Can You Put A Crockpot In The Fridge?

Crockpots are one of the most popular kitchen appliances across the world, also known as a slow cooker in the UK. They are extremely useful and have revolutionised cooking for families and busy people. While they are extremely useful you can often have food leftover and so you might wonder if you can put a crockpot in the fridge.

There are certain parts of a crockpot which cannot be put in the fridge such as the main base and electric parts, though the ceramic dish itself can be placed in the fridge. To care for the ceramic pot properly you must allow the dish and the food to cool properly before placing it in the fridge.

In this article, we are going to talk about whether a crockpot can be put in a fridge, is it safe and what you need to know before putting a crockpot in the fridge.

Can You Put In A Crockpot In The Fridge?

Crockpots as a whole are not viable for putting in the fridge due to the electrical parts and wires being exposed to water and the cold.

Though the ceramic dish that sits in the base is removable for cleaning but also works for storing food in the fridge.

If you plan to reheat the leftovers currently stored in the crockpot and want to save on washing up you can store the dish and contents within the fridge.

There are a few care and safety measures to take into account when doing this which I will go over later in the article.

Is It Safe To Put A Crockpot In The Fridge?

As I have mentioned above the only real part of the crockpot which is suitable for putting in the fridge is the ceramic dish itself, not the main electrical base.

This is due to the water that is in your fridge which would connect with the electrical components of the crockpot and cause damage. Doing this is also very unsafe as you can cause a fire to happen or damage to both your crockpot and fridge.

The ceramic dish itself is safe to put in the fridge as it is a material that is suitable, it also has no connecting electrical parts to think about. There are some safety measures you should know before storing your crockpot dish in the fridge which are highlighted below.

What To Know Before Storing A Crockpot In The Fridge

Now we have learnt that we can store our crockpot dish within the fridge there are some things you need to know before doing so.

Let The Crockpot Cool First

The most important part of putting in a crockpot in a fridge is you have to let the food and crockpot itself completely cool before putting in the fridge.

Can You Put a Crockpot in the Fridge?
Can You Put a Crockpot in the Fridge?

If you were to place a warm or even hot crockpot in the fridge you would cause the ceramic dish to crack and disintegrate. This would then render the dish unusable and unstable using again in the crockpot heater.

Remove The Main Electrical Base

Another part of preparing the crockpot before putting in the fridge is to remove the electrical base. As you may have seen you can remove the ceramic dish from the electrical base for washing etc. This is also what you would need to do if you were to store your crockpot in the fridge.

The electrical base is unstable and unsuitable for putting in the fridge, if you were to put this in the fridge it would damage the electrical components and render the crockpot unuseable.

Gently Heat Up Before Reheating

Just like you need to let the crockpot ceramic dish cool down before placing in the fridge you need to bring the crockpot up to room temperature when looking to use the dish again in the crockpot.

You would need to take the crockpot dish out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature to enable the dish to warm up.

This will help the dish naturally warm-up and ensure that the dish is in the best condition for reheating. This will protect the dish from cracking or breaking when places in the crockpot.

Don’t Over Refrigerate

Another way to properly care for your crockpot using it in the fridge is to not yoyo it back and forth from the fridge. This can cause the crockpot to damage, crack and disintegrate over time.

Don’t Freeze

While the crockpot dish is suitable for placing in the fridge it is not safe or suitable for using in the freezer. The freezing temperatures are not advisable to use on a crockpot dish as this can cause long term damage to the dish. These may not be noticeable right away but can then show up when the dish is used within the crockpot base.