This slow cooker sausage pasta is a great, budget-friendly recipe that will feed a crowd or make enough to freeze for later.
I love slow cooker meals as you can probably tell by some of the recipes on my website. This Slow Cooker Sausage Pasta is so delicious and super easy to make. Turn everyday ingredients like pasta, canned tomatoes, sausages, onion and cheese into a filling and tasty dinner.
The recipe makes a large portion so you can have dinner one night and also freeze some for later. For another super easy, kid-friendly, one-pot pasta meal, you can't go past my Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese.
Ingredient notes:
- Sausages: I used beef sausages to create this recipe. You could use pork venison or lamb if you prefer.
- Canned tomatoes: Any type of unflavoured or flavoured canned tomatoes can be used. If you are using whole peeled canned tomatoes, make sure you break them up after adding to the slow cooker.
- Herbs: Feel free to add in more of your favourite dried herbs if you like. You could also add in some fresh herbs at the end of the cooking time if you wanted.
How to make this slow cooker sausage pasta:
Add all of the sauce ingredients to the slow cooker and mix together. Add sausages and coat in the sauce.
Cook in the slow cooker for 3+ hours on high or 6+ hours on low. Cook pasta according to packet instructions and drain then set aside. Remove sausages from slow cooker and slice into 1cm pieces. Stir the cream cheese through the sauce.
Add the sausages back to the sauce and stir in the cooked penne pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with plenty of grated cheese.
I like to serve my pasta bake with a nice green salad and some crusty garlic bread. I'm sure this recipe will end up being one of your favourite slow cooker meals.
If you would like some more great ideas for using sausages, check out my recipes for Sausage and herb loaf, Sausage picnic pie or my classic Curried Sausages.
Recipe FAQs:
You can substitute with sour cream, a cooking cream (like Philadelphia cream for cooking), or even mascarpone. Just make sure it's something that melts well into the sauce.
No, browning isn't required, but you can if you'd like to add extra flavour
Yes, feel free to add spinach, capsicum, grated carrot, or even peas during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Storage:
Store any leftover sausage pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until piping hot.
This easy meal makes 6+ serves so if you like you can create a pasta bake with the leftovers. Add the pasta to an ovenproof dish, scatter over grated cheese then cover it in clingfilm or put it in a plastic bag and keep it in the freezer until you are ready to bake.
You can cook it directly from frozen until the pasta is cooked through and the cheese on top is bubbling.
Top tips:
Extra step if you want to grill the cheese: Scatter the cheese over the pasta, remove the ceramic dish from slow cooker and grill in the oven on 160.C until golden and bubbling. Please check that your slow cooker bowl can withstand the heat of the oven before doing this step.
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Slow cooker sausage pasta
This is a great budget friendly recipe that will feed a crowd or make enough to freeze for later.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup beef stock (I used 1 cup boiling water and an oxo cube)
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp Italian herbs
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 200g mushrooms, sliced
The rest
- 750g sausages (8-10)
- 250ml tub of cream cheese or Philadelphia cream for cooking
- 500g penne pasta, cooked
- ½ cup of grated cheese
Instructions
- Add all of the sauce ingredients to the slow cooker and mix together.
- Add sausages and coat in the sauce.
- Cook in the slow cooker for 3+ hours on high or 6+ hours on low.
- Cook pasta according to packet instructions and drain then set aside.
- Remove sausages from slow cooker and slice into 1cm pieces.
- Stir the cream cheese through the sauce.
- Add the sausages back to the sauce and stir in the cooked penne pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve with plenty of grated cheese.
Notes
- Extra step if you want to grill the cheese: Scatter the cheese over the pasta, remove the ceramic dish from slow cooker and grill in the oven on 160.C until golden and bubbling. Please check that your slow cooker bowl can withstand the heat of the oven before doing this step.
- Pasta bake: You can turn this into a pasta bake by adding the mixture to an oven proof dish after step 6, then scatter over grated cheese and baking until golden. This is also a great way to freeze for later since it makes so much.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 650Total Fat: 54gSaturated Fat: 22gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 25gCholesterol: 129mgSodium: 1337mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 27g
Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.
Thank you for checking out this recipe. I hope you enjoy making and eating it! If you have any questions, queries or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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Vanya
Murray Corps says
A lot of the Slow Cooker recipes are for 6 ltr units. I have a 3.5 ltr. Is there a formula to c9nvert a recipue to the small size?
VJ cooks says
Hi Murray, you could easily halve all the quantities for a smaller slow cooker.
Murray says
Thank you for your help
M
Nancy says
Hi
Just to let you know my 3 Grandson love your slow cooker sausages pasta.
We have to leave out the cream as its to strong a taste for the youngest one but they still love
VJ cooks says
Thanks for the feedback, Nancy. Yes it's such a great family-friendly meal.
Marie says
Is the manrub in the picture replacing the cumin and paprika?
VJ cooks says
Yes that's correct. This is one of my older recipes and when I first made it I used Man Rub, but I have since adapted the recipe to be made without that specialty ingredient.
Jamie says
Can this be made not using the slow cooker?
VJ cooks says
Hi Jamie, you can cook this in the oven in at 160 degrees celsius for about 35-45 minutes. Make sure you use a cast iron dish with a lid.
Jana says
Hiya,
Is the 500g of pasta dried weight??
Thanks
VJ cooks says
Yes.
S.S. says
What kind of cheese did you use ?
VJ cooks says
I used Colby cheese, but you really can use whatever hard cheese you have on hand.