Ask anyone who uses their slow cooker what their opinion is on browning meat are and not only will you get a wide variety of responses, but most of them will also be very passionate. What a polarizing topic this can be, yet one that is important to the success of slow cooked meals!

Since you are subscribing to the meal plan service that I have created, I thought is was important to share MY guide with you. I have slow cooked hundreds of meals and have tried out most conceivable options for browning and not browning and I have learned a lot.

Based on all of my experience, here is my guide for you on when to brown and when not to brown your meats before slow cooking!

FREEZER MEALS:

Before we get started into all the details, I do want to lay out my one big exception: Never partially cook/brown a meat and then add it to a freezer meal. For any meal that will be frozen to cook later, all meat should be added raw except for fully cooked ground meats. Trust me, you don't want to end up getting sick from food that was not maintained at proper temperatures. If we need a crunchy skin, we can broil it after it has been fully cooked.

When to brown:

1. Ground Meats - I almost always suggest browning and fully cooking any ground meats you are using in a recipe. I do have one or two recipes that allow for putting ground meat in raw, but this is an exception only in specific circumstances when the recipe calls for very little liquid. These are generally short-cut type recipes and I test them carefully before recommending them. Therefore, my suggestion is to always brown up ground meat ahead of time unless the recipe specifically states otherwise and is from a trusted source.
2. Meats with skin - again, see the exception for freezer meals about, but otherwise browning up meats with skin, like whole chicken breasts, is generally recommended for best flavor and results. It's very possible to still have delicious meats that are not browned first, but doing so will give you a better texture and present much better to the eyes (see why I believe food presentation is important)
3. Chops and roasts - it totally depends. If you are adding a lot of seasonings to the meat and they will have a light sauce or no sauce, it's generally a good idea to brown them up first, but only if they are thick cut. It will help to seal in flavors a bit and give it that nice pretty crust.

When not to brown:

1. When it's going to be frozen. Just making sure you guys got that one.
2. When it's going to be shredded - generally there is no point in browning up roasts or cuts of meat that you want to shred because you actually want then to turn out fall apart tender and browning tends to create a crust that holds the meat together.
3. When it's a thin cut of meat. It will just get dried out and nobody wants dried out meat.
4. When you are in a hurry. Often times if it's a matter of getting dinner started or not, you can place most cuts of meat right in the slow cooker and skip the browning step. Then if desired, you can pop it under the broiler for a few minutes right before serving to give it that golden skin or crust. This works well for whole chickens, or shredded carnitas that you want to have crispy ends on.

Hope this helps! Make sure to check out all of our cooking guides here. If you still have questions or comments, contact us. We love hearing from you.