Crock Pot Million Dollar Pasta
Crock Pot Million Dollar Pasta has layers of sauce, pasta, beef and a delicious cream sauce all topped with melty, gooey mozzarella cheese!
A SIMPLE, FLAVORFUL CROCK POT MEAL
A yummy, creamy, flavorful sauce with tender pasta all topped with a gooey, melty cheese? Yes, please! For me, pasta is the perfect leftover food. So I don’t mind if I have a lot leftover. This recipe is made all in one pot and it also takes your traditional pasta and sauce meal to something just a bit more special!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
No. For this recipe you are not going to cook the pasta beforehand. They will go in dry.
My personal favorite spaghetti sauce is Rao’s Roasted Garlic. But it can be pretty pricey since you need two jars for this recipe. I’ve used the Walmart brand (as you see below.) I’ve used the Aldi brand as well and they all work fine. You can use any of your favorite marinara/spaghetti sauce that you enjoy.
Cottage cheese is my go-to as a substitute for ricotta cheese. It’s a more budget-friendly choice and you honestly don’t taste any real difference in this recipe.
Of course not. You can leave it out if you don’t want a meaty pasta. You can switch it out for ground Italian sausage, ground turkey, etc.
Pasta makes for fantastic leftovers! Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- ground beef
- cream cheese
- sour cream
- ricotta cheese
- garlic
- spaghetti sauce
- water,
- cavatappi, cellentini or macaroni pasta
- mozzarella cheese
HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT MILLION DOLLAR PASTA:
Brown and crumble ground beef (season with salt and pepper.) Drain excess grease and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, ricotta cheese, minced garlic and parsley.
In the bottom of a 6 quart (or larger) oval slow cooker, add half a jar of spaghetti sauce. Evenly layer half the box of the cavatappi pasta on top of sauce. Pour remaining jar of spaghetti sauce over noodles. Pour on half a jar of water.
Then layer half the cooked ground beef mixture over top.
Dollop the entire cream cheese mixture evenly as possible over the beef layer. Do not stir.
Evenly layer the rest of the cavatappi pasta on top of the cream cheese layer.
Top with remaining jar spaghetti sauce. Pour another half jar of water on top of spaghetti sauce. Finally, layer the rest of the cooked ground beef on top. Cover and cook on low for about 2 hours (or until noodles are tender). After cooking, gently stir mixture. Then layer with 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover for an additional few minutes (until cheese is melted.)
Then dig in!
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Originally published: October 2016
Updated photos & republished: June 2019
Crock Pot Million Dollar Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 8 ounce block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 (24 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce, divided use
- 24 ounce jar water
- 16 ounce box cavatappi pasta
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Brown and crumble ground beef (season with salt and pepper.) Drain excess grease and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, ricotta cheese, minced garlic and parsley.
- In the bottom of a 6 quart (or larger) oval slow cooker, add half a jar of spaghetti sauce.
- Evenly layer half the box of the cavatappi pasta on top of sauce.
- Pour remaining jar of spaghetti sauce over noodles.
- Pour on half a jar of water.
- Then layer half the cooked ground beef mixture over top.
- Dollop the entire cream cheese mixture evenly as possible over the beef layer. Do not stir.
- Evenly layer the rest of the cavatappi pasta on top of the cream cheese layer.
- Top evenly with remaining jar of spaghetti sauce
- Pour another half jar of water on top of spaghetti sauce.
- Finally, layer the rest of the cooked ground beef on top.
- Cover and cook on low for about 2-3 hours. Note: Many slow cookers cook differently and some run very hot & some not so hot so check at two hours and go from there. It took just about 3 hours in mine.
- Stir mixture and make sure pasta is fully cooked. If not, cover and allow to cook for another hour. Then evenly layer the top with 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Cover for a few additional minutes (until cheese is melted.) Sprinkle with a little dried parsley for color (optional).
Video
Notes
- Use as much or as little cheese as you like. If two cups on top is too much for you, just cut back on the amount used.
- Ground Italian sausage can be for the ground beef.
- Use any corkscrew style pasta or similar size pasta that you enjoy or can find.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Followed the recipe aside from using Penne and Italian sausage. Rave reviews from everyone, saw some negative comments but I thought it was amazing
Thanks so much for coming back to comment!
too much water..
Since I first tried this recipe I have used it at least once a week as I’m on a budget and this is in range as well as feeds a lot as a little goes a long way due to it being so mouthwatering.
I followed the recipe to the letter. This was so bad that my entire family took three bites and threw it all in the trash can. I’ve never had a blander pasta recipe in my life, and the texture was really unpleasant. I’d be shocked to see that this has even received one LEGITIMATE positive review. It was just terrible, and a huge waste of money.
It turned out amazing ! I will be making this again in the future. So flavorful,delishish and easy.
