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Crockpot Brown Butter Tomato and Ricotta Pasta. A summery tomato pasta that’s full of fresh heirloom tomatoes and creamy ricotta cheese. Slow-cooked heirloom and cherry tomatoes are cooked with garlic, thyme, Italian spices, parmesan rinds, and chile peppers to create an effortless, chunky marinara sauce. Just before the sauce is finished, spicy Italian chicken is added with garlic brown butter. Toss the sauce with pasta and grated parmesan cheese, then serve up each bowl with whipped ricotta and fresh basil. It’s the perfect mix of comforting and bright.
I’m the girl who walks into Whole Foods and heads straight to the produce section, always looking (and hoping) for something pretty to cook with. When the store finally stocks the heirloom tomatoes, the figs, the peaches—I buy more than I need and definitely more than I have plans for.
This is me all summer long. I always end up with more tomatoes than I know what to do with. When they sit on the counter and start to become a little too soft, they always leave me with inspiration.
Sometimes I roast them and blend them into sauce. Sometimes I make pizza. But other times… pasta comes to mind.
Today’s pasta is effortless. No peeling, no chopping, no cooking ahead—just the right amount of effort.
All the tomatoes go into the crockpot. I left mine whole and didn’t even bother taking the stems off—I knew they’d fall off easily after cooking!
Once the tomatoes have cooked down, I crush them with a spoon and leave the sauce chunky. The only extra steps are cooking the pasta and browning the butter—both take just a few quick minutes.
Simple and delicious. Great for back-to-school season and especially perfect as we head into fall!
The Details
Ingredients
- heirloom or regular tomatoes
- cherry tomatoes
- garlic
- fresh thyme
- Italian seasoning
- parmesan
- crushed Calabrian chile peppers – or use chili flakes
- spicy Italian chicken sausage – omit if vegetarian
- fresh basil
- short cut pasta – use pennoni
- salted butter
- rosemary
- ricotta cheese – whip this to make it even creamier!
Special Tools
For this recipe, you will need a crockpot.
Steps
Step 1: Slow cook the sauce
In the crockpot, add the tomatoes, garlic, thyme, seasonings, parmesan rinds, and crushed Calabrian chile peppers—or use chili flakes if that’s what you have.
Cook the sauce on low or high, depending on how much time you have.
Step 2: Add the meat
Use a wooden spoon to break down the tomatoes right in the crockpot—or, if you prefer a smoother sauce, blend it up (just be sure to remove the stems from the tomatoes and the parmesan rind first). I always leave my sauce chunky and skip the blender.
After you break the tomatoes down, remove any stems left in the sauce.
Next, crumble the meat into the sauce and let it cook on high for another hour.
Step 3: Brown the butter
In a small skillet, melt the salted butter until it turns golden brown and smells nutty and rich. Pull it off the heat, then toss in the garlic and rosemary. Let the garlic sizzle in the butter for a minute or two.
Stir the brown butter into the sauce, saving a spoonful for serving if you’d like.
Step 4: Boil the pasta
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook your pasta according to the package directions.
Lately, I’ve been loving Pennoni pasta—it’s like a larger, ridged penne with angled ends that hold onto sauce beautifully. But really, use whatever pasta you love most.
Step 5: Toss the pasta
Add the hot, freshly drained pasta right into the sauce. Stir in the Parmesan and lots of fresh basil.
Serve
Spoon the pasta into bowls and top with whipped ricotta, extra basil, and a drizzle of the reserved brown butter. Stir the ricotta into the sauce and enjoy every creamy, cozy bite.
Add greens
Serve this with a simple side salad for a complete meal. Easy enough for a weeknight, but special enough to serve friends on a Friday or Saturday night as we start to ease into fall.
Looking for more summer recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Simple Roasted Sungold Cherry Tomato Pasta
Skillet Burst Cherry Tomato Summer Pasta with Lemony Breadcrumbs
One Pot Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Pasta
Pesto Chicken Saltimbocca with Burst Tomatoes and Burrata
Detroit Style Tomato Herb Pepperoni Pizza
Cherry Tomato Pasta Alla Vodka
Lastly, if you make this Crockpot Brown Butter Tomato and Ricotta Pasta, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love hearing from you and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Crockpot Brown Butter Tomato and Ricotta Pasta
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 549 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6 heirloom or regular tomatoes, halve and stems removed
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed or chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1-2 parmesan rinds
- sea salt and black pepper
- 1 - 3 tablespoons Calabrian chile peppers in oil, or chili flakes
- 1 pound ground spicy Italian chicken sausage (optional)
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1 pound long or short cut pasta (I love pennoni)
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
- 6 ounces ricotta cheese (I like it whipped)
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine the tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, thyme, Italian seasoning, parmesan rind, and 1 cup water. Season with salt, pepper, and chilies. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours.2. Crank the heat on the crockpot to HIGH. Crush the tomatoes using the back of a wooden spoon or an immersion blender (remove the tomato steams and parmesan rind before you blend). Discard any tomato stems if you left those on. 3. If using, crumble the raw sausage into the sauce. Add 1 cup basil. Cook another 1-2 hours.4. When ready to serve, cook the pasta according to package directions until it is al dente. Drain. Add the pasta, parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of basil to the sauce, stirring until smooth. 5. In a skillet, cook the butter over medium heat until browned, 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the garlic and rosemary. Stir the butter into the pasta.6. Divide the pasta between plates. Top with ricotta, additional brown butter, and basil. EAT and ENJOY.
