Crock Pot Creamy Spaghetti combines savory Italian sausage with a few jars of spaghetti sauce, Parmesan, and a bit of cream cheese for an extra creamy twist. The best part? No need to pre-cook the noodles—they cook right in the slow cooker with everything else for a delicious family dinner.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe:
With years to perfect the best spaghetti recipe, I can promise that you will love this creamy spaghetti in only a few simple steps. Plus, the liquid from the jar of spaghetti sauce will cook the pasta right in the slow cooker.
Make this comfort food recipe with simple ingredients you already have at home for a delicious meal the whole family can enjoy, and be made while you get other things done.
Crock Pot Ritz Chicken, Honey Sesame Chicken, and Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese are some of our famous crockpot recipes to make for simple and comforting family dinners.
Key Ingredients and Flavors:
Dry spaghetti noodles will cook perfectly with the pasta sauce. We like to use spaghetti, but you can use any shape of pasta you like.
Italian sausage is the main protein of this slow cooker recipe, but you can use lean ground beef or ground turkey if you prefer. Make sure to drain excess grease before adding it to the slow cooker.
Then to make this into a creamy pasta, add cream cheese to the crockpot and mix it all together.
How To Make Spaghetti In A Crock Pot:
- Brown the ground Italian sausage in a skillet on stove top, seasoning the sausage with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.
- Drain excess grease using a colander to avoid having the grease pool on the top of the sauce.
- Then pour one jar of pasta sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker. This will keep the pasta from burning in the bottom of the slow cooker and from sticking to the bottom.
- Break all spaghetti noodles in half and place on top of the sauce in the crockpot, then the browned sausage over noodles, along with the Parmesan cheese.
- Dice the cream cheese and place it on top of the cheese, allowing it to cook evenly. Then pour another jar the next jar of sauce.
- Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook everything on high for 3 hours.
- Once the time is up, stir everything together in the slow cooker. Pour the last jar of pasta sauce and the can of chicken broth, and cook for another hour.
Pro Tips:
- Top the pasta with some mozzarella after the last hour of cooking and place the lid on to let it melt over the comforting pasta dish.
- Serve the pasta with a garlic bread stick for easy dipping.
- Swap the cream cheese for ricotta cheese or cottage cheese for more alternatives.
- Add in some diced red bell peppers or mushrooms for added flavor and nutrients.
FAQ for Creamy Crock Pot Pasta
Adding the chicken broth with make sure the spaghetti in a slow cooker will cook all the way through by giving it enough liquid to absorb.
Crock pot spaghetti is a great recipe to make on busy days since the slow cooker will do most of the work. However, if you want it to keep the spaghetti warm for much longer than the cooking time, you need to make sure to watch that the pasta does not dry out or burn.
If you need to keep it warm for a lot longer, maybe try adding some heavy cream or more chicken broth to the slow cooker spaghetti casserole.
Make this family favorite slow cooker mela with any type of pasta you prefer! Penne or rotini would also be great options.
More pasta dishes:
- Baked Broccoli Mac n’ Cheese is a great combination of pasta, cheese, and veggies.
- Slow Cooker Alfredo Pesto Chicken Pasta has the best creamy sauce to pair with the tender chicken and pasta.
- Baked Spaghetti Casserole Recipe and Slow Cooker Chicken Spaghetti Recipe are more great spaghetti recipes your family can enjoy!
Crock Pot Creamy Spaghetti Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- 3 (24 ounce) pasta sauce
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated or powdered
- 4 ounces fat-free cream cheese
- 14 ½ ounces chicken broth
Equipment
Instructions
- Brown Italian sausage in a medium skillet on stove top until completely cooked through. Season sausage with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Drain excess grease and set aside.
- Pour one jar of pasta sauce in the bottom of slow cooker. Break all spaghetti noodles in half and place on top of sauce.
- Pour browned sausage over noodles and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese.
- Cut cream cheese into bite-sized pieces and place on top of cheese. Pour another jar of pasta sauce over cream cheese.
- Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on high for 3 hours. After 3 hours, remove lid and stir contents of the slow cooker. Pour in the last jar of pasta sauce and can of chicken broth.
- Replace lid and cook another hour on low or until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
This looks so amazing! Can’t wait to try it! Love using the slow cooker 🙂
has anybody ever tried using those slow cooker liners? They’re reminiscent of the old oven roasting bags, but (obviously) for your slow cooker. Just wondering how/if they work. Sure seems as if it would eliminate a lot of time for cleanup.
