When cooking pasta in the slow cooker, we recommend using thicker pasta noodles to help prevent overcooking. Try out fettuccine or bow tie, especially if it's your first go at it. Once you've started cooking, check the noodles every few minutes to see if they're fully cooked.
You'll want to be sure you're cooking on high heat as a higher temperature will help prevent noodles from getting too mushy. To prevent noodles from burning or sticking to the bottom of your slow cooker, use plenty of broth or liquid.
If you're making noodles and pasta sauce in your slow cooker, we recommend you cook the pasta separately and make the sauce in the slow cooker. If you've done this before, you might opt to add dry noodles to the slow cooker near the end of the sauce cook time. Give the sauce about 15-20 minutes, then add in your dry pasta. Allocating this amount of time will help you avoid mushy pasta.
There's plenty of pasta recipes you can bring to life with the help of your slow cooker, but if you need some inspiration, try out this Slow-Cooker Chicken Tetrazzini or this Slow-Cooker Chicken Parmesan Tortellini you can prep in 20 minutes. You could also whip up this Slow-Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta —it's a fan-favorite recipe on Pillsbury.com!
The slow cooker is a hero kitchen appliance, and it's transformed the way so many of us prep and cook our favorite foods. Let spaghetti be no exception!
Make everyday family moments count, with easy recipes that everyone will love. Join our email community to receive tested recipes and tips.
