This Slow-Cooker Baked Ziti is made completely in the crockpot—even the pasta! It is so much easier than the traditional version but packs all of the same flavor! The recipe includes a step-by-step video.
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!
Table of Contents
- Why we love this Crock Pot Baked Ziti:
- Easy Baked Ziti Ingredients:
- How to make this easy Crock Pot Baked Ziti recipe:
- Tips for cooking Crock Pot Pasta:
- Reader Rating
- Variations on this Slow Cooker Baked Ziti:
- How to store this cheesy Baked Ziti:
- Can I freeze Crock Pot Baked Ziti?
- Serving suggestions:
- More Crock Pot Pasta recipes:
- Slow Cooker Baked Ziti Recipe
Slow Cooker Baked Ziti is the perfect comforting dinner, made with hearty pasta smothered in rich sauce, combined with tender ground beef and gooey cheese. It’s a comforting dish that practically cooks itself!
Once you sauté the beef with onion, garlic, and seasonings, you throw everything into the crockpot (minus the cheese) and let it cook! The best part is that the pasta cooks right into the sauce, so there’s no need to whip out an extra pot.
If you’re looking for a delicious meal to make on busy weeknights, this delicious slow cooker recipe is for you!
Why we love this Crock Pot Baked Ziti:
- Family Favorite: Once you try this dish, it’ll quickly become a regular in your rotation! It’s hearty, satisfying, and something everyone at the table will love.
- Best Comfort Food: With layers of pasta, savory ground beef, and melted cheese, every bite feels like a warm hug after a long day.
- Low-Fuss: If you’re looking for an easy dinner, this recipe has you covered. Just throw everything into the slow cooker, and you can go about your day without any hassle.
Easy Baked Ziti Ingredients:
- Ground beef turkey or Italian sausage: use any fat-content ground beef you like! You can also keep things lean by using ground turkey or more decadent with Italian sausage.
- Aromatics: onion and minced garlic are sautéed with the meat and seasonings for flavor. You could swap them with onion powder and garlic powder if you don’t feel like chopping!
- Spices: I use a combination of salt, dried basil, and dried parsley, but you could also use Italian seasoning and salt instead!
- Diced tomatoes: these add a little texture.
- Pasta sauce: use your favorite type of marinara sauce.
- Chicken broth or beef or vegetable broth: this is used to cook pasta and add flavor. Use low-sodium broth to reduce the sodium content if you like.
- Short pasta (like Penne or Ziti): any type of short pasta shapes will work! For a heartier version, you could use whole wheat ziti or penne.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese: You could also use parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, or any other type of Italian cheese you like!
How to make this easy Crock Pot Baked Ziti recipe:
Once you cook the beef, this meal practically cooks itself! Scroll down to the recipe card for the full list of instructions.
- Cook the ground beef and onion until browned.
- Stir in garlic and spices, then cook briefly.
- Add meat mixture, tomatoes, pasta sauce, and broth to the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Stir in the uncooked ziti. Top with cheese, cover, and cook until melted.
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!
- Small pasta is best, but long pasta is doable. Short pasta like macaroni, penne, rotini, and others work best in this Slow Cooker Baked Ziti because they’re less likely to clump and stick together. Long pasta cuts like spaghetti and fettucini are doable, but you may have to stir a couple more times in between.
- Turn your slow cooker to high when you add your pasta. It’s going to take longer to cook than if you were boiling it, but we don’t want it to take forever, so crank it up and let it go for 15 minutes or so until it reaches your desired tenderness.
- Push your pasta down into the sauce — try to make sure you don’t have too many sticking out, or they may be dry.
- Don’t overcook — cooking pasta in the slow cooker takes longer than in boiling water, but it’s not going to take more than 20-25 minutes, so check at the 15-minute mark and then try to gauge how much longer it needs at that point.
Reader Rating
“Phenomenal recipe! My whole family really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing 🙂” Cassidy
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 cooking 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!
How to store this cheesy Baked Ziti:
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
To reheat, add a splash of water or broth and microwave until heated through.
Can I freeze Crock Pot Baked Ziti?
Yes! Keep in mind that after thawing the pasta will have a softer texture.
Just pop individual servings into airtight containers and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave.
Serving suggestions:
I love serving this hearty meal with some garlic bread to scoop up that cheesy marinara sauce! If you want to keep things light, serve with a green salad or some roasted vegetables.
More Crock Pot Pasta recipes:
- Cheesy Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti Recipe — creamy with a bit of kick!
- Crockpot Chicken and Noodles recipe — perfect comfort food.
- Crock Pot Mac and Cheese recipe — complements so many different meals!
- Healthier Slow Cooker Hamburger Helper Recipe — this one is always a hit with the kids!
Slow Cooker Baked Ziti
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion, (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic, (finely minced)
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid (28oz or 798ml)
- 2½ cups marinara sauce
- 2½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups dry penne or ziti pasta, (340g)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the beef and onion until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, salt, basil, and parsley and cook for 1 minute.
- Transfer the beef mixture to a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, sauce, and broth. Stir well.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
- Turn the slow cooker temperature to high. Add the uncooked pasta and stir until combined. Cover and continue cooking for 15 to 30 minutes, until al dente, checking and stirring at the 15-minute mark.
- Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the mozzarella. Cover and let sit for 3 to 5 minutes until the mozzarella has melted.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Bec says
Hi I’m Australian so I’m just wondering what the jar of pasta sauce is to you? Is it a tomato based sauce it cheesy?? We have literally too many jarred options here. I’m trying to stay away from jar sauces so if I was to make my own replica, what would it be?
