THE BEST Spinach and Cheese Manicotti Recipe

This is the best cheese manicotti with spinach you will ever make! Stuffed manicotti is the perfect dish for a large crowd and is a family favorite main course. What is manicotti? Cheese manicotti is a long noodle stuffed with cheese, spinach, and seasonings topped off with a bed of red sauce and baked in the oven! This easy manicotti recipe is without meat but you can add meat if you would like.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on a link and purchase something, I may earn a small commission from it. In the footer of this page is my full disclosure policy. 

Why you will love this comfort food recipe:

• Yummy filling – soft and gooey filling that is easy pipe in the noodles.
• Few ingredients – you probably have all the filling ingredients in your pantry already!
• Meal prep – you can prepare this ahead of time to bake later.

Ingredients:

• noodles – manicotti tubes to hold our filling in
• Spinach – adds flavor and nutrients
• Olive oil – lubricates the pan
• Whole milk ricotta cheese – helps the mozzarella form a better consistency for filling
• Mozzarella cheese – part of the cheese filling
• Minced garlic – adds flavor
• Marinara sauce – sauce that goes on bottom and on top the noodles. You use homemade sauce or grocery stores.

How do you stuff manicotti shells?

This recipe allows for easy stuffing of the shells because the cheese and spinach mixture is cold. When it is cold, the ricotta balls up more nicely and is easy to insert into the noodle.

• Use spoon – you can spoon little by little into the noodle like the directions say
• Piping bag – a pastry bag or plastic bag would allow for more uniform even filling
• Cut noodles – the noodle still tastes delicious whether you break it open to pipe it or not

Tips for stuffing noodles:

• Don’t over cook the noodles – if you over cook the noodles, that will make them harder to stuff because then they are going to fall apart more easily. Cook them al dente.
• Don’t try to shove too much cheese mixture in at a time – little by little stuffing is the best way to stuff a noodle.

Tips for making cheese manicotti:

• Shred cheese – you need to have freshly shredded mozzarella cheese so that it melts better. If you have a Kitchenaid mixer, you can get a shredding attachment so you don’t have to do it by hand.
• Use whole milk cheese – for best results, don’t use skim or reduced fat cheeses in pasta recipes. It doesn’t have the same fat content to give it the flavor!

FAQs

• Where do buy manicotti shells?
  • Walmart or another chain store is probably your best bet. Smaller stores might not carry the noodles because they are a larger pasta. That is what makes it more pricey than elbow noodles.
• Will manicotti noodles cook in the oven?
  • You do have to cook manicotti noodles before baking, or at least the kind I buy says I have to do that. Do not overcook the noodles while boiling since they have to be firm and not soggy to stuff or else they will fall apart.
• What does manicotti mean?
  • Translates to the shape of large tubes.  This makes sense because the noodles are large tubes of pasta. 

Alternatives to ricotta cheese

Ricotta isn’t a cheese everyone always has on hand. Different kinds of cheese you can use are:

• Cottage cheese – the curds do melt so don’t let that deter you
• Fresh goat cheese – slightly bitter, but similar consistency
• Cream cheese – higher fat but still easy texture to stuff a noodle with

Can manicotti be made ahead of time?

There are three ways manicotti can be made ahead of time

Cook noodles and let noodles cool and store in the fridge.

It can be hard to touch the noodles to stuff them when they are hot anyway, so if you did not have a lot of time in the evening to wait for the water to boil, you can cook the noodles on a different day.

Prepare as usual and put in the fridge until ready to eat

As long as you have a sealable container you bake cheese manicotti in, you can just put it in the fridge and take out and eat later.

Make and freeze and eat later

You can freeze this recipe. Just make sure to let thaw in the fridge and then at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before heating up in the oven.

Variations of stuffed cheese manicotti:

• No ricotta – you can make this without ricotta by using cream cheese or cottage cheese instead. Ricotta can be hard to buy some places, however, it is the easiest because it balls together. This makes it easy to stuff the shells.
• Add meat – you can make this stuffed manicotti shells with meat if you would like! Easy combination would be cheese and Italian sausage crumbles. The sausage crumbles would be nicely blended in the ricotta making it easier to stuff. Manicotti and chicken would be a close second if the chicken was chopped fine enough. Ground beef is also an option. If wanting to leave meat in larger pieces, you can also sprinkle it on top instead of stuffing it.
• Different sauce – you can make cheese manicotti without tomato sauce and use alfredo sauce, meat sauce, or any other sauce instead!
• More vegetables – this recipe is for cheese manicotti recipe with spinach, but you can add artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc to the ricotta center.

How to store the best manicotti:

• Fridge – store spinach and cheese manicotti in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Scoop out a piece and reheat in the microwave! Put a drop of milk on top to moisten the noodle if you like.
• Freezer – can manicotti be frozen? This cheese manicotti recipe can be a freezer meal! Prepare as normal, but make sure to bake in a freezer safe and oven safe container, such as a 9×13 baking dish. Then, let cool to room temperature. Finally, put a lid on the dish and freeze. To reheat, let thaw in the fridge for about 12 hours, then bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until heated throughout. If you wanted to ensure the dish will stay fresh in the freezer, wrap in saran wrap before putting the lid on. Just make sure to remove the saran wrap before baking!

Easy Cheese Stuffed Manicotti with Spinach Recipe

Cheese manicotti with spinach is the best pasta dish you will ever eat!

5 from 8 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 5 people

Recommended Products

large pot

9 x 13 baking dish

medium skillet

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 12 manicotti noodles
• 2 cups spinach
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 cup mozzarella cheese plus extra for top
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp of each: italian seasoning, garlic pepper
• 16 oz marinara sauce

Instructions

 

• Boil your manicotti noodles according to package instructions to al dente. Drain off water and let cool removed from heat.
• In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute the spinach until dark green. Remove from heat and let cool off.
• Place 1/2 cup of marinara sauce in an even layer on a 9×13 baking dish.
• Once spinach is cool, add remaining ingredients (besides noodles and sauce) to skillet with spinach and stir. This will be a cold mixture.
• Begin stuffing your noodles with a small spoon by scooping up a little of the spinach and cheese mixture and inserting it into a manicotti shell. Stuffing little by little helps prevent noodle breakage. You can also use your fingers to stuff the noodles. Place filled manicotti shells in a single layer on the prepared marinara baking dish. Repeat until noodles and cheese mixture are gone.
• Pour remaining sauce over noodles and sprinkle extra shredded cheese on top. Bake dish at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the shredded cheese is melted. Serve with fresh basil and garlic bread.

---

All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. Nutritional facts listed are a rough estimate and should only be followed as a general idea.

Keyword manicotti, manicotti recipe, cheese manicotti, stuffed manicotti recipe, baked manicotti, how to make manicotti, homemade manicotti, stuffed manicotti shells

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!