Cheese Stuffed Manicotti Crockpot Recipe
Ricotta, Mozzarella and fresh Parmesan cheeses blended and stuffed into Manicotti shells are layered with a savory Italian meat sauce and slow cooked for a delicious dinner. Leftovers are great.
Servings 6 people
Equipment
- 1 Crockpot
- 1 Skillet
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 cups Ricotta Cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
- 2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 8 oz. pkg. of Manicotti shells, uncooked
- 1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey, browned and drained
- 1 24 oz. jar Pasta sauce, like Prego spaghetti sauce
- 1 tsp. Garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 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.
- 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 size bowl. Stir together until the three cheeses are well blended.
- You are reserving one cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to melt on top at the end of the cooking time.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 shell into the Crockpot on top of the first layer of meat sauce.
- 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.
- 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!
- Serve and enjoy!