About Easy Cheesy Manicotti
Since we’re all friends here, I have a confession to make:
There’s not much I wouldn’t do for stuffed pasta.
Tortellini, ravioli, jumbo shells, you name it; if cheese and pasta are involved you can bet that I’ve got my plate out, waiting to be served.
But despite this little obsession of mine, I hardly ever have time to make stuffed pasta at home, and my time (and life!) is only getting more chaotic as we approach the end of the year.
This means I tend to take the “easy” way out and get my fancy pasta fix at my favorite Italian restaurant.
However, we all know that eating out every night isn’t always possible, especially now that the holidays are approaching. Gotta save some of that $$, amirite?!
So, I figured it was high time that I honed my own “Stuffed Pasta Cooking Skills” (official term), especially since Bertolli just introduced their new Riserva line – which just happens to include a Parmigiano-Regginao Marinara sauce. And the best part? Having a high quality and ready-made marinara sauce
And the best part? Having a high quality and ready-made marinara sauce reduces the typical cook time of my favorite pasta recipes in half.
And a faster cooking time = more time for me to plan what to do with all the money all I’ll be saving for the holidays by not going to the restaurant.
The pasta itself turned out amazingly well. It was a little tricky to fill the manicotti noodles with all the ricotta cheesy goodness, but being the classy girl that I am, I ended up using a spoon and my fingers.
It might not have been the cleanest way to go about it, but it certainly got the job done – just like the pros do at the restaurant!
And the Bertolli sauce was the perfect touch to liven up this dish.
How do you stuff manicotti shells?
Personally, I like to fill manicotti by hand. I use a spoon (or sometimes even my fingers) and gently feed in the cheese mix into the manicotti. Once I’ve filled one end of the pasta, I flip the manicotti and fill the other end.
However, some readers have asked for easier (or cleaner!) methods for filling manicotti – and, in return, other readers responded with their suggestions.
For example, reader Diane suggested that you can pipe the cheese filling into the manicotti by putting it in a Ziploc bag (quart sized) and cutting a hole in one of the corners (just like you would for icing). This way you can easily fill the manicotti without all the mess.
Sher, another reader, had another great idea for filling manicotti. Once the pasta has cooled, you can cut a line down the side of the manicotti, fill it with filling, then press the manicotti back together. The filling will help “glue” the manicotti back together. Then you can just place the manicotti seam side down in the baking dish to hide the line.
notes & tips for cheese manicotti
- I’m a big fan of Bertolli, but it’s okay if you don’t have any on hand. This recipe can be made with any type of marinara or spaghetti sauce. I’ve also used this Homestyle Meat Sauce and loved it!
More great pasta recipes
Recipe Details
Easy Cheesy Manicotti
Bring a restaurant classic to your dinner table with this easy cheese manicotti recipe. With tender noodles, rich red sauce, and the delicious combination of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, this dish makes a perfect weeknight dinner and great leftovers.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Cook manicotti per package instructions, drain, and lay on parchment paper to dry and cool.
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray, then spread a thin layer of Bertolli Riserva sauce along the bottom of the dish. Set dish nearby.
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In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper until smooth.
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Using a spoon (and your fingers!) gently feed the cheese mix into the cooled manicotti noodles. Tip: pack one end until full, then turn the manicotti around and fill the other end.
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Place filled manicotti on top of sauce in prepared baking dish. Arrange manicotti in a single layer. When all manicotti are filled, cover the tops with the renaming Bertolli Riserva sauce.
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Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top (optional). Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
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Serve cheese manicotti immediately with more parsley on top as garnish.
This looks heavenly! Yum!
Thanks Samantha!
I have also added crumbled sausage to the filling for a change up.
OH I was just thinking how good sausage would be in this too.
Stuffed pasta is the best — even if it gets tricky to stuff and you gotta use your fingers! This looks delish!
Thanks Vicky!
I split the cooked shells all the way down the center lengthwise, then stuff with filling and place in pan on the seam. Works for me!
Your way sounds so much easier Patty 🙂 Will have to try that next time!
you had me at easy & cheesy! This looks like a classic dish with all the flavours one would expect to be bursting from there! i love this and will make it for dinner one night next week!
Thanks Kaitie! If you made it, I hope you liked it 😀
That looks so darn good!
Thanks Angie!
YUMM…I love mannicotti and I can never find a good recipe for it so this sounds really good. I may have to try it.
Hayli at Haylidejong.com
Thanks Hayli!
I love cheese manicoti but have never figured out a great way to make it. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Ashley 😀
Oh I love cheesy italian food! This looks SO good!
Thanks Branson!
I love stuffed pasta dishes too, this looks delicious, I will have to give it a try!
Thanks Joy!
These manicotti look and sound scrumptious! Bertolli’s new Riserva sauces are yummy, I just recently tried the one with white truffles.
