This Slow Cooker Baked Spaghetti is such a treat compared to regular our spaghetti night!
Do you have spaghetti weekly at your house? My family does and it can’t get boring. This Slow Cooker Baked Spaghetti is a perfect way to make spaghetti night spectacular. I remember my mom making spaghetti weekly, she would simmer the pasta sauce and meat all-day on the stove top, walking by and stirring every so often. With the slow cooker, ground beef and Ragu Homestyle sauce, I can get my mom’s simmered all day tasting sauce without having to stir until I’m ready to serve. How I make this spaghetti dinner extra special is by making it a casserole by topping the slow cooked sauce and noodles with a cream cheese and ricotta mixture AND I add mozzarella cheese too!
I made this for dinner last Saturday night. Keep in mind this is the night we usually dine out, this meal was special enough for me not to miss my Saturday night out.
I took lots of pictures of the making of this dish, it is simple to make!
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This recipe starts out with 2 jars of RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Traditional Sauce.
Seasoned browned ground beef.
The sauce and beef cook for 6 hours.
After the sauce and meat cook together in the slow cooker, I add cooked spaghetti noodles. Then I dollop a cream cheese/ricotta mixture on top of the spaghetti and smooth it out with a spatula.
Then Mozzarella cheese.
After everything is assembled I cook it for 20 minutes longer.
Serve and enjoy!
Below is my YouTube video on how to make the entire dish. You can follow me on YouTube here.
Which Ragu Homestyle sauce would you use for this recipe? I am going to try the roasted garlic sauce next time I make this, how good does that sound? What I love about the Ragu Homestyle sauce is that it has a made from scratch taste which saves me time in the kitchen! The sauce also hugs the pasta perfectly since it is thick. I hope you enjoy this meal as much as my family does! Have a great week!
- 2 (24-oz.) jars RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Traditional Sauce
- 1.5 lbs. ground beef
- ½ cup diced white onion
- 1 minced garlic clove
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 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)
- 4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 cup)
- 1 cup ricotta
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 6-quart or larger
- Pour the jars of Ragu 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, 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!
You may also like: Slow Cooker Seasoned Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans
Oh yum! I’ve made baked spaghetti and this looks like a great and simple alternative!
I wonder if you could use cottage cheese instead of riacotta cheese?
I’m sure it would be good. I love cottage cheese in lasagna.
This sounds great! I have never tried making spaghetti in the crock pot! I would try the mushroom flavor!
Looks yum! wondering if you can use any jarred sauce with the recipe?
Yes, user what you prefer
I could eat this every night for dinner…my husband may not be on the same wagon.
This looks so good, Sarah! I am putting this on my list to try! Shared.
I can’t use Ragu – I have to use Prego because it has no MSG and Ragu does. Other wise – this is a great dish and I am going to share it and make it. Thanks. P.S. I bought your cook book and I love it.
This sounds amazing! I just made baked spaghetti this past week, but I think I love this slow cooker version even better. 🙂
Sarah, this is such an amazing recipe. I am doing a baked spaghetti recipe round up in September, and this recipe is very unique. May I use one of your photos in the round up? I will, of course, be linking back to this post.
Could you leave out the ricotta cheese and just add more cream cheese?
I don’t see why not!
This recipe looks delicious! Could you use cottage cheese instead of ricotta? I have had success making that substitute in lasagna recipes…
I think so! I love lasagna with cottage cheese!
Seems like it would take longer then oven baked spaghetti….??
The sauce is slow cooked, so it has more flavor. 🙂
Why the six hour cook time on the sauce? I would think since everything was already cooked you would just need to warm it up.
Slow cooking the sauce gives it more flavor. 🙂
Don’t get me wrong but slow cooking a jar of store bought sauce will not give it any more flavor than it already has.
The meat, garlic and seasonings added give it more depth of flavor. I did not add just a bottle of sauce to the slow cooker.
Can I cook it longer than 6 hours? With drive time & work time I’m away from home 10-11 hours!
Hi Lisa, that may be too long of cooking time for this recipe. Though I have heard of people cooking spaghetti sauce that long, it may need more liquid than this recipe calls for.
Family loved it!
It is SUPER RARE for all six of the people in my home to ALL be pleased with one single dish for dinner!! This blew everyone away!! We ALL totally loved it!! So yummy!! Thank you! This one is a keeper, for sure!!
So yummy,! I made an organic version with simple truth 4 cheese sauce. Officially added to comfort foods.
