FAST SLOW FOOD NORTHERN IRISH CHEF NATHAN ANTHONY SHARES HIS TIPS FOR SLOW COOKER SUCCESS.
WHEN you think of slow cookers you might imagine stews cooking for eight hours or your grandparents’ vintage version from the Fifties. But the classic (updated) appliance is having a resurgence.
Northern Irish TV chef, cookbook author and content creator, Nathan Anthony knows a thing or two about using the slow cooker in interesting ways. His Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok accounts, @boredoflunch have blown up thanks to his easy meal ideas for both slow cookers and air fryers. Simply sticking a Camembert in an air fryer got 100 million views, and his Thai mango chicken curry in a slow cooker clocked up 50 million hits.
So why is slow cooking suddenly so popular again? “You literally load it up and go,” says the 33-yearold from Belfast. “If you have a busy nine-to-five, or you have kids, [if you want to] meal prep, plan ahead, they’re healthier as you don’t need to use oil in them.”
And this style of cooking could save you lots of cash, he reckons, too. “They’re better for your energy [usage] as well, they run pretty much on a light bulb’s energy, so people are saving an awful lot of money when they’re cooking their meals in them.”
“Working habits and lifestyle in the office has changed, people are working from home more,” notes Nathan, a regular on ITV’S This Morning and Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch, and this means we’re all around more to throw ingredients together earlier in the day.
“My followers absolutely love slow cooker recipes, it just makes life easier.”
His third cookbook, Bored of Lunch: Healthy Slow Cooker, Even Easier, seeks to prove just how quick and simple lots of nutritious meals can be to prepare – the ethos being, just five minutes prep and under 500 calories a portion. The pea and mint soup, for example, doesn’t even involve much chopping before throwing it all in the slow cooker and clicking the ‘on’ button.
He didn’t actually cook much himself until university but absorbed the skills from relatives. “I have some phenomenal cooks in the family – my auntie was a chef in New York, my granny is a phenomenal cook, my mum is a great cook as well. I’d always watch them.” At university, he surprised his housemates with how natural a cook he was – and both a slow cooker and an air fryer featured heavily in his student days (“When you’re living with six people, everyone’s fighting over the hob”). After that, and into his corporate career, it just stuck.
It was in lockdown that Nathan started posting dishes online and by the end of the pandemic, he had 30,000 followers on Instagram. “It started to multiply at a scary rate. This time last year I had about 900,000 followers. Since Christmas last year, there’s now another million,” he says.
In June 2023, he left his senior management job to focus on his new-found food career. So what are his tips for slow cooking success?
“I would typically load it the night before and just put the pot in the fridge, or put it in a freezer bag, and then just load the slow cooker in the morning so you don’t have to get up in the morning and start chopping onions,” he says.
If you’re cooking meat, cut the chunks roughly the same size, so you get a consistent cook. Less may be more when it comes to spice, because cooking low and slow means flavours infuse more intensely than other cooking methods. And always add less liquid or stock than you think you need. “It’s difficult to take away extra or to thicken larger quantities of liquid,” he notes.
My followers absolutely love slow cooker recipes, it just makes life easier