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Believe it or not, I have only very recently discovered the convenience and, yes, joy, of slow cooking in my home.
I incorporated this very traditional method of food preparation using clay pots which I have found to be quicker (and safer) than using a crockpot, Instapot, or stainless cookware.
While the concept of speedy slow cooking may seem to be an oxymoron, it really isn’t when it comes to clay pots. Let me explain …
My oldest child goes off to college very soon. The reality of him subsisting on unhealthy, highly processed college food after being raised on an organic, whole food diet for his entire life has been weighing on my mind for some time. As a result, I’ve been in search of an easy to use appliance in which he can quickly and safely prepare simple meals for himself as needed.
Clay Pot Cooker vs Instapot
A crockpot might seem like the perfect solution at first. However, I’ve never been thrilled with this option for several reasons (no offense to those of you who love them!). First, most models are made with Teflon, aluminum, and other unsafe materials. Even the few stainless steel models pose the problem of leaching heavy metals like carcinogenic nickel into your food when you cook acidic dishes such as tomatoes (1).
Old-time cast iron slow cookers aren’t necessarily better. These can contribute to the little known health issue of excess iron in the diet. Doctors call it iron overload disorder. This is of particular concern for adult males and menopausal women and recognized as a risk by science.
From a practical perspective, crockpots don’t cook fast enough for me let alone a busy college student.
Safety Issues
I’ve also avoided the fast cooking Instapot or other types of pressure cookers. I am not convinced that this unnatural way to cook food quickly doesn’t in fact greatly increase glutamates (MSG) in the food. This is especially risky when you make bone broth or tomato-based dishes. Pressure cookers are mostly made with stainless steel. This type of material introduces the very real risk of leaching toxic nickel when cooking acidic foods. I prefer an appliance I can use in all cooking situations!
Flavor Comparison
Finally, while crockpots do produce moist, juicy results, I haven’t been overly impressed with the flavor of the crockpot or Instapot meals. They taste bland and maybe a bit overly boiled to my palate. Of course, adding a lot of seasonings covers this up. The most nutritious food tastes amazing with little seasoning, however.
Hence my laid-back attitude toward slow cooking and pressure cookers until I discovered an affordable appliance that combines modern technology and convenience with the benefits and safety of traditional clay cooking. This appliance which I literally cannot live without after using for 2 years is called the Vita-Clay.
Clay Pots 101
Cooking in terra cotta clay pots is an ancient tradition that dates back to the Etruscan civilization that existed around 800 BC. Today, this area in central Italy that includes the city of Florence is known as Tuscany. I was fortunate to be able to visit Tuscany in the Fall of 2015. This travel experience made research into the subject of even greater personal interest.
Clay is a Porous Material
Cooking in clay pots is different than cooking in other materials such as ceramic or stainless steel. The primary difference is the porous clay. No enamel or glaze means the hard-baked clay “breathes”. Thus, water is absorbed and then released during cooking to achieve moist, intensely flavorful results with little to no seasonings. Slow, steady evaporation of steam from within the clay pot’s unglazed pores and the double-sealed lid is what makes this possible.
Cookbook author and Chef Suzanne Vandyck describes the process as follows:
… the clay cooker cooks with a minimum of liquid and retains all the intense flavors of every ingredient, achieved by simmering in its own juices. More of the essential nutrients and vitamins are retained in foods cooked in clay pots because food cooks in a closed environment with limited liquids.
Improved Cooking Efficiency Without Damaging the Food
In addition to intensely flavorful food, the moist clay combined with the double lid design of the model I use, the 8 cup Vita-Clay, creates a micropressure environment that allows for much-improved cooking efficiency. This means you save electricity and time. In fact, clay pot cooking can have your meal ready in up to half the time compared with using other slow cookers.
Speedy slow cooking using clay pots was not the only thing that got me excited about Vita-Clay. You can set the meal to cook and when it is ready, use the delay function to keep it warm until you’re ready to eat. In addition, clay pot cooking is not just suitable for stews. These appliances also cook rice, oatmeal, bone broth, and soups. They even make yogurt!
Vita-Clay Sizes
Below is a picture of the compact, personal Vita-Clay model I am going to send off to college with my son. Would you believe it costs less than $50? And, if the clay pot chips or breaks for whatever reason, it can be easily replaced without buying a whole new cooker. Clay pots are very resistant to damage, by the way, so the chances of this happening are low.
Update: I’ve now used Vita-Clay for two years. I have all three sizes depending on what type/size meal I need to cook. No chips or breaks yet. These pots are very durable!
Cleaning Clay Pots
How about cleaning the clay pots? No dishwasher is necessary although you can use one if you like. Note that dishwashers might discolor the clay pot slightly or cause some lime buildup. To clean, all I do is rinse it out first. Use a drop or two of mild dish soap if desired and a soft dishwashing brush. Then, rinse and wipe clean.
