Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Crockpot Baked Ziti

Last Wednesday we celebrated my MIL's birthday. We had them over for supper. I wanted to do something fairly easy to throw together. A pasta bake is always my go to. I had heard from a friend that she did a baked ziti in the crockpot and it turned out great, so I figured I would give it a try!

I searched pinterest for a recipe and found this one. I have adapted the recipe some based on our preferences.

I am nor every will I be a food blogger...so my pictures are nothing spectacular, but this recipe is the bomb!

 Ingredients:

* 1 Lb ground beef (chicken or turkey will do as well!)
* 2 jars marinara sauce (I used Rao's tomato basil, by far my favorite!)
* 1 box penne noodles (uncooked!)
* shredded mozzarella cheese
* shredded parmesan cheese
* 1 16 oz container ricotta cheese (not pictured)
* Italian seasoning


Steps: 

* Brown the beef 
* Spray your crockpot with Pam, or use one of those handy liners! (I actually remembered to use one this time, makes cleanup so easy) 
* One the beef is browned drain the fat and add one jar of sauce into the pan 
* In a separate bowl combine ricotta and italian seasoning 
* add some of the meat sauce to the bottom of your crockpot 
* next add 1/3 of the UNCOOKED noodles 
* top the noodles with 1/2 of the ricotta mixture
* sprinkle mozzarella on top of ricotta
* repeat these steps layering sauce, noodles, ricotta ending with the sauce on top. I added in about 1/2-3/4 of the second jar of sauce in with my layers of sauce. 
* Cook on low for 2- 3 hours ( I did about 2 1/2 hours) 
* 30 minutes prior to serving top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It will melt and get super gooey! 








Of course I forgot to take a picture of the final product until after we had eaten about half of it! It came our so good, the noodles were not soggy and a perfect consistency! 



This was super easy to throw together, I did it all during nap time. It makes a lot so will be perfect for a crowd or to have leftovers throughout the week. We served it with some french bread and I would usually do a salad but I forgot to get it at the grocery store. 



*Linking up with Beth and The Blended Blog




9 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, that looks so yummy! There is just something about baked spaghetti that is just yummy!

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  2. YUM!!! We LOVE baked pasta dishes so this is perfect. Plus I am really wanting to get some easy simple dinners in our routine. Thanks for the idea!

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  3. Delish! I could get on board with a recipe not requiring cooked noodles!

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  4. I love any type of pasta and this sounds so nice and easy! Especially since you don't even have to cook the noodles!

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  5. My mom's ziti recipe is our go-to for an easy meal, but we've never tried it in the crockpot. it sounds so much easier that way!

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  6. This looks so good and I love that you don't have to cook the pasta ahead!

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  7. So easy and yummy! I will have to try this.

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  8. Sounds amazing. I love Rao's sauce too!

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