I don’t know why people have had issues with this. What are they doing?! Ha! Are they messing with it or stirring it while it is cooking? Leave it alone people, just let it do its thing! Or maybe they are using a round slow cooker so it’s not cooking evenly or maybe they have a certain type of slow cooker that is running hot or messing it up. this turned out amazing for me. We absolutely loved it and I had zero issues!! I appreciate you publishing all the reviews but I think it gives an unfair review of this recipe that is really very good.
Thanks Hannah! I always publish every review – good or bad so folks can make up their own mind. It’s hard to say what is happening without being in someone’s kitchen. You make a good point, it could totally be the type of slow cooker being used – some of these new ones run crazy hot and some have little vent holes in the lids and maybe that is messing it up. There are metal inserts now instead of the porcelain that was the standard and maybe that is causing issues. There are a gazillion type of slow cookers now and some have 10 different functions – ha! I suppose all of that can make a difference. I don’t know what kinds of ingredients folks are using, after reading some of the reviews, it looks like gluten free or those chickpea pasta shapes shouldn’t be used. I try to give as many notes to help a recipe be successful but you just never know what people are doing or using so it can be hard to tell without the full details so I leave all the comments up. I am so happy you had success with this recipe!
if someone isn’t giving you detail information then you shouldn’t post it.
I wish it were possible to give no stars because one is too generous. This has to be the worst recipe I’ve ever tried.
This dish was terrible. The noodles turned out chalky and mushy and the entire dish ended up tasting like plastic. And yes, we followed every direction very closely without deviation. Don’t even bother trying, you’ll just end up wasting perfectly good ingredients
Mine also turned to mush when I stirred it. Texture of noodles went from sticky/chalky to complete mush. I wonder if it has to do with the temperature that your crock pot cooks at on low. This was my last attempt at pasta or noodles in my crock pot.
This is a go to recipe for us! Noodles turn out great, very easy, and makes a ton!
Turned out great for me! Don’t know why others had issues. Don’t constantly mess with it & stir it & open the lid. Too many people do that with crock pot recipes when you just need to leave it alone.
Mush. Total yucky mush. Do not recommend.
Is it 24 oz or 48 oz total of pasta sauce?
It’s (2) 24 ounce jars – if it helps, please see my ingredient photo above 🙂
Totally missed that. Thank you! Just got the ingredients.
No worries – hope you enjoy this one!
Just awful. I can’t believe how much I spent for the ingredients. Tasted horrible and the texture was gag-worthy.
I don’t know how you can leave a negative review without explaining. This is basically crockpot lasagna so how this can be so bad I don’t know because you didn’t share more information
This turned out really good! The family enjoyed it
This maybe a dumb question but does the pasta need to be cooked before going in the crock pot?
Not a dumb question! No it does not 🙂
How long can it sit in the crock pot? If I plan for it to take 3 hours but it only takes 2, will it be ok if it sits for the additional hour?
That will be fine. If you are able to, I would switch it to the keep warm setting once they are done.
Can I use elbow noodles will they cook the same
I haven’t personally tested it. I think it should work though. They aren’t as bulky as the cavatappi so I’m not sure how saucy it will end up being. If you try it, please let me know how it goes!
I tried it with elbow noodles and it worked just as well as the other ones
Thanks so much for chiming in Stephanie!
Turned out great for us!
If I’m omitting the meat – do I use less sauce and/or water?
I’ve never made it without meat I’m sorry but I shouldn’t think so
Family really enjoyed it! I have 4 kiddos plus my husband and myself and most crock pot recipes never make enough. This was perfect for us!
Aside from boiling the pasta before adding, what changes do you think I would need make if I wanted to make this in the oven instead of a crockpot? Any suggestions on temperature and time?
My friend made this for our Pasta Dinner last night and it got rave reviews and at least one person wanting the recipe. Make that 2 people as I googled “pasta recipe for crockpots” and this was the 1st thing that popped up! Great recipe for a large group of people and easy to make as my friend self proclaimed not to be a “cook”. And was shocked on how much everyone enjoyed it.
Can this recipe be doubled in same size crock pot. How many people (pot luck style) will this serve?
Hi Carol, I have the number of servings on the recipe card. And I would not recommend doubling the recipe in the one crock pot. I would use a separate one. Hope that helps!
very pleased with this recipe…..will absolutely make again…might add a few of our favorite spices and possibly a pound of sausage otherwise liked as is…..can this be refrigerated and then frozen?
I don’t know why some people in the comments had trouble with this recipe. Maybe they can’t read. This turned out great for us! Literally everything is very descriptive in the instructions. I think these instructions are fantastic compared to some recipe sites. People are in too much of a hurry these days. Thank you for this!
Nice flavor and the kids enjoyed it
It was great. I followed the recipe exactly. Everyone went back for seconds so it was a win!
