Slow Cooker Chicken Meatball Pasta Bake – a delicious recipe for easy tender chicken meatballs, combined with penne pasta and topped with ricotta and parmesan cheese.
There are not many that don’t enjoy a good ole pasta bake. Generally, family friendly, meaning that it is a dish you can make that you know the whole family will approve of.
With some extra lean chicken mince (ground chicken) that needed to be used up and knowing that I had lots of things to get on with around the house, I figured a meatballs pasta dish I could throw in the slow cooker would be a perfect meal for dinner time.
Normally when making a pasta bake, I stick to cheddar and mozzarella for the cheesy topping, but spotting a tub of ricotta in my fridge and know how much we all love my Stuffed Ricotta and Spinach Pasta Shells. I figured the ricotta spooned on top for a Slow Cooker Chicken Meatball Pasta Bake would be amazing!!
Don’t worry if you can’t get extra lean ground chicken, turkey mince or even extra lean ground beef will work perfectly too in this recipe. I will definitely be making this again with homemade beef meatballs, but sometimes you just have to go with what you have.
I add breadcrumbs to my meatballs. You may be tempted to try and skip those to save the syns, but trust me, they really help to keep the meatballs nice and tender. Extra Lean mince can be a little dry on its own otherwise.
The sauce for this Slow Cooker Chicken Meatball Pasta Bakes, comes with lots of hidden veg too. I add some finely grated carrot and zucchini into the sauce, the kids don’t even notice it is in there and combine with the tomatoes, it makes for a delicious sauce.
I prefer to cook the pasta out of the slow cooker before adding to this, I am not keen on the texture of how the pasta goes when in the slow cooker.
Not got a slow cooker and wonder which ones are best? There are many great slow cookers out there. But I recommend choosing ones like this Andrew James Slow Cooker that has a delayed start time and an inner pot that can be removed and placed on the hob or in the oven, that way if you need to do any browning you don’t need to use a separate pan.
Hey if you want a slow cooker that has all the bells n whistles. Go for an Instant Pot, which is not actually a slow cooker, it’s a multi-function pressure cooker, but with a slow cooker option on it too, it can do pretty much everything.
Want some other delicious Slow Cooker recipes? Check out these:
- LOW SYN PAPRIKA BEEF
- BALSAMIC BRAISED BEEF
- HEALTHIER SLOW COOKER CRACK CHICKEN
- BRAISED BEEF
- TERIYAKI PORK TENDERLOIN
- PINEAPPLE PORK
- SLOW COOKER GUINNESS BEEF BRISKET
- SYN FREE SLOPPY JOES
- BEEF AND VEGETABLE CASSEROLE
or head on over to my FULL RECIPE INDEX with over 850+ delicious Slimming World Recipes all fully searchable by meal type, ingredients, syn value etc
How can I add a 1/3 speed foods to this Slow Cooker Chicken Meatball Pasta Bake?
Just a simple mixed salad pairs perfectly with these meatballs. I like to use a combination of baby greens, cucumber, tomatoes and beetroot.
What Kitchen Items do I need to make this Slow Cooker Chicken Meatball Pasta Bake?
- Slow Cooker
- Kitchen Scales
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Wooden Spoon
- Santoku Knife (perfect knife for chopping veg)
- Chopping Board
- Mixing Bowl
- Grater
- Saucepan
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Slow Cooker Chicken Meatball Pasta Bake - a delicious recipe for easy tender chicken meatballs, combined with penne pasta and topped with ricotta and parmesan cheese. This recipe is Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly *suitable for freezing If you wish to share this recipe, then please do so by using the share buttons provided. Do not screenshot or post recipe or content in full. Nutritional information is an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. All images and content on Slimming Eats are copyright protected. Check Legal section, for Full Disclaimer, Disclosure and Privacy Policy. Slow Cooker Chicken Meatballs Pasta Bake
Ingredients
For the meatballs
For the sauce
Pasta Bake
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 569Total Fat: 15.7gSaturated Fat: 8.3gSodium: 707mgCarbohydrates: 58.4gFiber: 3gSugar: 6.8gProtein: 48.5g
Hi do i need the blend the carrot and courgette into the sauce?
you can if you prefer, I just leave it finely grated.
Hi I was looking at this and thought it would be nice to try, but I can’t eat ricotta cheese
If I swapped the ricotta and parmesan to cheddar and mozzarella how would the weight change?
Thank you!
You would need to use the correct healthy extra measurements. Enjoy!
Made this yesterday. I left out the breadcrumbs and used mild cheddar cheese at the end of the cook. It was absolutely delicious. The meatballs were tender and full of flavour from the sauce,
Hi would I have to cook the pasta before putting it in to the slow cooker
hI I can’t find Italian breadcrumbs in my local supermarket, what would yo suggest thanks x
Can you make this without the Italian breadcrumbs? I can’t seem to find any in my local shops. Many thanks!
Hi Laura, the meatballs are best with the breadcrumbs (you can use any, doesn’t need to be Italian), but you can omit too if you prefer, the meatballs just wont be as tender.
yes the pasta is cooked first as per the recipe. I don’t like how the texture of the pasta goes when left to cook in the slow cooker.
regular breadcrumbs are fine to use. 🙂
Hi what could I use instead of ricotta cheese for the meatball pasta bake in the slow cooker
Thanks
Can you use a different cheese to mix with the egg I.e just normal cheddar? Obviously the syns May differ but I can work that out. Also, I would use panco breadcrumbs?
Yes any cheese will be fine if you want to swap out one. I recommend fine breadcrumbs but panko should be okay if that’s all you have.
Swap for another cheese on top of you don’t want to use ricotta.
Sadly this recipe was not a hit in our house. Both myself and my 6 year old daughter didn’t enjoy the ricotta cheese. I would love to do meatballs in the slow cooker again. Will just have to play around with the recipe.
Can this be frozen please? Trying to make my sister a selection of frozen meals as she has had twins.
yes it is fine to freeze. Enjoy!!
I rarely remark on here…
But i have to this was scrummy…very full tummies.
Lovly…x