I love manicotti, but I don’t love filling those little tubes. It just seems too fiddly for dinner time when I want to eat! This is where short lasagna noodles come to the rescue. Now all I need to do is stir together the filling, roll it up into tubes, and pop it into the oven. Easy spinach manicotti is where it’s at!
Hello, all!
With Easter coming up I’ve been thinking all sorts of food I like to eat in the spring and for holidays, and I have been remiss if I didn’t put an Italian pasta recipe into the mix.
Every holiday growing up featured meatballs or raviolis or braciole or some other yummy Italian-American foods. Often more than one! So, spinach manicotti with Easter dinner? Seems just right to me. š
Though you don’t have to wait for Easter to make these. Cheesy, gooey, saucy manicotti would be at home on your dinner table any night of the week. They make a really satisfying vegetarian meal along with a salad, and maybe a nice glass of Nero d’Avola or Barbera if you like wine. (Full disclosure: I like wine.)
Nero d’Avola is a great, and fairly inexpensive Italian wine which I love, while Barbera is also really tasty but will cost you a bit more. Either would get you out of the Chianti zone. Not that I don’t enjoy a Chianti, but Italy makes more wines than that.
A lot of recipes for easy, roll up manicotti call for no-boil lasagna noodles, and, if you like using them, go for it.
However, I find them too delicate and fussy for me when I’m trying to roll them up. Layer them uncooked in a lasagna? Sure. Though I prefer regular noodles and a little extra baking time for lasagna as well.
(More full disclosure: I never tried to soften and roll no-boil noodles before a few weeks ago, but I thought I’d fully test the recipe and see if they were better or easier. They weren’t. We had dinner that night, but there was a lot of swearing in the making of it. š )
And, anyway, if you need to roll up the noodles, you are going to have to heat up water and soften them away! Why not just par-cook some noodles? So, that’s what I do.
I buy De Cecco brand lasagna noodles, which are short – about 8 inches – and wide. The perfect size for manicotti, and they are nice and sturdy so you don’t have to be super careful when working with them. A few minutes in boiling water and a toss with olive oil to keep them from sticking together and you are ready to get rolling.
Love Italian-American comfort food as much as I do? Then you’ll love this collection of my Italian comfort food recipes! I have several of my favorites in the collection so far and I’ll be adding more. There are a lot more Italian comfort food recipes I want to share with all of you. š
If you try my recipe for Easy Spinach Manicotti, I would love to hear from you in the comments with your experience and rating! And Iām happy to answer any questions you might have.
You can connect with me by subscribing to my emails (see the form in the sidebar or below the recipe card), liking my FACEBOOK page, or by following me on PINTEREST.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Easy Spinach Manicotti
Ingredients
- 6 cups marinara sauce
- 12 oz ricotta cheese, part skim or whole milk
- 3/4 cup (6 oz) frozen chopped spinach thawed and squeezed dry
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided, 1 1/2 cups for the filling, the rest for topping
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 16 short lasagna noodles, De Cecco brand
- olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven 375F.
- Begin heating marinara sauce so that it's simmering when you are ready to assemble the manicotti. Then fill a large pot with salted water for the lasagna noodles and put it on high heat.
- Puree ricotta cheese and spinach in a food processor until smooth, about 20 seconds. Put ricotta mixture into a large bowl. Add parmesan cheese, 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella, eggs and salt. Mix well and set aside.
- Once the water is boiling for the pasta, add the noodles and cook them for 5 minutes. Drain and toss with olive oil so they don't stick together.
- Set out a 9x13 casserole dish and cover the bottom with marinara sauce, about 1 cup.
- Lay out one of the noodles and put about 1/4 cup of the filling near the end of the noodle closest to you. Roll up the noodle from the end near you to the other end.
- Put the rolled, filled noodle into the casserole dish. Pack the manicotti into the dish until you have them all in there.
- Cover the manicotti thoroughly with marinara sauce, 2-3 cups. Then sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the top.
- Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 30 mins.
- Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. If desired, top with chopped basil or parsley.
- Serve with more parmesan at the table.
Notes
- Marinara Sauce: You can make your own with my authentic marinara sauce recipe or use your favorite brand of sauce. I often make my own, but for the ease of a weeknight dinner, jarred sauce will work just fine.
- Noodles: You can use no-boil noodles by softening them briefly in hot water, and then draining and tossing them with oil as I direct for the standard noodles. However, I personally find no-boil noodles to be difficult to work with and still require me to heat water and dirty a pot. De Cecco noodles are short and wide and very easy to work with, so I recommend those for this recipe.
Marsha says
Love this easier version of manicotti! It’s so delicious! And easy!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks! Rolling up the noodles takes a lot of the fiddly work out of making these.
Diana says
Wow real comfort food. This recipe is very easy and delicious! We loved this!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks! I do love some comfort food. š
Mica says
Gosh, I am addicted to Italian pasta recipes. This was perfect for sunday dinner!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Oh, me too. We love our pasta around here.
Marlene says
I’ve made similar roll-ups with regular noodles cut in half, but they weren’t long enough to qualify as manicotti! I”ll look for the DeCecco noodles, because I agree that stuffing the tubes is a royal pain! For easy portion control, I freeze the rolls without sauce, on a cookie sheet, then put them in ziplock bags. Then I pull out as many as I need for dinner, add the sauce, and bake. Works great with stuffed shells, too.
justalittlebitofbacon says
The De Cecco noodles are really the perfect size for this. And I love the idea of freezing the manicotti separately. I usually package up a tray with the sauce but then you’d better be planning on a meal for four.
Raquel says
Great recipe and pics! Added this to my collection.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thank you! š
Jolina says
This looks great. We’re just in the middle of deciding what to bring to Easter potluck and this looks like a great choice. Can you make this ahead? (Full disclosure: I like wine too!)
justalittlebitofbacon says
Yes, you can make this ahead. It can be assembled and then baked the next day, or frozen and kept for a month (though you will need to extend the baking time), or cooked and then reheated. If you are reheating or keeping it in the fridge overnight, the noodles will get a little softer and you will need some more tomato sauce so it won’t be dry, but it will still be very tasty. (And I’m happy to know we both like wine. š )
Erin says
Gah! I just made Manicotti last week and was standing there with cheese filling all over my hands and the counter and spilling everywhere thinking to myself “Why am I doing this??” Seriously….never again…thank you for saving Manicotti for me…
justalittlebitofbacon says
If only I had posted this sooner! At least now that you know there is an easier way, there is always next time. š
Sandra says
Easter?? I haven’t begun to put a menu together! Love how easy this recipe is though. This is perfect dish for mid week when we’re scrambling for a delicious meal!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Easter is so early this year, I had to think about it! And I agree, you don’t have to wait for Easter to eat this, it’s an excellent weeknight meal.
April says
These look so good! I love anything that has spinach in the ingredients. Thanks for sharing. I’m going to Amazon right now to check out those lasagna noodles. Lovely photos!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks! Those lasagna noodles make this recipe very easy. š