Crockpot Three Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Cheese-stuffed manicotti recipe made in the Slow Cooker. Ricotta, Mozzarella, and fresh Parmesan cheeses are blended and stuffed into Manicotti shells, then layered with a savory Italian meat sauce and slow-cooked for a delicious dinner. Leftovers are great.

If you love a good Italian dinner recipe, you need this savory, meaty cheese-stuffed manicotti Slow Cooker recipe. It’s ready to eat in about 3 hours. Serve with your favorite Italian bread and this recipe for Italian butter for a restaurant-quality meal at home.

The three cheese blend stuffed manicotti shells are sandwiched between a savory meat sauce and then slow-cooked for a scrumptious, satisfying meal. No need to boil the manicotti shells first.

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Go ahead and print this recipe for stuffed manicotti, trust me! Pasta shells stuffed with a yummy blend of three cheeses, then smothered in a savory meat sauce and simmered to perfection. Can you almost smell it cooking in your kitchen? My mouth is watering just talking about it!

Kitchen Tools Needed

• 6 qt. Slow Cooker like this (my favorite)
• Medium-sized mixing bowl, like this
• Large skillet with lid, like this

Ingredients

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• 2 Cups Ricotta Cheese
• 1 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
• 8 oz. pkg. Manicotti shells, uncooked
• 1 lb. ground beef, brown and drain
• 1 24 oz. jar of your favorite Pasta sauce
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning (optional)

Recipe Instructions

Don’t you just love how frugal a pasta dish can be! This stuffed manicotti is an especially good meal to serve for a family gathering because it isn’t expensive and it is quite yummy.

Step 1

First, brown a pound of ground beef or ground turkey, either is fine. Drain and return to the skillet.

Pour a 24 oz. jar of your favorite Pasta Sauce into the meat. Add the seasonings and stir. Cover with a lid and simmer on low while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Step 2: Blend the cheeses

Here’s where our Crockpot Three Cheese Stuffed Manicotti gets its name!

Shred 1 cup of fresh Parmesan cheese and 1 cup of mozzarella. You can buy the shredded mozzarella in a bag, but I recommend that you shred the fresh parmesan. Freshly shredded parmesan has a better flavor.

Add the Ricotta and shredded parmesan, and mozzarella cheeses into a medium-sized bowl. Stir together until the three cheeses are well blended.

Note

You are reserving one cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to melt on top at the end of the cooking time.

Your cheese blend will look thick, as in the above picture.

Step 3

Now you are going to spoon the three cheese blend into a large resealable plastic bag, such as a Ziploc. Close the end, being sure to remove the air and snip off one corner so you can pipe the cheese into the shells.

Step 4

Spoon just enough of your hot meat sauce mixture into the bottom Crockpot to cover the bottom. This will be a thin layer.

We are going to make three layers of savory meat sauce with two layers of cheese-stuffed manicotti shells. It should begin and end with the meat sauce.

Step 5: Stuff the shells

Open one 8-oz. package of Manicotti shells. Do not boil the shells! They will soften during the cooking process in the Crockpot.

Pipe the cheese blend into each shell. Place the stuffed shells into the Crockpot on top of the first layer of meat sauce.

Step 6

Now spoon more of the meat sauce mixture on top of those cheesy stuffed manicotti shells.

Add one more layer of stuffed manicotti shells and top it with the remaining meat sauce. Cover with the lid.

Step 7

Turn your Slow Cooker to the high setting. Cook on High for about 2 hours or until hot and bubbly and shells are fork tender. 

About the last 20 minutes of cook time,  you will sprinkle that other 1 Cup of shredded Mozzarella on top, replace the lid, and watch it melt!

It doesn’t take much to fill up on this scrumptious concoction of cheese and meat sauce blend we call Three Cheese Stuffed Manicotti! There is no big mess in the kitchen either! We used one bowl and one skillet, along with the Crockpot, so that is a win-win with me!

As previously mentioned, my Crockpot and I are best buddies in the kitchen. Take a look at these Crockpot recipes in my growing collection.

You can use any pasta shell of your choice if Manicotti isn’t available. I have cooked this recipe with stuffed shells as seen above.

More Pasta Recipes

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• Cheesy Sausage Pasta Casserole Recipe
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• Copycat Olive Garden Salad Recipe
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Updated 3/14/23