Dish SoapChili, pot roast and a weekend batch of stock all leave the same marks. Sauce bakes onto the sides of the stoneware, fat collects in the groove where the lid sits, and drips run down the outside of the base and set there.
The fix is mostly patience. Here is how to clean a slow cooker without scratching the stoneware or getting water near the heating base, following the care guides the makers publish for their own machines.
The short answer
Turn the slow cooker off, unplug it and let it cool. Lift out the stoneware crock, fill it with warm water and two or three pumps of dish soap, and let it soak for a few hours or overnight. Loosen anything still stuck with baking soda and a soft sponge or rubber spatula, wash the lid and rim, then rinse and dry everything. Wipe the base with a damp cloth only. Never put the base in water.
What you need to clean a slow cooker
A short kit, all of it soft
Nothing in the kit should be harder than the glaze on the crock. Crockpot's own cleaning tips rule out scouring pads and abrasive cleaners and point to sponges, cloths and a rubber spatula instead.
The heavy lifting falls to a non toxic dish soap. Homecourt Dish Soap uses plant-derived surfactants to remove food debris, with glycerin to hydrate and protect your hands while they sit in the sink. Its product page says every ingredient is carefully selected to be non-toxic and safe for people and pets when used as directed, and its directions include an overnight soak. That soak makes it the non-toxic dish soap for soaking we reach for when a crock comes out looking rough.
- 01Dish soapA gentle, non toxic dishwashing liquid for the soak and the wash. Homecourt's comes in a 16 oz pump bottle.
- 02Baking sodaA box from the pantry, for stuck spots and the deep clean.
- 03White vinegarDistilled, for water spots and the deep clean.
- 04Soft spongeNonabrasive on both sides. Skip anything with a green scouring layer.
- 05Rubber spatulaFor scraping cooked-on food without marking the glaze.
- 06Soft clothsOne for the lid, one for the base, one dry towel for the finish.
How to clean a slow cooker step by step
Five steps, from cooling to drying
Every maker's guide starts in the same place. Crockpot tells owners to turn the slow cooker off, unplug it and let it cool before cleaning, and Hamilton Beach's use and care guide repeats the rule, with a warning never to immerse the cord, plug or base in any liquid.
That leaves two parts to wash and one to wipe. The crock and the lid go to the sink. The base, which holds the heating element, stays on the counter.
Most advice on how to clean slow cooker crocks agrees on the order below, and it is how to clean a slow cooker the way its makers describe. If your machine has a coated metal insert instead of stoneware, read its manual first.
Step 1: Unplug & let it cool
Cool crock, warm water, no shocks
Switch the slow cooker off and pull the plug. Hamilton Beach's guide says to lift the crock out with oven mitts and let it cool, and warns that a hot crock should not sit directly on an unprotected countertop, so set it on a dry trivet.
Stoneware does not like sudden changes in temperature. Crockpot says not to wash the stoneware with cold water while it is hot, and Hamilton Beach warns against setting a hot lid or crock in cold water or on a wet surface.
Scrape the leftovers out with a rubber spatula before the soak starts.
Step 2: Soak in warm water & non-toxic dish soap
Let the water do the scrubbing
Set the crock in the sink and fill it with warm water to just above the line where the food sat. Add two or three pumps of dish soap and swirl it with your hand.
Then leave it. The Homecourt Dish Soap directions describe an overnight soak: two to three pumps in plenty of water, dishes left submerged for several hours or as long as you like, then a sponge for whatever is left and a good rinse. A slow cooker crock is made for it.
After a few hours, most of the film on the sides wipes away with the soft sponge. A crust on the bottom calls for baking soda.
Step 3: Loosen stuck food with baking soda
A gentle scrub for the crust
Pour off the soapy water but leave the crock damp. Sprinkle a spoonful of baking soda over the stuck spots, add a few drops of water and let it sit while you wash the lid.
Work the spots in small circles with the soft sponge, then go after any ridges with the rubber spatula. Crockpot's own deep-clean method relies on baking soda, and its tips name sponges, cloths and a rubber spatula as the tools for stubborn spots.
For stains and spots, Crockpot suggests a non-abrasive cleaner or vinegar, so a splash of white vinegar on the sponge is worth a try.
Step 4: Wipe the lid & the rim
Where the grease hides
On most slow cookers the lid sits in a groove along the edge of the pot, where condensed vapor collects and forms a seal. Splatters and drips settle in that groove too, so check it after every cook.
Run a soapy cloth around the groove and the underside of the lid, then along the outer lip of the crock, where drips harden. A glass lid washes in hot, soapy water like any other dish.
A rubber gasket gets its own wash. Hamilton Beach's guide for one of its latching-lid models says to clean the gasket in hot, soapy water after each use to prevent lingering food smells, and to store the cooker with the lid ajar.