Thanks
Could you make this with ground hamburger instead of Italian sausage? my family is not big on sausage.
Wow, this looks great but 3 jars of pasta sauce and only one pound of pasta. Does this feed a lot of people?
This comment has been removed by the author.
I just seen it feed 10 – 12 so u could cut it in half but then you’d have odd amts or half cans.
I’ve never tried them but have seen a lot of ppl saying they do and that they like them. Would be a lot easier clean up and that’s what we’re always searching for lol
Looks delicious. My family will love it.
Have you tried to freeze leftovers? Or would the noodles be mush?
hi there! I made this recipe tonight. It looks great, but there’s just one thing that I should have been smart enough to figure out myself in the first place. Make sure the noodles are coated entirely in sauce or they’ll burn.
Have you ever tried this with a sliced sausage like andouli (sp)? or a pre-cooked sliced sausage? I am just wondering if it would turn out well.
i’ve used them and they are GREAT! makes clean up so easy.
Hi Andrea!
I have never tried that, but I think it would be amazing! Let us know if you do!
Hi!
It would definitely be fine with ground hamburger! Hope you like it!
Hi Crystal!
I haven’t tried to freeze them but I think it would work just fine! Let us know if you try it!
There are only 2 in my family who would eat this, so this is a very large recipe for us, but it sounds like something they’d love. How would you recommend ‘halving’ this? Just like it is only halved?
Hi KrisDot!
I would just cut it exactly in half as it is or even in thirds. If you cut it in thirds then you would only need 1 jar of spaghetti sauce rather than 1 1/2 if you cut the recipe in half. Hope you like it!
well isn’t that a kick in the teeth… thanks
pretty much what I said in my comment u deleted. don’t know why u did that.
Can you put everything in the crockpot and cook on low all day? This looks great but I’d have to be home to cook it.
You would need to be sure to brown the meat before putting everything in the slow cooker, but other than that I am sure it would be fine! -The Six Sisters
Oh my goodness, my kids love spaghetti but never get to have it because it is my least favorite book. I have never found a spaghetti I actually liked until now, it was so good! I cut the recipe in half and substituted the sausage with a variety of veggies. I love your site!
Your creamy spaghetti recipe looks wonderful.
Faye
I can’t wait to try this out! I love spaghetti and my crock pot!! Going to add it to next weeks menu!
If you want a delicious spaghetti casserole recipe try out my recipe for Spaghetti Amore!
http://emilyandtylerglover.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/give-me-some-more-spaghetti-amore/
I love this recipe. It’s so easy and I just assembled it in 3 minutes. My husband is in the Army and his schedule is always changing; this allows me to just throw it together and it will still be warm for him when he comes home. I added some fresh garlic and spices as well. I know he will love it!! 🙂
I love those crockpot liners! They save a lot of time in the cleanup. I usually end up with a quarter size spot in the bottom of the pot after I remove the liner. I can deal with that with a quick swipe with a paper towel. No more having to soak or scrub!
Can I use Vegetable Broth? It’s all I have in my pantry!!!
You can almost always directly substitute one for the other, and the result should still taste just fine, just a tad different.
I also have recently started using these and wondering why I haven’t sooner. It takes care of most of the clean up for me. Just a quick wash of any broth that might have came through.( sometimes I don’t take it out perfectly)
I’m adding this recipe to my try list. I have a question though if making this for four people how much cream cheese do I use?
This recipe serves 10-12 people. If you are making it for 4 people, just cut the recipe in half.
I am going to make this today but was wondering instead of cream cheese can half and half or heavy cream be substituted? thanks!
If I cook this on low all day do I just need to add all 3 jars of sauce at once and then stir when I get home (11 hours later) and add the broth then? I have such a hard time finding long cooking recipes that don’t dry out but I really think my family would love this one! Love your site!
We haven’t substituted the cream cheese with anything, so not sure what the results would be.
I absolutely LOVE them. They are so helpful when it comes to the clean-up. They don’t melt or make the food taste any different!
11 hours is a little long. I put everything in and it was done after 4 hours on low. I think if you were to leave it in that long it would burn on the sides and start to stick to the sides 🙁
I still had to add some hot water at the end because it was very sticky. I guess that’s why we are suppose to wait to add the broth huh? I might have used too much noodles too 🙁 dosn’t matter though because despite my trial and errors…..
