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Can I Leave Food in a Slow Cooker Overnight on Warm?

By: Author Jeff Campbell

Posted on  - Last updated:

Categories Slow Cookers

Slow cookers are one of the most convenient kitchen appliances. I love my Crock-Pot so much I have 2 of them! But it’s not uncommon to wonder can I leave food in a slow cooker overnight on warm?

Food can be left in a slow cooker on warm all night long. Cook food fully on high in the slow cooker as warm is designed to hold temperature and not cook food. Then switch to warm before bedtime. Ensure the proper amount of liquid in the cooker to avoid drying out the food or scorching on the bottom of the liner.

At the same time, with it being an electric appliance, worrywarts may start wondering how long you can keep the cooker on safely.

We’ve always heard that you can cook overnight in them, but is it really safe? And will it affect the flavor and texture of the food?

And frankly, sometimes slow cookers do result in bland, overcooked food. But is that the norm?

Click here to read my ultimate guide to making sure your Crock-Pot meals are as tasty and flavorful as possible, even when you leave food in them overnight!

Here we will talk about how long a slow cooker can be left on, what happens if you overcook your food, and what that warming function is good for.

Can I leave a slow cooker on for 24 hours?

Slow cookers can safely be kept on for 24 hours as long as they are not more than 10 years old and there is sufficient liquid in the liner to avoid possibly drying out and cracking the insert. Most programmable slow cookers will have an auto shut-off feature that kicks in after a 24-hour cycle.

However, there is very little reason to leave the slow cooker on for a full 24 hours. Unless you know you will have a busy day, you will likely only need to keep it on for 12 hours at the maximum.

There may be some cases where you know you will have a busy day and need to get things started pretty far in advance. After all, you don’t want to be chopping vegetables and prepping meats at 5 in the morning before work.

In these cases, you may want to prep the night before, allowing your meal to cook overnight in the slow cooker on low, and then keep it on warm throughout the day so that it is ready for dinner. This may add up to a total of just under 24 hours for your slow cooker to be on.

Most meals, however, only require about 6 to 8 hours of cooking, so there is little need to keep it on for 24 hours straight.

What about meatballs?

Click here to read my guide on how to best use the slow cooker overnight when you’re making meatballs! I get into how to maximize their flavor, but also the differences in settings for raw vs. cooked, and thawed vs. frozen.

Can you overcook in a slow cooker?

Some foods can be overcooked in a slow cooker. Vegetables, beans, and noodles are all easy to overcook in a slow cooker and can easily become mushy. Most stews and soups will simply deepen in flavor and thicken when cooked for extended periods of time. Fattier types of meat will become more tender when cooked longer.

While some dishes will benefit from cooking longer, such as pulled pork or even some roasts, there are certainly some ingredients or whole dishes that may suffer from overcooking.

Because meals made in slow cookers typically require quite a bit of liquid, it is easy to overcook some things to the point where they are mushy.

Vegetables you need to be particularly careful with. You want them to retain some of their texture, so cooking longer may leave them soft and flavorless.

You also need to be careful with beans and noodles. Unless you are making refried beans, you don’t want to cook bean dishes, like chili, longer than necessary, even if doing so may enhance the overall flavor.

Some soups are okay to cook longer since the flavors will come together more as you allow them to sit.

However, if your soup requires noodles, you will want to cook the broth or liquid base completely before adding the noodles so they don’t end up too mushy.

I also like to add things like fresh herbs toward the end of the cooking.

Does meat get more tender the longer it cooks in a slow cooker?

Fatty cuts of meat will become more tender in a slow cooker when cooked for longer periods of time. Leaner cuts of beef, and all types of poultry, however, can become tough, rubbery, and stringy when overcooked in a slow cooker.

So it really depends on the type of meat you are cooking.

Yes, cooking over a longer period rather than slapping a piece of meat on the grill or baking it uncovered in the oven for 20-30 minutes will help it to become more tender.

With fattier meats, like lamb shank, brisket, and other beef roasts, and pork shoulder, you don’t need to worry too much about overcooking. The fat in these meats helps them to tenderize and maintain flavor.

And no one really complains if their pork shoulder or pork butt is falling apart due to tenderness.

However, some meats will not benefit from longer cooking when it comes to tenderness.

Leaner meats can dry out or become stringy and rubbery when cooked for too long. Chicken breast is particularly known for this.

To avoid overcooking your meat, and ruining its texture and flavor, make sure you stick to the recommended cooking times. Some slow cookers even have timer settings that will switch from “cook” to “warm” after the time is up.