This post was originally published on August 6, 2025
My family loved this. I took the stems off before cooking and fished out some of the skins before I added the sausage. My husband said this is now his favorite pasta sauce. I wonder if it freezes well.
Hi Kendra! I am so glad you and your family enjoyed this crockpot recipe! Thanks for giving it a try! xT
This was complicated for what it supposed to be a crockpot meal, and the flavor was lackluster.
Hey Trish! I am so sorry you didn’t care for the recipe. That’s such a bummer! Let me know ow if I can answer any questions for you.
Have a nice Sunday! xT
This was delicious, but the sauce ended up so watery! Definitely would skip the cup of water. It was like soup!
Hey Lauren! I’m so sorry this ended up watery for you! Thank you for the input, I really appreciate it! xT
If you choose not to blend the sauce, how do you deal with the tomato skins? They don’t readily dissolve into the sauce, even after many hours of cooking.
Hi Libby! If you don’t want to blend the sauce, you could remove the skins before hand! Hope this helps! xT
This was really good. I was skeptical because I have not had great success with my slow cooker. This was a game changer. I only had 6 regular tomatoes so I added 1 small can Mutti polpa. It was so good. Thanks for restoring my confidence in slow cookers
Hi Dana! Wow, thanks so much! Love to hear this pasta was a hit for you! Hopefully you can keep this one in your back pocket for slow cooker recipes! 🙂 xT
This was so greasy and oily, and then more butter poured on top…so many heavy dishes overall, I used to love HBH but I think I may have to head in a different direction.
Hey Sally I am sorry you did not enjoy this! I wish I could help. Let me know if I can provide any answers to questions regarding the recipe!
Have a great weekend! xT
This was such a greasy mess. Additionally, it felt somewhat complicated – I enjoy crockpot meals where you don’t have to keep doing things every hour or so. And suggesting to fish the stems out after you cook them is wild. Yes, I know people can choose to remove beforehand, but to suggest to keep them on in the first place…
The idea of the recipe sounded good, but unfortunately it was a big miss for me.
Hey Sharon, I’m really sorry this recipe was not enjoyed and sounds like just not for you! If you have any questions regarding the recipe or any changes you could make to it, just let me know!
Have a wonderful weekend!! xT
This looks good, but the whole point of the crockpot is you don’t have to keep coming back to do stuff with it throughout the day. For those of us who don’t work from home this recipe wont work, I can’t add things to the crockpot throughout the cooking process. Also you need to have two extra pans, one for the pasta and one for the butter sauce.
Hey Joanie! Thanks for this feedback! If you want to add the sausage in the beginning, I recommend using 2 (28ounce) cans of crushed tomatoes or 2 jars marinara sauce. Then add the crumbled sausage to the crockpot and slow cook while you are at work. You can skip the butter at the end and just add cheese! This will be great too!
Hope this helps! Enjoy the recipe! xT
“I left mine whole and didn’t even bother taking the stems off—I knew they’d fall off easily after cooking!”
So you recommend fishing the stems out of the hot sauce afterwards? This makes no sense.
Hey Renee! You can remove the stems if that feels easier to you! You do what’s best for you. The sauce will be so yummy either way!
Hope you enjoy the recipe! Have a nice weekend too! xT
Ave a question. You say crumble the sausage into the sauce. Is it already cooked prior to adding to the sauce? Thanks!
Hey Karen! The sausage is uncooked when added into the sauce! Hope this helps! xT
If you leave the tomatoes whole, including stems, don’t you have to go back later to fish them out of the sauce? Wouldn’t it make more sense to remove them in the first place?
Hi Rose! Great question! The tomato stems were actually left on just for the photos because they look pretty and add a nice rustic touch. When you’re cooking at home, you don’t need to leave the stems on, feel free to remove them before adding the tomatoes to your sauce. It’ll make things easier and save you from fishing them out later! xT
When you say crock pot, is that a pressure cooker or a slow cooker?
Hi there! I’m referring to a slow cooker! Hope this helps! 🙂 xT
Do you cook the sausage first?
Hi Juli! Nope, you don’t need to cook the sausage first in this recipe! Hope you enjoy! xT
You should check out local farmers markets! I know your dad does your grocery shopping but I think you’d really like them!
Hi Rita! I definitely should check them out! So fun for this time of year! xT
Do you still cook for another hour if you’re not adding meat? How does that change step 3?
Hi Angel! If you’re not adding meat, you don’t need to cook the sauce for the full hour. Just cook the tomatoes until they break down and get saucy, then add the brown butter, pasta, and ricotta as usual. The sauce will still be delicious and flavorful without extra cooking time!