How Much Electricity Does a Slow Cooker Use? And Will It Save Me Money?

You might think using the slow cooker more often can save you money. We explore how a slow cooker may or may not help your electric bill.

I have seen the question raised many times in many different ways. Am I saving energy/electricity by using a slow cooker instead of a stove?

Not usually. Depending on the size of your slow cooker compared to the size of your stove, you may be using almost twice as much energy to cook in your slow cooker.

There are a lot of variables involved that determine how much: oven element size, oven insulation, slow cooker size, cooking temperature, and baking and cooking times, to name a few.

The simplest explanation is that your oven cycles on and off while your slow cooker cooks “with no more energy than a light bulb,” but it does so continuously, which adds up. Also, keep in mind that you’ll usually run your slow cooker much longer to cook something than you will your oven.

Energy Usage of Your Oven

When you bake in an oven, you’re heating up an insulated box with a temperature-controlled heating element. According to Perch Energy, most ovens have a heating element capable of delivering 2,000 to 5,000 watts of heat in one hour, hence 2,000 to 5,000 watt-hours, as the utility company likes to bill you in.

Suppose you have a 2400-watt oven. Because a temperature sensor controls the oven, it only turns on the 2400-watt element to keep the temperature in the oven constant. It doesn’t run continuously for a full hour. Instead, it turns on and off to keep the temperature constant within a few degrees of the dial set point.

You may have noticed the oven light on your stove turn off once the oven has reached temperature. The element turned off, too. This cycling on and off is what saves you money in cooking in your oven.

If your oven temperature control turns the oven on for a total of 15 minutes out of every hour, it is only using 1/4 of the 2400 watts the element is rated at – 600-watt hours of energy to cook for one hour. Our oven ran for 12 minutes out of every hour. However, this will vary greatly from oven to oven.

Energy Usage of Your Slow Cooker

Now for the slow cooker. Slow cookers are rated similar to your oven. A slow cooker pulls between 0.6 amps and 2 amps at 120 volts.

How much power does a slow cooker use? A standard 6-quart slow cooker has a maximum output of 280 watts, but you must also consider the temperature setting and size of the cooker. A small slow cooker uses about 75 watts on low temperature and a large cooker uses about 280 watts on high.

I will use our large slow cooker as an example, but using the information that follows, you can also calculate your own energy usage.

Our slow cooker is a large 5-quart brand with a low cooking power of 180 watts and a high cooking power of 250 watts. It’s information you find on the label. The difference between the oven and the slow cooker is that the slow cooker cooks continuously. What that means is if you cook on high with a 250-watt per hour element for 4 hours, you use (4 X 250) 1,000 watt hours of electricity. If you cook on low with a 180-watt per hour element for 8 hours, you use (8 X 180) 1,440 watt hours of electricity.

No energy savings at my house.

If you have a small slow cooker with a low range that uses a 75-watt element, cooking for eight hours only uses 600-watt hours of electricity.

Related: 12-Hour Slow Cooker Recipes

The Real Comparison Isn’t So Cut and Dry

Here again, we have to factor in the variables. 

If you’re going to cook a meal in a slow cooker, you throw everything in there. If you’re going to be using the oven, you probably also will be heating a potato and vegetable dish on your stove. Using the stove top raises the amount of energy used to prepare the meal.

It’s not too hard to figure out from the rating on the slow cooker just how much energy you are using (watts times the number of hours). The hard part is figuring out what your oven is doing.

Unless you have the knowledge and test equipment to measure your oven energy usage, the only other way is to ask your appliance representative or parts center what the element is rated at.

So now you have the picture regarding slow cookers and energy usage.

Fortunately, we didn’t get our slow cooker to save energy. We got it for the convenience; it saves time in our busy schedule by having our meals ready when we all come home. And because slow cooker cooking results in some great meals of tender roasts, chicken and stews.

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Reviewed December 2023