Slow Cooker Baked Spaghetti {Million Dollar Spaghetti}
182 CommentsUpdated Mar 06, 2026
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This Slow Cooker Baked Spaghetti features a rich, slow-simmered beef sauce layered with tender pasta, a creamy cheese mixture, and a melty mozzarella topping. Often called Million Dollar Spaghetti, no matter the name, it’s pure comfort food and absolutely delicious!
What is the difference between normal spaghetti and baked spaghetti?
- Regular spaghetti has just noodles, meat, and sauce, and made on the stove top.
- Baked Spaghetti is spaghetti and sauce topped with a creamy cream cheese and ricotta mixture and topped with cheese, and baked to meld all the flavors together. In this case we are using our slow cooker to “bake” this casserole. Baked spaghetti tastes like an ultra decadent lasagna (but of course with different noodles). – We also love to make Crockpot Lasagna and Ravioli Lasagna.
Ingredients for Million Dollar Spaghetti
Pasta sauce – You can use Ragu, Newman’s Own, Rao’s or even make your own homemade crockpot marinara sauce. Just use two 24-oz. jars.
Ground beef – Cook ground beef on the stove top with salt, pepper, basil, garlic and onion.
Spaghetti noodles – One pound of cooked spaghetti noodles will be added to this after the sauce has simmered all day.
Cream cheese mixture – Cream cheese, ricotta and salt make up the creamy layer in this million dollar spaghetti.
How to make Crockpot Baked Spaghetti
- Cook the beef with onion, garlic, and Italian seasonings, then combine it with jarred pasta sauce in the crockpot and let it simmer all afternoon.
- Boil the spaghetti noodles separately and stir them into the slow-cooked meat sauce.
- Spread the creamy ricotta and cream cheese mixture over the pasta.
- Top with mozzarella, and cook until melted.
Variations
This recipe is PERFECT as-is. But you can make changes to suit your tastes:
- Spaghetti or linguine noodles are best for this recipe. You can use penne or rigatoni if desired. I do not recommend angel hair noodles or egg noodles for they are not the right texture for this dish.
- Some do not like ricotta. You can use more cream cheese instead or use cottage cheese and you’ll still have a wonderful meal.
- For a healthier baked spaghetti, use ground turkey and add extra seasonings for flavor. For a more Italian taste, swap in sweet or spicy crumbled Italian sausage.
- For a vegetarian option, use bagged soy crumbles instead of beef.
- Swirl in a few tablespoons of pesto for added basil flavor.
My Serving Ideas
This meal is FILLING, so no need to go overboard with sides.
- Garlic bread, focaccia, or breadsticks.
- Roasted Broccoli or Brussels sprouts.
- Fresh green salad and dressing.
- Top with Parmesan cheese or red pepper flakes.
Can I put raw noodles into a crockpot?
The slow cooker doesn’t get hot enough to cook pasta properly, instead of cooking properly it turns into a chalky mess.
Featured Comment
“This recipe, exactly as written, is AMAZING!! The only thing I did was add green and red bell peppers to the ground beef mixture. Tastes like it came out of the actual oven. I paired with a glass of red wine and Rhodes parker house rolls. Perfect for a Wednesday night with minimal effort.”
– Author Name
Slow Cooker Baked Spaghetti Recipe {Million Dollar Spaghetti}
How to Video
Ingredients
- 48 oz. Pasta Sauce, Such as Ragu Old World Style, Newman's own Marinara, or Rao's Marinara.
- 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 lb. spaghetti noodles, see below for cooking instructions, these don’t get cooked or added until after the sauce cooks for 6 hours
Cheese topping after sauce cooks:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Pour the jars of sauce in to the slow cooker. In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, brown the meat and onions together. After the meat is browned add the garlic, cook for a minute a longer. Drain the fat. Add the salt, pepper, oregano and basil and stir. Pour the meat onto the sauce in the slow cooker and stir.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- After the cooking time is up, cook the noodles as directed on the package in boiling water on the stove-top. I cooked my noodles for exactly 8 minutes after adding them to the boiling water. The noodles will cook a bit more after adding them to the slow cooker.
- Drain the noodles and add them to the meat sauce in the slow cooker. Stir, then flatten the noodles in an even layer.
- In a small bowl combine the cream cheese, ricotta and salt. The cream cheese will be in small chunks, but that is fine.
- Dollop the cream cheese/ricotta mixture over the spaghetti, then use a spatula to even it out over the spaghetti. Add the mozzarella cheese.
- Cover and cook for an extra 20 minutes on LOW.
- Serve and enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More crockpot pasta recipes
- For a creamy and comforting meal, try Pesto Chicken Mozzarella Pasta or Garlic Butter Chicken Pasta, both rich in flavor and easy to make.
- Spice up dinner with Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Fettuccine, or go classic with Skillet Spaghetti and Meatballs made with Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce for extra depth.
- If you’re craving something cheesy, Slow Cooker Angel Chicken and Cheesy Chicken Penne are perfect, creamy, and full of flavor. Want and EASY dinner? Try My Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs which has frozen meatballs.
I made this like a month ago, it was fantastic, in fact I’m making it again as I type this. But I ended up baking the dish after layering it in a roaster. I ate this like there was no tomorrow. But, I just now realized that I forgot the cream cheese, for the current batch.
That is great to hear!
My family loves baked spaghetti, and until now, I had never thought of making it outside of an oven, as I know you are not a fan of pasta in a slow cooker. But now I am anxious to give your method a try. I have always broken my spaghetti into smaller lengths (quarters or thirds) before cooking them for easier serving from a baked 9×13 dish, and now I want to try making them broken in the slow cooker as well. Would breaking the raw pasta before boiling cause any problem with adding them into the sauce in the slow cooker? The reason I am asking is that you stated in step 4’s instructions to stir the noodles into the sauce, but then flatten the noodles into an even layer before adding the cheese mixture topping. If I do stir the broken cooked noodles into the sauce, do you think it would still be possible to make a layer of the noodles over the sauce and under the cheese mixture? Your slow cooker recipes have made me a fantastic slow cooker cook, and I would like to keep that title, and, since you are the reason for that, I will do whatever you suggest, even if it means cooking my noodles whole.
You can break them, no problem. I don’t layer the noodles. The noodles are stirred into the sauce, not layered. 🙂 you spread out the pasta/noodles before adding the cheese.
Oh yes, now I understand the instructions in step 4. So sorry about how I had taken it to mean. We are just flattening the whole sauce/meat mixture together before adding the cheese mixture topping. That makes so much more sense! So then I WILL break my noodles for easier serving. Thank you so much, Sarah, for taking the time to answer, and so quickly too!