Learn how to make Manicotti with Ricotta and Spinach completely from scratch — from the delicate homemade crêpes (no boxed pasta here!) to the creamy ricotta and spinach filling, finished with a golden cheesy bake. This authentic Italian recipe is straight from Nonna’s kitchen and perfect for Sunday dinner, holidays, or when you want a real taste of Italy at home.
🍴 In this video, you will learn:
• How to make Italian-style crêpes for manicotti shells
• The perfect ricotta & spinach filling with mozzarella and parmesan
• How to assemble and bake manicotti until bubbling and golden
• Tips for making ahead, freezing, and serving like an Italian Nonna
✨ This dish is hearty, homemade, and full of Italian flavor. Pair it with fresh bread, a crisp salad, and a glass of wine for the ultimate comfort meal.
👉 Don’t forget to Like, Comment & Subscribe for more traditional Italian family recipes from Nonna Says Mangia.
INGREDIENTS:
For the Crêpes
• Water, 1 cup
• Eggs, 2
• Flour, 11 oz
• Sea Salt, a pinch
• White Pepper, a pinch
For the Filling
• Ricotta, 650 g
• White Pepper, a pinch
• Eggs, 3
• Grated Parmesan, ½ cup
• Mozzarella, ½ cup
• Fresh spinach, blanched, 1 cup (chopped)
• Sea Salt ½ tsp
Sauce
• Tomato Sauce, 1 ½ liters – For bottom and top layers. Check out Nonna’s fast red pepper tomato sauce here = https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=NfeQAipgTbQ&t=1s
For Final Topping Before Baking
• Mozzarella, 2 oz
• Parmesan Cheese, 2 oz
________________________________________
DIRECTIONS
Make the Crepes
1. In a bowl, add water and eggs, plus a little salt and white pepper. Mix well by hand.
2. Add the flour, mixing until smooth.
3. In a 7½ inch round greased pan over the stove, start making the crêpes.
• Use a standard ladle size for each crepe, cook for approx. 20 seconds each side. Crepes should be on the thinner side
• Once done, let cool.
• Watch how Nonna does it for the proper technique.
Make the Filling
1. In a large bow, mix the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, mozzarella, spinach, pepper and salt .
2. Mix until well combined and smooth.
Assemble and Bake the Manicotti
1. Prepare a large baking dish (15 x 11) with a bottom layer of tomato sauce.
2. Fill each crêpe with the ricotta mixture, rolling them one by one.
3. Place the freshly rolled manicotti in the baking dish.
4. Add the mozzarella and Parmesan on top.
5. Cover with the remaining tomato sauce
6. Bake at 400°F for 35 minutes.
7. Mangia!
MUSIC
Lance Conrad – Santomenna Waltz – Instrumental version
#manicottirecipe #pastafromscratch #pastalovers #freshpasta #manicotti #nonnasaysmangia @nonnasaysmangia #nonna #tomatosauce
Hi there everyone. Today I’m making manicotti with ricotta cheese and spinach. To start making the crepes from scratch. Okay, here I have water. two eggs and I will start just mixing a little bit about a pinch of salt [Music] and I’ll start adding the flour a little bit at a time. So you mix it until it’s nice and smooth. Now I’ll add just a little bit of white pepper. Just a little pinch. We’ll wait until the frying pan here gets nice and hot. So what do you do? Just brush it with a little bit of butter or oil for the first time. You know, you don’t have to do this all the time. And we’ll just get a little bit at a time. Maybe one scoop like this. And we just pour in the middle. And then we’ll just swirl around. Okay. You don’t want these to be too thick. Okay. Okay, now I just the other side [Music] and it’s done. So we’ll put it there. This recipe makes about 10 12 manikatti. [Music] I think we’re all done with the crepes. Now I’ll show you how to do the filling. Okay. Now I’m going to make the filling for the manikatti. Here I have the ricotta cheese. Just going to empty the whole thing. [Music] Okay, I’m going to add some eggs [Music] and a little bit of salt. Not too much. A little bit of white pepper. And these are fresh spinach. And I just blanched them a little bit and squeezed them. And uh I’m just going to put them with the ricotta cheese. Here I have Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. [Music] Okay, now I’m going to mix everything together and mix it really, really well. And with the salt, you can adjust it. If you want more salt, you can add more. Make sure all the spinach are well mixed. Okay, looks good. So here I have tomato sauce. It’s a red pepper sauce. I’m just going to add some fresh basil which you can get the recipe on YouTube on my channel. I’m going to stir the sauce. Okay, now we will start filling the maniki. For this recipe, make sure you have a nice big pot sauce at the bottom. Plenty at the bottom. Okay, we’ll start filling the crepes here. A nice big tablespoon full at the bottom here. You can put in the center whatever you want. And you can just I kind of just roll them like this. Okay. See, this goes on the bottom. Just pour it there. Okay. here. [Music] [Music] [Music] Just put the cheese. And this is Parmesan cheese. I’m going put them together. Now [Music] the sauce [Music] and the oven it’s almost ready. You need quite a bit of sauce when you make this. See, now they will cook. I will show them to you when they come out of the oven. Okay, just out of the oven. [Music] Just going to take maybe I’ll try it. [Music] Okay, I hope you enjoyed today’s video. Until next time, ciao for now. [Music]
1 Comment
Delicious your a pleasure to watch love your videos.❤️❤️