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If there is one thing the children will always eat it’s pasta and as a family we love a pasta bake – there’s nothing simpler than buying a jar of pasta bake sauce and throwing the dish in the oven. It’s something we always make sure to add to the meal plan and shopping list!

But sometimes it’s nice to make a pasta bake from scratch, knowing exactly what’s in it and being able to tailor the flavours to your family.

Our new favourite pasta bakes are our Slow Cooker Ragu Pasta Bakes. You make the beef ragu in the slow cooker before mixing in cooked pasta, covering with cheese and grilling for a few minutes. Although not a completely ‘slow cooked’ meal this is great when you’re out all day and then have half an hour or so to get dinner ready.

Do I have to use cheddar cheese?

We top this easy old world style bake with cheddar but you could also add grated parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese depending on what your cheese preference is. The cheese really compliments the pasta sauce perfectly and the baked pasta dish is such a lovely meal after a long day.

You can use literally any pasta you like for this home made slow cooker pasta bake and we often use simple penne or pasta shells which the children really love.

The ragu bolognese sauce is so full of flavour, rich and delicious. It freezes well too if you want to make it in bulk and have an easy meal to make at a later date.

When cooking you can transfer this into a baking dish before grilling if your crock pot dish won’t fit under the grill. You can serve it as a lovely one pot meal or have a side of salad, wilted spinach or garlic bread if you feel like it.

If you’re looking for more recipes to try, I’d love to recommend our Slow Cooker Chicken & Haricot Bean Stew, Slow Cooker Chicken and Sage Hot Pot or Slow Cooker Chicken and Lentil Curry. You can see all our recipes to date here.

So here’s our Slow Cooker Ragu Pasta Bake Recipe:

This slow cooker beef ragu pasta bake serves the four of us with plenty left over for lunch or dinner the next day.

Ingredients

olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 pepper, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
500g minced beef
500g tomato passata
200ml red wine
1 beef stock cube
400g dried pasta
cheddar cheese

Recipe

Heat the oil and fry the onions, pepper and garlic for a few minutes until softened. Add the ground beef mince and fry until it starts to brown. Drain any excess fat.
Add the passata and sprinkle on the stock cube. Pour in the wine and bring to the boil for two minutes and then scrape everything into the slow cooker pot.
Cook on medium for five hours – or I leave on low all day/eight hours. When ready to eat, cook pasta and mix it into the ragu sauce. Sprinkle the top with cheese – as much as you like – and grill until golden brown on top. Enjoy!

If you’d like to print or pin this Slow Cooker Ragu Pasta Bake Recipe for later you can do so below. Enjoy!

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