I love lasagne, spaghetti and all things Italian food. I love it so much I even went to Italy to try that food out. There are Italy posts for you to look later though. I wanted to make a crockpot recipe that didn’t turn the noodles to mush. Well I figured it out! You may need to have 15 minutes to cook your noodles separately but let’s be honest that is the only way it’s going to be done. So I prepared my ingredients the night before and got it ready and in to the slow cooker so it would be ready the next day. Here’s how I did it.
Ingredients:
hamburger meat
onion
garlic powder
italian seasoning
crushed tomatoes
jar of tomato sauce
jar of spaghetti sauce
grated cheese about 2 cups
ricotta cheese or like me cottage cheese
ziti, penne noodles whatever you have on hand is fie
How to:
Baked Penne in the Slow Cooker
Cook onions until they become translucent. I cook mine in water until they are clear about 5 minutes on med high heat. Then I add ground beef and brown it. Once it’s no longer pink I add a large can of crushed tomatoes and a jar of spaghetti sauce. Add 1 tsp of garlic powder, a tsp of italian seasoning, a tsp of sugar and simmer on low for 25 minutes. Let cool, refridgerate and add to crockpot in the morning.
The next day I pull it out and add sauce to the bottom, then add a layer of ricotta cheese and grated cheese. Continue layering until you’re out of sauce. Let cook on low for 3 hours. Then because I hate soggy noodles I cook my noodles when I get home. Who doesn’t have 15 minutes to get al dente noodles instead of mush? My family ate this up and loved ever second of it. It’s delicious and a great way to get dinner on the table! Have you ever made a pasta dish in the crock pot? How were the noodles? Next time try my slow cooker baked penne!
Ha ha, you fooled me with the word baked. It’s slow cooked, lol!!
lol well it was so good you gotta try it! 🙂
This sounds really good. I’ll have to get a slow cooker so I can try it. Anything to make dinner easier is for me. Thanks.