Can You Put Aluminum Foil In Your Slow Cooker?
The slow cooker is perfect on those busy days when you'll spend the whole day flying back and forth between work, book club, picking kids up from school, or whatever in life keeps you busy and prevents you from making dinner for the family at the end of the day. The slow cooker allows you to throw your ingredients into its ceramic insert, place the lid on, turn on the heat, and walk away for hours. It just makes life a little easier, and who isn't for that? In fact, this small appliance definitely has a following that goes beyond soccer moms. Per Kitchn, the slow cooker fan base includes the likes of Giada De Laurentiis, country music artist and cook Trisha Yearwood, and the neighbor everyone wants, Ina Garten. Plus, there are so many ways to use slow cookers, probably more than you even realize. Basically, slow cookers are awesome.
However, if there was one thing we could change about the slow cooker, it would be the scrubbing that takes place after you've served the beautiful meal it has single-handedly cooked up. It really isn't laziness. Okay, maybe it is, but having to scrub the insert can be a messy business depending on what slow cooker meals you are serving. There has to be a trick for that, right? Well turns out, according to the blog Wiggly Wisdom, some people use aluminum foil to line their slow cookers to help minimize the clean-up, but is it safe?
It can help with cooking
According to America's Test Kitchen Cooking School, using foil in your slow cooker is not only safe, but it also helps those recipes that don't have or create a lot of liquid, like lasagna. In an instructional video, they suggest making a collar with your foil and placing it on the side opposite of the control buttons or dial to help prevent foods from burning or drying out. This far side of your slow cooker apparently is prone to be hotter than the other side, and the foil helps keep the temperature even throughout. Wiggly Wisdom points out that the side benefit of using foil is the easy clean-up we all long for. But what about the safety aspect?
Per Healthline, using aluminum foil in your slow cooker could cause a small amount of aluminum to seep into your meal. The amount truly depends on what you are cooking; however, Healthline explained that because the amount of aluminum that actually cooks into your meal is minuscule, it should not be of concern, and based on studies, researchers have shared that it is safe to use when cooking.