The ability to make "baked" potatoes in a slow cooker is pretty appealing: I can bake potatoes while at work without heating up my house or having to worry about fire hazards. After reading several recipes on the internet, it seemed that a cook time of 4 – 8 hours was normal.
However, my slow cooker has been cooking potatoes for about 14 hours now and most of them are still not cooked. On the other hand, after opening up the potatoes on the bottom layer they are over-cooked.
Judging by the plethora of recipes online, there must be some way to do this. Is there something I am missing?
Some more specifics:
- My "recipe" consisted of poking holes in potatoes, wrapping them in foil, and adding them to my crockpot. I did this until my crockpot was full (8-9 potatoes).
- Based on the wisdom of several internet sources, I did not add any liquids.
- I am using a Rival 5-quart slow cooker like this one.
Best Answer
How frequently did you lift the lid to 'look at them'? While water is not required convection is, and each time the lid is lifted all the hot air does exactly what hot air does...rises and escapes. The slow release of heat through the ceramic sides do not reheat the space quickly and if one peeks too often (or doesn't have a good lid), you will get the results you report, over done on the bottom, where the wrapped potatoes are in direct contact with the ceramic, and under done on top.
If not only from my experience doing so the sheer number of posts from people reporting success with 'baking potatoes in a crock pot' says that 'it is possible'. From comments above I believe you may have also managed to overcrowd the pot. I have never tried more than four 'good sized' potatoes at once and always had good luck. A quick scan of the articles offered from a quick google search (above) has mixed suggestions, from only cover the bottom (what I do) to fill the crock. Try again with few potatoes, in a single layer and keep the lid sealed.