So we recently talked about when to add rice to the slow cooker. And now it’s pastas turn.
Making some meat or chicken with a sauce in the slow cooker can make for a wonderful meal. But cooking the rice or pasta “on the side” is not always necessary. With many recipes, you can add the rice or pasta right in and let it cook during the last bit of cooking.
Pasta can quickly turn into a mushy mess in the slow cooker. And by quickly, I mean really quickly.
To keep the pasta from getting soggy, add the shells plus 1 cup of hot water (or maybe more, depending on how much liquid is already in the slow cooker) when there is 30 minutes left in the cooking cycle.
If you are using quick-cook pasta that takes just 7 minutes to boil, then I would add it in 18 to 20 minutes left in the cooking cycle. If you are using a heartier, whole grain pasta, than plan to add that 35 to 40 minutes before the cooking cycle is complete.
Also, I recommend transferring the contents of the slow cooker to a large bowl or serving dish, to prevent the pasta from overcooking while the slow cooker sits on the warm setting.
Have you done much slow cooking with pasta or rice?! What have you found works best for you?!
I’ve been too chicken to add the pasta in to the actual slow cooker so I often cook it on the stove. But what does work great in my experience is lasagnas in the slow cooker. Here is a link to my favorite one: http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/2011/03/march-madness-day-15-whole-wheat.html
Try it! I tried and it came out perfect and most of all I didn’t have to dirty another pan to make the pasta separate, which I was considering before I came across this article
We seldom add pasta to our slow cooker but we do when adding broken speghetti noodles to taco soup. The wife turns the slow cooker off when adding the pasta, stir well, and leave the lid off. I think it cooks in like 10 minutes…not sure though.
It is hard to add pasta without it turning into a pile of mush.
I was camping once with some friends, and we decided to have a soup night. So I decided to do chicken noodle. I put pasta in about 1 1/2 hours before time to eat…let’s say it became a cream of chicken soup—It was gone (to my surprise).
Erin,
I love cooking with my crock pot. I have had it for about 15 years and consider it “seasoned”. (Like cast iron, lol.)
I actually never cook with rice or pasta because I don’t know when to add them. Now I do. I have actually bought cookbooks geared to crock pot cooking and they don’t address this, I guess I was buying the wrong ones.
Thx for the wonderful tip.
~Allie
I have a dish that I add orzo pasta to a chicken dish that already has a lot of liquids (wine and stock) and I add it 20 minutes before hand.
I just tried this tip in homemade cheeseburger helper and it worked! 30 minutes and the pasta came out al dente which is what I love!
Would the 30 minutes be while cooking on low or high or does it matter? I am excited to try this!
Hi Anne,
The high or low won’t matter…the heat from either will be enough to heat and cook the pasta.
Erin
I have a recipe for a spinach tortellini soup that has frozen tortellini as an ingredient. When should I add that to the crockpot?