Simple Crock Pot Taco Pasta

After experimenting with the Simple 3-Cheese Crock Pot Pasta and discovering that we can dump uncooked pasta into a crock pot, then walk away and come back to a finished meal a few hours later, I’ve been on a mission to see what other varieties of pasta our crock pots can cook for us.

Not that cooking pasta is difficult, but if we can even skip that step in our real food culinary endeavors, we can consider all of life a vacation. The conversation can go something like this:

Person: What do you do all day?
You and Me: I spend a lot of time not cooking pasta.

We can expand the conversation by explaining that we also spend a lot of our time not thawing meat, and an additional portion of our day not soaking beans. We have become experts at all the kitchen tasks we don’t do while still managing to put amazing, real food meals on the table.

This Simple Meals life is beautiful, isn’t it?!

The Simple 3-Cheese Crock Pot Pasta really saved my neck one day recently when I had only three hours to make a meal for a table full of last minute company. I grabbed a package of pasta and two jars of sauce from my pantry, dumped it all in the crock pot and did not go back into the kitchen until time to serve the cooked meal along with some fresh fruit and fresh greens from our garden.

The Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole would have worked just as nicely. And today I will show you how to turn this Simple Skillet Taco Pasta recipe into an effortless crock pot recipe.

The first time I made this was a day I had to have one kid out the door by 8:00, another kid and my husband out the door by 8:50, myself out the door by 10:00, and lunch on the table for my entire family plus a house guest by 12:30. I had some leftover taco meat in the fridge, so I dumped it into the crock pot with a package of dry pasta, stirred in two jars of salsa, and added some water. I sprinkled in some sea salt and left the house.

When I came home at 12:15, I stirred the delicious smelling meal, spread on some shredded cheese, and let the food sit while I got out grapes and salad. Lunch was served within minutes of me not being home to cook. I am so grateful for recipes like this!

If you don’t want to wait 2-3 hours for this casserole to cook itself in the crock pot, simply follow this Simple Skillet Taco Pasta version instead. It’ll be ready in about 20 minutes from start to finish. But for the I don’t have one minute to spare days...

Simple Crock Pot Taco Pasta

Obviously it helps to make this recipe easier if you have some leftover meat all cooked and ready to go. I love using seasoned hamburger meat, but leftover Shredded Ranch Chicken would work great too. Any time I’m making seasoned meat, I always make extra so I can use leftovers in salads or meals like this!

More Simple Recipes

• Simple Baked Salmon and Asparagus
• Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick
• Simple Skillet Taco Pasta
• Last-Minute Lentil Chili
• Simple Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken Legs
• 20-Minute Taco Soup
• Simple Cheesy Baked Chicken
• Simple Creamy Chicken Stew in the Crock Pot
• Simple Italian Beef and Broccoli Skillet
• Simple Bacon Ranch Chicken
• Simple Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken
• Simple Taco Rice Dinner
• Simple Last Minute Nacho Plate
• Simple Chicken Cheeseballs with a Kick
• Simple Beanie Weanies
• Simple Crock Pot BBQ Spareribs
• Simple Pizza Chicken Bake
• Simple Italian Chicken and Green Bean Bake
• Last Minute Creamy Bacon Spaghetti
• Simple Hamburger Soup
• Simple Parmesan Broiled Fish
• Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken
• Simple 15-Minute Meal
• Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast
• Simple 3-Cheese Crock Pot Pasta
• Simple Oven Fried Chicken
• Simple Honey Mustard Chicken Legs
• The Easiest Mashed Potatoes in the World
• Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp
• Simple Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips
• Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for salad or tacos)
• Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
• Simple Barbecue Beef Roast
• Simple Spanish Rice Bowls
• Simple Roasted Rotiserie Chicken
• Simple Green Chile Chicken
• Simple Tex-Mex Creamy Chicken
• Simple Waffle Omelets

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Do you have any other great ideas for me as for sauces to cook pasta in the crock pot?

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