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.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 35 minutes
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 455g (1lb) of extra lean chicken mince (can also use turkey or beef)
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup (30g) of Italian dried breadcrumbs (5.5 syns)
- 1 egg
For the sauce
- 1.5 cups (320ml) of crushed tomatoes (or passata)
- 2 tbs of tomato paste
- 1/2 cup (120ml) of chicken stock
- 1 small zucchini (courgette), grated
- 1 small carrot, grated
- 1 tbs of balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbs of mixed herbs
Pasta Bake
- 270g (9.5oz) of ricotta cheese
- 30g (1oz) of parmesan
- 1 egg
- fresh chopped parsley
- salt and black pepper
- 200g (7oz) of uncooked penne pasta
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients for the sauce to the slow cooker and stir to combine.
- In a bowl add the ground chicken, garlic, salt, parsley, egg and breadcrumbs, mix to combine and then form into meatballs (approx 16)
- Drop these into the sauce
- Set slow cooker to low for 6 hours
- When meatballs have almost finished cooked, add the pasta to a saucepan of boiling hot water and cook by package instructions. Drain
- Stir the pasta into the meatballs and sauce.
- Mix the ricotta with the egg and spoon this on to the top
- Sprinkle with the grated parmesan and season with salt and black pepper
- Set slow cooker to high and continue to cook for 20 mins until the cheese is melted. If you prefer the cheese more golden, you can skip this step and place it under the grill/broil until cheese is melted and golden on top.
- Serve topped with chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
This recipe is Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly
- Extra Easy – 1.5 Syns and 1 HEa per serving
- WW Smart Points – 12 per serving
- *suitable for freezing
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.