Crock Pot Pasta is the easiest, most comforting way to enjoy pasta. This recipe for Slow Cooker Ziti features a homemade sauce, tons of cheese, and noodles that are cooked to perfection right in the slow cooker. This is one easy hands-off meal that is PERFECT for busy days!
Serve this Crock Pot Baked Ziti with Homemade Garlic Toast and a side Greek Salad for a complete family meal that is satisfying, comforting, and super easy to prepare.
My most favorite comforting meal as a child was my mom’s pasta and her homemade tomato sauce. When I came home from school and smelled the tomatoes and oregano, I knew dinner would be good!
I turned my Mom’s pasta into a one-pot, easy, slow-cooker meal by making my homemade tomato sauce in the slow cooker, and then adding pasta and cheese at the end.
YES, you heard me right! You can cook your pasta in the slow cooker! Your life is changed for the better now!
Crock Pot Baked Ziti is beyond simple, only dirties up one dish, and flavors are reminiscent of lasagna.
Key Ingredients
- Tomato Sauce: I start his dish out with a version of my homemade tomato sauce. You can use any jarred spaghetti sauce your family likes, just be sure to follow the recipe modifications if using jarred sauce. add in an additional 1 cup water for pasta to have something to absorb while cooking. And you still need to let the sauce heat up before adding the pasta. I would cook on low for at least 1 hour.
- Pasta: Shape and size of pasta matter for this recipe. I have tried this Crock-Pot Ziti with ziti, rotini, rigatoni, and elbow noodles with success. Spaghetti, linguine, and bow-tie pasta is not recommended. Gluten-Free pasta does not cook well in the slow cooker either.
- Cottage Cheese: Cottage cheese adds the perfect creaminess and texture to this baked ziti, but you can use ricotta instead.
- Cheese: Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese add the perfect cheesy touch.
- Meat (optional): This crock-pot pasta makes a hearty meatless dish, however, feel free to brown sausage or ground beef and add to when you add the pasta to the slow cooker.
How to Make Slow Cooker Pasta
- Mix together all the ingredients for the homemade tomato sauce.
- Slow cook for several hours on low for the sauce to develop its flavor and the tomatoes to mellow out.
- Once the sauce has cooked, turn the heat to high. Stir in the pasta, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese.
- Cook for 30-45 minutes for whole grain pasta and 15-20 minutes for white pasta, or until the pasta is tender.
- Top with Parmesan cheese, and let warm through before serving.
More Comforting Pasta Recipes
- Creamy Chicken Casserole
- Homemade Lasagna
- Easy Taco Pasta
- Instant Pot Creamy Italian Pasta
- Instant Pot Spaghetti
Make this Slow Cooker “Baked” Ziti and get dinner done without the hassle!
Slow Cooker Ziti
Ingredients
Homemade Tomato Sauce
- 28 ounce can tomato puree
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 3 cups water, divided
- 1 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
For the Crock-Pot Ziti
- 16 ounce package whole grain rotini or ziti
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese freshly grated
Instructions
- Mix together tomato puree, tomato paste, 2 cups water, oil, honey, and spices together in a slow cooker.
- Cover and set to low and cook for 4-5 hours.
- Turn slow cooker to high and mix in 1 cup water, pasta, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Cover and let cook for about 45 minutes for whole grain pasta and 25 minutes for white pasta, or until pasta is tender, stirring half-way through.
- Once the pasta is tender, finish with Parmesan cheese and serve.
I want to try this , it’s summer and hot in az. I don’t want to turn on oven😩 is this recipe ok to follow minus the rocatta cheese , I don’t have any …
Hi Nicole, yes you can make this without the cottage cheese without any issues. Enjoy and stay cool!
I really loved how tasty and delicious this is!! So yummy!
I would have never added cottage cheese but I decided to give it a go and it was amazing. This ziti was so easy to make and delicious; the cottage cheese increased the protein which made me very happy. Thank you this was a lovely family dinner.
I love this recipe. It makes dinner so much easier and faster! My family loves it!
This is, hands down, one of the best dishes I have ever made. It was PRECISELY what I was looking for and my husband and father have been as WOWED by it as I am.
I so infrequently follow recipes step-by-step but something told me to with this one; my intuition almost never fails 😉 I did add meat, venison (because I was out of ground beef) and sausage. My only other alteration was adding an extra can of diced tomatoes b/c I REALLY like sauce and tomato chunks but it almost made it too saucy – this is one of the few recipes where I would strongly recommend you just do as she says!
Thank you so much for providing this little slice of heaven – just finished off yet another bowl of it!
I LOVE LOVE hearing how much you enjoyed this recipe Alyson. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
I made this. I left out the cottage cheese because I tried a different pasta dish with the stuff and my kids didn’t like it. I also added some ground beef.
Its pretty good. Very easy and cheap to make. I’m going to toss in some garlic next time. My wife thought the recipe was missing something and it was probably garlic.
Hi DJ! I am glad you found this easy (and inexpensive) to make! I think adding garlic and some extra cheese (since you are not using cottage cheese) is a great idea.
Wonderful recipe. Has become a family and friends favorite. I added a small amount of garlic powder to the sauce. I also cook in a couple shakes of Parmesan cheese — has passed the family test! Thank you for sharing.
I love when meals get the family seal of approval. Thanks for sharing 😊
I made this recipe with rigatoni! I made a couple of modifications. I used 36 oz jar of my favorite pasta sauce and put crockpot on warm for 2.5 hours. Then added 1 lb browned ground beef, cottage cheese, and rigatoni. Note, you’ll need to add 12 oz (1.5 cups) of water for the rigatoni to cook in. Then took about 40 min on high to cook all the way through!
I love when people are able to take inspiration from my recipe and make it their own. Sounds delicious Nadia!
Do you cook the ziti first. The recipe is not clear
Hi Michelle, I am going to update right this recipe shortly to be sure it is super clear. You do NOT cook the ziti first. Part of the beauty of this fast meal 🙂 Enjoy!
What is the significance of the honey? Can it be left out? I typically don’t care for sweet red sauces.
Hi Amy,
You can certainly leave out the honey. However, this small amount doesn’t add much sweetness. It just helps to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. Enjoy 🙂