Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Pasta
204 CommentsUpdated Jun 13, 2026
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Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan and Pasta brings everything you love together in one pot — tender chicken, rich tomato sauce, and hearty pasta, all topped with plenty of melty mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. It’s an easy, comforting dinner the whole family will love.
We have pasta night once a week, if we aren’t making this dish, we also make Chicken Pasta Rosa, which has alfredo added.
This easy pasta dish was one of the first recipes on the blog — and it’s still one of the most popular! While you can’t get crispy breaded chicken in the slow cooker, you can make a hearty, cheesy chicken pasta packed with all the classic saucy, cheesy flavors you love.
Key Ingredients
Not many ingredients are needed to make this. For full ingredient amounts, see the recipe card below the photos.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts – We aren’t using fried patties in this recipe. Boneless chicken breasts will shred up great and go perfectly with the sauce, pasta, and cheese.
- Pasta Sauce – You can use your favorite pasta sauce. We love Ragu, Raos, or even Newman’s Own Marinara sauce.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, and oregano. You can use Italian Seasoning if you have that on hand.
- Penne pasta – Cook according to package directions and add to slow cooker at the end of the cooking time.
- Cheeses – Mozzarella and a touch of parmesan cheese top this dish.
Variations
Here are a few easy ways to customize your meal:
- Extra vegetables can be added. Add mushrooms, or finely diced carrots at the beginning of the cooking time. Or stir in spinach along with the pasta.
- You can use rotini, rigatoni, bow-tie, or even spaghetti noodles in this dish. I do not recommend using egg noodles.
- Chicken thighs are also a great choice instead of chicken breasts.
How to make Crockpot Chicken Parmesan Pasta
This recipe is such an easy weeknight dinner, see how I make it below:
Step One – Add the chicken to the slow cooker and sprinkle over the salt, pepper, and oregano.
Step Two -Pour over the pasta sauce. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
Step Three – Shred the chicken with two forks. Cook the pasta on the stovetop according to the package directions.
Step Four – Stir the drained pasta into the chicken and sauce. Sprinkle over the mozzarella cheese and then the parmesan.
Step Five – Place the lid back on the slow cooker just long enough for the cheese to melt; this usually takes 15 minutes.
Step Six – Serve and enjoy!
My Serving Suggestions
I often think about what my favorite restaurant would serve with the dish when I’m picking sides. Here are my favorites for this dish:
- A Caesar salad or green salad is the perfect side to go with this!
- Breadsticks, French rolls, or garlic bread.
Featured Comment
“This was so delicious. My husband said it was one of the best new recipes I have made in a long time. He wants me to make this on a regular basis.”
– Rae
How to Video
Ingredients
- 48 oz Pasta Sauce or Marinara, (two 24-oz. jars) Ragu, Rao's or Newmans Own works well.
- 1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. oregano, (or Italian Seasoning)
- 1 lb. penne pasta, cooked according to package directions
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Add the chicken to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Sprinkle over the salt, pepper, and oregano. Pour over the pasta sauce.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6-8 hours, without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- When the cooking time is done, prepare the pasta on the stove-top according to the package directions.
- While the pasta is cooking, shred the chicken with two forks. You can do this right in the slow cooker.
- Drain the pasta very well. Add the pasta to the chicken and sauce in the slow cooker. Stir. Flatten the pasta out into an even layer. Sprinkle over the shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Cover for 15 more minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
- 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 Pasta Slow Cooker Recipes
- Change things up with Slow Cooker Stuffed Shells filled with cheese, Slow Cooker Pesto Mozzarella Chicken Pasta bursting with flavor, or the ever-popular Olive Garden Chicken Pasta.
- Make dinner easy with comforting favorites like Slow Cooker Million Dollar Spaghetti, packed with hearty meat sauce, and creamy, rich Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo.
- Slow Cooker Pasta Puttanesca brings together tomatoes, olives, and capers for a delicious twist. Try my 40 clove garlic chicken over angel hair pasta for a quick Sunday Dinner.
What about using a different brand then ragu, like classico?
This recipe is so easy and oh so delicious. My 2 year old grandson told me that it was very yummy. Whenever I make it I have to set aside a container for each of my married son’s to take for lunch. I gave some to my sister and everyone at her house loved it also. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
This looks so yummy. I need to make this for 8-10 people. Any advice on the amount of ingredients ?
I assume I can use chicken thighs and then just decrease cook time?
Great recipe! Made it tonight and turned out really well. I basically followed the recipe to the T, and felt the only drawback was that the chicken was kind of dry after 4 hrs on high. But my husband liked it – this is a recipe for the books.
Does the recipe call for a total of 48 oz of ragu or only a total of 24 oz?
2 of the 24 ounce jars. 48 ounces total 🙂
Has anyone tried adding uncooked pasta at the same time a the other ingredients instead of cooking it on the stove and adding it?
I was curious about this too. Did you end up trying it?
I tried once that way because it was late & I was in a rush. The pasta did not get as tender & it did not taste as good. It tastes much better when follow the recipe by boiling the pasta & then adding it.
This is super good. This time I was thinking of adding zucchini and spinach. Any advice when I should add it so it’s cooked a little bit.
I would add the zucchini 1 hour before adding the pasta and the spinach at the same time as the pasta, it will wither down very quickly! I hope that helps!
Turned out perfect! Thank you!
My mom doesn’t like pasta so I left pasta aside so everyone could dish up their own. Cooked everything else like shown just omitted pasta
Love this recipe. So good and super cheesy! I’ve made it twice now and use this recipe for when I want to make planned-overs (i.e. making lunches for work for the week). It usually makes about 7 servings for me. I couldn’t find the Chunky Tomato, Garlic and Onion Ragu this time, so I improvised and added a half teaspoon of garlic powder and a half teaspoon of onion powder to make up for it and it still turned out pretty awesome. I use a 4 quart slow cooker which is really pushing it. It just barely fits all the ingredients in but it’s still doable! Would recommend to anyone who is new to cooking or needs a really easy meal.
Hey i am trying to cook this now. I accidently put 4ish lbs of chicken. Do i need to double other ingredients to make this okay? I thought it needed 5lbs of chicken.
I think this should be fine, you could take out some of the chicken after it’s done cooking and use for something else. Then carry on with the original recipe. If you double everything else it won’t fit.
Hey thanks for getting back to me. It turned out good. Thank you so much.