Here’s a chart showing slow cooker times for different cuts of beef, chicken, and pork to avoid overcooking:

Type of Meat Weight Cook time on high Cook time on low Internal Temp When Done
Beef roast 3-4 lbs 5.75 hours 8 hours 145° F
Brisket 5-6 lbs not recommended 9-10 hours 145° F
Beef chunks for stew 3 lbs 4.75 hours 6 hours 145° F
Pork butt or shoulder 6-7 lbs 7.5 hours 9.5 hours 145° F
Bone-in chicken breast or thigh 2-2.5 lbs 4 hours (may be a little dry) 6 hours 165° F
Boneless chicken breast or thigh 1-2 lbs 2 hours (may be a little dry) 3 hours 165° F
Whole chicken 6 lbs 6.25 hours 7.5 hours 165° F

(source and source)

Proper cooking time is just one of the tips for avoiding bland slow-cooker food.

After all, bland boring food is sometimes of the biggest criticisms of Crock-Pots. Luckily, there are some easy ways around this. Check out all my best tips for avoiding bland slow-cooker food in this recent article.

Just click that link to read it on my site.

What happens if you slow cook too long?

Beans and vegetables will become mushy when slow-cooked for too long a period of time. Poultry and lean cuts of beef or pork can become tough and rubbery. But other foods will dry out as too much moisture evaporates.

Slow cookers are meant to cook over a long period, but some dishes and ingredients can be cooked for too long.

The end result of overcooking will vary depending on the ingredient itself. We already talked briefly about a few foods that need a minimal amount of time in the slow cooker, including most vegetables and noodles.

These can get too mushy or soggy if left in the slow cooker for longer than the recipe calls for.

Lean meats, like chicken breast, can get very tough if overcooked in the slow cooker, especially if there is not enough liquid in the pot with it.

This will leave your meat with a stringy and somewhat rubbery texture.

Some dishes can easily be overcooked if you don’t add the right amount of liquid to the pot or include ingredients that don’t release enough liquid of their own. A lack of liquid can not only change the overall texture of your dish, but it can also result in scorched and burnt food.

And of course, there are some foods that you should avoid putting in the slow cooker altogether.

The following don’t hold up well and won’t maintain their nutrient level and consistency. I cover these in greater detail in a recent article. But I even get into what foods don’t need much, if any liquid when cooked in a Crock-Pot.

Just click that link to see it on my site.


But avoid cooking the following in a slow cooker:

  • Broccoli
  • Zucchini
  • Eggplant
  • Cabbage
  • Spinach
  • Rice
  • Fish
  • Eggs
  • Bacon
  • Dairy

How long can you leave a Crock-Pot on warm?

A Crock-Pot can be kept on warm for a maximum of 24 hours. But as a general rule, most users will leave it on warm during the day while at work or overnight so the food is ready the next morning.

Before getting into this question, the first thing you need to realize is that the warm setting is NOT meant to cook. It simply maintains the temperature.

So, before you can even consider leaving your crockpot on warm all day, you will need to ensure that your food – particularly meat – is cooked all the way before switching it to warm.

That being said, let’s look at WHY you would want to leave your crockpot on warm all day if it doesn’t actually cook the food.

Some may choose to cook their meal nearly 24 hours in advance so they don’t need to worry about it on a busy day. This isn’t necessarily the most recommended method of cooking, but it is possible.

In this case, you can cook for 8 hours or so overnight then switch the Crock-Pot to warm and keep it running until dinnertime.

Nothing is worse than having to reheat the meal that you took time to prepare because you couldn’t get to it right away when it was still warm.


The best way to take advantage of your crockpot’s warm setting is by using one that comes with a built-in timer.

You can set the cook timer for however long you may need and it will switch over to warm automatically when the cooking time is up. This will allow you to cook throughout your workday and know that your food will still be warm when you get home.

My favorite slow cooker with a timer is not from Crock-Pot, but actually the Hamilton Beach 6-Quart Slow Cooker (click to see it on Amazon).

Thousands of awesome reviews, an Amazon’s Choice product, locking lid, programable, and it comes with a built-in thermometer so you always know exactly when your meat is done!

But sometimes when we aren’t careful, our slow cooker can crack!

That not only leaves us without dinner, but it makes a huge mess. And you also have to buy a new one! Make sure you know the different mistakes that can lead to a Crock-Pot cracking. I detail all of them in this recent article.

Just click that link to read it on my site.

Final thoughts

We hope this has answered all of your questions about leaving your slow cooker on warm overnight.

Most modern slow cookers are perfectly safe to be left on for extended periods, either cooking or just keeping your food warm. However, there is very little need to leave your slow cooker on for more than 12 hours or so at a time.

Leaving it on to cook for too long can ruin both the flavor and texture of your dish. Be sure to follow the recipe for the best result and your slow cooker’s instruction manual to ensure you are always using it safely.

But if you leave it on too long will it crack??

Click here to read my ultimate safety guide to make sure your slow cooker or Crock-Pot won’t crack under any circumstances.

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Jeff Campbell
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