Yes you can! The reasons to brown mince before cooking in the slow cooker (or crock pot) is to add flavour, to avoid excess fat and to stop the meat clumping. You can avoid needing to do that by: adding lots of extra flavour, using lean mince and chopping up the mince before adding. All that said, if you do want to brown the mince, go for it, I’m just always looking for a time saving hack.