Community Pick
Kittencal's Spinach & Four-Cheese Manicotti (Vegetarian)
photo by amri92
- Ready In:
- 1hr 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Yields:
-
8 manicotti
ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1⁄4 cup onion, finely chopped (optional)
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic (no more than that or the garlic will overpower the other ingredients!)
- 1 1⁄2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 1⁄2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (can use a bit more)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1⁄3 cup grated parmesan cheese (can use more)
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
- salt (to taste I use seasoned salt)
- 1⁄2 - 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach (cooked according to package directions, then hand-squeezed dry to remove excess moisture)
- 8 manicotti, cooked and drained (you might use more shells so I would cook 10)
- 4 -6 cups marinara sauce (see my Kittencal's Marinara Pasta Sauce (Vegetarian))
- 1⁄4 cup parmesan cheese (or to taste)
- mozzarella cheese, for topping (any amount desired)
directions
- Set oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
- In a skillet, saute onion (if using) in oil for about 4 minutes or until softened (adding in the garlic the last 2 minutes).
- In a mixing bowl combine the ricotta cheese, 1-1/2 cup mozza cheese, cream cheese, 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning; beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and well combined.
- Season with white salt or seasoned salt and black pepper to taste.
- Stir in onion mixture and spinach; mix well to combine.
- Spoon into cooked and cooled manicotti shells.
- Pour half of the pasta sauce into the prepared baking dish.
- Arrange shells over sauce (at this point you may cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or continue with the recipe as follows).
- Top with the remaining sauce, use a spoon to spread the sauce over the shells (the sauce does not have to cover the shells completely).
- Sprinkle about 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or to taste) over the sauce.
- Cover and bake for 25 minutes.
- Uncover and top with mozzeralla cheese (any amount desired).
- Bake 5 mins longer, or until cheese is melted.
- Let stand 10 mins before serving.
- Note; If desired the spinach can be omitted completely.
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Reviews
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Great recipe!I have made this three times. The first time, I followed it as listed. I never made manicotti before, and didn't realize how much work goes into stuffing the things. The second time, I used only half as much spinch, but I used fresh also. Seemed to me to be the perfect amount. The third time, I was lazy and used jumbo shells, and of course its the filling that makes this dish. Filling the shells was alot easier than the manicotti.Awesome recipe.EDIT: I have now made these over 50 times. I still swear by this recipe. The only tweaks are the ones listed above, and occasionally I add 1/2 pound of hot or mild Italian Sausage. Browning them, and draining the fat. Then I let it cool to room temp., before adding to the mixture.
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Very good manicotti recipe. I usually just throw together my ingredients but decided to follow a recipe this time. It was very easy to make and turned out delicious. I find that when I undercook the manicotti noodles by a minute or two, they are easier to stuff and they soften up fine as they cook. They were still slightly stiff as I stuffed them. I liked the addition of the cream cheese and the spinach. The version I usually make has egg instead of cream cheese. I used a canned marinara sauce this time but next time I plan to make Kittencal's Marinara that looks wonderful. I expect it will make this even better!
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So rich, creamy and delicious. I made the filling three days prior to using. On the morning of the day I was serving, I cooked the manicotti just until they were flexible, piped the filling in the manicotti, using a zip-lock bag and that made them easier to fill.I kept them in the fridge until I was ready to bake. They turned out just perfect, really flavorful. I added the optional onion and didn't cook the frozen spinach, but did squeeze out as much water as I could. I'm looking forward to the leftovers and to making them again.Thanks for sharing this recipe.
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Tweaks
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I sauted the onion and garlic but it got too brown and I didn't think it would look very appealing so I substituted garlic and onion powders. I used Kitten's Marinara Sauce and left out the spinach. I also used an Italian cheese blend instead of just mozzarella and I think that gave the flavor of the filling more depth. This was very well received.
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Delicious! I had to make some changes because the supermarket didn't have ricotta so I substituted it and the cream cheese for drained cottage cheese and mascarpone, which gave it the right flavour and consistency. The recipe was a lot of work but well worth it. I just made my usual pasta sauce and it worked perfectly. Thanks for staring!
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Everyone just adored this when I cooked it for my SIL's Italian party. As I had some of the filling leftover I decided to shred a BBQ Chicken that I also had. I mixed the chicken in with the cold filling mix and wrapped the mixture in phyllo pastry for dinner that night. What a delight. My daughter (a chef)insisted I make some more of the filling for her to take to work the next day. I also gave her the recipe. They made it for their chef's lunch at work and they are now using an adapted version to produce a chef's special at the restaurant. Apparantly they are using a bechamel sauce instead of pasta sauce. Sounds too yummmmmmmy.
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