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If you need an easy dinner idea, try crock pot meatballs and pasta. It only has 4 ingredients and the crock pot does all the work for amazing comfort food your family will love.
Crock pot meatballs and pasta
This crock pot recipe is perfect for any day of the week because the slow cooker makes it so easy! Toss it all in the crock pot before you leave for the day and come home to dinner waiting.
Serve it with a salad and you have a complete meal. It is so easy!
We make this meal all the time because the kids go crazy over it and it is simple and frugal. Throw in some garlic bread and you are set.
You don’t have to serve it with bread but we love to dip it in the spaghetti sauce. Yum!
Ingredients
I love that this recipe only has 4 ingredients – it is completely fool-proof! No fancy ingredients needed and there isn’t any time consuming prep work involved.
- Ziti or Rigatoni – You can also use spaghetti
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Meatballs- We used frozen meatballs.
- Cheese
This recipe is that simple. The ingredients all blend together for such an amazing Italian flavor after being slow cooked all day.
It is perfect for busy weeks, family dinners and more. You can’t go wrong with this recipe.
How to make crock pot meatballs and pasta
First, get your spaghetti sauce ready to pour into the crock pot. You can stir in 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning into the spaghetti sauce for even more flavor.
Now just alternate ½ the pasta, meatballs and sauce. You do not have to cook the pasta before adding it in. It will cook in the crock pot.
Then keep alternating the sauce, noodles and meatballs until you have put all of the ingredients in the crock pot.
Next, add cheese and the remaining pasta and meatballs and sauce. It is looking amazing already.
Then add the lid, cover and cook.
Finally, top with Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese right before you are ready to eat. You can also add in some bread crumbs. I told you this recipe was so simple! You get all the baked ziti without all the work.
Cook on high for 3 hours or cook on low for 6 hours. The cook time will vary depending on how fast the pasta is cooked and tender.
Serving ideas:
- Easy Caesar Salad or a simple side salad
- Steamed Broccoli – This takes just minutes in the microwave for an easy side dish.
- Roasted Green Beans
- Homemade Garlic Bread – We freeze this and it is so quick and easy.
- Garlic Bread Cheese sticks
Can I put uncooked noodles in crock pot?
Yes! We love recipes like this because it cuts down on prep work and requires less pots and pans.
It is so much easier and less clean up.
Do you have to brown meatballs first?
You do not have to brown the meatballs first. Toss everything in the crock pot and enjoy a great meal in a few hours.
This recipe is so easy and a great recipe for busy weeknights.
This recipe is frugal!
This is one of those recipes that once you try it, you will put into your regular meal plan rotation. We love it, because we often get the ingredients for really cheap thanks to sales and coupons.
Our family loved this spaghetti and meatballs.
Variations:
- The great thing about this recipe is you can change the recipe to adapt to what you have on hand. You can use ground beef instead of the meatballs if you have that in your freezer.
- Another idea is to use ground turkey instead and your family will never notice the difference. You could toss in pepperonis or add in mushrooms for an even different flavor.
- This pasta recipe can easily use Italian sausages. We also like to sometimes add a ricotta mixture to pasta dishes.
- It is really good with onions and green peppers.
This delicious crockpot baked meatballs recipe is sure to be a family favorite.
Give it a try!
Your house will smell amazing as this cooks. I think your family will really enjoy this easy slow cooker recipe.
Tips for Crock pot baked pasta with meatballs:
- Make sure to have a good crockpot to make this Crock Pot Meatball Casserole. If you are in the market for something new, I really love my Instant Pot Aura. The nice thing about this is you can brown the meat in the same slow cooker for recipes that call for that.
- Another favorite is this programmable crock pot for when I am am not at home all day. I love coming home to a nice meal ready and waiting!
- I also have one of the casserole crock pot . It is perfect for casserole style slow cooker recipes like this one.
- Use crock pot liners to make clean up a breeze. These are worth every penny and save a ton of time.
Print this crock pot meatballs and pasta recipe below:
Crock Pot Baked Pasta with Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ziti or Rigatoni
- (2) 24 oz jars Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 lb frozen pre-cooked Meatballs
- 2 cup Shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- Rinse pasta in warm water and allow to drain.
- Pour ½ a jar of sauce on bottom of slow cooker.
- Add ½ pasta.
- Add ½ meatballs.
- Add ½ jar sauce on top of meatballs.
- Add 1 cup cheese.
- Add remaining pasta, then remaining meatballs.
- Add remaining Sauce, then cheese.
- Cook on low for 6 hours.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Facts
More Easy Italian recipes:
More crock pot meatballs recipes
- Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs Recipe
- Crock Pot Meatball Stew Recipe
- Crockpot Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
- Crock pot Sweet and Sour meatballs
If you like this recipes, be sure to check out all of our Crock Pot Recipes here.
6 quart is my perfect slow cooker. See the best slow cooers.
What size crockpot do you recommend for a standard recipe? What size crockpot if I double the recipe? Thank you.
This was so easy and and delicious!! My family really enjoyed it!!!
I made this wonderful meal tonight!! It was a big hit here!! Thank you Carrie for this awesome easy recipe!! I’m recovering from surgery so I needed something simple!! Yum yum!!!
Fewer pots and pans
Less sugar…
Thank you !
Recipe sounds perfect for Christmas evening plus following days off.
Could it be cooked on high? For how long?
how much cooking time do you add if you dont cook the pasta first?
Do you put the meatballs in frozen or do you defrost first? Also, you mentioned doing a ricotta layer. If you do that, exactly how do you layer it? And what do you mix it with?
Loretta – It’s just some parsley for the picture. Thank you!
Hi ,in one of the pictures you have the sauce that it looks like you added some spices on it..What kind of spices did you use?..
Teresa, I would brown the homemade ones in a skillet before putting them in the crock pot. I would do this to make sure that they do not fall apart. I would add more time if the browning did not cook them through. Thank you!
I’m not a fan of the frozen meatballs in the store. Can I use fresh, homemade meatballs in this recipe? And would I need to bake them first as you call for “pre-cooked frozen” meatballs in your recipe?
No, actually you don’t have to!
I am assuming you cook the pasta before you put it in the crockpot?