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Manicotti Made Simple: Restaurant-Worthy Results at Home

Manicotti bite on a fork.
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Delight in this Italian-American classic with tender pasta shells stuffed with a rich blend of ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and spinach, seasoned with herbs and spices. Topped with homemade Ragu Napoletano or your favorite marinara sauce, and baked until bubbly, this manicotti is a comforting, crowd-pleasing dish that’s perfect for any occasion!

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 8 ounce box of manicotti pasta shells
  • 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
  • 16 ounces of ricotta cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
  • 3/4 cup of chopped spinach
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 3 cups of Marinara Sauce or my Ragu Napoletano

Instructions

  1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a large stockpot over high heat.  Add the pasta shells and return to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Lower heat to maintain an easy boil.  Cook for 3 minutes less than the maximum time on the package directions (the instructions on the pasta I used said to cook for 9-10 minutes, so subtracting 3 minutes, I cooked for 7 minutes).  Remove from heat, and run cool water into the pan to cool the pasta so that you can handle it.
  2. Preheat your oven to 375°F.
  3. While the pasta is cooking, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, spinach, eggs, sugar, and seasonings, in a large mixing bowl.  Stir to combine.  Prepare your baking dish by treating with nonstick spray.  Pour 2 cups of the sauce into the baking dish to line the bottom.
  4. The easiest way to fill the pasta tubes is to pipe the cheese mixture into the tubes.  If you have a piping bag, use the largest tip.  If you do not have a piping bag, a gallon sized Ziploc bag works wonderfully.  Place the cheese mixture inside the Ziploc bag, squeeze to move the cheese mixture to a corner, then using kitchen shears, cut the corner so there is roughly a 1/2 inch opening.  Place the corner of the bag (or the tip of your piping bag) into the end of the tube and gentle squeeze the bag to force the cheese mixture into the tube.  If it won’t fully fill the tube, simply turn the tube around and fill from the other end until the tube is full.  Don’t overfill, just to the end is fine.  As you fill the tubes, arrange them in a single layer in the prepared baking dish (see note #1).
  5. When done filling all the tubes, evenly top with the remaining sauce.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven until bubbly, about 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven, top with the mozzarella cheese and return to oven to melt the cheese, about 10 more minutes.
  7. Serve immediately.

Notes

  1. As an alternative to a large baking dish, you can use single serving boats.  These are especially convenient for meal prep as they can be frozen and thawed/cooked as needed.  Top each boat with cheese before freezing and tightly cover with aluminum foil.  They’ll keep in the freezer for about a month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and cook in a 375°F oven for about 30 minutes until bubbly.

Find it online: https://foodienoise.com/manicotti/