Slow cookers were invented to be time efficient for busy workers, but are Slow cookers energy efficient too? You can prep in minutes, then the Slow Cooker does all the work… but would less energy be wasted with a traditional oven?

It’s an interesting question and quite important, as more energy = higher energy bills! The damage it does to our planet is just as important, although harder to measure.

If you want to make daily cooking more energy efficient, this will help.

Are slow cookers energy efficient?

Buy why?

First, let’s ask the question:

Do slow cookers take up a lot of electricity?

Get ready for some maths!

To make it a bit more understandable, let’s compare energy use to a lightbulb. A typical 10W energy-efficient light bulb uses 10 watts to stay on for an hour.

Now, slow cooker electricity consumption UK is typically between 100W and 160W. (Check out Morphy Richards Slow Cooker – 130W to 163W, depending on temperature setting, Russell Hobb Slow Cooker – 135W to 160W, depending on temperature setting, Crock-Pot Slow Cooker – 100W, on the highest setting)

A standard electric oven uses 2500W (although older, less efficient models might use as much as 5000W).

Already you can see that a slow cooker is far closer to a lightbulb than an oven, when we compare energy usage per hour.

Good news!

You’d need to use your 160W slow cooker for around 15 hours and 42 minutes to match just one hour with your electric oven.

To put that into context, a standard slow cooker recipe takes 4 hours on a high setting, or 8 hours on a low setting. Nowhere near 16 hours!

Slow Cooker Electricity Consumption UK

So far, we’ve only mentioned watts and compared slow cookers to standard electric ovens, but there are other factors.

A fan oven uses less energy than a standard electric oven, for example. The fan circulates heat around the oven, creating an even temperature. A standard oven gets very hot at the back, so the middle area of the oven is the temperature you set.

With me so far?

Then add in the fact that the fan oven doesn’t produce heat constantly. It flickers on and off as the temperature fluctuates to keep it level. So, a fan oven might not be 2500W constantly throughout the hour. 

Furthermore, every time you open the door, heat escapes the oven, and more energy is needed to reheat.

As you can see, comparing the watts of slow cookers and ovens isn’t enough.

So, what’s the verdict?

Slow cookers are energy efficient in general but aren’t always massively more energy efficient than an oven. 

It also depends on the recipe: using the example figures above, if the oven takes 20 minutes to cook your pasta bake (833W), but the slow cooker will take 8 hours (1280W), it makes more sense to use the less-efficient oven.

But with a large cut of meat that would need a long, slow 5+ hour roast in the oven, it makes more sense to use the slow cooker on its highest setting and roast for 8 hours instead.

Are Slow Cookers Energy Efficient Compared to…

Okay, so we know that slow cookers are energy efficient in general and are often more efficient than electric ovens. But what about other ovens?

Slow Cooker vs Gas Oven: What’s More Efficient?

Are slow cookers energy efficient compared to a gas oven? This is like comparing apples with oranges. A gas oven runs on gas, rather than electricity. 

You might be tempted by a gas oven because of the price benefits. Compare the Market estimates that electricity is 4x the price of gas. You might also have heard that gas ovens heat up faster, making them more efficient – which is true in a sense.

But overall, gas ovens are less energy efficient than electric ovens and slow cookers… and gas is a fossil fuel!

While your slow cooker may one day be powered by renewable energy initiatives, your gas cooker will never be eco-friendly.

Slow Cooker vs Pressure Cooker

The slow cooker vs pressure cooker energy use competition favours the… slow cooker!

Looking at the Instant Pot duo range of pressure cookers, for example, the energy goes from 700W up to 1500W on the largest models.

A pressure cooker requires a lot more energy to apply that pressure and cook your food relatively quickly. The slow cooker, on the other hand, uses less energy for a longer period.

Rice cookers and air fryers fall into this category too. They’re more efficient than an oven, but the slow cooker can still be even more efficient for the right recipe.

Slow Cooker vs Stove Top Energy

According to Direct Energy, an average electric stove is 3000W. While an oven and slow cooker only heat a small, enclosed and insulated area, the stovetop is heating the air, the saucepan, and then the food. So, more energy is used to bring the temperature up.

You also need to stir often to prevent it sticking and every time you remove the lid, heat escapes.

There’s a lot of wasted energy here. Slow cookers are definitely more energy efficient than stovetop cooking.

Slow Cooker vs Halogen Oven

We love halogen ovens – if you haven’t read our guide to the best halogen ovens, do that now!

In terms of watts, halogen ovens are typically around 1200W mark. Less than an oven but more than a slow cooker. The upside? Halogen ovens save up to 40% of your cooking time compared to conventional ovens. As a result their energy consumption is almost half the ones of traditional ovens. If the race was close between slow cookers and traditional ovens, slow cookers have an even more difficult time beating halogen ovens. Again, it’ll depend on the recipe. 

Cooking in an Eco-Friendly Kitchen

Even though we’ve solved the question ‘are slow cookers energy efficient?,’ there’s still a lot of waste that goes through our kitchens.

Your first step towards reducing waste is to use an energy-efficient means of cooking, but after that… where do you go? Start here – our guide to over 220 loose food shops across the UK. An ingenious way to prevent waste is to stop buying it in the first place.

For more help with your kitchen:

• The best plastic-free kettles
• Eco-friendly washing up liquid
• BPA-free cling film alternatives

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