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There's nothing better than an easy pasta dinner that practically makes itself, and this Crockpot Ziti does just that. With tender noodles, rich sauce, and plenty of gooey cheese, it's comfort food the whole family will love.
This slow cooker pasta is the ultimate easy crockpot dinner. The noodles cook right in the sauce, the cheese melts into every bite, and cleanup is minimal. It delivers baked rotini and lasagna vibes with little to no effort involved.
Kristen's Keys for Crockpot Pasta
Cooking pasta in the crockpot can be a little tricky, but with the right method and my tips, it turns out perfectly tender--never mushy.
- Select the right pasta. While this recipe is for Crockpot Ziti, you can swap out the ziti for rigatoni, elbow, or rotini noodles. Skip spaghetti, linguine, bowties, and any variety of gluten-free pasta.
- Always cook the noodles on high. This helps the pasta to cook evenly and not become mushy or gummy.
- Take a shortcut or start from scratch. To make things even easier, you can start with a jar of spaghetti sauce, or go the homemade route for extra flavor.
Happy Cooking! xo Kristen
How to Make Baked Ziti in the Crockpot
While clearly not baked, this Crockpot Ziti recipe delivers the same flavors of baked ziti--without the need to turn on the oven! Let me walk you through the steps so that you can achieve perfect results.
Step One: Start with the Sauce
Whether starting from scratch or using jarred sauce, you want to cook the sauce a bit on its own before adding the pasta.
- For Homemade Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce: Add crushed tomatoes, olive oil, honey, water, garlic, and seasonings to the slow cooker. Let it simmer on low for a few hours so the flavors deepen and mellow out.
- For Jarred Sauce: Just pour it in the slow cooker with a cup of water and let it heat on low for about an hour.
Step Two: Add Pasta and Cheese
Once the sauce has been heated, stir in the pasta, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese, along with a bit more water (or stock).
Want to add meat? Add up to 1 pound of cooked and crumbled ground beef, Italian sausage, or ground turkey along with pasta.
Step Three: Slow Cook Pasta
Cover and cook on HIGH until the noodles are tender, stirring once midway through the cooking process.
- For Regular Pasta: 25-30 minutes
- For Whole Wheat Pasta: 45-50 minutes
Step Four: Finish with Cheese
Once the pasta has cooked, sprinkle with Parmesan (and more mozzarella if your crew likes things extra cheesy like mine). Stir gently and serve right away for the best texture.
Make it a Meal
Crockpot pasta can be served as a hearty entree all on its own. However, to round out dinner, serve with a salad, veggies, or bread on the side.
- Add a Salad: We love serving this pasta alongside a tossed greek salad, Caesar salad, or Copycat Olive Garden salad.
- Serve with Veggies: Instead of a salad, serve the crockpot ziti with steamed veggies of choice, green beans almondine, or glazed carrots.
- Pair with Bread: No one ever complains about a side of garlic toast or breadsticks to soak up the pasta sauce.
More Easy Cozy Pasta Recipes
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If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Crockpot Baked Ziti
Video
Ingredients
For the Spaghetti Sauce
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 2 cups water, or chicken stock, vegetable broth, or beef broth
- 1 tablespoon honey, or granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
For Crockpot Pasta
- 1 cup water, or chicken stock, vegetable broth, or beef broth
- 16 ounces ziti, or rotini
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated
Instructions
- Combine crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 cups of water, oil, honey, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in the base of a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. Note: If using jarred sauce, simply combine 28 ounces of your favorite spaghetti sauce with 1 cup of water and cook on low heat for 1 hour.
- After 4-5 hours, remove the lid and add the remaining 1 cup of water along with the pasta of choice, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Stir to combine.
- Cover, turn the slow cooker to high, and cook for 25 minutes for regular pasta and 45 minutes for whole grain pasta, or until pasta is tender, stirring halfway through the cooking time. Once the pasta is tender, finish with Parmesan cheese and serve.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in 2015 and updated in 2025.
I have yet to make this recipe, but it looks promising. However, as someone who is lactose intolerant, could I substitute Mozzarella cheese with Gouda? The other cheeses I can get reasonably free from lactose, but Mozzarella is a holdout.
Hi Roberto. I do love Gouda cheese and it will more than likely be delicious in this ziti. However, it is a strongly flavored cheese. Maybe try a Parmesan that is lactose-free? I love Grana Padano that is lactose free--I would just use half the amount. I hope you enjoy!
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!
This looks great and easy! If I want it extra saucy, can I use a larger jar of sauce (like 35 oz) instead of a 24 oz jar, but keep the rest of the recipe the same? Thanks!
Yes! Enjoy!
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.