Bec says
*or cheesy not it ?
Ashley Fehr says
Sorry! It is a tomato based sauce with seasonings. I hope that helps!
Bec Voigt says
Yes it does thanks! Could I possibly just double the tinned tomatoes and add my own seasonings?
Dottie Schaffer says
Hey so i am making this tonight. Think it will turn out with sauteed mushrooms instead of ground beef, if I leave everything else the same?
(I have a vegetarian at home)
Ashley Fehr says
Yes, definitely! I think that would be great 🙂
Tami says
I have made this before in my smaller crock pot, we love it. I was wondering if I could double the recipe in a 6.5 Qt crockpot? I am taking for a “feed the team” and wanted to take a bigger portion.
Ashley Fehr says
I haven’t ever tried doubling the recipe since it is pretty large to begin with. I’m not sure it would all fit! You may want to use two crock pots instead.
Kari says
Hi Tammy, just curious if you ended up making this to Feed a team and if so how many people did you cook for and did you double or triple? I’m in charge of a team dinner for a high school soccer team and trying to figure out how much to cook and how many slow cookers I need! I need enough for about 17 boys..
Matt says
In 15 years of cooking with crock pots, this is hands down the most tasty thing that’s ever come out of ours! I’m not quite sure how, but the noodles ended up having this perfect, velvety texture and incredible taste. The entire family loved it and we will definitely be doing it again.
I made more sauce than what the recipe calls for. After 5 hours on low, I took 2-3 cups of sauce and added it to a pan with some frozen Italian Meatballs that had just come out of the oven. Simmered on low for the last hour, they were the perfect topper for this recipe!
Thanks
Ashley Fehr says
I am so glad you loved this baked ziti! Thanks Matt!
Madi says
Do you drain the liquid from the can of tomatoes or just toss it all in? And you fully cook the hamburger before putting it in the crockpot, right?
Ashley Fehr says
I throw the whole can of tomatoes in, yes, and brown the ground beef
Sam says
IF The beef is already cooked, why is it necessary to cook it again for an additional 6 hrs in the crock-pot?
Ashley Fehr says
You will do that with any ground beef recipe, you brown the ground beef, and then you cook again with the sauce. With this recipe, the second part of that takes place in the slow cooker so you can let it simmer all day. The flavors come together and it’s ready when you need it!
Andrea says
Do you think you can freeze the leftovers to eat them at another time?
Ashley Fehr says
You definitely can, but the pasta will not be as firm after freezing and thawing.
Moni says
I absolutely loved it
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Moni!
Rach says
After I added the 2 cups of chicken broth it seemed a little watery…Will it thicken up over time?
Ashley Fehr says
The uncooked pasta absorbs the water
JoAnne Mayo-Pierre says
It says total time is 4:15 but then at end you say low 6 hours, high 3 hours. Maybe this should be specified a little better.
Ashley Fehr says
Unfortunately the total time is generated by the recipe plugin, so it is sometimes a little off. Your best bet is to look at the high/low cook times and add whatever is listed as prep time.
Courtney says
I am making this tonight and we shall see how it goes. My husband and I love Baked Ziti and was interested when I stumbled onto this recipe as a slow cooked meal. I am going to add spinach tho…I love spinach in pasta.
Ashley Fehr says
Spinach is a great addition! I’d love to hear how you like it!
Claire says
This was so easy, inexpensive and delicious! I used italian sausage, vodka sauce, chicken broth, whole wheat pasta and skipped the chunk tomatoes because I’m not a huge tomato fan. the cooking times were spot on. It will be a go-to meal for sure! Thanks for sharing!
Ashley Fehr says
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that!
Kimberly says
How much vodka sauce? I’m skipping tomatoes too- same reason. ? I want to be sure I have enough liquid noodles get done.
Melissa says
Made it tonight. Absolutely perfect! Thanks for this one!
Ashley Fehr says
Yay! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Sandra says
Ashley,
I just want to thank you for your site. It has become such a blessing to me.
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Sandra! That means so much to me!
Linda says
Can you add ricotta to this ?
Ashley Fehr says
I think you definitely can! I would probably add it near the end, maybe when you add in the pasta.
William J George says
Been in for almost a half hour, I can’t wait!
Ashley Fehr says
I’d love to hear how you like it!
Angie says
Made this tonight…. Wow! #fantastic
I used chicken broth for more flavor, and left the pasta in for 45 min on high, as another person mentioned. Voila, new family favorite!! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Ashley Fehr says
yay! So glad to hear that!
Amber says
Once the pasta is cooked can I turn the crockpot to warm and leave it sitting for a few hours until eating or will that ruin the pasta? Need to be able to complete the whole meal before I leave them eat as soon as we get home.
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Amber! I would recommend a different recipe in that situation, as the pasta will be overcooked and not appetizing.
Amy says
Has anyone tried this with gluten free pasta?
Stephanie says
I have! It works great!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Stephanie!
Maureen says
Is the pasta cooked prior to putting it in the crock pot? I assume it is not, but I’ve learned never to assume.
Christine says
I made this today and it turned out great. And no, don’t cook the pasta prior to putting it in the crock pot. It cooks well on “high” for about 45-50 minutes.
Ashley Fehr says
Glad to hear you liked it! And thanks for stepping in with the answer 🙂
Gina says
Do you think the cook time would be different if using whole grain pasta?
Ashley Fehr says
I don’t think it would change much — I often use whole grain pasta!
Allyson says
Can I add ricotta cheese also when I put the mozzarella in?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes, I’d think so! The more cheese the better 🙂
Tashi says
Hi,
Can you use beef broth?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes, definitely!