I have to say that it was very yummy!!!! My family ate it up, spaghetti is one of our household favorites! and this recipe is very tasty!!
Yes. They have worked well for me.
we have a vegetarian in the house…. can this be made with out meat at all? or maybe with the Morning Star Farms “Crumbles”?
I made this tonight. I had used reduced fat cream cheese and whole wheat pasta. It didn’t come out as creamy as I thought. I don’t know if my modifications were the cause. I just added extra reduced fat cream cheese and it turned out well.
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
You would be fine leaving out the meat. This is one of those recipes you could throw in whatever meat you want (or don’t want). Hope this helps. 🙂
Yes, I use crock pot liners every time I bring out one of my slow cookers. I also use roasting liners for the large roasting pans. Easy clean up and doesn’t affect taste of the food. Be careful when stirring, if you tear the bottom, it’s back to scrubbing. Amazon.com has pan liners you can use in slow cookers (fits even 6 quart size) and can also be used as oven roasting bag. Love them!!
So we decided to make this on Wednesday…. and I wasn’t keeping my hopes up ‘cuz for some reason its a hit or miss for me when I cook. But as we speak, the boyfriend brought home the ingredients and we’re making it again, LOL. We looooooved it! I tweaked it the first time only because we didn’t have all the right ingredients (I didn’t have jars of the same sauce, I ended up using Trader Joe’s vodka sauce in the bottom, and mixing in marinara with burgundy wine and I forget what else. Anyway, who cares? It was delicious and I fully expect this to be a 5 star recipe, not 1.5???
Hi Delia, So glad it all worked out for you. Just to let you know our rating system is not working correctly. So thanks for the sweet comment! Have a terrific day.
I have been looking for good crockpot pasta recipes…this looked perfect! It turned out really tasty too! Thanks!!
This looks great! Do you think that I could keep the entire recipe amounts the same except for the sauce? I only have 1 big jar of 45oz sauce which is one jar short. Will it come out too dry or sticky? Could I add a little more broth or water? Thanks!
yummy spaghtti..my all time favourite.. try this delicious recipe http://rice.ind.in/lemon-rice-recipe/
We have only made it with 3 jars, and that is why it’s so creamy. I think 2 jars should still work. Just watch it closely while in the slow cooker. If it’s looking too dry, just add some liquid.
Trying this tonight. Do you happen to know the calorie count? Thanks!
Has anyone tried other pasta besides spaghetti? I only have penne and rotini in the pantry.
Any pasta will work great for this recipe!
Could I add mushrooms and onions
Hi Melissa, You could definitely add mushrooms and onions to this spaghetti! Sounds delicious!
Can you freeze? making tonight?only two of us…
This should freeze fine in an airtight freezer container.
Thank you?
Have you ever tried cooking this recipe on low for 8 hours? I would love to put this in before I go to work!
Hi Shelby. It’s hard to know if it would be too long of a cooking time if you cooked it on low for 8 hours. You could try it on a day you are home to experiment, then you would know if it would turn out while you were at work.
This is very tasty! One exception noodles are doughy after 2.5 cook time….any suggestions?
You could cook just until your noodles are cooked through. You slow cooker may be hotter and cook faster. Since the sausage is already cooked, you just need the spaghetti noodles cooked through and everything heated through.
Hands down, the BEST spaghetti EVER! Thank you for a yummy recipe!
I use the bags all the time. Truly a time saver when it comes to cleanup.
Never did hear about your special crock pot that has medal liner for cooking on stove. What brand please?
This slow cooker will let you cook on the stove top/oven and then finish off in the slow cooker. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/3QHALn5
My husband’s favorite spaghetti now!!!
This spaghetti was awesome! However I did do a lb of mild Italian sausage and a lb of ground beef because it seemed like a lot of spaghetti and not a lot of meat. I am confused though. I took the lid off at the 2 hour mark and it was ready and tasted great without the additional ingredients but I added the extra jar of sauce but could not figure out why the chicken broth was needed. I added maybe 3/4 of a cup because I didn’t want the noodles to get mushy. Why would you need to add that? I actually liked it better without the broth. However, my husband and I both loved this and will definitely make it again, even for company! Thank you!
We made this for dinner today. Easy and yummy!