Slow cooker with a non-stick insert swap to Stoneware slow cooker

Why make the swap

• Why switch to stoneware slow cooker

  With a stoneware crock and a glass lid, no coating touches the food. Hamilton Beach says its specifications for all of its slow cookers and their parts, earthenware crocks included, prohibit any measurable amount of lead. FDA tests ceramic food ware for lead, and when NPR checked in 2017, no slow cooker was on FDA’s list of products found with lead.

• What's the concern with slow cooker with a non-stick insert

  Some slow cookers, such as stovetop sear-and-cook models, use a removable non-stick aluminum pan instead of a stoneware crock. FDA says some PFAS are approved for making non-stick coatings, and that studies show the bonded coating contains a negligible amount of PFAS able to move into food. The open question is wear: a lab study estimated that a scratched non-stick surface might release thousands to millions of tiny coating particles in a simulated cooking process.

• General information, not medical advice. Ask your doctor, especially if you’re pregnant, nursing or have a health condition.

• Good to know before you buy

  Stoneware can’t go on the stovetop, so brown meat in a steel or cast-iron pan first. Retire a crock that’s chipped, cracked or badly worn: FDA lists damaged or excessively worn ceramics among the types to watch. Skip disposable slow cooker liners too. The best-known brand says they’re a blend of nylon, which is a plastic.

• Sources (8)

  1. FDA: 'Some PFAS are approved for use in the manufacture of non-stick cookware coatings'; 'Studies show that this coating contains a negligible amount of PFAS capable of migrating to food' (opens in a new tab)
  2. Luo et al. 2022, Sci Total Environ: estimated that 'thousands to millions' of Teflon micro- and nanoplastics 'might be released during a mimic cooking process' from a scratched non-stick pot (opens in a new tab)
  3. Hamilton Beach Stovetop Sear & Cook slow cooker (33662): 'Removable nonstick aluminum pan cooks directly on gas, electric, or ceramic stovetops' (opens in a new tab)
  4. FDA: ceramics to watch for lead are handmade with a crude appearance, antique, 'damaged or excessively worn', from flea markets or street vendors, or brightly decorated in orange, red or yellow (opens in a new tab)
  5. NPR, Dec 2017: FDA 'randomly tests ceramic food containers like crockpots for lead'; of FDA's list of tested products found with lead, 'Not a single crockpot is listed' (opens in a new tab)
  6. Hamilton Beach (brand expert answer on Target, Sep 2025): 'Hamilton Beach specifications applicable to all slow cookers and their components (including the earthenware crocks) prohibits the product from containing any measurable amounts of lead' (opens in a new tab)
  7. Maker's listing: Hamilton Beach 6 qt, 'The removable stoneware crock and durable glass lid are both dishwasher safe' (opens in a new tab)
  8. Reynolds slow cooker liners: 'Reynolds has safely used this blend of nylon for over 30 years' (opens in a new tab)

  Health and safety facts on this page come from these sources. What a pick is made of comes from its maker's listing or website, as stated on the date we checked.