You can make an easy crock pot soap using all natural ingredients. Once you have made this easy crock pot soap, you will never buy big brand soap again. The soap you buy in stores lacks one thing that has fantastic nourishing properties, natural glycerin. Big body and skin care corporations strip soap of its natural glycerine because they can get more money selling glycerin separately.
This recipe makes crock pot soap that retains its natural glycerin. This easy crock pot soap doesn’t dry your skin like the store-bought soap does. Also, the soap you buy in stores is often made with artificial fragrance and synthetic additives. You control what ingredients to use when making your own soap. If you follow this simple and easy crock pot soap recipe, your soap will have only all natural ingredients. So, are you ready to make some easy crock pot soap?? You’d be glad you did!
Soap Making Basics
How is soap created exactly? Soap forms when you mix fat with lye. No lye, no soap. Yes, that means to make this easy crock pot soap from scratch, you have to use lye. I know, I know, when we hear “lye,” we think “Danger! Danger!” It’s true, gangsters have used lye to dispose bodies that they don’t want the cops to find. Some psychotic crazies have used lye to permanently disfigure people. Counterfeiters have used lye to remove the ink on $1 bills and print a higher denomination (like $100 bills) on the same fabric. Many people have used lye to do bad things, but as I explain below, if you take the proper precautions, you can safely make this easy crock pot soap, using lye, and your soap will be far better for your skin than most store-bought soap.
What is lye and what precautions should you take when using lye? Lye, also known as sodium hydroxide, is a caustic material that can seriously damage any organic matters, including us, humans. Precautions must be taken when working with lye. Articles like these from Soap Queen and Soap Recipe 101 explain what you should do when working with lye. You should definitely read them if you are a first time or novice soaper.
Among other precautions, when making soap (and working with lye), you should wear goggles to protect your eyes, chemical-resistant gloves to protect your hands, long-sleeve shirt and pants to protect your body, closed-toe shoes to protect your feet. Also, it’s never a good idea to make soap when children or pets are around. I make this easy crock pot soap, and other soap bars, when my little one is taking her long afternoon nap or asleep for the night.
If you take the necessary precautions, you can make this easy crock pot soap that you’d proud to use on you and your loved ones. For many people, once they’ve learned how to make crock pot soap, they become a soaper for life. I am one of those people! I enjoy formulating new soap recipes. The possibilities are endless. My little girl gets very excited when we have a new batch of soap ready for use at home. She enjoys sniffing, touching, and trying out new soap.
I can’t believe I subjected myself and my family to store-bought soap for as long as I did. Never again. Ok, so, ready . . . set . . . let’s make this easy crock pot soap!! This is a super simple and easy crock pot soap recipe. It only uses 2 oil: olive oil and coconut oil. This is a hot process soap, aka, crock pot soap. This means you will only need a few days, not 4 to 6 weeks, to dry (cure) the soap. Unlike soap made using the cold process or cold process oven process (CPOP) method, you can enjoy or gift your easy crock pot soap a few days after its creation. I use this recipe to make crock pot soap for our bathrooms and kitchen. My little one loves to use “Mama soap,” as she calls it.
Easy Crock Pot Soap Using Olive Oil & Coconut Oil
Prep Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes (including about 45 minutes of cooking time)
Yields: 20 oz of soap, about 4 to 5 bars
Curing/Drying Period: 3 to 4 days
Equipment Need to Make Easy Crock Pot Soap
includes affiliate links
- a crock pot
- glass measuring cups
- a digital scale
- silicone spatulas
- a stick blender
- cute soap molds, or a loaf soap mold
- a soap cutter, if you use a loaf soap mold
You should separate your soap making equipment from your food preparation equipment. I bought many of my soap making equipment, including my crock pot, from a thrift store for very little money.
Ingredients Needed to Make Easy Crock Pot Soap
- Olive Oil – 13.5 oz (I use Trader Joe’s Imported Olive Oil. You can also try Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or Trader Joe’s Tunisian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil.)
- Coconut Oil – 4 oz (I use Trader Joe’s Organic Virgin Coconut Oil. You can also try other brands of coconut oil. Organic virgin unrefined coconut oil is the best kind of coconut oil for your skin.)
- Beeswax (cosmetic grade) – 1 oz (Beeswax Organic Pastilles)
- Lye – 2.4 oz (Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide Lye)
- Distilled Water – 6 oz (get it at your neighborhood supermarket)
Instructions on Making Easy Crock Pot Soap
(1) Put on your protective gear: goggles, gloves, long-sleeve clothes and shoes. Cover your work area. If you haven’t already, please read Soap Queen and Soap Recipe 101 for the necessary safety precautions.
