Recipe: Yummy Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti. 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! Includes step by step recipe video.

And the result isn't just good — it's amazing. What it lacks in the crispy-edges department it gains in the ooey-gooey comfort-food department: tender noodles coated in marinara and mixed with a double dose of melty cheese. This easy Slow Cooker Baked Ziti is a perfect meal for those busy weeknights during the summer. You can have Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti using 10 ingredients and 12 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

1. It's Half of a large onion (chopped).
2. It's 2 Lbs of ground beef.
3. Prepare of (2) 24oz jars of pasta sauce.
4. You need 32 oz of ricotta cheese.
5. It's 1 of egg (beaten).
6. You need 1 teaspoon of salt.
7. It's 1 teaspoon of pepper.
8. You need 2 Lbs of ziti pasta (uncooked).
9. Prepare 6 cups of colby monterey jack cheese.
10. Prepare of Non stick cooking spray.

With slow cooker pasta bakes like this, you get to enjoy a delicious, hearty meal with very little work. It might sound a little.cheesy.but it just doesn't get better than that. Getting perfectly cooked pasta and gooey melted cheese from the slow cooker takes some technique. Slow Cooker Baked Ziti is an easy crock pot pasta dinner that's perfect for weeknight meals.

Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti step by step

1. Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet; Drain fat..
2. Return ground beef to skillet and mix both jars of pasta sauce with ground beef; Remove from heat..
3. In a bowl mix ricotta cheese, egg, salt, and pepper.
4. Turn the slower cooker to high.
5. Spray slower cooker with non stick spray.
6. Spoon the sauce into the bottom of the slower cooker; Enough to evenly coat the bottom.
7. Spoon the ricotta cheese mixture on top of the sauce evenly coated.
8. Pour uncooked ziti noodles on top of ricotta cheese evenly coated.
9. Sprinkle colby cheese on top of pasta evenly coated.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 until you reach the top of slow cooker; making sure the final layer is a generous amount of colby cheese.
11. Put the top on slow cooker; cook for 4 hours or until pasta is tender. Avoid opening the slow cooker while cooking..
12. Enjoy!!.

The pasta cooks right in the sauce! I've made countless slow cooker dinners and breakfasts and even cooked rolls and cinnamon rolls in them. Seriously, there isn't much that a slow cooker can't do! It did take me a couple To avoid Pasta Mush, you want to start with uncooked ziti noodles. Which works out great, because it effectively eliminates a recipe step AND another pot to.