Slow Cooker Pasta

If you love pasta and also easy slow cooker meals, this slow cooker pasta is the perfect recipe for you! With a blend of tender noodles and flavorful ground beef slow cooked all day, this slow cooker pasta incredibly delicious. It’s the perfect meal when you’re short on time.

Slow Cooker Pasta Recipe

There are a million slow cooker pasta recipes out there, I know. But, let me just tell you a story about how this recipe was created. It was out of pure desperation and determination that this here slow cooker pasta was made.

Long story short, we bought a house next to our ranch a few months ago. A hoarder’s house. Without going into much detail about how bad this house is, (because this is a food blog here, I wouldn’t want you to get grossed out) just know that the house has been very labor extensive to clean out. It has taken us months to get this house to the point where we can see the floors and walls.

This house is about 45 minutes from where we live. Our goal is to make this house beautiful and one day AirBnB it. (Stay tuned for that, it’s going to be so good!) Because we are spending so much time up at this house, often times, I pack dinner with us. 4 hangry boys are not pleasant, so I make sure to do some meal planning.

The other day, I decided I was going to take the slow cooker with us and make a pasta for dinner. I prepped everything and had this all figured out on how I could do this. I don’t have a kitchen at this house or even running water, so I needed this recipe to be super easy. I cooked the ground beef before, brought it with me in a Ziploc bag and brought the spaghetti sauce and noodles and was determined to get this right.

Well, it worked. BEAUTIFULLY! Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever make pasta or spaghetti the old-fashioned way again! My excitement for this slow cooker pasta is next level, so now of course, I am sharing it with you. I hope you enjoy.

The Cowboys’ Rating: 9/10

Every time I make a new recipe, I have my family rate the recipe out of 10. By the time, these recipes make the blog, they’ve been tried and tested by some of my hardest tiny critics!

What Ingredients Are in Slow Cooker Pasta?

• Ground Beef – As always, we use our own homegrown ground beef that is grass-finished and regeneratively raised. It’s delicious, lean and so good. Our ground beef is 90/10 and I never have to drain off a bunch of fat.
• Minced Garlic – Because this is a meat-based sauce, I really wanted to bring in some rich flavors here. I love to add minced garlic to the ground beef bring some rich, tangy flavor.
• Onion Powder – I want to make this a very flavorful pasta dish without being too overpowering so I added in some onion powder for some great flavor.
• Oregano – Oregano has a really bold flavor. I like to add just a teaspoon to the beef while it’s cooking.
• Parsley – In my opinion, parsley has a little bit of a peppery flavor. I added in some parsley as well to bring in a different depth of flavor. I like to really season the beef and then when I put the beef in the slow cooker with the spaghetti sauce, the flavors really come alive in the sauce.
• Italian Seasoning – I love to use Italian seasoning in my Italian recipes. It’s a blend of herbs that really adds great flavor to your dish.
• Spaghetti Sauce – I can my own spaghetti sauce, but you can use any spaghetti sauce you want.
• Shell Noodles – For this slow cooker pasta recipe, I opted to use shell noodles instead of spaghetti noodles. Those cute little shell noodles have what my kids call “pockets” and those “pockets” hold extra sauce and meat in every bite. Basically, I use shell noodles because my kids love them.
• Salt & Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese – We topped this slow cooker pasta with some grated parmesan cheese because we love cheese, and we love the flavor of parmesan cheese.

Tools You’ll Need

• Frying Pan
• Spatula
• Measuring Cups & Spoons
• Slow Cooker
• Cheese Grater

Recipe for Slow Cooker Pasta

1. In a frying pan, combine ground beef and seasonings.
2. Mix well and cook until beef is completely cooked through.
3. Transfer beef to a slow cooker.
4. Add in spaghetti sauce and mix well.
5. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
6. 45 minutes before serving, add in shell noodles and water. Mix well. Continue to cook on low for 30-45 minutes stirring frequently.
7. When noodles are soft, turn heat to off and serve.
8. Garnish with parmesan cheese.
9. Enjoy!

How to Store Slow Cooker Pasta

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Leftovers can easily be reheated in the microwave!

More Easy Pasta Recipes