recipe would probably work for Shabbos because beef stew is very forgivable and actually improves the next day because of the way flavors marry and there really isn't such a thing as overcooked stew - at least in my experience - because the meat doesn't dry out since the cuts of meat used need to be braised