Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Pasta
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Save time/effort and make everyone’s FAVORITE Italian dish in your crockpot. You can also freeze half for another meal!
Is it me or is it way too hot to put the stove on? Because right now, it’s 96 degrees F and I’m not about to make my house any hotter than it already is.
Butters will begin to sweat in that sweater of his so instead, let’s make this crockpot chicken parmesan.
The chicken gets cooked low and slow for 4 hours, yielding the juiciest chicken of all. Plus, Butters gets to keep his cardigan sweater on so we all win.
Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Pasta
Save time/effort and make everyone's FAVORITE Italian dish in your crockpot. You can also freeze half for another meal!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 pound penne
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker.
- In a large bowl, combine crushed tomatoes, onion, basil, oregano, parsley and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir into the slow cooker and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours.
- Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred, using two forks.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Stir pasta and chicken into the slow cooker; top with cheeses. Cover and cook on low heat for an additional 10-20 minutes, or until the cheeses have melted.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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If I wanted to make it at night and eat it the next day, would you recommend holding off on the cheese no baking it like Ziti the next day or put all ingredients together and store it in fridge overnight?
Either option should work.
I hardly ever comment on recipes, but I made this today and it is SO good. I mean it’s so good I am already looking forward to eating leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for such a yummy slow cooker recipe!
Is it possible to cook this in high for two hours and get tasty results?
It may need about 2-3 hours but as always, please use your best judgment.
can I double this?
Yes, but I only recommend doubling if you have a large enough slow cooker.
Not very impressed. Followed instructions to the T and it came out bland. I think if you add more of what it calls for it would be good.
Made this today following directions…(I did use frozen chicken breasts like I do with all the crock pot recipes) but after 4 hours on low, chicken was still raw in the middle. I would suggest if using frozen breasts to cook on high.
I just made this and love it. Only complaint is that that pasta is way too cooked (mushy), so I am wondering what can be done to prevent that. I was thinking to cook pasta in the crock pot as I have a recipe that does that, but it does require extra liquid. Maybe not cook the pasta the entire time before adding to the crock pot…
Yummy
Making this tonight. I think my slow cooker is larger than yours. Hopefully that doesn’t mess with the recipe too much.
I’m eating this as I write! It was a hit. I didn’t have 2 cans of crushed tomatoes. So, I used one can, one 16 ounce jar of salsa, and one 15 ounce can of tomato sauce. I didn’t have penne on hand either. So, I used shells instead.
I also added a few ounces of cream cheese.
It’s pretty delicious! Thank you!
How much marinara would you use as a substitute?
About 7 cups.
My sauce was too runny, any suggestions?
You can add additional tomato/marinara sauce until the desired consistency is reached.
All I keep seeing is a crockpot commercial. Tried 6 times!!! After ad it goes black!
I dont have crushed tomato, Can I use tomato sauce?
Yes!
Watch out for cheap chicken breasts! There is so much water injected into them that your sauce gets too watery 🙁
I followed the recipe, but mine ended up pretty watery. Also, the onion wasn’t quite cooked all the way. Is there anything you recommend to make the sauce thicker? Other than that, it was great. Thank you!
You can try to add additional crushed tomatoes or marinara sauce. Hope that helps!
I wasted 4 beautiful chicken breasts. I followed this recipe exactly. 2 cans made it too tomatoey. It was bland even with all the spices. I added extra salt too after mixing it all together. Very disappointing. My family couldn’t wait to dig in and just ate some chicken and the pasta being so drenched in the sauce, they wouldn’t touch it. I’m surprised no oil was in the recipe to bring out more flavour.
You can substitute the sauce for your favorite spaghetti sauce. I did and used about half of what the recipe called for because I knew the chicken would produce it’s own juice and create more sauce. It came out perfect. It’s really just a matter of taste as far as the sauce. Some people prefer a simple fresh tomato spaghetti sauce with minimal spices as indicated in the recipe.
Also, you can get a really good aged parm cheese,or a moz cheese with garlic and spices. That adds a lot of flavor. And use one can of tomatoes and one marinara sauce. That should give it more flavor!
What is the serving size?
About 1-2 cups.
hello,
First, thank you for your recipes. I have made quite a few and they are all good. I enjoy the look of the website and the photos. Your ingredients are mostly what I already have on hand so I don’t need specialty shops (awesome!) and my picky 6 year old isnt giving me any trouble!!
I enjoyed this recipe. It reminds me a lot of something in the Greek cuisine that uses orzo instead of penne and a touch of cinnamon (which I added and liked the result).
I also like that it makes a huge pot so we have enough to feed the four of us plus lunches! (double awesome!!)
Thanks so much!
Can I put it on low for 6 hours? My timing with work is crazy !
Yes, that could work!
My family didn’t like it….it was very bland and we were very disappointed. It looks better than it tastes.