Customer Reviews

Crock-Pot 33511LD-C 5-Quart Slow Cooker with Bonus Little Dipper, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I recently purchased this very same crock pot at a local retail store. I have to admit, at first I was very nervous about how my meals would turn out, much less leaving it on all day while at work. ( I am gone 10+ hours a day) From some of the reviews I read about Rival crock pots you'd think they were fires just waiting to happen and they were only good at making charcoal for dinner. So I decided before I risk burning down my apartment I would test it to see if it was safe and if it gave me the desired results. Delicious meals. So I decided to try a fairly simple recipe that comes with the owners guide. It was Chicken in a pot. When ever I try to make roast chicken in the oven the dark meat comes out slightly raw and the white me dry and tasteless. So what the hey, here we go. Popped that chicken in the crock pot with some chopped veggies of choice and after approximately eight hours it was ready. I carefully pulled the chicken out of the crock pot and before it was all the way out legs and wings were falling off of the carcass! That is how tender the chicken was! I was able to cut the breasts with a spoon! It was the MOST moist and flavorful chicken I have EVER had! I was amazed at how good it turned out! And the broth that was left over was very flavorful and makes a great broth for soups, sauces or gravies. Bottom line, this item is great investment for busy people who don't have a lot of time to cook but want delicious meals with minimal work. I definitely recommend it!

This crock pot looks great. The lid is subpar however. It is lightweight and thin and seems cheap.
The outer surface of the crock pot and the crockery insert get very very hot even on low. The good thing is that the little side handles do not get hot at all.
This pot cooked my whole chicken well on low, but the first meal I tried burned. Crock Pot Pizza cooked fine in my old (about 5 years old) rival crock pot on low for 4 or 5 hours or longer. I just couldn't cook it on high or it would burn. In this new crock pot it burned at 2 1/2 hours. So beware. It looks good, but you have to adjust your cooking times and you certainly couldn't actually leave the house for a work day and cook anything for that length of time without it burning.

I use this crock pot all the time. I use it for stews, curries, pot roasts...especially during the summer when I don't want to heat up the house by using the oven...and everything cooks perfectly.

My trick is to make a sofrito to flavor the meat during most of the cooking. Don't add too much liquid, you don't need it. The natural juices from the meat and sofrito are sufficient.

In the last hour I cut some fresh vegetables, throw them in, and turn the cooker to high. The meat is perfect and the vegetables are tender but not overcooked.

The clay insert fits in the fridge for leftover storage, it's microwave safe for reheating, and cleans easily.

I owned a Rival crockpot for 20 years and was very happy with it. When it stopped working I therefore bought another (this one) from Rival. I've used it twice. The top doesn't seem to keep the liquid in, even on low, and it burned the food both times. I don't trust it now and am not sure whether I'll try it again.

I bought this because it was well priced, good sized and looked better than many other slow cookers. I assumed it would work as well as my 10 year old slow cooker that I gave away. The first time I used it (as soon as it got up to tempurature) the lid started to rumble and slip around the top. Then came the spitting hot water and steam that went in my toaster down the side of the cooker and on the counter. The lid is the worst! At first I thought maybe I was missing a rubber seal or something on my lid. Now I realize this is the way it was designed! I made a pork roast in it which usually works great but in this slow cooker it seemed to cook quicker with no liquid left because it evaporated through the faulty lid. The only way to correct the spitting water and the rumbly,tumbly,bouncy lid is to put a paper towel under part of the lid but even this eventually fails because the towel gets soaked and then starts to drip on the counter. Not to mention its probably a fire hazard. I don't think my paper towel idea is what Rival had in mind when they designed this! I wish I could return this but I threw away the receipt.

I have only two complaints about my new crock pot. The lid is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! It is not nearly heavy enough to keep steam from escaping. This causes the food to lose moisture, not to mention the condensation that formed on my counter and then ran down the front of my cabinets. Thank goodness I still had the old one and salvaged the heavy glass lid from it - and it fit this one! The second complaint is that it cooks much hotter/faster than the pot I had previously. This may be due to the loss of steam and drying of the contents. If I use the heavy glass lid and cook on low, it does OK but what about those who don't have a glass lid that fits? I guess they're just out of luck. Bottom line is I would not recommend this model to anyone.

I am very disapointed in this item. Water gets under the lid and the food gets done to fast on the low setting. Even on warm there appears to be a problem. I am looking for a new one but not from Rival.

I bought this crock pot sans the dipper when I moved into my new apartment. The amount of things that you can make in this little gadget is amazing. Most of what you make will be only as good as the recipe you use - so invest a little time online looking for good recipes (be sure to look under both crock pot and slow cooker when searching for stuff). Overall, this is a great BASIC crockpot. It wipes clean easily, is free of bells and whistles, and the inner pot is able to go from the oven to the fridge, etc... I wasn't thrilled with the lid (not especially tight really) but it does the job. As mentioned in previous reviews I am single -- but -- I have given this item as a gift to friends who are married with children and they love it. It makes their life a whole lot easier because they are able to just throw in the ingredients and then go on with their day. I am a little apprehensive about using crock pots when I'm not home but on weekends when I am running in and out they are great. If I need to make something during the week I just make it the night before when I'm sleeping and then heat it up when I get home. Hey, I'm know I'm not the only one out there who gets nervous about house fires so if you want to get a crock pot these are at least 2 ways of using them that should put your mind at ease... Great in the winter time for making hot cider or soups. At less than 30 dollars this is a worthwhile investment. Oh one more thing - its pretty much man proof. My male friends are capable of making beef stew all by themselves and its edible. Imagine that!

I bought this slow cooker after I read a blog posting about how nice it was. It wasn't until I received it that I read all of the previous reviews of this item.

I made a chicken stew using chicken breast, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots, and onions. I filled it to the top, added liquid, and set it on low to cook.

I checked every half hour or so, and cooking went well. There are grooves in the top crock edge to vent excess steam. Because I had filled mine to the top, some liquid escaped and collected there. Next time I will know better to not fill it completely to the top, but leave some space.

While I had expected my stew to cook for eight hours, it was actually done after six. After consulting the manual, I noted a FAQ that said that the cooking times, and assumably cooking temperature, will vary with line voltage. My line voltage is 127VAC, so I expect that is why my stew cooked faster. If you have a standard 120VAC line voltage, you'll be closer to the advertised cooking times.

Other reviewers commented on the lid feeling cheap or thin; I disagree. The lid is substantial and just as big as it needs to be. It's slightly lesser diameter than the crock, which again allows for excess steam to escape.

Overall I'm pleased with it. I need to experiment with it some more, but I have no doubt that it will do a good job of simmering chili or spaghetti sauce all day. I'm also looking forward to cooking a pot roast.

Overall I was very disappointed with this product and the consumer service also. After receiving this for Christmas, I decided to try it out. I left it for a couple of hours to basically find it standing in a puddle when I returned. Because of the very cheap and lightweight cover, the condensed steam actually was bubbling out. I was cooking only on low. Thank goodness, there were no other electrical appliances that were plugged in around it otherwise we would have had a bigger problem. This crockpot cooks way too hot. What I was cooking actually did start to burn. In addition to the horrible cover, the plastic handles on the base actually had cracks in them. When I called customer service to complain, the representative really couldn't have cared less about my issue and told me to take it back to the store where it was bought and then proceeded to try to sell me a cookbook. I guess you really get what you pay for. I will be looking into other brands of crockpots to replace this lemon.