Crockpot Lift and Serve slow cooker review - an efficient, batch cooking dream

Energy-efficient cooking is important to so many of us at the minute thanks to the rising costs of bills. There's also no sign of batch cooking slowing in popularity, with plenty of us (me included) loving recipes that allow you to cook a lot less in the week, while still prioritising flavour. 

That's where the best slow cookers come in so handy, with the Crockpot Lift and Serve Digital Slow Cooker the perfect example of an appliance that's both practical and efficient. I tried it out for a number of weeks to see what it's like for dinners, cooking meals ahead of time, and catering for my family. 

With a 4.7 litre capacity and the ability to slow cook on high heat for four hours or low heat for eight, it's a simple appliance to use that yields tasty results. It's also got a great automatic keep-warm function, that kicks in for up to four hours after the slow cooking process is done. Here's an in-depth look at how I got on with this slow cooker, which you can simply lift out of its casing and serve straight to your dinner table. Genius!

Crockpot Lift and Serve Digital Slow Cooker product specifications 

• Size: ‎26.8 (H) x 34.2 (W) x 33.8 (D) cm 
• Bowl capacity: 4.7 litres 
• Heat settings: Low, High, Keep Warm
• Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe pot and lid
• Power: 220 Watts

Who tested this slow cooker?

Molly Cleary

Molly is the Ecommerce Editor at Ideal Home covering appliances, which could be anything from the best cordless vacuums to slow cookers. She loves testing the best and latest appliances on the market so that you know which ones are worth your cash.

She was kindly sent this slow cooker by Crockpot for a revew, and used it several times to cook for her friends and family. 

Unboxing the Crockpot Lift and Serve Digital Slow Cooker 

I think that the Crockpot Lift and Serve Digital Slow Cooker is the perfect size for a family home. I received it in the white colour which was a refreshing change from other slow cookers I've seen on the market, and matched my kitchen a bit better too. 

The box for the Crockpot was small and easy to carry, and there was minimal plastic packaging inside. To put the slow cooker together you simply need to insert the lid into the main body of the cooker. This element can be pulled out whenever you want for stirring or serving, which I think is a handy feature, and it fits back in easily. I think it's a well-built cooker, and the parts fit together well so that the slow cooking process isn't hindered. 

Crockpot Lift and Serve Digital Slow Cooker features

There's nothing too complicated to wrap your head around with the Crockpot Lift and Serve, which is just what I wanted with this slow cooker. There are three modes, low, high and keep warm, and the bowl material is a stoneware ceramic. 

Efficiency wise a slow cooker is one of the cheapest appliances to run, costing around 5p an hour. I checked this using my energy monitoring plug and found that the cost per use was absolutely minimal, even when you set it for over four hours of use. And of course, the large capacity of the slow cooker means you can prep meals for the week for less. 

There's an auto keep-warm function with this slow cooker, which I've found to be brilliant. Once your slow cook program is done, it'll keep your food warm for up to four hours before automatically shutting off. So if you want to pop your slow cooker on before work for eight hours, your dinner should still be warm by the time you get home.

You can't place this particular model's bowl directly on a hob to sear your meat, but I found this wasn't necessarily something that the recipes I used needed me to do anyway. 

Cooking with the Crockpot Lift and Serve slow cooker

I love cooking with my pick of the best air fryers, but with slow cookers, I sometimes get a bit stuck for inspiration. I was recommended the Instagram account @boredoflunch by one of my colleagues and it's fair to say that I'm obsessed with his recipes. He's got a whole Healthy Slow Cooker Recipe Book you can buy on Amazon if you, like me, need some recipe inspiration. 

No surprise then that I got started with a Bored of Lunch chicken taco recipe, which involved adding boneless chicken thighs, plenty of seasonings, tomato puree and the juice of limes to the pot. 

This was the first time I'd used the slow cooker, and I was a little confused by the controls as I started. Turn on the cooker, press to move from high to low or to keep warm, and push in your time with the up and down buttons. I went wrong by turning the appliance on and off accidentally a few times, as I thought the power button was more integral to setting the time.

I set the slow cooker on high for four hours, and I was so happy with the end result. The chicken thigh was succulent but not overdone, and the flavour was great (though that's owing to a great recipe). I've repeated this recipe so many times with this cooker, including for a dinner party of six people, and there's so much space to cater for lots of people.

My next recipe was a lamb curry for my family, which I set off for eight hours on low instead. I prepped all of my ingredients and chucked them into the slow cooker in the morning, and then the slow cooker switched to the Keep Warm function until we were ready for dinner. 

I used the Lift and Serve feature here, which is really so handy, and saves another pot from washing up. I simply took off the lid and lifted the pot straight to the table. The curry was a low-effort hit, and there was minimal energy used too.

Cleaning the Crockpot Lift and Serve slow cooker

The white colour means that you have to be more stringent with cleaning up, but the exterior is easy to make good again with just a damp microfibre cloth once you've turned the cooker off. 

Both the pot and lid are dishwasher safe, which couldn't be more straightforward. I don't have a dishwasher myself, but the bowl isn't too heavy to simply wash up in the sink. 

Should you buy the Crockpot Lift and Serve slow cooker?

The Crockpot Lift and Serve has an RRP of £65.00, which you might think is a little bit steep for a slow cooker. However, this is the nicest slow cooker I've come across in terms of looks, and the materials are all very high quality. I think it's also common that you'll find the Lift and Serve on offer for at least £15 less, especially during sales events like Black Friday, meaning it might be a good choice to save for.

In terms of value for money, I found this slow cooker to be a great motivator for batch cooking meals, and really handy when cooking for the whole family. If it's energy efficient methods you need, then you can't go wrong with this slow cooker.

About this review, and the reviewer

Molly tried this slow cooker out at home for a number of weeks to see how it measured up before coming to a verdict in this review. She's tried out a number of recipes from curries to pasta, and thinks she will get plenty of use out of this Crockpot in future too.