The Crockpot Catastrophe You Should Never Repeat

A woman posted a photo of her stove completely covered in chili — thick, red, and everywhere. She explained that after cooking her chili in the crockpot for six hours on high, it still wasn’t quite done. So she decided to set the crockpot insert directly on her stovetop burner for “just one more hour.” When she tried to move it later, the bottom of the crockpot gave out — shattering instantly and spilling hot chili across the kitchen.

People flooded the comments with warnings: never put your crockpot on the stove. Crockpots are designed for slow, even heating — not the intense, focused heat of a burner. The sudden temperature change can cause the ceramic insert to crack, shatter, or even explode. Even worse, those micro-cracks you don’t see can weaken the insert, making future breaks inevitable — and dangerous.

The takeaway? Keep your slow cooker on the counter, where it belongs. If you need to finish your meal with higher heat, transfer it to a regular pot or pan. Trust me — one broken stove or crockpot disaster is one too many. Slow cookers are meant for patience, not stovetops.