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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For the crushed tomatoes – do you use 2-28oz cans or 2-14oz cans totaling 28oz? Thanks!
2×28 ounce cans.
How much chicken would you say you used? The breasts I buy tend to be around 1lb each, which is above average. I’m guessing 1-1/2 to 2lbs is probably about equal to 4 normal sized breasts?
Sounds amazing, by the way! I’m thinking of adding some spinach and maybe chopped broccoli when I make this.
Yes, about 2 pounds. The additions of spinach and broccoli sound amazing – it’s the perfect way to sneak in some greens!
Can gluten free penn be used? I assuming it would cook differently.
I made this for dinner today and it was SO easy and really good, plus there were a ton of leftovers for the rest of the week!
A couple things I noticed:
-my chicken was cooked thoroughly after only 2 hours (and they were big breasts, too! Har har), so if anyone is on a smaller time constraint, this dish could still work. I just switched my setting from ‘low’ to ‘warm’ for the remaining two hours so it would still be piping hot when my husband came home from work.
-During the last 30 minutes I stirred in a bag of sliced mushrooms, an entire sliced zucchini, and half a bag of de-stemmed spinach, since I had ’em lying around and I’m trying to eat more veg. Worked super well!
-I also threw in some garlic, because obviously.
So good, super cheap (!!) and really customizable to whatever you’ve got on hand.
Can we use a jar of sauce or will it not taste as good ? I know my young daughters prefer that taste
Yes, you can use store-bought sauce. Sometimes we need those shortcuts!
Hey Chungah, I love your recipes! Your shrimp carbonara is my 6 year old’s FAVORITE meal–and he gets to help cook it!
My question: With freezing half, would you freeze just the chicken/sauce, or with the pasta as well? And how would you reccommend reheating it?
I have never really frozen meals, but I was recently moved to night shift (630pm – 630am) so on the days I work, I’m hoping my husband can use the frozen homemade meals. (I discovered that last week was 4 nights of pizza, hot pockets, and sandwiches)
You can freeze the pasta as well as the chicken and sauce. You can reheat in the oven as needed until heated through. Hope that helps!
Can we use a jarred sauce if we are lazy
Yes, absolutely. No judgment here. 🙂
Do you like your slow cooker? Is that the All Clad 4qt or 6qt? Do they make a round one in the 6qt size?
Yes, I absolutely LOVE the All-Clad slow cookers! I don’t think they have a round one in the 6-qt size though. Bummer, I know.
This turned out pretty darn delicious. Fairly easy to prep and totally rewarding when I got home from work.
Looks so good! I would love to try this on a weeknight, but it would end up being more like 8-10 hours of cook time because of my work schedule. Would it mess up the recipe if it cooked for longer than 4 hours?
That might be a bit too long – does your slow cooker have an auto WARM function?
No, it doesn’t. But it may be time to invest in one that does! : )
Until you splurge on a new slow cooker why not try using a timer?
So, if you left it on the warm function for the rest of the time after the 4 hours on low you think that would be ok? I have the same issue as Ashley but I do have a warm function on my slow cooker
Yes!
Sorry. I have to comment on the sweater thing for your dog. If it is so hot that you don’t want a sweater on, don’t put one on your dog. It is your job to take care of him,he is completely reliant on you. Love your site and recipes.
I believe she was just making a joke. No need to call animal cruelty officers or anything. LOL
I think she was joking, too. Much the same at my house when I tell my Maltese to get a job and cook!
But you are so thoughtful and caring, to recognize that animals require good care, love and some compassion when you wrote. I’ve been a PETA member for many years, and the things we see are horrifying. It makes me so happy to see a good thing about animals, and gives me hope for society…
Hi Chungah,
As always, fast, simple, deliciously savory!
How many ounces of pasta sauce are being created with the ingredients? Two 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes; then the onion and parsley. That’s close to four 16 jars? Or is my “kitchen calculator” is failing me?
Thank you
Yes, that sounds about right! 🙂
Can you use any pasta you have on hand?
Yes, absolutely.
Okay this is probably the best thing I’ve seen this week…
This recipe looks absolutely wonderful. It’s also so easy. I can’t wait to try it on my family! Thanks for all your recipes.
Would it work the same if you were to cut up the raw chicken (so you don’t have to bother with shredding) and throw it, the rest of the ingredients and the uncooked pasta all in the slow cooker at one time and just let it cook? Would it cook the pasta properly? Would it need more time? Would you need to add water? I’m a beginner so any info is appreciated! 🙂
Yes, that should work just fine. You should not need additional time but as always, please use your best judgment for substitutions and modifications.
I absolutely LOVE your recipes! They are easy to follow, and don’t require a bunch of expensive ingredients! I am wondering if you could use whole tomatos (i happen to love the San Marzan whole peeled tomatoes with basil, in the can). Also, does it not taste bitter since there is no sugar added at all? I’m just curious about that before I make it. Thanks! 🙂 Btw, my son loves your teriyaki sauce on salmon!
Yes, whole tomatoes will definitely work! You can also add sugar, to taste, to suit your preferences a little bit better.
Trying your recipe tonight, so far it smells Devine! I did add a few things to it. Chopped up some garlic cloves, sugar to cut acidity, tomatoes for texture and some red wine- just cause I got to. Can not wait to try it!
That sounds AMAZING! Let me know how it turns out!
How much sugar
Making this as we speak. For the tomatoes all I had were 3 cans 14oz diced tomatoes and a 15 oz can of tomato sauce. Will be posting results on my blog, this Saturday 3/9/19
Why not cut the chicken into bite size pieces vs. shredding? Why not include veggies?
You can do all of the above!
Prefer rotini to penne (personal ) Would add broccoli, zucchini and mini carrots for colour and crunch. If there are leftovers, additional vegetables can be cooked in the microwave in minutes. Top with additional cheese, a gentle stir and voila. Finely chopped parsley and shredded carrots would add a finishing flash.
She’s trying to make it easier by cooking the chicken in the crockpot so it can shred easier instead of taking the extra time to dice it yourself. And her receipe sounds delicious. Carrots and broccoli with tomato sauce? Doesn’t sound appetizing. Personally.
I shred carrots and zucchini into my tomato sauce all the time. It’s my sneaky way to get in more veggies. And I’ll be honest, I’ll eat broccoli in anything. It’s actually really good in tomato sauce!
This looks amazingly good. I’ve been looking for a recipe to replace lasagne. I plan to accompany it with your delicious Cheesy Garlic Bombs. Thank you!
That sounds like an amazing combination! Can I come over for dinner? 🙂
Looks great and I love seeing the nutritional info again for your recipes! Thanks?
Gonna try! Do you think the UNCOOKED pasta could go into the crock and cook with (or after) the chicken in the sauce is done?
I recommend cooking with the chicken to ensure that the pasta is completely cooked through.
Can I cook this on the stove?
Yes, of course, but you would have to adjust the recipe as needed.
don’t put uncooked pasta in a crockpot. It will turn out completely mushy after cooking for 4 hours. Better to let the sauce in crockpot simmer and then cook noodles separately to add to pot.
No definitely not…it would require added liquid but will still be mushy cooking it that long. Do what the recipe shows…just cook it on its own and add it in at the end…
Yeah I’m sure you could add it in the last 10 minutes or so of cooking. I use another recipe that has you add the pasta