Ultimate Baked Manicotti Recipe (So Simple!)

⭐️ Manicotti delivers a cozy, comforting dish that is easy to assemble and is freezer-friendly. Get the recipe here — https://www.eatingonadime.com/manicotti/

Make Manicotti for the ultimate comfort food! Cheese stuffed pasta baked in a rich marinara sauce and topped with bubbly melted cheese is a quick and delicious pasta dish that makes dinnertime a breeze!

🟢 Ingredients:
For the Manicotti:
☑️ 16 ounces Marinara Sauce, store-bought or homemade
☑️ 8 ounces Manicotti Shells, approximately 14 to 15 shells

For the Cheese Filling:
☑️ 15 ounces Ricotta Cheese
☑️ 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
☑️ 8 ounces Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
☑️ 1 cup Spinach, chopped
☑️ 1 large Egg, lightly beaten
☑️ 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
☑️ 1 teaspoon Salt
☑️ 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper

Get the full recipe and nutritional information here: https://www.eatingonadime.com/manicotti/

🔶🔶Kitchen Gadgets I Used:🔶🔶
➡️ Caraway Large Pot – https://amzn.to/4nYOnZA
➡️ Similar Pot – https://amzn.to/4nXql12
➡️ Cutting Board – https://amzn.to/40WIgM1
➡️ Knife – https://amzn.to/3YZHECF
➡️ Pyrex Mixing Bowl – https://amzn.to/3UZmnYN
➡️ Plastic Mixing Spoon – https://amzn.to/3GwopM6
➡️ Cheese Shredder – https://amzn.to/46LiuNG
➡️ Strainer – https://amzn.to/3F1naDo
➡️ Freezer Bag Holder – https://amzn.to/44eiUKK
➡️ 9X13 Baking Pan – https://amzn.to/3TJWiMf
➡️ Silicone Spatula – https://amzn.to/3TJDFYR

⭐️ Marinara Sauce – https://www.eatingonadime.com/easy-marinara-sauce/

🔶🔶More Pasta Recipe videos:🔶🔶
👉 Baked Spaghetti – https://youtu.be/rQi0LGtCPB4?si=itXgGh310UzNis3_

