An easy vegetable pasta recipe, which is made in a slow cooker and packed with lots of vegetables.

Slow cooker meals

The slow cooker is a really handy piece of kit when you want easy meals that don't require a lot of work. 

The type of dump meals where you can just throw in all the ingredients, switch it on and walk away.

This vegetable packed pasta is one of those meals, although do remember pasta takes less time in the slow cooker than other ingredients, so you can't put it on in the morning and head to work or you'll come home to a gluey mush.

Slow cooker pasta

Pasta can be tricky to cook in the slow cooker. Here are some dos and don'ts.

You should:

1. Cook on high
2. Cook for a shorter cook time
3. Or add the pasta near the end of a longer high cook

You should not:

1. Cook on low
2. Cook for a long cook time
3. Use the keep warm function

If you cook pasta in the slow cooker at low for a long cook, it will turn into mush. It will also turn to mush if you leave it on the keep warm setting.

For best results cook the pasta for between 1 ½ and 2 hours, some larger shapes can cook for up to 2 ½ hours.

Alternatively you could add the pasta to the sauce for the last 1 ½  to 2 hours of a longer cook time, but again at high.

Getting enough vegetables in your diet

It's so important to include lots of fruit and vegetables in your diet.

Unless you include vegetables with each meal it can be hard to pack enough in.

There is fruit of course, which also counts, but we're all now aware of all the natural sugars in fruit, so you really don't want to rely on fruit to meet your daily needs.

Experts used to tell us to eat 5-A-Day portions of fruit and vegetables, but now they say for a really healthy diet and to live longer it should be nearer 10-A-Day, which can be really hard to accomplish unless you plan well.

This pasta dish is packed with 7 portions of vegetables. 

1. Onions
2. Sugar snap peas
3. Carrots
4. Red pepper
5. Corn
6. Kale
7. Cherry tomatoes

How to eat 5-a-day or 10-a-day

To meet your daily requirements, include the following in your diet.

1. fresh fruit
2. canned fruit
3. frozen fruit
4. dried fruit
5. fresh vegetables eaten raw
6. fresh vegetables cooked
7. canned vegetables heated
8. frozen vegetables cooked
9. salad
10. smoothies
11. fruit juice
12. vegetable juice
13. beans and pulses

How big is a portion?

• Fruit - an adult portion of fruit is 80g 
• Dried fruit - an adult portion is 30g
• Fruit juice - a portion is 150ml
• Smoothie - a portion is 150ml
• Vegetables - an adult portion is 80g

What do portions look like?

• A medium pear, apple, banana or orange is one portion.
• Half a large avocado is one portion.
• For small fruit like satsumas, apricots, kiwi and plums, you need to eat two for a portion.
• For berries like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, as well as cherries and grapes a portion is a large handful.
• A cereal bowl of salad is one portion.
• 7 cherry tomatoes is one portion.
• 2 spears of broccoli is one portion.
• 3 heaped tbsp sweetcorn, peas or carrots is one portion.
• 4 heaped tbsp of cooked kale, cabbage or spinach is one portion.
• 1 small glass of fruit juice or smoothie is one portion (and you should only have one a day).
• 1 heaped tbsp of dried fruit like raisins, sultanas, or cranberries is one portion.
• 3 heaped tbsp cooked beans or pulses are one portion (you should only cover one of your portions this way).

Correct portion of fruit and veg for a child

Children need different quantities of food as they get older and grow. 

An easy way to judge a portion of fruit and veg for a child is how much can fit into the palm of their hand. That is roughly one portion. So less for younger children and more for older children.

Tips for getting your recommended daily portions of fruit and veg

1. Have a glass of fruit juice or a smoothie with your breakfast.
2. Add berries to your porridge.
3. Add dried fruit to your cereal.
4. Add a salad to your lunch.
5. Add salad to your sandwich.
6. Chop up crunchy veg to serve as a snack with hummus.
7. Eat fruit for a snack.
8. Serve baked beans on toast.
9. Serve baked beans on a baked potato.
10. Add extra vegetables to sauces.
11. Add extra vegetables to pies, bakes and pasta.
12. Make soup with lots of veg,
13. Have vegetables or salad on the side of your main meal.
14. Add fruit to your dessert. Berries are great with yoghurt, custard and ice cream.

Slow cooker extra vegetable pasta

This slow cooker pasta dish is packed with vegetables in a tasty tomato sauce.

It can be tricky to get the timings right for the pasta and the vegetables. Follow my instructions and you will have soft pasta ( but not too soft) and vegetables that still have a bite.

If you prefer your carrots and sugar snap peas softer, cut them into smaller pieces than I did.