So good! Like you said, you can’t just exactly set it and forget it. I found stirring it occasionally helped keep the noodles from sticking together. Don’t overcook the noodles or you will end up with mushy pasta. My slow cooker seems to cook hot (and I have heard this is an issue for these slow cookers made in the last 10 years) so I always have to be careful with cooking anything in it or it will start to boil. LOL. So knowing that, I was able to adjust and this turned out great. Thank you!
I substituted 3 cheese Tortalini pasta instead of the other suggestions! Also added Italian seasoning, onions and garlic in my meat! It ended up spectacular!
I used this recipe tonight with a gluten free bow tie noodle. The flavor was very good and a big hit! But the texture of the dish with this pasta and a 3 hour cook time made it a softer than I like but that is probably because gluten free pasta cooks a lot differently than regular. Because the recipe was so good and such a hit anyway I will do it again but pick different noodles if I can find them or use a shorter cook time.
I saw some another comment where someone said it turned out mushy. I honestly don’t know how that happened for them. Mien turned out absolutely perfect. Like she says above, some slow cookers these days can run super hot – especially some of these metal insert ones so you have to keep an eye on any pasta in your slow cooker. Check it and see how your pasta is doing. This isn’t the kind you can just leave for hours and come back. You will need to check on this one but all of that is perfectly stated in her directions and post. Thank you Brandie!
Same! We loved it! Great flavor! Also, pick a pasta sauce you love that has great flavor. That is super important. If you say this is bland, it is because you picked a bland pasta sauce LOL. Ours turned out really good and everyone loved it!
Mushy pasta, bland taste. What a disappointment!
Has anyone made this without browning the ground beef first?
I don’t recommend it.
Sorry if this is a silly question. If I were to use 1 lb of ground meat vs 2 lb, should I have the rest of the ingredients?
Thank you! Excited to make this:)
Not a silly question at all! Nope, you don’t have to change anything at all 🙂
Really good. I think it’s important to note that the pasta comes out soft and if you don’t like soft pasta (meaning not al dente with a bite to it) then you will not like this. My family and little ones love it!
This was really good. I know every slow Coker is different and I think mine cooks a bit more on the hotter side so I really paid attention to the pasta and it didn’t need that long to cook. I wouldn’t just throw it in and come back a few hours later. LOL Turned out great!
I do not want to add any meat and concerned about the amount of water for the recipe might make it too soupy. Do I need to cut back on the water since I am not including 2 pounds of cooked meat to absorb some of the water?
That’s a good question and I really don’t know. The water really doesn’t do much for the meat, it’s for the pasta, but honestly, I’ve never tried it. The only way to know sometimes is to experiment and I don’t like to guess unless I’ve actually tried it myself – especially since ingredients are so costly these days. I don’t want anyone upset they wasted ingredients because I steered them wrong.
I substituted the water with chicken broth for a little more flavor, and I added some Italian herbs and added both cottage cheese and ricotta. Delicious!!
We really enjoyed this. I think the key is not to let it overcook to the point that it might get mushy. Turned out good for us though!
I prepped this last night and plugged it in at the end of lunch on my break from work. Hoping it comes out okay. I am nervous about the noodles sitting overnight in the fridge but fingers crossed it’ll be good. I did let the ground beef cool for about 10-15 min before I layered it in. I did not want it to warm up the cheese since it was going in the fridge overnight. Here’s hoping!
Can this be doubled? It was so good would like to make for a crowd.
I wouldn’t double it in the same crock pot. It would be too much and the bottom would possibly get mushy. If you really want to double it, I would do it in a separate crock pot 🙂
would I need to make any changes if I use gluten free pasta
Hi Michele! I don’t think I would do this with gluten free pasta. It would end up turning to mush unfortunately.
Can you use this as a meal prep and make the ingredients in advance to cook in the crock pot later?
I think you probably could. I haven’t personally done that myself but it seems like it would work 🙂 If you give it a go, I’d love to know how it turns out for you!
Absolutely amazing! Super easy to put together and make and taste sooooogood, my family inhaled it!
Yay! Thanks so very much Erica!
I haven’t made this yet but will this weekend. Personally, I use Bertoli jarred sauce… the olive oil and garlic is close to home made. Surprisingly , Publix own brand of pasta sauce is quite good as well. Classico is good in a pinch… their spicy tomato basil is a winner. Just thought I would throw out these ideas to your cooking fans, of which I am one! By the way, I am Italian heritage. I think I can recommend a good sauce!
Great tips Doris! Love hearing what everyone enjoys! My new favorite is Rao’s. The garlic is amazing and has fresh ingredients. Nothing weird in there. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive – gah!! Thanks so much for being here and commenting!! 🙂
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I substituted spicy sausage for the ground beef. Definitely a crowd pleaser. Thanks!
This was a hit in our home.
Made it by recipe. My children really enjoyed it!