Believe it or not, last week I wanted to turn a crock pot recipe into an oven recipe. Um, I never
thought I'd want to do that, either. Turns out, though, I had a good reason: My crock pot wasn't big enough to properly cook the recipe I wanted to try. (For good results, slow cookers should be no more than 2/3 full.) There are a few other reasons you might want to covert crock pot or slow cooker recipes into recipes that work in the oven or stove top:

• Your crock pot is tall, instead of wide - which doesn't work that great for things like lasagna.
• You're cooking a large piece of meat (like a whole chicken) that doesn't fit into your crock pot.
• You planned for a crock pot meal, but totally forgot to get it going in the morning. (I'm sure - ahem - someone has done that!)
• You remembered to put the ingredients in the crock pot, but forgot to turn the crock pot on. (Again, I have no experience with that! Ha!)
• You don't have a crock pot, but the recipe sure looks yummy. (Maybe you should just buy a crock pot?)

How to Convert Crock Pot Recipes to Oven Recipes

It isn't difficult at all! Just follow this basic formula:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Put the food in some sort of oven-safe container that has a lid. Dutch ovens are perfect for this, but you could also use a lidded casserole dish.

3. If the crock pot recipe calls for cooking the meal on high, divide the number of cooking minutes by 4 to learn how long to cook the meal in the oven. If the crock pot recipe calls for cooking the meal on low, divide the number of cooking minutes by 2 to learn how long to cook it in the oven. In other words:

HIGH: /4
LOW: /2

4. Check the meal every few hours, to make sure the liquid hasn't evaporated. Crock pots do an excellent job of retaining moisture and dishes cooked in the oven will dry out more quickly. Add additional liquid, if needed.

5. If the dish contains meat, use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.

How to Convert Crock Pot Recipes to Stove Top Recipes

For soups, this is a better choice than using the oven. 

1. Cook any meat the recipe calls for. Beef should usually be browned well in a skillet; pork can be cooked in the oven or in a skillet; and chicken can be cooked in the skillet or boiled.

2. Put the cooked meat and all the other ingredients into a pot and cook over medium low heat. I recommend barely simmering the soup for at least an hour. The longer you cook, the better the flavor will be, but you don't want to reduce the soup too much, or it will be more of a stew.


Related Posts:
Converting Conventional Recipes for the Crock Pot 
Improving Crock Pot Food - Making Better Recipes