Crock Pot Million Dollar Pasta (+Video)
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 3-4 hours. After cooking, gently stir mixture. Then layer with 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover for an additional 15-20 minutes (until cheese is melted.)
Then dig in!
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Crock Pot Million Dollar Pasta (+Video)
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 3-4 hours.
- 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 an additional 15-20 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.
Originally published: October 2016
Updated & republished: June 2019
Hi Brandie! This looks awesome! Should you stir throughout?
It’s really not necessary. You can certainly check on it halfway through and make sure it’s all cooking evenly. Some slow cookers can run hotter than others so you could always stir it at that point to ensure even cooking. Hope that helps! 🙂
I think my crockpot is smaller than a 6 quart, so can I just go ahead and use half of the ingredients to make sure everything fits? This sounds so yummy with all the cheese in it! Thank you!
Hi Anabel, yes you could. You don’t want your slow cooker crammed too full or everything will cook unevenly. Hope that helps!
Can you substitute a low-sodium chicken broth for the water?
Yes you could certainly do that if you prefer.
I love this recipe! Is there anyway to make it without the beef for vegetarians? Do I need to adjust the water or pasta sauce quantities? Thanks so much!!
Hello. I love this pasta dish! So yummy! Could I double the recipe? The ingredients doubled and the amount it takes to cook doubled? I’m making this for a huge gathering on Monday and I wanted to know what I needed to do if I just doubled the entire thing?
I don’t recommend doubling it in one slow cooker. The pasta just won’t cook evenly enough and it’ll end up gummy. I would actually get a second slow cooker and make two batches. 🙂
Gotcha!!! Thank you!!❤
Anytime! I’m so happy you like this one!
I have a 16 oz container of ricotta cheese could I just use the whole container?
At 3 hours this was a bit mushy, could probably have taken it out in 2. Also very creamy. I’ll probably halve the cream cheese and the mozzarella next time. And add way more garlic.
I am trying this recipe tonight. Wanted to know if I can mix Italian sausage and ground beef? Also, kind of scared of the mushy pasta. How can that be prevented? Adding more pasta?
Oh just eating this now, yum! I was worried because I made a smaller batch in a 2qt crock. It was still very full but not over flowing and I used spaghetti. The spaghetti came out just perfect Al dente even note though it took only about an hour on high setting.
This came out nice, and made a huge amount of food! I will try to freeze some of the leftovers. I did make the meat mixture with onions, and added a liberal amount of Italian seasoning. Next time, I will add mushrooms to it.
If I want to half this and cook it in the oven how long should I Cook? And what temp? Also, do I stir together before adding cheese after cooking like crockpot or no?
Can I use beef broth vs water?
Brandie, You have great recipes and I thank you. This is one we didn’t like. I used Penne Pasta, a lb. of ground beef and a lb. of Italian sausage. In browning the meat, I added sliced fresh mushrooms and a small Vidalia onion, chopped.
Everything else exactly as recipe called for. It seemed bland and the pasta was mushy. I used my large casserole crock pot and it was full to almost running over. It made way too much. We ate it twice and disposed of the rest. Hated to waste it, but we just couldn’t eat again.
I halved this recipe and used a 4 quart crockpot.
I cooked it for the 4 hours and it was perfect.
A real hit with our whole family!
The flavors are fantastic! Cooking on low for 4 hours resulted in overcooked noodles and a mushy consistency. I think I’ll do this recipe with cooked noodles in the oven as someone suggested in the comments.
Can your Million Dollar Pasta be frozen and still taste good? Thank you!
Hi Ann! That is a good question. I will be perfectly honest – I haven’t tried freezing it. It seems like it would work and be okay. If you try it – please let me know!
Do you cook the noodles 1st or put them in the crock pot uncooked?
Used plant based gluten free pasta and completely dissolved!
Anyone have issues? Still tastes good but NO PASTA! So heads up!
How much pasta for the serving of carbs? We have a diabetic.
Hi Judy, for people with medical conditions, I ask that you use your own trusted nutritional calculators. The nutritional information on this recipe are for informational purposes only and should not be used as guidance for a particular health condition.
Has anyone tried doubling the recipe? Will everything still fit in the crock pot? Any adjustments you would suggest?
In reply to Judi -I have a very large crockpot and this recipe fills the crockpot so if I were going to double the recipe I would use two crockpots or put it in a roaster pan and make it in the oven for an hour or an hour and a half on 350 covered.
Can this be made with spaghetti noodles?
Well I saw this question too but I went ahead and tried it using about half pound spaghetti broken up but im using a 2qt crock so I’ll let you know what happens it’s pretty full lol I also omitted the water because my sauce is on the thinner side.
I did see another video saying cook the sauce then throw the spaghetti in turning it to high for about 40 min and start testing until desired tenderness so thats what im trying. Good luck. 🙂
Didnt have cavatappi..hopefully rotini will work?…have u tried other pastas
This food is amazing!
Thanks so much Bry!
Thank you for this delicious recipe!! I love this but I ALWAYS make it with 1lb hamburger and 1 lb Italian sausage. Today I am using cottage cheese because I was out of ricotta. I put it in the food processor to make it smooth although that wasn’t necessary. My advice is to always use a sauce you love because it will make a difference in the flavor.
Sometimes I layer it in the oven with no boil pasta and put the cheese mixture in the middle of two layers of noodle and sauce/water mixture. I cover and bake on 350 for an hour uncover, add cheese, bake until melted then I remove from the oven and stir. The noodles have more texture this way. But either way this recipe is wonderful! Thanks again!
Can I also make this in a pressure cooker? Does anyone know the timing at heat level for that?
I haven’t tested it yet in a pressure cooker. Perhaps someone on here has though and can help!
What can I use as a substitute if I’m taking out ricotta cheese?
Most folks substitute ricotta cheese with cottage cheese.
You can also use Marscapone cheese, rather than cottage.
Marscapone would be a replacement for cream cheese. I wouldn’t substitute cottage cheese. Just use the ricotta.