If your slow cooker works and you’re happy browning the meat in a frying pan first, you don’t need this. But if that extra pan is the reason you only make stew twice a winter, the Ninja PossibleCooker fixes exactly that problem, and it does a few other jobs as well.
The one thing a normal slow cooker can’t do
Most slow cookers have a ceramic crock that sits in a heating jacket. It’s great at low and slow, but it can’t get hot enough to sear anything. So a proper beef stew means browning the meat and softening the onions on the hob, scraping everything into the crock, and washing a second pan.
The PossibleCooker has a Sear/Sauté setting, so you brown everything in the same pot it’s going to cook in. Then you switch to Slow Cook and leave it. All the browned bits stuck to the bottom stay in the stew instead of going down the sink with the frying pan.
What it does, according to the listing
The Ninja Foodi PossibleCooker 6L (MC1101UK) has eight functions:
- Sear/Sauté
- Slow Cook
- Braise
- Steam
- White Rice and Brown Rice
- Pasta
- Keep Warm
The pot holds 6 litres, which Ninja says is enough for up to 500g of pasta, 800g of rice or a 1.8kg joint of meat. It comes with a steam rack, a rice paddle and a measuring cup.
The bit I like most is that you can take the cooking pot out and put it in the oven, up to 240°C. So you can make a casserole in it, add a pastry lid or a layer of sliced potatoes, and then crisp the top in the oven without moving it into another dish. On a cold night, that’s a pie or a hotpot with one pot to wash.
The catches
It’s big. The listing gives it as 28cm high, 42cm wide and 29cm deep, and it weighs 5.5kg, so it’s not something you’ll want to lift out of a low cupboard every evening. In a small kitchen, measure the space before you order.
It’s also not a pressure cooker, and it doesn’t air fry. If you want stew in under an hour on a weeknight, this won’t do that. It’s for slow cooking, with browning built in.
And it costs a lot more than a basic slow cooker. You can check the current price on Amazon, but it’s firmly in the mid-to-upper range for this kind of appliance.
So is it worth it?
If you already own a slow cooker and it gets plenty of use, I’d keep it. Browning in a separate pan is a bit of a faff, but it’s not worth replacing a working appliance for.
If you don’t have one yet, or yours is old, cracked or too small, the PossibleCooker is the one I’d go for. Being able to sear, slow cook and finish in the oven in one pot means you’ll actually make the stews, chillies and braises you meant to make all winter. Its Amazon UK reviews are strong, too. If you’re after something simpler for big batches, we’ve also covered the Crock-Pot 7 quart.
