Slow-cooker burns mash potatoes instead of keeping them warm Another question regarding mashed potatoes. I have prepared my (vegan-friendly) mashed potatoes, and now I want to keep them warm.  I decided to place them in a slow cooker on the 'LOW' setting, thinking that would keep the mash warm and not over-cook them. However, after 1-2 hours, I saw burnt red-brown marks on the pot and around the mash.

I have never seen potatoes by themselves burn and turn red, so I assume this must be due to either the salt, or the Earth Balance margarine that I was using in the mash. However, I am clueless as to why margarine would burn at such a relatively low temperature, considering that the smoke point of the vegetable oils used in margarine are very high. 

These are pictures of the burn in my pot:




This is the model of my pot. A Booney  3SC65R slow cooker model.
That just looks like mildly burned mashed potatoes to me, possibly with a little oil/margarine included.

I think the issue here is just that potatoes are thick, and there was no stirring. Slow cookers are best suited for liquids, so that convection can transfer heat throughout the contents. With potatoes, nothing can move around, so whatever's around the edges can get a lot hotter. I've definitely managed to burn things a bit in my slow cooker too, for example apple butter that was too thick for good convection.

I'm not sure there's really much you can do about this given your slow cooker. If it had an even lower "warm" setting, you could try it. If you were willing to make really wet mashed potatoes, there might be enough water to avoid burning. But otherwise, you might have to look to another solution for keeping warm, like the oven, or or maybe an insulated carrier/box if it doesn't need to hold too long.