{"id":2259,"date":"2026-03-08T14:05:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/?p=2259"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:05:30","slug":"slow-cooker-pasta-bake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/08\/slow-cooker-pasta-bake\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Cooker Pasta Bake"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>\u00a0Slow Cooker Pasta Bake (Easy &amp; Cheesy Comfort Dinner)<\/h2>\n<p>This <strong>Slow Cooker Pasta Bake<\/strong> is the perfect hands-off meal! Tender pasta, rich meat sauce, and lots of melted cheese cook together in the slow cooker for a warm, comforting dinner the whole family will love. It tastes like baked pasta from the oven but with much less effort.<\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0Ingredients<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>1 lb <strong>ground beef<\/strong> (or Italian sausage)<\/li>\n<li>1 small <strong>onion<\/strong>, diced<\/li>\n<li>3 cloves <strong>garlic<\/strong>, minced<\/li>\n<li>1 jar (24 oz) <strong>marinara sauce<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>1 can (14.5 oz) <strong>diced tomatoes<\/strong>, drained<\/li>\n<li>2 cups <strong>uncooked pasta<\/strong> (penne or rotini work best)<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon <strong>Italian seasoning<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon <strong>salt<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon <strong>black pepper<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>2 cups <strong>shredded mozzarella cheese<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00bd cup <strong>grated Parmesan cheese<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>1 cup <strong>ricotta cheese<\/strong> (optional but very creamy)<\/li>\n<li>2 cups <strong>beef broth<\/strong> or water<\/li>\n<li>Fresh <strong>parsley<\/strong> for garnish (optional)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>\u00a0Instructions<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Cook the meat<\/strong><br \/>\nIn a skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef and diced onion until the meat is browned. Drain excess grease. Add the minced garlic and cook for about 1 minute.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prepare the sauce<\/strong><br \/>\nStir in the marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Mix well.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Layer in the slow cooker<\/strong><br \/>\nLightly grease your slow cooker. Add the uncooked pasta, then pour the meat sauce mixture over it. Add the beef broth and stir gently so the pasta is mostly covered.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slow cook<\/strong><br \/>\nCover and cook on <strong>LOW for 2\u20133 hours<\/strong> or until the pasta is tender. Stir once halfway through if possible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Add the cheese<\/strong><br \/>\nSpoon small dollops of ricotta over the pasta, then sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan evenly on top.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Melt the cheese<\/strong><br \/>\nCover and cook for another <strong>15\u201320 minutes<\/strong> until the cheese is melted and bubbly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Serve<\/strong><br \/>\nGarnish with chopped parsley and serve warm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>\u00a0Tips<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Add <strong>pepperoni or cooked sausage<\/strong> for a pizza-style pasta bake.<\/li>\n<li>Mix in <strong>spinach or mushrooms<\/strong> for extra veggies.<\/li>\n<li>Use <strong>rigatoni, penne, or rotini<\/strong> because they hold the sauce well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Serving Idea:<\/strong> Serve with garlic bread and a simple green salad for a complete meal.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Slow Cooker Pasta Bake (Easy &amp; Cheesy Comfort Dinner) This Slow Cooker Pasta Bake is the perfect hands-off meal! Tender&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2261,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2259\/revisions\/2261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}