Oo, the sauce WOULD be good with white truffles. Will have to try that!
Oh god this looks hearty and delicious. I love a good pasta sauce and definitely need to try this one.
Thanks Thalia! 😀
Perfect with a glass of wine!! Yummy!
Sounds like my kind of dinner 😀
My an old friend of mine loves stuffed pasta shell meals! He would adore it if I made this for him!
Thanks Sabrina!
my kid loves this dish! i will have to try out your recipe for our next go at it! pinning & stumbling!
Thanks Sharee! I hope the family likes it 😀
Thanks for this great-looking easy recipe! I may try to use a large zip-lock bag with a corner snipped off to fill the manicotti with the cheese mixture (home-made piping bag).
Awesome tip! I’ll have to try that as well 😀
As Diane said above, use either a pastry bag or a Ziploc with about a 1″ corner hole cut in it and they will fill so quickly and easily!
TIP: After cooked manicotti noodles have cooled, cut a slit down one side, lengthwise. Pull apart and fill (SOOO much easier than with whole shells). Once filled, the filling mix “glues” together the manicotti noodle and it will stay together. Bake as recipe states. Saves time and frustration.
LOVE this tip! Thank you Sher 🙂
This was really good! Everybody in my family loved it! We will be making this again.
Awesome to hear Teresa! I’m so glad it was a hit 😀
I’ve made this recipe several times now. Soooo good and easy!
Love to hear that Michelle! 😀 So glad you liked it!
Something came to mind when making this dish and it was much easier than I thought. I put the manicotti filling in a plastic bag and piped it into the manicotti. Easy and much less of a mess. I didn’t read through all of he comments so sorry if someone else already mentioned this. We loved the recipe!!
Great tip Caity! Your method sounds SO much easier! 😀
I know I would love this along with my son, age 56! I buy this when I go to the Olive Garden! Their’s is very good. However, homemade any thing is better, right?? I have Stage III necrosis in my left femur and I do not have too many “GOOD” days. I hope I will be able to make it soon.:) Yours looks easy!!
This recipe sounds and looks good but what if u want to add meat to it like hamburger how would you go about doing that??
Hey Shameka! This recipe was designed for cheese only, so unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions for adding meat. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
Add hamburger meat to the spagetti sauce
I just made it tonight with hamburger meat. I simply cooked the meat separate, made some with only the cheese, added the meat to some of the cheese mistuned and made the remaining with the meat mixture. Following same baking instructions. Turned out great.
Can you use low fat cottage cheese in it instead of ricotta? I do that with my lasagna
Hey Linda! If you like using low fat cottage cheese with lasagna then it should work just fine with this recipe 😀
If I wanted to make a double batch so that I can freeze one, should I freeze the extra batch before baking? Then thaw and bake when needed?
Hey Eliese! For freezing, you can do either – freezing before baking or freezing after. As long as you use a good container to prevent freezer burn you should be fine. For what it’s worth, I typically hear that people freeze the unbaked dish and then thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before baking.
I made this last night for dinner and it turned out great! I just used a very small spoon to fill them and it was fairly easy. I made 10 pieces of manicotti, but I still could have filled a couple more if I had used a larger dish. We are having left overs tonight. Yummy!
I’m crazy about anything with cheese on and this will really help me in my dorm.
Very Easy and yummy Manicotti Will make this again..I made 14 of them Lots of cheese I will have leftovers I am sure. Also used Low fat Ricotta.
This is an awesome recipe I like to add spinach to the cheese mixture and to the sauce and of course extra minced garlic!! Yum
This is a delicious recipe! I do have a tip for filling manicotti noodles that my family has used all the way back to my grandmother. Fill UNCOOKED pasta noodles and line them up in the dish you are baking them in. Water down your sauce 2 to 1…for example, 2 cups of sauce to 1 cup of water. Cover the noodles completely with the watered down sauce, cover the dish and bake for an hour. When it’s done, the water will have absorbed into the pasta, cooking it to perfection and the sauce will have thickened back to it’s original state!
I made this with gluten free manicotti noodles and it was very good! I’ll be making it again for Christmas Eve 🙂
This recipe sounds delicious. I would like to make fresh pasta to substitute the canelloni tubes. Would I have to precook it before rolling around the filling?
Made it and the family loved it. Made a pasta sauce, garlic toast yummy!!! Would make again.
I call this recipe divine!!! My husband loves his meat, so I added a little sausage to the sauce, plus about a tablespoon of heavy cream. It definitely filled my craving for the manicotti I used to get from my favorite Greek-Italian restaurant back home!!♥️♥️♥️
I add chopped mushrooms and chopped broccoli or spinach.
More nutritious and delicious!
Can you put this together the night before and then just pull it out of the refrigerator and bake?
This is a family favorite! The kids and hubby gobble it down 😍 I always add Italian sausage to it, as hubby says every meal has to have meat of some kind.