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Crockpot Express Spaghetti makes a family favorite even easier to get on the table in record time. It’s perfect for busy weeknights and makes for great leftovers, too!
One of the reasons I was excited about getting my Crockpot Express was that I knew it would simplify my life at dinner time. There are plenty of fantastic one pot recipes out there, but sometimes you just want to make old family favorites.
Little by little, I’ve been converting my standby recipes into pressure cooker recipes. I was skeptical about pasta dishes in general, and it’s true-the overall cook time isn’t much different.
However, Crockpot Express Spaghetti literally takes only 5 minutes to prep and then I can walk away and forget about it until it’s time to eat!
While this was cooking away in the pot, I made garlic bread and salad to go with it. The whole meal was done and on the table in fewer than 30 minutes. The best part? There was only the one pot to clean afterwards, and the pasta water didn’t boil over on the stove (which happens almost every time I cook because I’m too much of a multi-tasker and get distracted.)
You can make Crockpot Express Spaghetti with either ground beef, ground turkey or ground Italian sausage. I prefer sausage for this particular method because it’s not greasy, and it’s full of flavor.
Pressure cooking can sometimes produce bland food, so the spices in Italian sausage really help. If you decide to use ground beef, be sure to drain the grease before adding the other ingredients, as well as adding extra seasoning of your own.
If you don’t like using jarred spaghetti sauce, you can make your own homemade Crockpot Express Spaghetti Sauce, or use a substitute for marinara sauce. This is a very basic recipe guide that you can get creative with to suit your family’s needs.
I may never make spaghetti the old way after seeing how easy it is to make Crockpot Express Spaghetti! My husband prefers to have the sauce mixed in with the pasta, rather than on top. Making it in the CPE really infuses all the flavor right into the noodles.
Crockpot Express Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage (mild or hot)
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles
- 1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce (add more if you like saucy noodles!)
- 1 jar (24 oz.) water
Instructions
- Press Brown/Saute and brown the sausage over high heat. (The HEAt display will stay on.) Press Start/Stop when the meat is browned and crumbled.
- Break noodles in half and place over the meat. Alternate the direction of the noodles back and forth in a # pattern. Pour sauce over the noodles, then fill the jar with water and pour that over the top. Be sure the noodles are completely covered. You may need to add a bit more sauce or water (or gently stir things around a bit) to get everything covered up.
- Press Steam and leave timer at 10 minutes, then press Start/Stop. When the cycle finishes and switches to Keep Warm, let it release pressure naturally for 5 minutes. After the clock reads "5" do a quick pressure release.
- Stir well with a wooden spoon to distribute the meat evenly throughout and break up any clumps of noodles. Sauce will thicken up a bit. Serve with garlic bread and salad for a quick meal!
Notes
Nutrition
Don’t forget to pin this for later!
For other great (and easy) Crockpot Express Recipes, check out this page full of great tips and links to recipes!
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brent says
10 minutes, steam, 5 npr, just like this. LOVE the soft, not an al dente (firm) person so this was perfect.
Was my first time so 2-3 cylindrical clumps but who cares they were edible and broken up with a spoon.
3 sausages, browned while half frozen.
I appreciate the comments and all your observations Nicole. And I read more on my own.
I basically needed to add two jars of water to this after the sauce. I stirred the first one in before layering the broken spaghetti. then poured the other in before putting lid on…when it was done it was pretty absorbed and thick after a stir….but I was hoping it was saucy-er! Three jars of water to one sauce seemed ludicrous.
This was grocery store brand sauce, ‘tomato and basil’ flavor. So this is a lot of words to say thank you it came out perfect–and–do you think my sauce issue was just a matter of thick sauce?
thanks again, brent
Nicole Burkholder says
The sauce brand and type will also affect the thickness of the end result, yes. I always go back and forth thinking “do I need more water?” and usually I end up with too much. I try to trust the process and stick with what I’ve tested multiple times. Although I never buy the same brand of sauce, so that affects things 🙂 Glad you liked it anyway!
Ingram Lance says
How would you recommend if I want to double the recipe?
