The easiest, creamiest, beef and cheese pasta ever. Even the pasta gets cooked right in the slow cooker!
This slow cooker ground beef and cheese pasta was a hit! Just a few basic ingredients tossed in the slow cooker and by dinner time a delicious hearty meal was ready. This is one of those recipes my 7-year-old couldn’t get enough of. She couldn’t even wait until I was done photographing the pasta to eat ????
This is a recipe I make all the time in a pot on the stove-top or in a slow cooker. The pasta goes in uncooked and any type can be used. I like to add heavy cream towards the end of baking for a creamier pasta but that is totally optional. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
To make this yummy pasta add the brown ground beef, marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, italian seasoning, sautéed onions and garlic, salt, and water.
Cook for 4-5 hours then add the pasta and cheese and give it one more hour. After that dig right into this yummy cheesy pasta.
slow cooker ground beef and cheese pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups uncooked pasta, any kind
- 24 oz jar marinara sauce, about 3 cups
- 1 cup diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
- 1 teaspoon dried italian herb seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat a medium pan to medium/high heat. Cook ground beef until it browns (5 minutes), drain and remove from the pan and pour into slow cooker.
Wipe the pan with a paper towel and add 1 tablespoon oil to the same pan, cook the onions for 2-3 minute, until soft. Add the minced garlic and cook for another 20 seconds. Turn off heat and pour onions and garlic into slow cooker.
Add the jar of marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, italian seasoning, water, and salt. Cook on medium heat for 4 hours.
Next, Add the pasta, heavy cream, half the mozzarella cheese, the parmesan and gently stir. Top with the remaining 1/2 mozzarella cheese and cook for another hour or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve warm. Enjoy!
I didn’t understand why everything had to take so long to cook in it after it was already cooked, but it did taste wonderful and I shared it at church
Is this recipe based on 4 or 7qt crockpot
Just made this. Delish. Love it.
Followed recipe. No cream too lazy to go to grocery store again. Used Hunts 24 oz traditional spaghetti sauce. Added oregano & rosemary.
Crockpot only low & high. Cooked on high for about 2.5 hours. Added ziti pasta on high for about 30 minutes. Perfect. Set to keep warm.
Threw in fresh basil & a pinch of sugar.
So much better than cooking stovetop. Boiling hot water for pasta. Simmering sauce. Too hot.
This method great for our 102° temp in San Antonio TX
Thank you for recipe
Thanks! I couldn’t quite under if I was suppose to pre cook the pasta.
Hey is it ok to double this recipe? I have a big crockpot and want to save leftovers. Thanks!
I’m just about to do the same! Looks very watery at the moment but hopefully by the end and once I add the pasta it will all thicken up 🙂
I want to make this, could I use alfredo instead of the marinara?!?!?
I have made this twice. First time my noodles were mushy. Next time I substituted 1/2 cup red wine for some of the water. It was SO good!.My adult sons said it was delicious & DECADENT.
This was very good! I had 1/2 ground & 1/2 sausage to use and added a little more pasta. No medium so I cooked it 4 1/2 hrs then added the pasta and cooked about 45 minutes more all on low. Next time will be without the sausage b/c it made it a little greasy. Husband loved it!
when you cooked it for 4 1/2 hours, was it on high or low?
I would suggest 3 to 4 hours of cooking sauce and meat then add pasta heavy whipping and mozzarella for another 30 mins
How many calories are in this dish?
This was very bland. No one in my house liked it.
You can add chili flakes, pepper, salt and chili pepper to make it as spicy as you like. You can also add some red wine for depth of flavor. It’s delicious that way.
Probably because you suck at cooking 🤷🏼♂️
Oh my 😂
I prepared this dish once before and both my son and I loved it! It is an excellent dish. I did not use the heavy cream, only mozzarella cheese. The heavy cream is optional as mentioned in the recipe. And for the person who said this dish was bland, do you use onions and garlic and other spices? This kind of dish cannot possibly be bland especially if you add parmesan cheese! Love it. Thank you to the person who posted this recipe. It’s a hit for me and my family!
I am wondering if anyone used ricotta cheese?
Am I I missing something? It says cook time is 6 hrs, but 4 hrs, plus one additional hour is a total of 5 hrs.
Didn’t know crock pots have med-high heat.
Winging it on low for 5.5 hrs, then adding pasta for 30 min?
