How to Cook Pasta in a Slow Cooker (2024)

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By Pillsbury Kitchens

Created June 24, 2021

Wondering how to cook pasta in the slow cooker? We've put together a few tips and tricks to help you discover a new way to serve up this family-favorite dinner dish.

How to Cook Pasta in a Slow Cooker

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.

How to Make Pasta Sauce in a Slow Cooker

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.

Slow-Cooker Pasta Recipes

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!

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How to Cook Pasta in a Slow Cooker (2024)

FAQs

How to cook just pasta in a slow cooker? ›

Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours or on high for 1 to 2 hours. Check at the 3 (on low) or 1 (on high) hour mark to ensure the pasta does not over cook. To check for doneness, use a fork to pull a “test” noodle from the center of the slow cooker. Once it is tender, the pasta is done.

Can you slow boil pasta? ›

While it is important to make sure your water has come to a full raging boil before you add your pasta, you do not want to cook it in a jacuzzi. After adding your pasta, reduce the heat to medium-high, transforming the boil into a slow rolling boil or heavy simmer.

How long does dry pasta take to cook? ›

Most dried ribbons of pasta such as linguine, spaghetti and tagliatelle take between 8-10 mins. Shorter, thicker pasta shapes like bows or penne take 10-12mins and fresh pasta such as ravioli and tortellini will be done between 3-5mins.

How do you cook the right amount of pasta? ›

Use a measuring cup to portion dried pasta.

For example, when cooking a semolina penne, Barilla says to measure 2/3 cup dried pasta for 1 1/4 cups of cooked pasta; if you're cooking rotini, use 1/2 cup of dried pasta for 1 cup cooked.

Can you just cook pasta in the sauce? ›

Cooking pasta in the sauce instead of in boiling water will increase the amount of time it takes to cook through. It's a good technique to use if you want to delay serving your pasta for a few minutes. Make sure to keep the sauce thinned out with pasta water as the pasta finishes cooking if you use this method.

Do things boil in a slow cooker? ›

Our slow cookers will boil on the low setting, but only near the conclusion of cooking time (last hour). When a slow process is used to cook meat, the temperature of the contents should be brought up to 125° F within 3 hours and rise quickly to 165°.

When to add pasta to slow cooker on high? ›

Broth-based slow cooker dinners need their dry pasta added at just the right moment — add the pasta too early and your noodles will be mushy before they get to the table. Adding dry pasta 30 to 4o minutes before serving means you'll have perfectly cooked pasta in your soup.

Can you cook pasta without boiling? ›

With a little planning ahead, you can save yourself the trouble and energy cost of heating a large pot of boiling water to cook dry pasta. In fact, there's no need to heat any water at all. Simply heat your favorite sauce, add the rehydrated pasta, and let it sit for a minute. Dinner is served!

What is the golden rule for cooking pasta? ›

In Italy, the golden rule for cooking pasta is 1, 10, 100 or 1 liter of water, 10 grams of salt for every 100 grams of pasta. Converted for American cooks, the rule should be 1/3, 3, 30, referring to 1/3 oz of salt, 3 oz of pasta and 30 oz of water.

Do you cook pasta on high or low? ›

Fill a large saucepan with water, put the lid on and bring to the boil over a high heat. Add a good pinch of sea salt. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

What is the general rule for cooking pasta? ›

The general rule for cooking pasta in boiling water is for 1 pound of pasta, use 1 gallon of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of oil. For 100 servings of spaghetti, 6 gallons of water, 2 tablespoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of oil are needed to cook 6 pounds of dried spaghetti.

Can you cook pasta without liquid? ›

With a little planning ahead, you can save yourself the trouble and energy cost of heating a large pot of boiling water to cook dry pasta. In fact, there's no need to heat any water at all. Simply heat your favorite sauce, add the rehydrated pasta, and let it sit for a minute. Dinner is served!

Can you cook things in a slow cooker without liquid? ›

Slow cookers have tight-fitting lids, which means they create rather than evaporate liquid in the cooking. A slow cooker does not need any liquid added at the beginning of the cooking process, because it will generate steam, which will become liquid in the bowl.

How do you cook pasta if you don't have a stove? ›

Pour around 400ml boiling water over the top – you want to ensure the pasta is completely covered. 2 Microwave on high for 4-5 mins, then give it a good stir so it doesn't stick. Return to the microwave and heat on high for 2 mins intervals, stirring it each time. It should take around 9-10 mins for al dente pasta.

How much liquid is needed to cook pasta without draining? ›

The Ratio. And the key ratio here is 1:2. For every 4 ounces of pasta, you want 8 ounces of liquid.

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