(2) In a well ventilated area, make lye solution by adding lye to distilled water (NEVER add water to lye). Make sure you don’t inhale the fume that the lye solution initially releases. That fume is toxic. Also, the temperature of the lye solution gets very hot. I use a glass (not plastic) measuring cup to make lye solution.
(3) Use a large silicone spatula (nothing made of aluminum) to mix lye and water, dissolving all lye crystals in the water. Set the Lye Solution aside for 10 to 15 minutes, until the solution turns from cloudy to clear.
(4) Place Olive Oil and Coconut Oil in a crock pot. Turn crock pot on to low heat to melt and warm up the oil.
(5) When all the Oil becomes liquid, slowly add Lye Solution into the Oil.
(6) Hand mix Lye Solution with Oil using a large silicone spatula for a few minutes. I used wooden and bamboo utensils to mix in the past, but they did not last because of Lye’s caustic property.
(7) After about 2-3 minutes, continue to mix with a stick blender. As you use a stick blender, you will see the Lye and Oil getting thicker in consistency and lighter in color.
(8) When Lye and Oil reaches light trace (pudding consistency), then add melted beeswax. I melt beeswax using a double boiler. Here’s how you create your own double boiler.
(9) Use the stick blender to mix the melted beeswax and the Lye-Oil Mixture. When the consistency becomes similar to the consistency of mashed potato, cover the crockpot with a lid.
After being cooked in a crock pot in low heat for about 40 minutes, the easy crock pot soap mixture will have a consistency similar to petroleum jelly.
(10) Mix 1/2 cup of distilled water into the cooked mixture. Mix the water into the mixture well. This will make it easier to pour the mixture into your molds.
(11) Pour mixture into molds. I like silicone molds because they are nonstick. After 24 hours in the molds, the soap mixture will harden and you can remove the soap from the molds.
(12) Let the easy crock pot soap dry (cure) for about 3-4 days before use. The longer you allow the soap to dry, the harder and longer lasting the soap will become.
That’s it. This super simple and easy crock pot soap recipe makes a very mild soap. It has all natural ingredients. It is so easy to make, why would you ever buy soap again? Yes, the thought of working with lye is scary, but when all necessary precautions are taken, many, many people have successfully and safely made soap in their home. In fact, the tradition of soap making at home has been around for a long time. According to Soap History, archaeological evidence showed that soap making has been around since 2800 BC! So what are you waiting for? Give this easy crock pot soap recipe a try, and make some awesome, all natural soap! Be warned, this recipe might turn you into a soaper for life! I’d love to hear about your creations, and answer any questions you might have. Let soap making begin!
Can’t get enough of homemade soap?! Here are some more easy crock pot soap recipes you can try.
Can you just add honey & oatmeal to this recipe to make the oatmeal soap? I like the fact that its a smaller recipe but would like to be able to vary the add-ins
Dear Silvia,
Thank you for sharing your recipes. Last weekend I have made the olive oil and coconut oil soap. I have added lavenderoil and topped the soap with lavender from our garden. It smells and looks great but the soap is still soft. Do you think this will harden in time? Is there anyway to speed that process up?
I have read that if you double the amounts the lye amount might have to change. I must admit that I wanted to make a bigger batch so doubled the amount..maybe that is cause?
Hope you can give some more info.
Thanks in advance.
Greetings from Holland 🙂
I am hoping to try soap making soon. I was wondering if you can double recipes, or if you should not. TIA
Great question, Tia. I think doubling recipes is fine. But once you have doubled the oil/butter and liquid amounts, it’s always a good idea to check a lye calculator to make sure you have the correct lye amount. Also, as a new soaper, you might like this recipe for first time soapers. I hope you’ll give it a try. Please keep me posted on how it goes. Happy soaping!
TFS what is the purpose of beeswax in your soaps?
Great question! I use beeswax to make my soap bars harder and last longer. Please let me know if you have more questions. I hope you’ll give this recipe a try!
I bought 100% lye, sodium hydroxide, the brand is Rooto, at the hardware store. It doesn’t say food grade. I hope that’s good. Amazon won’t deliver to my address out in the country. I even tried a friend’s address in a bit larger town. Not deliverable. What’s the difference in lye?