👉 Pizza Pasta Casserole – https://youtu.be/xZLZXhbZbC4?si=ZVs9ZcPbl007GJ8-

👉 Lazy Day Lasagna – https://youtu.be/imY1XVuakzs?si=KX7bywaKAXHrFmD5

Quick, cheesy, and totally foolproof. Today I’m going to show you how to make the easiest manakotti. [Music] Hello friends. Welcome back to my sister Carrie’s kitchen. My name’s Christina. I’m with eating on a dime.com. Today I’m going to show you how to make the easiest manakotti. Now, if you’ve ever had manakotti at a restaurant, it kind of reminds me of like a lasagna. It’s like a noodle shell stuffed with a delicious cheesiness. We put spinach in our cheesy mixture and it is amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. And thanks to these delicious manakotti shells you can get at any grocery store now, it’s super easy to make at home and it’s way easier to make than lasagna. Everyone say hi to the Rosie. She loves manakotti as well, so she’s really excited about this. I have linked today’s recipe in the description below so you don’t have to write everything down. Just grab that and print it off or just view it on your iPhone, tablet, whatever when you’re making this at home. Also, I’m going to link everything that I’m using or something similar if they don’t make it anymore. So, if you have questions on any utensils I’m using, make sure to check the description below. So, like I said at the beginning, the secret to this easy manakotti recipe is these manakotti shells. Sorry if I say manakotti funny. I’m not even sure if I’m saying it right. You can get these at your local grocery store. It’s a 8 oz box. When you open it up, you should have about 14 to 15 shells in there. There’s two little trays. Look how cute they are. It’s like a really big henna ribbed noodle. That’s what it reminds me of. So, let’s see how many mine have today. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I have 14. Perfect. So, the first step is we want to cook these based on the package instructions. Based on my instructions, you’re just going to boil them for about seven minutes. So, I’m going to go ahead and get those started. Then, I’ll get the cheese stuffing prepared from there. So, just boil water and then add the shells. I just do them one at a time so they don’t stick. And there’s not a ton, so it goes pretty fast. And we’re going to cook these for about 7 minutes just to get them nice and soft. Now, we’re going to make the cheese stuffing. Start with one large egg and put it in a large mixing bowl. And we’re going to beat it. Now, I always just start with the egg cuz you want to break up the yolk before stirring in the other ingredients. And this way, I just don’t have to get another bowl dirty cuz if you add in all the cheeses and everything, then you’ll have to beat the egg in a separate bowl. So, I just always do the egg first and just stir it right in. Now, we’re going to add spinach. For this recipe, you’ll need one cup chopped spinach. To get like that really good flavor, I love adding spinach. Even if you don’t like spinach, I think it’s pretty subtle in this recipe. I do like to chop it up so that you’re not getting like huge chunks of spinach in there. So, I just bunch it up and then take a big knife and run it through to chop it up into bite-sized pieces. And then I turn it and then chop it the other way as well. Now, I’ve already removed the stems from this spinach. So, if your spinach does have stems, go ahead and remove it. So, I just turn it like is that 90° maybe 180? I’m not I don’t know. I don’t know how many degrees. Just turn it to where you’re chopping it the other way. And if your knife is big enough, it should be pretty easy to chop it up. But, you just want to make sure when you’re biting it, you don’t accidentally pull out a big leaf of spinach. So, that’s why I like to chop it up. Okay, this just in. It was 90°. They were making fun of me and it is 90° so I got nervous that I was wrong. Okay, but anyway, you get it. Chop up the spinach with a big knife. And remember, if you guys have been following us for a while, this is the only knife you need in your kitchen. Don’t buy a bunch of knives. Buy one or two really good knives. Spend the same amount of money. It’s going to change the way you cook in your kitchen. All right, so egg added, spinach added. Now we’re going to add ricotta cheese. 15 oz ricotta cheese. We’re just going to add this right in with the other ingredients. And then add in one cup grated Parmesan cheese. This is in like the shaker or you can grate your own if you’re feeling ambitious. You do you, but the shaker parm is works really well in this recipe. Now, we’re going to add some mozzarella cheese. So, for this cheese, I do recommend that you shred your own. We’re going to do 8 oz. We want half in the mixture and reserve half for the topping. So, I’m just going to go ahead and shred it all right now and stir about half of it into my filling mixture. I’m just using a handheld shredder. I do recommend that you shred your own. It is going to be meltier and creamier. So, my manati is done. And I’m going to go ahead and drain it in the strainer or colander, whichever you call it. And then you want to rinse it immediately with cold water. This is going to stop the pasta from cooking to prevent you getting overcooked pasta. I’m going to just move it around with my hands a little bit to make sure the water gets all over these beautiful manakotti shells. Okay, back to the filling, guys. We got to focus on this filling. So, the cheese is done. Take half of the shredded cheese and add it to the mixing bowl. We’re going to reserve. I say reserve. That’s what like cooking people say when they say save it for later. We’re going to save this for topping later. Then time to add in some seasoning. Start with two teaspoons of Italian seasoning blend. Now, if you are not in the States and they do not have this in your area, I’m going to link a homemade recipe below. It’s super easy to make at home. But if you live in the United States, it’s at most grocery stores. So, it’s just Italian seasoning blend in the seasoning aisle. And then a little bit of salt. I’m going to do a teaspoon and then a half a teaspoon of black pepper. Then you just want to carefully stir to combine all of this to make the fillings. I am using a sturdy spoon. So, mine is a plastic spoon. You can use a wooden spoon. You just want one that is pretty thick. it doesn’t like I don’t know become wobbly when you use it so it can stir that ricotta cheese because ricotta cheese is thick so you need a good strong spoon to stir it up. So when you stir it because that ricotta