Cooking Dumplings in a Slow Cooker

Cooking dumplings in a slow cooker is very easy to do, although I rarely cook them this way simply because I personally find it easier to microwave dumplings separately.  My reason for microwaving dumplings separately is that you do need to have enough liquid in the slow cooker for the dumplings to cook, else you’ll find your vegetables tend to stick to the dumplings – so I just scoop out some of the liquid and use the microwave.  I’m only serving one person, so this isn’t a problem at all as I’m only ever making 2-3 dumplings at a time.

My slow cooker is just a 3.5 litre slow cooker, so there’s not a lot of room for dumplings, which is another reason I will usually cook them separately.  Today, however, I just wanted to make the dumplings for the vegetable stew that’d been cooking all morning – and get on with other things, so I let the slow cooker do the cooking just this once!

How Long Do Dumplings Take to Cook in a Slow Cooker?

They will take about an hour or so to cook.  The timing will depend, in part, on the size of your slow cooker, what else is in the pot and how many dumplings you’re cooking, but an hour is about right.

How to Cook Dumplings in a Slow Cooker:

1. About 1 hour before serving up your meal, drop your dumplings into the liquid on the top – you might wish to create yourself small pools of liquid where possible, by moving some of the vegetables out of the way.  Make sure the dumplings aren’t touching.
2. Turn the dumplings over, so they’re coated in the gravy, this is to give them colour, so not essential if that’s tricky and fiddly.
   
3. Replace the lid on the slow cooker and turn the slow cooker onto high for 20-30 minutes.  Dumplings are steamed, so it’s important to get that temperature up high and get the mix bubbling again.  You can turn the slow cooker down to low after this time and continue to cook your stew and dumplings for the remainder of the final hour.If you didn’t turn your dumplings over at the start, you might like to give them a quick turn before serving, so they have some colour from the gravy.

Serve.

Microwave or Slow Cooker Dumplings?

Personally, I find the microwave oven dumplings are better for me.  I can make them at the last minute, using gravy scooped out from the stew – and I have more control over whether they’re cooked or not.  Slow cooker dumplings take a lot longer and so can end up with you having to wait a bit longer if they’re not cooked because you squeezed too many in.

However, if you’re cooking for more than 1-2 people, slow cooker dumplings might simply be the easiest way to cook them as you drop them in and forget about them for an hour or so!

It really depends on how you feel and how many you’re cooking and how critical your meal timing needs to be!

What’s Important, What are the Dumpling Tips?

When cooking dumplings, what you’re thinking about are the following factors:

• Dumplings will need space to grow a little, so always have space around them.
• Dumplings like to sit in a pool of gravy, so they cook; if you place them touching other ingredients then, as they grow, they’ll become stuck to those other ingredients, so try to avoid the dumplings touching anything.
• Dumplings need to steam, so make sure your liquid is hot/bubbling/steaming.
• Dumplings need to get colour from somewhere – you can turn them as you put them into the gravy, or at the end.
• Dumplings can easily break up if you’re a little rough handling them, so be careful when you’re turning them.