Wonderful recipe. I had to omit the Diced tomatoes, the heavy whipping cream, and the parmesan cheese for my family but all 5 loved it. Even the kids! Thanks for sharing! Will be a favorite in our house for a while!
So happy the family enjoyed it! 🙂
Is the pasta already cooked when you add it to the crockpot or do you add it “raw”?
That’s what I want to know!
It says “ The pasta goes in uncooked and any type can be used.”
(sorry, caps is stuck on)
Made on stove top using listed ingredients – browned ground beef, simmered with other ingredients, then added boiled Noodles. Served with garlic bread. We loved it
We really enjoyed this but should have cooked the pasta for only 30 minutes. I would have cooked the sauce no more then 2 hours.
This recipe is amazing! My family loves it!
I cooked on low for 5 and a half hours, and added shells, cream, and cheese. Cooked for another 30 minutes on low and it came out great.
Loved it! Made it as instructions say but I always add a little more as far as spices go. Also, I just threw in the meat and veggies without cooking them first. Did it for about six hours on low. Sooo good!!
I made this on the stove top turned out (note to self use more water for stove top and simmering as as soon as it boils.)DELICIOUS..I used canned tomatoes with basil,garlic and oregano and half an half all I had on hand and added fresh spinach and pasta sauce. But I did have a bag of shredded Italian cheese on hand. Took about 45 minutes to hour to cook.
Made this tonight with textured soy protein (veggie ground-round I think it’s called) and tofu cheese as a vegan version, and it was phenomenal! I do agree that you should add a bit more spice (I added a bit of Sriracha). I also used whole cherry tomatoes instead of the diced ones and I highly recommend it!
(I’m not even a vegan, I was just trying to impress some cool friends and it totally worked.)
I omitted the cream, no substitution, just a bit more water. Added broccoli to boost vitamins, a can of tomato paste and a bay leaf. Family wanted seconds.
Did you cook the broccoli first?
I’m afraid I found this recipe bland and watery. The cream may have helped but I didn’t have any. It definitely only needs max 30 mins from when the pasta goes in, even on low. Overall, probably not worth doing a pasta bake in a crock pot, it would be better baked in the oven, although the beef was lovely and tender.
What is the three cups of water for
can you use sour cream instead of heavy cream…in a smaller amount?
I used the same amount in low fat cream cheese, came out wonderful and creamy. Also doubled the Italian seasoning and used crushed red pepper for a kick. Only put the pasta and cheese in during the last twenty minutes or it’s mushy.
I made this recipe yesterday and it was very good. I did make a couple of changes though. I didn’t have a can of regular diced tomatoes so I used fired roasted tomatoes. I didn’t have any cream so I used sour cream instead and it was delicious. I just added the sour cream when I added the pasta. I also ended up adding a little more salt towards the end because it was a little bland tasting. My slow cooker only has a high and low setting so before adding the pasta, sour cream, and remaining cheese, I cooked it on low for 5 hours for the sauce to come together. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the cheese was melted for me after only 30 minutes on low. This is definitely something I will make again. Hopefully, I can make it with the cream next time because the sour cream really did make it creamy so I am sure the cream would do the same. My husband loved it too. He took leftovers to work for lunch today and it will be my lunch too. Looking forward to it! 🙂
Just made this today and it was great! Cooked it on high for 2 hours then on low for 2 hours. Then we added the dry pasta (we used egg noodles) and cheese and cooked for 1 more hour to let pasta get done. So good! I really love Italian food.
Made this and it tasted ok. Like others, I only have slow cooker that has low and high settings. Had to add more seasoning than recipe suggested as it was very bland. Picture looks like there was cheddar cheese added in addition to mozzarella and parm ??
The reason it looks like cheddar cheese is because of the fat in cheese and the tomato sauce has mingled together.
If the meat is already cooked before going into the slow cooker, then the cooking time is just for the pasta, really. So why cook so long?? Pasta is ready in a very short time!
I made this for dinner but the pasta turned so mushy! What can I do to fix this? The recipe was great, just don’t like soggy pasta.
Following. I was going to make this tomorrow night but was worried about the pasta going soggy. I’m assuming it’s got something to do with the cooking time. My slow cooker only has low and high too, no medium. ????
I just read a similar recipe and the method doesn’t have the pasta added until 30 minutes before ready.
Correct, the 1h hour with pasta is too long. The reciepe was good but also had mushy pasta. I think that 30 min or 20min would be good next time
During the cold winters, this is a staple in our house.
I love pasta
thanks good recipe