By how much should I shorten the cooking time of a slow cooker recipe if I'm only using half the meat?
I'm thinking of making either this recipe or this recipe for pork tenderloin in a slow cooker.
As easy as a slow cooker is, I'm no slow cooker expert, and have run into problems where the meat ends up seeming "dry" (even though it's literally soaking in a sea of liquid) when I mess up the amount-of-meat-to-cooking-time ratio, either by using a smaller cut of meat than the recipe calls for, or cooking for longer than the recipe calls for.
Both of the recipes linked here call for 2 lbs. pork tenderloin, and I have a 1 lb. cut.
The first recipe calls for 7 hours on low, and the second one calls for 6-8 hours on low. So if I only have half the meat, by how much should I reduce the cooking time? I'm guessing halving the cooking time is not really the right move.
Best Answer
You should probably not reduce the cooking time by a lot, if at all. These recipes assume you are keeping the meet submerged in liquid at some constant temperature for several hours. Assuming your tenderloin is not somehow less thick than a 2 pound cut would be, nothing in the recipe changes. The core temperature of the cut won't take any less time to get up to temperature, and the lower thermal load from having less product will also not affect slow cooking.
Ideally, have some flexibility in when you expect to be done cooking and stop when you have reached the desired results, rather than after some arbitrary period of time.
Apart from that: if you are having problems with meats coming out dry, you might want to check out this question and answers. To summarize: cooking lean meat for long times is usually not ideal.
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How do you adjust slow cooker times for less meat?
The easiest thing to do is to DECREASE your slow cooker size. So, if the original recipe calls for a 6 quart and you cut your recipe in half, try to use a 4 quart or smaller crock pot. If you don't have a smaller slow cooker, you could use an oven safe bowl inside your 6 quart to reduce the size of your cooking area.Does amount of meat affect slow cooker time?
Cook meat on high for 1 hour and then turn cooker to low\u2013rather than cooking on low for the entire length of time. Only use recipes that include a liquid. Cooker should be \xbd to \xbe full for best results....Slow Cookers \u2013 Times, Temperatures and Techniques.Meat CutStew meatMeat Weight3 lbsLow cook time6 hoursHigh cook time4 \xbe hours5 more columns•Feb 6, 2014When you cut a recipe in half how long do you cook it?
TEMPERATURE: Use the original temperature recommended in the recipe. TIME: Cooking time will not be exactly half the time listed in the recipe. It is usually more than half. Example: If the original recipe says to bake for one hour, the actual cooking time for the smaller recipe might be around 40 to 45 minutes.Is 2 hours on high the same as 4 on low?
The difference between the two settings isn't a higher temperature, it's the time it takes for the slow cooker to reach the simmer point. On high, that's around three to four hours, and on low, it's seven to eight, according to Crock-Pot. So imagine if your dinner is cooking away on high all day while you're at work.Mistakes Everyone Makes Using The Slow Cooker
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