Cooking soup in a crockpot

If you are reading this, then you are probably already interested in making healthy soups at home. You may already have made some, and realised how easy it really is, and how much tastier than anything that comes from a tin.

But did you know that you can also use your crock pot or slow cooker to make delicious soups at home?

Using your crock pot or slow cooker to make soup makes it even easier than cooking on the hob, and more convenient because the crock pot can keep your soup warm until you need it.

There are plenty of soup recipes out there especially designed for crock pots, but you can also adapt any of your usual recipes to be made in a crock pot. The key thing to remember here is that, unlike any other recipe, you DO NOT need to reduce the amount of liquid you use from your traditional recipe. Liquid does not evaporate in the slow cooker but that is actually an advantage when cooking soup.

Root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, swede and turnips take a long time to cook. Put these at the bottom of the pot and make sure they are completely covered in liquid. They will take 6-8 hours to cook on low. These vegetables should ideally be cut into piece of one inch or less to ensure they cook thoroughly.

If you are using softer vegetables such as tomatoes, mushrooms or zucchini (courgettes) then these should be added in the last 45-60 minutes of cooking time so that they don't disintegrate.

It is also possible to cook milk based soups in the crock pot. If doing this, you should cook the ingredients in water first, then add a cup of extra water and the cream or milk for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.