Thanks
Hi Laura, what you bought should work fine. It’s 100% lye and that’s what you need to make soap bars. I think what you bought is very similar to Roebic Laboratories Drain Cleaner Crystals, which is also 100% lye, and people use it to make soap. Please let me know how it goes!
Lye cant be food grade.
Its a very strong alkali designed to clean up pipes. You can find it in hardware stores. It as to be pure though. Enjoy your soap making!
Hi Caroline, you’re right that lye can be used as a drain opener, but there is food grade lye. Lye (food grade) is also used to make pretzels and bagels.
Thank you for this recipe, I am making it today. I was looking for this two oils recipe.
I’m so glad you’re giving this recipe a try. Please keep me posted on how your soap turned out!
Hello!
Would it be possible to trade the beeswax for an ounce of jojoba oil?
Great question! I don’t recommend using jojoba oil in place of beeswax. It’s OK to not to use beeswax in this recipe. You can substitute it with soy wax, candelilla wax, or not use any wax at all. If you don’t use any wax, your soap might be a bit softer and might need a bit longer to cure/dry. If you want to add jojoba oil to you soap, you might consider substituting 1 oz of olive oil for 1 oz of jojoba oil. Please let me know if you have any more questions. Hope you’ll give this recipe a try!
Can you add any kind of essential oils or something to make it smell better?
Absolutely! While I think all natural soap bars smell pretty nice without additional scent, you can certainly add essential oil (or fragrance oil) to your soap. You can do so at step 10, right before you pour your soap mixture into a mold. I prefer essential oil over fragrance oil. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi, Im in Australia and would like to make this weekend. Could you please clarify your measurements; are oz by volume or weight? I’ll need to convert to millilitres or grams.
Many thanks.
Ive come up with the following, does it look right?
Olive Oil – 400ml
Coconut Oil – 113gm
Beeswax – 28gm
Lye – 68g,
Distilled Water – 177ml
And some more questions sorry….
1) In step 10 it says to add 1/2 cup distilled water. Is this in addition to the 6oz listed in the recipe?
2) If I wanted to add some coffee grounds, would this be done at step 10?
Thanks again
Hi Tiffany, I’m so happy that you will give this recipe a try! The ingredients (oil, beeswax, lye and water) are measured in weight. You can certainly convert them into grams. Please keep me posted on how your all natural soap turns out!
Mmmmm…..you seem to measure your ingredients in both milliliters and grams. I would probably use only grams. I used an online converter, and got the following:
Oliver Oil – 382.7 g, Coconut Oil – 113.4 g, Beeswax – 28.3 g, Lye – 68 g, Distilled Water – 170 g.
That’s right, Tiffany, the 1/2 cup (118.3 milliliters) of water in Step 10 is in addition to the 6 oz (170 g) of distilled water used to make the lye solution. You can definitely add coffee grounds. Maybe in Step 10, first add the coffee grounds to the water, then add the mixture to the cooked soap. I don’t recommend adding a lot of coffee grounds. I’d add no more than 1.5 oz (42.5 g). Keep me posted please!
Hi Silvia, Thanks so much for your responses.
The first batch I made was a disaster! Adding the water like you suggested after the cooking process didn’t mix in well :(. The slow cooker I use is also very large so I figured I needed a larger batch and it also got very hot and overcooked I think. So a few things I have learned;
> Once it has been blended and is ready to cook, cover the pot with plastic wrap and then put the lid on – this keeps in moisture
> I set mine to ‘keep warm’ as this is the very lowest setting
> Any liquid added after the cooking process has to be heated to mix with the soap
So since then I have made 3 successful batches, all with different ingredients added. I use this basic recipe which I ran through the calculator on TheSage website:
750g Olive oil
250g Coconut Oil
300g distilled water
137g lye
I then cook on the keep warm setting for 1 hour.
Some of the extras I have worked in are the coffee grounds, lemon rind, coconut cream, green tea and essential oils.
Thanks again for the handy guide to get me started 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your tips and your recipes! So happy to hear that you’ve made quite a few successful hot process / crock pot soap. 🙂
Hi, I made this recipe as my first hot process soap. Everything seemed great, and it poured into the mold easily. I did double the recipe (and checked a lye calculator to make sure everything was okay) I waited about 36 hours before popping it out of the silicon mold, and it seems really soft. I cut it into bars and put it up to cure…. my concern is how soft it feels.