Sounds amazing!
I have a slow-cooker recipe that uses uncooked spaghetti noodles, everything cooks at the same time in the pot AFTER you’ve cooked the meat….it’s very good.
When did you add the uncooked noodles? I’d like to do that but don’t want it to end up mushy.
I didn’t add them, I cook them on the stove top, then add them at the end. They will be mushy if you add them to the crock pot 🙂
Can I just throw my noodles (uncooked) in all at once since I won’t have time to cook the noodles and add them later?
Noodles get extremely mushy and flourly tasting cooked in the crock pot. Perhaps you could could the noodles and place them in the fridge? Then stir them in the crock pot at the end?
thanks for the recipe
This was wonderful! I followed the recipe exactly and everyone loved it!
What a delicious meal. after adding the cheeses I placed everthing in a casserole dish and baked on 400 degrees for 20 minutes
Could this recipe be cut in half
I don’t see why not Brittney, I would cut down the cooking time though.
How do you reduce the size of the recipe? My son just bought me a crock pot (haven’t had one for several years) and being divorced, I am mostly cooking for myself so we picked out a 4 qt… And unless there is a recipe to work from I tend to be useless!!
Could you use other pastas? Like Ziti or Regatoni?
yes! Be sure to pre-cook it and use a 16 ounce box still.
Is it possible to cook it on high for 3 hours instead? I want to make it tomorrow but I forgot to buy the sauce tonight and will purchase tomorrow. I hope you get back to me in time!
Yes I think that would be just fine!
I have a 4-quart crock-pot not a 6-quart….how would you reduce the recipe so it would fit?
What would you suggest doing if you wanted to make this a freezer meal? Thanks for the help!
Just do the sauce and meat in a baggie. Then add everything else after cooking.
I will try to make this recipe for my son today. I hope he will like it.
I rolled this in a flour mixture and deep fried it.
Awesome! I bet that was great.
Thinking of freezing half of it. How long would I need to cook it in the oven after it defrosts?
I’m unsure. I’m guessing 30 minutes.
Hi! I’m SO excited to try this! I only have 1 pound of hamburger meat. I was thinking maybe trying to just use 1 and a half jars of sauce but still cooking for the full time? Do you think that would be okay?
I think it should be fine!
I made this recipe for an Italian themed luncheon at the school where I work Teachers are generally very good cooks and these meals are always wonderful. Everyone asked for the recipe! That’s a big 5 stars!!!! Thanks for all your recipes. I haven’t tried anything that wasn’t delicious
Happy to hear that Joleen, this recipe is one of my favorites. Makes so much and the leftovers heat up great.
How do you suggest reheating?
We heat in the microwave. Sorry I don’t have a fancier answer!
Thanks! I am not fancy either! I am going to try putting it on the warm setting on the Crock-Pot but, if not hot enough, will also use microwave!
Can you make another mixture with just mozerella cheese and cream cheese somehow? I’m stuck st home for the weekend and don’t have ricotta at the moment. I can’t wait to try this thank u
Yes, I think that will work fine!
While I liked this recipe, the prep work is the same as regular spaghetti and would have been easier to just do the prep and bake it in the oven. Pre cooking everything kind of ruined the whole crock pot idea. It was a very good meal but just think easier doing it in the oven.
Flavors are enhanced with the slow cooking! More economical to use the slow cooker than to use your big oven!
Has anyone tried it with ground turkey instead of beef? Thanks.
Just mixed the meat in the sauce
The anticipation is killing me there is no doubt it will come out delicious
Thank you it was a hit last night. My son doesn’t come often so when he does I like to make it special. He told me he was in the mood for spaghetti with meat balls. I asked if he would opt for spaghetti with ground beef instead and he agreed. I made it and him and my little ones are it all up… I loved it myself. My husband wasn’t a fan but he is not a cheese lover. So WHATEVER… lol
Anyhow thank you for sharing and making our night special because my son absolutely loved it.
This is the best spaghetti I’ve ever had. It’s a hit at slumber parties for my daughter and her friends and it’s great for potlucks. It does take a lot of time but it’s worth it. I find it takes longer than 20 minutes after the cheese addition. We usually let it go for an hour or two to ensure it’s nice and gooey. But I do have a crockpot from like 15 years ago.
Great tip, It could go a little longer without anything bad happening, just makes it hotter and bubbly.
I cook my ground beef in my crock pot first with my spices and onion. Then I add my sauce. My cooked noodles and cheese. Etc.