Crock Pot Spaghetti is such an easy slow cooker dinner. With its easy meat sauce, this is a meal that your whole family will fall in love with.
I think there are days for all of us where getting any meal on the table feels like a stretch. If you add in things like well rounded and something my kids will actually eat, it feels almost impossible.
This Crock Pot Spaghetti is the answer. It is made in the slow cooker, which automatically makes it a winner. This dinner recipe comes together with simple ingredients, scoring even more points. Finally, it is a total win with kids and it is absolute comfort, making it the Grand Poohbah of great dinner ideas.
How to Make Spaghetti in the Crock Pot
Here is a brief overview of how to make crockpot spaghetti. Your home will smell amazing and your family will love coming home to a warm and hearty meal. See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full recipe and measurements.
- Brown the beef. Cook the ground beef over medium heat until it is broken up and browned. Drain off the grease.
- Make the sauce. Spray the base of your crockpot with cooking spray. Pour in the chicken stock, spaghetti sauce, and seasonings and stir to combine.
- Add the pasta. Add the uncooked spaghetti (you may need to break the noodles in half to fit) to the slow cooker. Gently stir and press down so that it is completely covered by the liquid.
- Cook the spaghetti. Cover and cook until pasta is done, 2-4 hours depending on the heat setting.
- Add cheese. Give the spaghetti a good stir and stir in cream cheese and parmesan if desired.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
One of the things that can make this meal really quick to throw together is using jarred spaghetti sauce. That being said, I know a lot of people prefer to cook completely from scratch. If that is you, I suggest you make my homemade spaghetti sauce the night before you want to make this delicious spaghetti dinner. It comes together in only 25 minutes and is delicious. The sauce recipe also makes the amount of sauce you need for this dinner recipe.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
Tips and Tricks for Crock Pot Spaghetti
- Switch up the pasta. Any pasta will work for this recipe. If spaghetti is difficult for your little ones to eat or your family prefers another kind, use that in this recipe.
- Use ground turkey. If you prefer ground turkey to ground beef, you can swap that for this recipe. Brown the turkey in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Make it vegetarian. Leave out meat altogether and swap the chicken stock for vegetable stock to make this dish vegetarian. You could also add some meat substitute crumbles to the recipe. They are fully cooked and easy to find in the freezer section of the grocery store.
- Shred your own cheese. Shred your cheese from a block rather than buying pre-shredded Parmesan cheese. I say this often, but it truly does make a big difference in recipes. Pre-shredded cheese is covered in preservatives that help it keep its shredded form, but also keeps it from melting well. Grating your own will melt well and make this crock pot spaghetti extra good.
- Skip the dairy. Cream cheese and grated Parmesan make this dish rich and creamy. These options are listed on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. They were not added in the pictures you see here, because we enjoy this meal so much without them.
- Make it in the instant pot. This recipe can easily be tweaked and made in the instant pot. This Creamy Instant Pot Spaghetti is a dish my kids request often.
Cooking on Low or High
As you know that I prefer slow cooked recipes to be done on low. Most of them just cook better that way, especially when it is a meat dish, like my Pork Carnitas. That being said, with this recipe, both cooking methods (low and high) work equally well.
Storing and Reheating
Store your leftover spaghetti in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. When you are ready to eat the leftovers, reheat them by microwaving at half power until warmed through. Please use your best discretion when it comes to leftovers. Since this recipe is cooked, it doesn’t freeze as well as other pasta dishes. For a spaghetti dish you can make ahead of time AND freeze, try this Baked Spaghetti.
FAQ
Yes! Simply use gluten-free pasta.
This recipe needs to be made in a 6 quart crock pot or larger as it fills the crock pot completely. If you have a smaller one, you can cut the recipe in half for a smaller batch.
Yes! While you can’t beat the flavor of homemade spaghetti sauce, your favorite jarred spaghetti sauce will work in this recipe.
Since this crock pot recipe is cooked, it does not freeze well. A baked spaghetti freezes well, as it can be prepped up until the cooking step and then baked when desired.
Whole wheat pasta doesn’t hold up well in this recipe. If you feel strongly about using it, I would suggest cutting at least an hour off the cooking time.
What to Serve with Slowcooker Spaghetti
- These Italian Green Beans are an easy and delicious side dish that even picky eaters love.
- Garlic Bread always compliments pasta so well.
- A classic Caesar Salad is always a hit.
Other Crock Pot Pasta Recipes
Looking for other make ahead crockpot pasta recipes? Try one of these hearty dishes!
If you make this Crock Pot Spaghetti recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Crock Pot Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 6 cups spaghetti sauce (homemade or store bought)
- 3 cups chicken stock (or beef stock)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pound dry spaghetti (do not use whole wheat)
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (optional)
- 4 ounces cream cheese (optional)
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until it is broken up and browned. Drain off the grease.
- Spray the base of a 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Then add in the chicken stock, tomato sauce, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. stirring to combine. Add the drained beef.
- Add the dry spaghetti. Gently stir and press down so the spaghetti is completely covered by liquid.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for four hours or on high for two hours.
- Give the spaghetti a good stir. Then stir in the cream cheese and parmesan until melted if using.
Notes
Chris says
Is there a way to keep it moist? It keeps burning at the bottom, despite stirring.
Hi Chris, I haven’t had that experience with this recipe. It may be an issue with how hot your crockpot is running.
Maria says
In the ingredient list, you specifically said not to use whole wheat pasta, but what about gluten free?
This recipe hasn’t been tested with gluten free pasta, unfortunately.
P. Dye says
Hi. Instructions says to add tomato sauce but there’s no tomato sauce in the ingredients list. I’m assuming you mean spaghetti sauce.
Correct.
Mary nelson says
What size spaghetti is used for this recipe? Thin , regular etc Thank you
Regular.
sam clay says
Im sorry but this turns out too mushhy didnt even cook for 2hours on low i wanted to stir it and check it it was already mush then. Not making again.
I’m sorry this was a miss for you, Sam. Slow cookers do vary greatly, so some cook quite a bit faster.
Addie says
When I saw this recipe it looked really delicious. I made it up, and at first, when it had first finished after following the recipe exactly, the noodles were really gummy. After cooking it some more hoping to soften the noodles a bit (since they were undercooked), the noodles ended up turning more mushy. At both stages my family thought it was quite gross and not worth eating. Not wanting it to go to waste I ate some the next day. After it sitting, it tasted more like a casserole. The flavor was decent, but this recipe is not worth it if you want spaghetti. If you’re wanting spaghetti, making it on the stove top is easier, quicker, and much more tasty. Plus you don’t have to wait 2+ hours for it to be ready and can have dinner ready in just 20 minutes. Now, that being said, I think this recipe definitely has potential. I would switch the noodles out for big shells, and then cook it as a casserole. I would also add diced mushrooms for more flavor and added texture.
I’m sorry this recipe wasn’t a hit for you, Addie. I’m a little confused about the noodles both being gummy and undercooked. It sounds like the heat should be turned off sooner. Recipes like this in the crockpot are tricky because slow cookers vary so greatly. We’ve had great results with this recipe as written.
Mirandamom says
I have a very standard slow cooker (West Bend) which I set to low, but when I checked on this dish at 2 1/2 hours it was pretty much inedibly overcooked. This was a shame because the flavor was good. Too bad I didn’t check it at 1 1/2 hours.
I’m so sorry to hear that this didn’t work for you. Despite having a standard slow cooker, slow cookers do vary a great deal in their cooking temperatures.