Is there a specific area that is a failure point in this type of recipe? Or am I just jumping the gun, and it will harden up in a few days?
Thanks for making this project available for everyone!
Great to hear that you gave this recipe a try, Holly! I found that there are 2 main reasons causing soap to turn out too soft, too much liquid (or beeswax) in the recipe, or the lye mixture and the oil were not sufficiently blended before cooking. If your soap feels soft, but still retains its shape after you popped it out of the mold, it should harden up with time, probably within a week. Please keep me posted on how it goes!
Hello. Thanks for all the detailed articles. I am a soaper in Colorado, but am trying to find two or three of the best and most straightforward recipes to teach women rescued from human trafficking in Nicaragua. I will transport the needed equipment, but hope to use mostly locally sourced ingredients. Coconut oil is plentiful. Is it possible to substitute most or all coconut oil for the olive oil in the crock pot recipes? What are the caveats? I am dealing with tropical heat and humidity in primitive conditions and must be creative. Do you have some suggestions for me? Grateful!
Wow, sounds like you are involved in a great project! Yes, you can make a pure coconut oil soap (using only coconut oil), but be sure to have a high super fat content (at least 20-25%) in the soap, because coconut oil soap can be very drying. You can also make a cold process salt bar soap using coconut oil as the main ingredients. Please let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks for reaching out!
I appreciate your help very much.
No problem. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck with your project.
I love rooibos tea soaps. Can i use strong rooibos tea where i have to add water?
Yes, absolutely! You can use any liquid in place of water to make your homemade soap. If you use rooibos tea, you’ll likely have a darker color soap. I’d love to know how your soap turns out. Keep me posted please!
Could the beeswax be switched out for shea, and the water for raw goats milk? If so, would there need to be any adjustments to measurement / process?
Thanks for reaching out! If you want, you can leave the beeswax out. If you want to use goat milk rather than water, be sure to freeze it before using it to make your lye solution. I don’t like to do that, because the long cooking time in the crock pot tends to darken the soap’s color.
A better way to use goat milk is in step 10. So you’d use water to make lye solution, but substitute goat milk for water in step 10, right before you pour your soap into the mold.
Here’s a post on tips I have on using milk to make soap. Let me know how it goes please!
This is probably a very silly question – are your measurements all fluid ounces or ounces? We work in grams in New Zealand but just wanted to clarify which you used
It’s not a silly question at all! I use weight oz (not liquid oz) to measure ingredients for soap, like oil, butter, and lye. Hope you’ll give this easy crock pot soap recipe a try. I’d love to know how it turns out!
How do you wash everything you used (e.g. crockpot, spatula, measuring cup, etc.)? Are you still wearing safety gear in the washing process? Where do you wash then (i.e. outside, utility/garage sink?
Great question. I put my crock pot, spatula, measuring cups, and other tools in my kitchen sink, then run water over them. Sometimes (but not always) I let them soak in water overnight, before washing them by hand. It’s a good idea to wear dishwashing gloves when washing your items, but the full protective gear is not necessary. Please let me know if you have more questions. If you’ve tried this crock pot soap recipe, I’d love to know how your soap turned out!
Hi you made this hot process soaping so darn easy. Am into cold process soaping and was looking to try out the hot process method. Yours seems to be the perfect recipe to start with. Thanks for sharing it. Just a question….. Any substitute for beeswax or can it be totally done away with? Would love your support on this. Thanks once again.
Thank you for reaching out! I’m so glad that you’ll be giving hot process soap, aka, crock pot soap, a try. Beeswax is not an absolutely necessary ingredient, you can not use it at all. Here are some of my other easy hot process soap recipes, most of them do not include beeswax as an ingredient. The post for Easy Homemade Soap for 1st Time Soapers might be especially helpful for you. Please let me know if you have any more questions. I’d love to know how your first batch of hot process soap turns out!
Would you use this crook pot for soap making only or after cleaning is it still okay for cooking food?
Good question. I don’t use any of my soapmaking tools to prepare food. That goes for the crock pot too. I don’t want any possible lye residue to get into my food. But I didn’t buy a new crock pot to make soap. I got my soap making crock pot used from a thrift store for a few bucks.
Can essential oils be added along with colorant and dried lavender? And at what point does it get added if so?
Yes, absolutely. I would add essential oil, colorant, and dried lavender at step 10. You might also want to take a look at this post for olive oil hot process soap. After the soap was fully cooked, at step 12, I added essential oil and dried lavender buds.