Slow Cooker Roast Parsnips: 1 Hour

These 1-hour slow cooker roast parsnips aren’t something you probably thought of before! There are many other, easier, better ways of making roast parsnips, but, for some people, it can be the difference between having roast parsnips or not!

I usually cook my parsnips in a mini oven, or toaster oven – but I’ll sometimes do them in the slow cooker if I have to! This year I’ve pre-cooked my parsnips for Christmas dinner and will be reheating them on the day. I like to get most of my food cooked/prepped well in advance as it’s one less job on the day!

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1. Peel, then par-boil the parsnips if you can – this speeds up the cooking process. You can cook parsnips from raw, they’ll just take longer to cook. Slice the parsnips in the shape/size you prefer, today I’ve done some parsnip rounds and some parsnip strips. I par-boil parsnips in a microwave steamer, which takes just 5-6 minutes. If you don’t have a microwave steamer, you can use a simple plastic takeaway box to cook parsnips in the microwave.
2. Pre-heat your slow cooker on high for 10-15 minutes or so, adding enough oil, or butter/margarine, of your choice to the base of the slow cooker, certainly enough to cover the slightly domed middle section. You’ll see the oil start to bubble when it’s time to put them in. Place your par-boiled (or raw) parsnip in a single layer in the slow cooker – be careful of splash-back!
3. Cover the top of the slow cooker with a tea-towel (to catch the excess moisture) and put the lid on. I like to fold the edges of the tea-towel over the top of the lid, just so it’s out of the way.
4. After 30 minutes check/turn your parsnips – be careful and go slowly, that fat’s HOT, stand well back. After an hour, if you’ve par-boiled them, they’ll be ready to serve!
5. Remove the parsnips from the slow cooker and drain them on kitchen paper.
   1. NOTE: The slow cooker pot is VERY hot – unplug it and leave it out to cool on its own for some time. Once it’s barely warm… splash some washing up liquid in it and add a kettle of hot water to it, so nothing sticks. As the parsnips have been cooking, the fat’s been splattering up the sides – and you will find that the oil has become a little baked to the sides of the pot, so leave it in soak for awhile before giving it a good scrub out to get those pesky dried on splashes off.

Storing Roast Parsnips

Once cooked and cooled, you can simply wrap the parsnips in foil, or in a covered dish and pop them in the fridge. They’ll be fine for 3-4 days.

Alternatively, once cooled, you can simply freeze the parsnips!

Warnings!

If you’ve reached this far, you’re probably thinking about cooking parsnips in your slow cooker, so here are some simple warnings and things to be aware of before you start:

• Many slow cookers tell you to never use them “empty”, this is a personal choice and risk to take. Mine hasn’t cracked or broken so far, but I know some slow cookers, for whatever reason, have broken when they’ve tried “no liquid” recipes. So far I’ve always “got away with it”, I expect/hope to continue to be lucky.
• The fat gets HOT. It smokes! HOT! You’ve got hot oil in there and, while you’re poking about with it, there’s a high risk of a splash of fat hitting you, so BE CAREFUL.
• Once finished, LEAVE the slow cooker to cool down on its own. The pot gets VERY hot.