Step 5: Rinse & dry fully
Clear water, then a dry towel
Rinse the crock and lid under warm running water until no suds are left, inside and out.
Dry everything with a clean towel, including the rough bottom of the crock, before it goes back in the base, so no water drips into the heating well. Water should never be poured or dripped into that well.
How to clean a crock pot with burnt-on food
Time first, then heat
Burnt-on food is where most people reach for a scouring pad. Don't. How to clean a crock pot that ran dry or sat on warm too long comes down to giving the same gentle methods longer to work.
Start with the overnight soak from step two. A night in warm water and dish soap usually loosens more than hard scrubbing would. Surfactants do that work, and our guide to natural degreasers in dish soap explains how plant-derived ones break down oils and food residue.
If a dark ring is still there in the morning, use the deep clean Crockpot recommends for its own slow cookers. Here is how to clean crock pot stoneware this way:
- Fill the crock with water until it sits just above the leftover food line.
- Add 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar for a 3-quart slow cooker, or 1 cup for a 6-quart.
- Slowly pour in 1/2 cup of baking soda for a 3-quart, or 1 cup for a 6-quart. Let the bubbles die down, then add a little more.
- Cover it, set it to LOW and leave it for one hour.
- Lift the lid, work the spots with a soft sponge, then let the crock cool and wash it in the sink with warm, soapy water.
This method runs in the cooker itself, so the crock stays in the base and the low heat does part of the job. Let it cool before you lift the crock out.
Some marks will not come off. Crockpot says as much: the stoneware and lid will show natural wear and tear no matter how often you deep-clean them.
How to clean the outside of a slow cooker base
A damp cloth, never a sink
Treat the base like an electrical appliance, because it is one. As the entry on slow cookers on Wikipedia describes, a basic slow cooker is a glazed ceramic pot set inside a housing, usually metal, that holds the heating element, and those elements sit at the bottom and often partway up the sides.
So the base never goes under the tap. Hamilton Beach's instructions are simple: unplug it, wipe the outside with a soft, damp cloth, and skip abrasive cleansers.
How you wipe depends on the finish:
- Stainless steel housings: Homecourt's Surface Cleaner lists stainless steel on its directions, and its coconut-derived degreaser lifts drips and smudges without streaks. Use the Surface Cleaner for the outer base, but mist it onto a cloth rather than the cooker, so nothing runs into the controls or the gap around the crock. Wipe with the grain and dry it.
- Painted, enamel or plastic housings: These are not on the Surface Cleaner label. Wipe them with warm water and a drop of dish soap on a well-wrung cloth, then dry.
- Control panels and knobs: A barely damp cloth only, dried right after.
- The heating well: With the crock out and the base unplugged and cool, lift out crumbs with a dry or barely damp cloth. Never pour water or cleaner into it.
Wipe the cord with a damp cloth too, and keep the plug dry.
How to keep a slow cooker clean
Small habits, easier mornings
The easiest crock to clean is one that never sat overnight with dinner dried onto it. Crockpot advises a light cleaning after every use, and a soak that starts once the crock is cool enough to handle keeps the next wash short.
- Fill the crock with warm, soapy water once it is empty and cool enough to touch.
- Wipe drips off the base the same day, before the next cook bakes them on.
- Wash a rubber gasket after every cook, and store a latching lid ajar.
Then there are crock pot liners. Slow cooker liners are bags that line the crock, so the food never touches the stoneware and cleanup means lifting the bag out. Crockpot recommends liners for less mess and easy cleanup. They do work, but each one is used once and thrown away, and the crock still needs a rinse. The soak does the same job with no bag.
If the soak is a weekly habit in your kitchen, the Dish Soap Refill keeps the bottle full. One 1 liter kraft-paper pouch refills two bottles and reduces plastic use by 92%.
Slow cooker cleaning FAQ
What people ask us
Is a crock pot insert dishwasher safe?
Usually, yes. Crockpot says its removable stoneware and glass lids can be washed by hand or in the dishwasher, and Hamilton Beach calls its crocks and lids top-rack dishwasher-safe, with a warning to skip the Sani setting. So, is crock pot dishwasher safe as a whole? No, only the crock and lid. Can you put a crock pot in the dishwasher if the insert is coated metal? That varies by model, so check your manual.
Can you put the base in water?
Never. The base holds the heating element. Crockpot and Hamilton Beach both say never to immerse the heating base in water or any other liquid. Unplug it, let it cool and wipe the outside with a soft, damp cloth instead.
Do slow cooker liners work?
For cleanup, yes. A liner keeps food off the stoneware, and Crockpot recommends liners for less mess. Each liner is single-use, though, and the crock still needs a rinse afterward. A soak in warm water and dish soap does the same work, which is the heart of how to clean a slow cooker without a scrub.
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