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Baked ziti is made even simpler in your slow cooker with this recipe.
Y’all know how much I love suppers that I can get on the table in a hurry during the week and my recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Ziti absolutely delivers! It only takes a few minutes to prepare the ingredients, pop them into your slow cooker and then let your slow cooker do all the work for you while you are busy doing other things.
Since we’re back in school, my slow cooker has been a huge relief to me so that I’m not even having to think about timing everything around lessons, rushing out the door for football practice and then having to come home and finish it off to be able to eat.
With this Slow Cooker Beef Ziti, I brown my ground beef and onion in the morning, throw it into my slow cooker with a large can of tomatoes, ziti noodles, garlic, and a little bit of water. I give it a quick stir and then just forget about it until we get home from football.
And that makes me happy as can be!
Here’s how I make it.
Here’s my Slow Cooker Beef Ziti recipe. I think you’ll love it.
Slow Cooker Beef Ziti Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 (25-ounce) jar marinara sauce
- 1 (16-ounce) box ziti noodles
- 1 (15-ounce) container Ricotta cheese
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- sour cream optional
Instructions
- Brown ground beef in a medium skillet.
- Drain and add in onion, garlic, and oregano.
- Cook until onion becomes tender, about 10 minutes.
- Spray crock of slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
- Combine ground beef and marinara sauce.
- Fill marinara sauce jar with water and stir into the ground beef and marinara sauce.
- Spoon ½ of the beef and marinara sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Pour in ziti noodles and stir.
- Spread Ricotta cheese on top of mixture, sprinkle with ½ of Mozzarella cheese.
- Spoon remainder of beef and marinara sauce over the cheeses and cook for about 5 hours on low heat.
- Remove lid from slow cooker and add remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
- Return lid to slow cooker and allow cheese to melt for about 5 minutes.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream, optional.
Nutritional Information
We serve this straight from the crock of the slow cooker with a salad or other vegetables.
Slow Cooker Beef Ziti also makes a great freezer meal. Just place in an airtight container, wrap tightly and place in your freezer. To reheat once frozen, just thaw in your refrigerator overnight and reheat in your oven or microwave.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
I need to try this. Thanks for sharing this.
Diana C
Hi,
Do you have any idea if gluten free noodles would work in the crock pot? Thanks
Hi Rosie,
I’ve not tried this recipe with gluten-free noodles. Sorry.
this is in my crock pot right now…I cannot wait to dig in 🙂
Easy to make and SOO tasty. Thanks for sharing!
How many does this serve?
Hi Betsy,
This makes around 8 servings. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks!
Do you cook you noodles first?
I wondered that too. Do you????
You don’t cook the pasta ahead of time, Kristi. Hope you enjoy it! xo