Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Potatoes with Helpful Hints

The recipe I am posting today is for potatoes made in the slow cooker.  These potatoes can be used as a side dish or with some added ham or vegetables as a main dish.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Potatoes

6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 pounds red potatoes, cubed*
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg. powdered ranch dressing mix

Line the slow cooker with aluminum foil** and spray with cooking spray.  Leave enough foil to fold over the top.

Put a layer of potatoes evenly on the foil, top with 1/3 cup cheese, sprinkle with some ranch seasoning and bacon.  Repeat this two times more, leaving 1/2 cup of cheese for later.

Fold the foil over the potatoes and cook for 8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.
Sprinkle on the remaining cheese and put the cover back on for a couple minutes until the cheese melts.

* I imagine southern style frozen hash browns would work for this step and the cooking time would be a lot less.  I actually needed more cooking time.  I used the 3 to 4 hours on high method, and my potatoes were still slightly crunchy.  They were very firm raw red potatoes and needed extra time.

My method for making the cubes was using one of my favorite gadgets.  It is the Vidalia Chop Wizard.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2012/12/a-day-of-recovery.html

Slice the washed red potatoes into 1/2 inch slices.

Place slice on vidalia using the larger insert.

Results are uniform cubes of raw potato made in minutes.

**The next hint I have is for lining the slow cooker.  For most things I use the liner bags.  It saves washing the baked on food from the slow cooker.

 
However, this recipe said to line the slow cooker with foil, so that is what I did.  A good trick for lining a pan with foil is to first turn the pan upside down and form the foil around it.  It works for a crock pot insert or a cake pan.  The hard part about lining a pan with foil is to get the corners to fit without ripping the foil.  This eliminates that problem.

I'm showing this with a cake pan, but it also works for a crock pot.

Turn pan upside down and form the foil around the pan.

Take the foil off the pan, turn over and it fits perfectly even in the corners.