Love your slow cooker as much as we do? Check out my 15 Best Crockpot Recipes, these Easy Crockpot Meals or these quick-to-prep Dump ‘n’ Go Slow Cooker Meals! I know. I’m not even 50 words in and I’ve cheated already. This Crock Pot Baked Ziti is obviously NOT baked. Though I suppose if you were really set on it you could stir in an egg and some ricotta (although Serious Eats isn’t upset my recipe’s lack of it), spread it into a baking dish and bake it. I, however, am not. Because this Slow Cooker Baked Ziti is all about finding easy, crockpot meals that my family loves, don’t use a whole pile of dishes and are relatively healthy and hearty. And the best part about slow cooker dinners? That moment, often around 5:00, when you would normally be all like, “Riiiiiiiight…… dinner…..”, but instead you’ve got things totally under control. How much do you feel like a rockstar in that moment?
Tips for cooking Crock Pot Pasta:
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that figuring out how to cook pasta in the slow cooker was pretty life changing for me. Take this Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Chili Mac for instance, or this Slow Cooker Healthier Hamburger Helper. We can’t get enough! But there are a few tricks to getting it just right!
Variations on this Slow Cooker Baked Ziti:
I have one other confession: my Ziti is not Ziti. It’s Penne. But you know what? Ziti is not that easy to find around here, and since my “Baked” Ziti isn’t all that traditional in the first place, why cause a big fuss about it? (If you’re looking for another untraditional “Baked Ziti” recipe that doesn’t cook all day, try this One Pot Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage!) If you insist, you can easily swap the penne for ziti noodles, and nothing will change.
Here are a few more ways to mix things up if you want:
Try swapping ground beef for loose Italian sausage for a slightly spicy, extra flavorful kick. Try swapping ½ cup of the broth for ½ cup of cream for a creamy, tomato-based pasta You can easily swap the penne or ziti noodles for spaghetti and end up with spaghetti and meat sauce — just cut down the cook time on the noodles and stir every 5 minutes until cooked. You can easily bump up the veggie content by adding shredded carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, finely chopped kale or spinach — and no one will know!
More Crock Pot Pasta recipes:
Crockpot Chicken and Noodles recipe Crock Pot Mac and Cheese recipe Healthier Slow Cooker Hamburger Helper Recipe Cheesy Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti Recipe + VIDEO
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