If there are some cooked on bits of food, I soak for an hour or so in plain water in the kitchen sink. Then, dump the water and wipe clean. For tougher to remove food bits, soak overnight using 1 cup water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, and 1 tablespoon baking soda. Rinse and wipe the following morning. I’ve actually never had to use this approach. Little to no scrubbing is necessary in my experience even when I cook rice.
What About Toxins
One of the very first questions I asked before considering cooking in a clay pot was: would it be safe and toxin-free for my family? The clay pot I use made by Vita-Clay is manufactured using organic Zisha clay. Zisha is extremely pure clay, tested to be free from contaminants. This special clay was formed over thousands of years by rainfalls that scrubbed the mountains in southern, nonindustrialized China. These rainfalls released minerals into pristine lakes forming huge clay beds.
This article on lab tests for lead in clay pots provides credible insights for those seeking toxin-free cooking using Vita-Clay.
Most risk of lead contamination comes from glazed, ceramic dishes and pots. The Zisha clay pots are unglazed and have been certified by an independent third-party lab as lead-free (test results here).
They meet the FDA, CA 65, and UL safety requirements. No chemical treatments are applied to the clay during manufacturing.
Making Soup in a Clay Pot
The dishes I love making in the clay pot cooker are soups, stews, soaked rice, soaked oatmeal (soak and cook in one step!) and yogurt. Yes, you can easily make yogurt (using any type of milk: dairy, coconut, almond) in the Vita-Clay!
For now, let me share with you my favorite soup recipe in the Vita-Clay. Just throw in all the ingredients, turn it on and you are done. This is a very easy option for dinner on nights when the schedule is challenging and hectic.
Clay Pot Split Pea Soup Recipe
Easy recipe for split pea soup made in a slow cooker clay pot.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried split peas
- 5 cups bone broth
- 1 1 lb/.5 kilo ham hock
- 1 pinch turmeric powder
- 1 onion finely chopped, preferably organic
- 4 celery stalks chopped, preferably organic
- 5 carrots chopped, preferably organic
Instructions
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Put all ingredients in the clay pot right after lunch around 1pm and close the lid.
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Turn on the “stew” setting for 3-4 hours. Dinner will be ready around 5pm. If you wish to eat dinner at a later time, the Vita-Clay will automatically keep things warm until then.
Recipe Notes
In a pinch, filtered water or a mixture of bone broth and water can be used.
If you buy instead of make bone broth, only buy bone broth packaged in glass jars. Other brands have toxic packaging issues.
Soaking Split Peas First
I like to soak split peas before cooking to increase digestibility and nutrient availability. To do this, put the split peas in a glass bowl with a teaspoon or so of sea salt, cover with filtered water and stir. I do this right after breakfast. You can also do it before you go to bed the night before if that’s easier. Then, after lunch, I drain off the water and put the soaked split peas and remaining ingredients in the Vita-Clay. Gently simmer into a hearty soup and dinner is done by 4-5 pm! Bonus: the Vita-Clay settings keep the meal warm until you are ready to eat.
Using a Vita-Clay Video Demonstration
The brief video below shows me using a Vita-Clay to make dinner. See how easy it is?
Want to Try Cooking in Clay for Yourself?
If this article has you excited to try cooking in clay pots too, note that there are several models to choose from. Click here to check out all the sizes and models available. Use coupon code WISE25 to order what you like best at 10% off. You won’t believe how reasonable the prices are!
Have you already tried cooking in clay pots? If so, what is your experience and what are your favorite dishes to create?
Disclosure: I was NOT paid to write this post although I was provided a Vita-Clay in order to personally verify all product claims. I wrote this article because I am a big fan of the Vita-Clay since researching about the benefits of clay pot cooking and cooking with it constantly over the past five years. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I truly believe in what this company is doing to produce a safe, quality product for the public.
Hi Sarah, I am going to purchase my first Vita-Clay, I read that you have all the sizes. We had a 6 quart slow cooker which no longer works and that’s why I started researching replacement options. Reading that the Vita-clay requires less liquid, is that true? so would a smaller 4 quart be fine for a family of 3, usually like having 4-5 servings so we have some left overs for lunch the next day of the soup or meat. I can’t decide on the 4 quart or 6 quart. What do you think?
The 6 quart is perfect for our family of 5 … I also have the 4 quart and I think you would like the 6 quart better. The stoneware model is absolutely beautiful on the counter! Here’s a picture on my counter. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/vitaclay-review/
Vita clay is Zisha, which is also known as purple clay. From what I’ve ready there is iron in the clay content of the zisha. Has there been independant testing for iron in these pots?
