This family-friendly recipe for slow cooker Parmesan chicken thighs and potatoes is simple to prepare and ideal for a weekday dinner.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 (16 ounce) package dry ziti pasta
- 1 pound mild Italian sausage
- 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
- 1 large yellow onion, minced
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce, divided
- 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Italian cheese blend
- 1 teaspoon dried basil (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir in ziti and return to a boil. Cook pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooked through but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain well.
- While pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage; cook and stir until brown, about 10 minutes. Drain sausage and set aside.
- Stir together ricotta, onion, egg, garlic, and oregano in a large bowl until well combined. Stir in pasta, sausage, salt, pepper, and the half jar of spaghetti sauce; mix well.
- Cover the bottom of the prepared baking dish with 1/3 of the full jar spaghetti sauce. Layer with 1/2 of the pasta mixture, 1/2 of the remaining spaghetti sauce, and 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers once more using remaining pasta, sauce, and cheese. Sprinkle basil over top and cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven until heated through, about 20 minutes. Uncover; return to the oven and bake until cheese is melted, 5 to 10 more minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 649 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 69 g |
| Cholesterol | 86 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 31 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1485 mg |
| Sugars | 15 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’ve made this with the raw onion & garlic and I’ve made it sautéing the onion & garlic, both are good, but I prefer cooking everything. This has made our pasta night rotation. It’s freaking delicious!
This recipe should call for the onions to be cooked with the meat. I made the recipe as written and it was a one way trip to onion town. If I made this again I’d use half the onions and cook them with the meat.
This is a delicious recipe that is easy to follow and not too involved. I made it as written and ended up with great results. I was a little heavy handed with the 1st layer and only ended up with about 1.5. Still, everything melted together nicely and left a slightly toasted cheese crust on top with stringy goodness underneath. I found the pasta/sauce/cheese/sausage ratios to be perfect and will definitely making this one again. Note that I prepared the dish ahead of time and left it in the fridge for a few hours before baking. I added about 10 more minutes to the covered cooking time to compensate; no issues.
A lot of work but at least it used jar sauce & good ingredients. Ricotta is great with this & lasagna. Will be making it again.
This has become my favorite recipe and meal!! Everyone loves it! I’ve shared it with family and neighbors, and it’s a hit with everyone!
Can be a little on the saucy side but can easily use less sauce to your liking. I used Low Sodium Marinara by The Silver Palate and it was yummy!
Very good just as recipe is written.
This was so yummy. It’s a keeper
It was very good. Only issue was that 30 minutes in the oven didn’t heat it through— we had to microwave our individual servings. But that was easily remedied, and I would definitely make it again.
I saved this recipe years ago and still it’s my go-to for any baked pasta- ziti, rigatoni, penne etc. I made two batches for church group today -one regular and one gluten free. I’m on the website now because I had several people Ask Me For the Recipe! I tweak it a little each time of course. Today I added a little more garlic, and used turkey sausage with the gluten free dish. Also some red pepper flakes. But that’s why this recipe is so excellent! It’s never failed me . I’d give it 10 stars if that was possible.
Overall pretty good, but the onions should be cooked with the meat and maybe use only half.
This was really tasty. I made it with vegan sausage. Next time, I’ll saute the onions because they were a little too crunchy.
The entire family loved it, and that’s really hard to do with 5 people ranging from 11-81! I will definitely make it again. I will however cut back the onion to half. I love onion but it was a little heavy on that.
My resident Italian enjoyed it. You definitely want to cook the onions and garlic with the sausage to avoid crunchy ziti. Otherwise good recipe.
I added ground beef with the sausage. Cook the onions in with the meat. Drained and added the sauce. Added the ricotta cheese to warm sauce. Added the pasta. Spayed the pan, poured in the 13by 9 baking dish, sprinkled the cheese on top
My friends keep asking me to make this again. I had trouble finding Italian blend cheese so I just used mozzarella with a bit of parmigiana and it turned out great!
Instead of using prepared sauce I always make my own using crushed and whole tomatoes, more than the amount of sauce in the recipe. Also I sauté the onion (it is raw if you don’t), garlic and red sweet pepper along with additional herbs and put into the sauce. I also prefer the hot Italian sausage. My wife loves this so I make it regularly.
Holy crap this is soooo good! Even my picky eaters and non pasta lovers loved it, thank you so much. It’s definitely gonna be a weekly dinner at our house too now
So easy and super yummy! I added 1/3 cup grated parmesan & romano and about 1 cup grated mozzarella to the middle layer and top. Be sure to tent the foil when baking so it doesn’t stick to the melted cheese. I’d also suggest par cooking or sautéing the minced onions, as they were a tad bit undercooked . I’m going to double the recipe next time because there wasn’t any left for leftovers!
Very good recipe. We used really good spicy sauce and fresh parsley. We also use 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 sausage. Wish we would have cooked the onion with the meat because it was a little crunchy. But overall, we are pleased with the outcome.
Simple and delicious. The whole family loves this dish!