I just bought all the ingredients to make a soup in the crock pot. I was planning on having it cook all day, but I just realized the recipe only calls for it to cook on low for 3-4 hours. If I cook it on low for 3-4 hours, and then put it on warm before I leave for work, will it be a bacteria minefield or will it be warm enough to keep the food safe from bacteria?
Is it bad to leave the crock pot on “warm” (not low) all day
crockpotfood-safety
Related Topic
- Spice – How to make herbs easy to remove from a Crock-Pot
- Beef and veggies in crock pot turn out hard and tough
- Not sure the meat spent long enough on high in the crock pot
- Chicken – Will the food continue to cook on the warm setting
- Keep blacks beans and rice warm.
- Crock pot turned to warm for 45mins- 1hr
Best Answer
I suspect "warm" is meant to maintain temperature, rather than raise it. My crock pots are too ancient to have anything other than "high" and "low", so I can't assert any real authority. However, if you reach 145F within the first hour at the highest setting, then keep it at "warm", and test the temperature after about 30 minutes with an instant-read thermometer and it stays around 140-160F, you'll probably be fine. Personally, I'd test the temperature first by cooking water.
If the temperature stays above 140F at low, the worst risk you'll have is overcooking. Beans and vegetables like carrots and celery can overcook fairly easily in a crock pot, but higher collagen meats meant for stews tend to be fine when cooked for extended periods. Most crock pot recipes for stews and soups usually hold fine when at low for a full workday, although that's presuming a somewhat 70s-era soup aesthetic, which is probable for a crockpot recipe.
However, I would be inclined to attempt the recipe using the low setting rather than reducing it to warm, if you're not going to test the temperature first. If it turns out to be overcooked, you can always puree the ingredients with a blender...
I also doubt that switching to "warm" would be dramatically less likely to overcook the food than "low", unless it holds at a pretty stable 140F, and low ends up somewhere around 160F.