Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti. Rinse uncooked pasta, drain, and set aside. We are a family of pasta lovers through and through. Yet I always like to find different variations on the usual.

Simplify pasta night with our delicious Slow-Cooker 'Baked' Ziti. 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. You can cook Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti using 10 ingredients and 12 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Sharon's Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

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

Rinse uncooked pasta, drain, and set aside. Make this Slow Cooker "Baked" Ziti and get dinner done without the hassle! Crock Pot Pasta is the easiest, most comforting way to enjoy pasta. This recipe for Slow Cooker Ziti features a homemade sauce, tons of cheese, and noodles that are cooked to perfection right in the slow cooker.

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!!.

Yes, you really can make baked ziti (well, "baked" ziti) in your slow cooker. And the result isn't just good — it's amazing. What it lacks in the crispy-edges department it gains in the ooey-gooey comfort-food department: tender noodles coated in marinara and mixed with a double dose of melty cheese. Short pasta like macaroni, penne, rotini, and others work best in this Slow Cooker Baked Ziti because they're less likely to clump and stick together. Long pasta cuts like spaghetti and fettucini are doable, but you may have to stir a couple more times in between.