Nicole Burkholder says
You can double the recipe if there’s enough room for the water without reaching the Max fill line. You don’t need to double cook time or anything-just the ingredients. But I’m not certain you could fit a double recipe in the 6 quart. The 8 or 10 quart would be a better option for that.
Crystal says
Literally the o ly way I cook spaghetti now!! This recipe is amazing and on point with the timing for perfect noodles! How would you suggest adjusting the time/liquid for whole wheat spaghetti?
Julie wilkins says
Thank you I will try this recipe! Looks yummy .
Question about the replacement pressure cooker lids . I ordered my new lid when they first recalled them and got a order sheet from them but have not gotten the new lid yet . Do you know if anyone has gotten theirs or are they just still trying to catch up .
Thank you for the great news letters you write .
Nicole Burkholder says
I ordered mine the same day the recall list came out, and don’t have it either. There have been two “waves” of people who received theirs so far, and Crockpot did say they were sending them out in batches. I think they just haven’t had production fast enough to fill all the orders quickly.
Deb says
I love spaghetti sauce! Do I need to add the water or just use more sauce?
Nicole Burkholder says
You absolutely need the water to cook the noodles. (And to get the steam for pressure cooking.) Otherwise you’ll get the dreaded E6 error and your food will stick to the bottom. 🙂 You can increase the sauce, though, if you like your spaghetti more saucy. Go with two jars of sauce!
Jen says
An excellent family meal that was easy enough for this crock pot express newbie. Soft enough for miss super fussy 4 and miss 1 who has only recently started eating family meals. Don’t be afraid to add those extra seasonings.
Beth says
I changed this up with ground beef, 48 oz sauce (and 24 oz water) and 1/2 lb of fusilli. It came out perfect!!!
Nicole Burkholder says
Sounds great! We do ground beef when I don’t have meatballs or Italian sausage, too 🙂
Michalin Edwards says
I love it my only issue some of my noodles weren’t cooked all the way. It was probably something I did I’m not sure
Nicole Burkholder says
Sometimes you can end up with a clump or two. I have to be very careful to crisscross the noodles and spread them around so there aren’t any large stacks that might stick together and then be undercooked. The other thing I’ve noticed is that brand/quality makes a huge difference for this. I don’t buy store brand noodles anymore for cooking this way.
Linda C Richardson says
I wonder if say using #9, #8 or angel hair would make a difference?
Nicole Burkholder says
If you use a smaller/thinner noodle like angel hair, the cook time will be shorter and less liquid/sauce will be soaked up.
VMesser says
Thank You so much! My Boys Loved it and want me to make it again this way.
Now I had these teriyaki meatballs the boys Love so i just put those in there 1st instead.
And i had a huge Jar of sauce that still had like 32 ounces still in it. so i put all that in there. That might have been to much for us but still amazing and I put about the same in water as well.
Man I Love that it is not only so Easy, Quick and Simple to make but so Quick it was to clean things up. Thank You so much.
Nicole Burkholder says
Isn’t it great! I’m so glad you liked it!
Donna Caples says
This is the first think I made in my CPE and it was delicious..printed the recipe for future use. Thank you so much!
Nicole Burkholder says
So glad to hear you liked it! 🙂
Katherine Lyons says
WOW!! That was so easy and delicious! Thank you so much for that recipe.
We all loved it and one pot , what more can you ask for?
Thanks again.
Nicole Burkholder says
You’re very welcome! We’re having it for dinner again this week! (It’s a regular on our menu now)
Krystal says
Seriously!! I was trying to figure out what to cook when I didn’t really want to. Then I thought I have everything for Spaghetti and was like guess I can make that it doesn’t take too long. Then I saw my crockpot express and haven’t really used it a lot because the meals have come out bland every time. I google for crockpot express spaghetti find your page and do everything you say but since my jar of sauce is larger I added more of everything and because I said hmm… I don’t put water in my sauce why don’t I try Chicken Broth for more flavor. BEST IDEA EVER! Thank you for this! I will be making this recipe. Will be making this again.
Nicole Burkholder says
I’m glad you loved it! It’s much more flavorful than making it on the stove, I think!