I am not sure about testing for iron. If you are iron sensitive, Vita-Clay would be safe as it is enameled much like a high quality cast iron skillet (which is also high in iron but the enamel prevents it from getting into your food). Also, Vita-Clay now has a stoneware model too. Here is a review of the stoneware Vita-Clay. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/vitaclay-review/
Hi
I have been researching slow cookers for a year and the only one I can find i would buy is Vitaclay. Unfortunately it seems impossible from Australia. They are only designed for America and need a converter for the extra wattage in Australia. I can’t get any proper info from Vita CLay about this. Any suggestions or other brands I could look at.
I don’t know of any other brands than Vita-Clay. I agree with you that it is the only slow cooker on the market that I would use. Why would using it with a converter be a problem? We travel to Australia (my husband is from Melbourne) and use our travel converter all the time there for charging laptops, cell phones etc. They work really well.
What do you use for skillets
We have stainless steel skillets. Enameled cast iron (not regular cast iron) is ok too.
Hi Sarah, What about Nickel in the clay? I checked out their website but it looks like they don’t test for it. But I’m glad they test for cadmium and lead.
Nickel is an alloy used to make stainless steel. I think that must be what you are thinking of?
I’ve read comments from 2014 and most individuals rated the Vita-pot with a high rating until the clay portion broke. Have they improved the viability of the clay insert? I’m afraid if the pot breaks, it will create a hazard with hot liquid and food.
I’ve had my clay Vita-Clay for 3 years .. no chips or breaks. If you drop it, of course it’s going to break or crack. Just be careful like you would with a glass baking dish!
Dear Sarah,
I would not know anything about this particular brand name, because I live in the land where clay pot cookery has been a part and parcel of our cuisine for millenniums. So if these pots are glazed to make them more attractive, I am sorry, but they are doing the same thing that destroyed the Roman civilization 3000 years ago, feeding their citizens lead by glazing the cooking pots and selling them in the markets.
In the Indian subcontinent and also in many parts of the East, food is always cooked – gravy of course, – in a traditional handi – in the north of India, called a chatti in the South of India. One goes to the nearest Potter, who has been making clay pots traditionally for generations, and asks for a rice cooking pot, a milk boiling pot, a gravy cooking pot – all of them are different in design and you can choose the sizes. All of them are going to come accompanied with their own lids. You make your Biryani in a clay Handi by putting all the ingredients in the clay pot, covering it with the lid and making it airtight with Dough as a sealant, so that steam cannot escape as the biryani is cooking slowly over a low fire.
Naturally, I also do my frying in a seasoned clay pot. Traditionally, in our country, the parents go to their married daughters house, on their new year’s day, bringing with them a new supply of cooking pots. These have been lovingly seasoned by the mother, a week beforehand, by her washing the pot after she has bought it from the potter. Please do not use poisonous chemicals like dishwasher soap to clean your clay pot. You do not want to feed your kids dishwasher chicken gravy, do you?
The traditional way of seasoning a clay pot, which was used for cooking purposes was done by boiling some rice and water, and using that water to fill up the clay pot. The starch blocked the pores and made it leakproof. The next morning, – leave it overnight, – the water was removed, the utensil was dried, and then seasoned both in and out with coconut oil because that was the oil used in South India, for cooking. Traditionally, you use the oil in your own local area, including olive oil to do the seasoning! I am not a South Indian, incidentally! I just lived my childhood, there, and use to see these ladies seasoning the cooking pots for their daughters. Repeat this, three times or if you really are very very caring, you are going to do this seven days running. Nowadays, people do a short cut of boiling rice water on low heat, for two minutes, after allowing it to absorb water – ordinary tap water – for 24 hours. Then it is oiled and put on to the heat, with rice water in it. The oil and the starch of the rice makes it waterproof. So if you are not very patient, you can do this two-minute heating on low heat and then five-minute heating on medium heat.
Your first food item that you are going to cook in your Chatti/handi is going to be a gravy with lots of liquid. That is going to set the flavor tone for your future dishes! You are going to clean it out with ordinary salt and water, or as they did it in olden times, scrubbing it with ashes or sand!
God bless, good health and Long Life… Naturally!
Hi Sarah, I love my vitaclay! How long do you cook the broth?
Here’s my Vita-Clay broth recipe 🙂 https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/slow-cooker-bone-broth/
am I missing something or is the over temp missing from this recipy?? 🙂
Hello Sarah, I so appreciate all your research and advice. I often use an electric roaster to cook for a crowd. Which is a better choice: the enameled version or the stainless steel? Or do you have a better suggestion for cooking for a large gathering? Thank you for your help!
Stainless steel is fine as long as the food being cooked is not acidic. For example, tomato based dishes would not be advisable in anything stainless steel. Chicken breasts would be fine.