Slow Cooker Baked Ziti
All the comfort of classic baked ziti without heating the oven — Italian sausage and sweet peppers simmered in a rich tomato cream sauce with dry pasta cooked right in the pot, finished with a blanket of melted mozzarella.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage, mild or hot
- 1 cup diced yellow or white onion
- 1 cup diced green pepper
- 1 cup diced red pepper
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon dried sweet basil
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 ounces dry ziti or similar pasta
- 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the Italian sausage and cook, breaking it into small crumbles with a wooden spoon, until deeply browned all over. If the sausage releases a lot of fat, drain off the excess, leaving just enough to cook the vegetables — a little fat is flavour, but a pool of grease will make the final dish heavy.
- Add the diced onion, green pepper, and red pepper to the skillet with the browned sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened and the onion has turned translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. The peppers should lose their raw edge but still hold their shape.
- Stir in the minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and dried basil. Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until the garlic is fragrant. Keep the heat steady here — you want the spices to bloom in the residual fat, not burn.
- Pour in the crushed tomatoes, drained diced tomatoes, and heavy cream. Stir everything together until the sauce is uniform and the cream is fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that the sausage already carries salt. Transfer the entire sauce mixture to the slow cooker insert.
- Add the dry ziti directly to the slow cooker and nestle the pasta into the sauce, pressing it gently to submerge as much as possible. Pour the tomato sauce over the top, then use a spoon to ensure the pasta is well covered — any exposed pasta will cook unevenly or dry out.
- Set the slow cooker to high, cover with the lid, and cook for 3 hours. The pasta will absorb the sauce and cook through in that time. Check at the 2.5-hour mark if your slow cooker runs hot — ziti can go from perfectly tender to mushy quickly, and all slow cookers vary.
- Once the pasta is cooked through, give the ziti a gentle stir to redistribute the sauce. Scatter the shredded mozzarella evenly over the surface, replace the lid, and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese has fully melted into a bubbly, golden layer. Serve straight from the insert.
Chef’s Note: The key technical move here is cooking the pasta dry, directly in the sauce rather than boiling it separately. As the ziti cooks, it drinks up the surrounding tomato sauce and releases starch back into it, creating a thicker, more cohesive dish than you’d get from pre-cooked pasta. That’s also why the pasta coverage step matters — any tube sitting above the sauce line will come out chalky and underdone. If your sauce looks thick before the pasta goes in, add a splash of water or extra broth to ensure there’s enough liquid to fully cook the ziti. The heavy cream does double duty here, softening the acidity of the tomatoes and giving the sauce a velvety body that holds together on the plate.
This dish is endlessly adaptable. Swap the Italian sausage for ground beef or a plant-based mince, or skip the meat entirely for a purely vegetable version — just increase the peppers and add a handful of sliced mushrooms. For a richer finish, stir a few spoonfuls of ricotta through the pasta before scattering the mozzarella on top. Leftovers keep well refrigerated for up to four days and reheat beautifully with a splash of water to loosen the sauce. It does not freeze particularly well once cooked, as pasta tends to soften further on thawing.
A few tools that make this recipe easier to get right.
As an Amazon Associate, Salt & Simmer earns from qualifying purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you.