Recipe: Perfect Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti. This easy Slow Cooker Baked Ziti is a perfect meal for those busy weeknights during the summer. 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.

Tastes very good, but seriously makes a VAT of pasta! Simplify pasta night with our delicious Slow-Cooker 'Baked' Ziti. Add pasta and stir until combined. You can have Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti using 10 ingredients and 12 steps. Here is how you cook it.

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

Turn your slow cooker on high and add ziti or penne noodles, and stir. Sprinkle shredded mozza on top and parsley if desired, cover and cook until cheese is melted. You can use any short pasta shape that you like in this recipe. I used whole wheat penne because my store doesn't carry whole wheat ziti.

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!!.

Different types of pasta may vary in their cook times. Baked ziti usually requires multiple steps: cooking the pasta, making the sauce, layering in the cheese, and, finally, baking everything in the oven. Our goal was to simplify the process by making this classic dish in a slow cooker. Rinse uncooked pasta, drain, and set aside. Dot on half of the ricotta mixture and spread out evenly.