Krystal says
Absolutely. My son no longer wants me to make it on the stove again. 🙂
Heather Nield says
We love this for dinner. My four year old is hit and miss, lol, but that’s true for everything. Our 8 yr old loves it and even helps with cooking it. We use two pounds ground turkey to reduce the fat a bit & don’t even have to drain it. We prefer pasta noodles or spirals (not actual spaghetti) for our one year old twins. Pair it with a loaf of take and bake bread for an easy complete meal.
Nina says
Woah. I was so surprised on how well this turned out and how delicious it was. Some of my noodles did clump together but I think I will need to separate them more next time.
Thanks
Nicole Burkholder says
Glad to hear that! I’ve found that certain brands do a better job of not clumping together. I used store brand spaghetti the last time and I had clumps all over the place, even with them being cut in half and criss-crossed. I stick with better brands for pressure cooking now!
Dawn says
I’m amending my rating because now I am finding information that says you were not supposed to use the pressure cooking function for anything without liquid. Your first instruction does not mention using liquid with the brown saute function. I was trusting this recipe as only a second time user of my Crock-Pot Express and I cannot trust this recipe.
Nicole Burkholder says
You are misunderstanding how the Crockpot Express functions work. Brown/Saute is NOT a pressure cooking function. It’s just like sauteing on the stove top. You use it with the lid OPEN and with no water. Just like you would brown something on the stove. THEN, you switch to using the pressure cooker, which is where you add all the sauce, noodles, liquid, etc. Clearly, you can see this recipe works well as many other users have made it. We make it regularly. Before saying you can’t “trust this recipe” I suggest you read your manual thoroughly so you can get a better understanding of how your machine works.
Bev says
I would go further as to say lid OFF.
Dawn says
First step in the directions doesn’t make sense. If you’re cooking in a pressure cooker, how are you supposed to know when the meat is brown and crumbled?
Nicole Burkholder says
I responded to your last comment with more details, but short story: Brown/Saute is not a pressure cooking function. You keep the lid off while using it.
Kay Hutchison says
Dawn, this is like browning ina skillet. But it’s saving having to mess up more pots and skillets. I normally use two pots and 2 skillets. This way I’m only using 1. Less dishes and less mess!
Jackie says
Tried this recipe. Noodles turned out well but the sauce is a bit too loose for my taste.
Nicole Burkholder says
If you stir well as soon as it’s done cooking and leave the lid open for a few minutes, it will thicken up as it stands. Also, the sauce depends on what brand of jarred sauce you’re using. Some brands are much thicker than others. 🙂
Nikki says
Anyone used the frozen meatballs with this recipe?
Nicole Burkholder says
I have! 🙂 Just throw them on the bottom (no need to cook them first) and continue with the recipe as written. They are great!
Andy says
All my noodles stuck together in clumps
Nicole Burkholder says
Making sure they are cut in half, spread out in a criss-cross pattern and covered completely with water will help with that.
Katie says
I followed this, but used Alfredo sauce, half a box of fettuccine, and followed your suggestions for a meatless option. It was my first try at the express cooker and it turned out perfectly! Thanks Nicole!
Nicole Burkholder says
I’m so glad to hear that it turned out well!
Mary says
Would you do anything different if no meat? Just wondering if pasta will cook the same or if it would stick if not meat on the bottom?
Nicole Burkholder says
Hmmm…good question! I think I would start by mixing the sauce and water so there’s not a thick sauce on the bottom. Add some of that watered down sauce to the pot, then layer the noodles in a criss-cross pattern, then cover with the rest of the sauce/water. Mind you, I’ve never tried it, but that’s what my instincts are telling me to do 🙂
Linda C Richardson says
Bit concerned about the 5 minute release and then a quick release I always thought you wait 10 minutes before a quick release? Linda
Nicole Burkholder says
For soups and other liquid meals you need to do a natural release, which could take at least 10 minutes or more. Quick release is any time you release the pressure before it’s released on its own. Honestly, I’ve started doing a quick release right after the 10 minutes are up because I like the noodles a little firmer. There’s no issue at all since the majority of the sauce has been soaked up already.