Slow cooker pasta recipes

If you like the look of this slow cooker pasta dish try:

1. Slow Cooker Triple Tomato and Spinach Pasta -  which has a rich tomato sauce coating pasta shells.
2. Spinach and Cream Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells - these giant shells are stuffed with the spinach and cream cheese filling, layered up with sauce and finished with a cheesy topping.
3. Luxury Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese - this is the most luxurious macaroni cheese you are likely to try with cheese, cream and cream fraiche. Both vegetarian and vegan recipe.

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HOW TO MAKE SLOW COOKER EXTRA VEGETABLE PASTA

For exact ingredients and a printable recipe, scroll to the bottom of the post.

Step 1 - Pasta

Add dried pasta to the pan of your slow cooker. For this recipe I used elbow macaroni, but you could use twists or bow ties.

Step 2 - Onion

Add sliced onion and finely chopped garlic to the pan. I like to use red onion, but regular white or brown onions are fine too.

Step 3 - Sugar snap peas

Add sugar snap peas next. If you would prefer then with less of a bite at the end of cooking, you may chop them. 

If you can't find sugar snap peas, you could also use fine beans or mangetout.

Step 4 - Carrots

Next add carrots. If you would like them with less bite at the end of cooking, chop or slice them finer than I have.

Step 5 - Bell pepper

Now add slices of bell pepper. I added red but you could easily add orange, yellow or green pepper. 

It's all about adding a variety of different coloured vegetables to this dish for lots of different nutrients.

Step 6 - Corn

Next add some colourful yellow corn. This can be fresh from the cob, frozen or canned. I used canned (tinned) sweetcorn.

Step 7 - Kale

Now we add kale. I used curly kale, but you could add spinach instead if you like.

Step 8 - Tomatoes

The last vegetable to be added is tomatoes. I used baby plum tomatoes, but you could add cherry tomatoes or any other mini variety.

Step 9 - Passata

The next step is to add a large bottle of passata. Passata is a puree of tomato passed through a sieve to remove seeds and any skin. It is uncooked and a great start to many sauces.

Step 10 - Tomato puree

Next add tomato puree. Tomatoes can be bitter so adding tomato puree helps sweeten the sauce.

Step 11 - Fresh basil

Now add fresh basil. Basil compliments the tomato sauce beautifully. If you don't have fresh basil you could add 2 tsp of dried basil sprinkled across the sauce.

Step 12 - Seasoning

Season the dish well with a generous grinding of salt and pepper.

Step 13 - Stock

Lastly add the vegetable stock and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. 

Give everything a good stir.

Step 14 - Slow Cook

Pop the pan back in the slow cooker, add the lid and cook on high for 2 hours checking in the last half hour to see how the pasta and vegetables are cooking.

Serve and enjoy!

slow cooker pasta, crockpot pasta, vegetable pasta, pasta, slow cooked pasta, slow cooker vegetables, elbow macaroni

dinner

Slow cooker, vegan

Yield: 6 - 8

Author: Jacqueline Meldrum

Slow Cooker Extra Vegetable Pasta

An easy vegetable pasta recipe, which is made in a slow cooker and packed with lots of vegetables.

prep time: 10 Mcook time: 2 hourtotal time: 2 H & 10 M

ingredients:

• 300g/3 cups dried elbow pasta
• 1 red onion, peeled, halved and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 200g/40 sugar snap peas
• 3 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
• 200g/ 1 heaped cup corn
• 1 large handful kale
• 250g/1 ¼ cups cherry or baby plum tomatoes
• 680g/3 cups tomato passata
• 1 handful fresh basil
• 4 tbsp tomato puree
• 750ml/ 2 ½ cups vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• a good grinding of salt and pepper

instructions:

How to cook Slow Cooker Extra Vegetable Pasta

1. Prepare your vegetables.
2. Add the pasta and all the vegetables and herbs to the pot of your slow cooker or crockpot.
3. Add the tomato puree, tomato passata, vegetable stock and balsamic vinegar.
4. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
5. Set your slow cooker to high for 2 hours.
6. Check half an hour before the end of cooking to see how it is getting on.
7. Serve and enjoy!

NOTES:

DO NOT cook this on low for a longer time as the pasta will turn mushy.
The fresh basil can be replaced with 2 tsp dry basil.
The bell pepper can be any colour you have.
The corn can be fresh, frozen or canned.
Spinach may be used instead of kale.
Serve leftover pasta cold for lunch.

Calories
189.82

Fat (grams)
1.60

Sat. Fat (grams)
0.27

Carbs (grams)
38.84

Fiber (grams)
5.99

Net carbs
32.85

Sugar (grams)
11.23

Protein (grams)
7.70

Sodium (milligrams)
381.53

Cholesterol (grams)
0.00

Created using The Recipes Generator