Crock Pot Creamy Penne

This creamy penne pasta dinner cooks entirely in the slow cooker.  Add some vodka for an extra kick.

More slow cooker experiments!  I wanted to see how a complete meal cooked in one–especially a meal with pasta. And I didn’t want to cook the pasta first either, just like in my rice cooker.

A slow cooker full of YUM

Years ago, I’d make a stovetop concoction like this–minus the vodka, of course. That contained bulk breakfast sausage and sour cream.  I had a lot of ground beef and cream cheese so I substituted those, with pretty tasty results.

Great comfort food

It’d be equally as good with bulk sausage or Italian sausage. Just par-cook the Italian sausage links and then slice them into 1-inch slices; you could directly substitute Italian sausage meat/bulk sausage for the ground beef and brown the same way.

I showed a pic of this on my Facebook page and someone asked me what it was called.  Diane G., another fan (whose great 2-ingredient dog biscuit recipe is coming soon) suggested Creamy Crockatore–I LOVED this!  Because of search engine stuff, I can’t use that in the post title (your titles have to be descriptive of sorts), but I can sure use it in the post–and I did!

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Crock Pot Creamy Penne

This creamy penne pasta dinner cooks entirely in the slow cooker.  Add some vodka for an extra kick.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time3 hours hrs

Total Time3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: beef, Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: American

Keyword: creamy penne, crockpot recipes, penne pasta

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 432kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 16 oz penne pasta or similar shape (uncooked)
• 1 15 oz diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes
• 1-2 26 oz jars of pasta sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 8 oz cream cheese cubed
• 1-2 cups water
• 1/4 cup vodka optional

Instructions

• NOTE: There is a range for water and pasta sauce. If you like something extremely saucy, use 2 jars. The water is ranged because slow cookers do cook differently. You may have to add the extra 1 cup of water. In what I made (pictured), I used 1 jar of sauce and 1 cup of water. Start out with that ratio. You can add additional sauce and/or water when cooking is almost finished.
• Brown ground beef, onion & mushrooms in a large skillet. Season with the salt, garlic powder and pepper. Drain any excess fat.
• Place can of diced tomatoes, including the juice, in the bottom of a 5-7 quart slow cooker. Place uncooked pasta on top of diced tomatoes.
• Top pasta with ground beef, grated cheese and grape tomatoes. Place cubed cream cheese on top of the meat/tomato layer. Add vodka (if using), 1 cup of water and 1 jar of the pasta sauce.
• Cook on HI for 2-3 hours; stir and test pasta for doneness and for the amount of sauce. If you desire this more saucy, add the extra jar of pasta sauce at this point and the extra cup of water too if it still seems too dry.
• Cover and continue to cook on HI for 30 more minutes or until heated through and pasta is the desired doneness.

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Calories: 432kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 942mg | Potassium: 602mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 971IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 141mg | Iron: 3mg

Here it is layered and ready to cook

“Creamy Crockatore”

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