cheese is whole sometimes I kind of like to just break it up with the utensil I’m using just like this to help incorporate it with the other cheeses. Make it a little bit more crumbly if you will. And we’re just going to get all those combined. And that egg helps bind all the cheeses together. So that’s why we like that in there. Now, preheat your oven to 350° F. Now, we’re going to get the filling ready to stuff into the manacotti shells. So, the whole point is you stuff the filling in, you bake it, put a good sauce on it. So, you can take a spoon and actually put the filling into the shells, but I find it’s best to pipe it in there. And so when I mean pipe it, it’s I like to use you can use any bag. You can use piping decorated bags for cakes if you have those on hand and that’s great. This I just found was a is a lot easier to get these shells with this cheesy goodness. So just put that cheese mixture that you made right into a Ziploc bag. I’m using this Ziploc bag holder that my sister and I love. We make freezer meals just to keep the bag open, but you can just put it in there however you would like. Once it’s in the bag, I push it to one corner of the bag. I don’t worry about closing the Ziploc bag just so air can escape and you don’t have to deal with air bubbles. I think it’s easier. And you just want to do it like that. And then we’re going to cut the end of the bag off. And that’s so we can squeeze this mixture out of the bag. You want a pretty big hole about the size of the manakotti shell. So you’re not looking for a tiny hole. You want a pretty big hole because this mixture is thick and you want it to be able to come out. Now get your favorite type of marinara sauce. You can use homemade if you prefer. And you want uh just a standard jar. 24 oz is sufficient. Take some of the sauce and spread it at the bottom of a 9 by13 baking dish. And this is just so the one you have sauce all around your manakotti shells and it helps it not stick to the bottom of the pan to make serving easier. So it tastes great and it’s functional as well. So just a thin layer. Don’t overthink it. And just to kind of they don’t stick at the bottom here. Now it’s time to stuff the shell. So you want to get out one of your manakotti shells, the pasta. Hold it in your hand with the piping bag. You want to pipe it right into the shell. Now I do, you can do one side and pipe it all the way through. Or if you want to make sure it gets on both sides, you can pipe on one side and then turn it over and pipe on the other. However you prefer to get it all in there. But you want this sauce all the way through the shell. Almost like stuffing a canoli kind of. If you’re like exact on a me on measurements, it’s like two to four tablespoons. But I just pipe it till it’s completely full. And you can see it coming out of the edges. And then lay it right into the baking dish. Okay. Learn from my mistakes. As I was piping it, some of my cheese mixture fell out of the back of my bag. So, just give it a little twist here before you start piping to make sure that that doesn’t happen. All right, let’s get another one and keep this party going. So, when I pipe it in, I try to make sure it can get to the middle. You can kind of fill it in there. And then use the bag to push it in if need be cuz you want it into the center. And then just turn it over and do the opposite side as well. When layering them into the pan, do one layer back to back and then I just fill in the other ones to make up as much pan space as needed. Once they’re all stuffed, take your remaining marinara sauce and just pour it right on top. Make sure you get some on all of them. So, make sure you get the ones that are off to the side. And then I just used a spatula to spread it around as much as possible. I’m kind of like the more sauces the better. So, don’t stress about it. And just use your favorite brand brand of sauce or if you have a homemade version you love, use that as well. I know some people are picky about their sauce. Let us know in the comments what sauce is your favorite with marinara. I want to hear. Now, it’s time to find that reserve cheese. I was getting made fun of for saying that, too. All right. Take the cheese that we saved for later and just sprinkle it right on top. Now they’re ready to bake. You want to bake them for 20 to 25 minutes until that sauce is bubbly and the cheese is nice and melted. It’s officially done. I wanted to show you guys up close. See how the cheese is nice and melty and the sauce, you can tell, is nice and hot. That’s how you know it’s done cuz the pasta is already cooked and you’re just cooking everything through. Look how beautiful it is. Okay, friends. Now it’s time for my favorite part, which is the eating part. I love that part. Let me know in the comments. Could you guys eat two or three of these? I was just thinking how many would be in a serving, and I’m thinking it would be two or three, just depending on how hungry you get. Now, when it comes to serving, I love doing Italian food, just like a really big salad. I just love it. There’s something about like Italian food with salad and bread that just makes my heart so happy. So, that’s the way I would serve it at home. You could do extra parm on top if you’re feeling fancy. And it’s ready to enjoy. Look how pretty it is. Okay, moment of truth. Let’s see it. I’m so excited, guys. It smells amazing in here. My kids love this recipe. Amazing. So, I was just talking to my sister before I showed you guys the bite. You can easily freeze this recipe. If you were going to freeze it, I would make two batches. bake one, then freeze the other one, cover it up, then all you got to do is let it defrost overnight in your refrigerator, and then you can just bake it as normal for a quick and easy meal that everyone is going to love. So, when you go to the work of doing it, make sure to make two or three pans so you can have easy dinners any night of the week. Also, friends, you can use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese if you want to add a little protein to it. I would blend it up just so the texture is more like ricotta cheese, but you could throw that in the blender, then mix it in with the cheese filling, and it’s a great way to add more protein. Also, add whatever protein you’re craving to that cheese filling. Ground beef, I think ground sausage would be amazing. It’s a great way to make this dish your own. Okay, I hope keep biting it. Thank you guys so much for joining me today. I hope I inspired you to cook an easy, delicious Italian meal at home instead of going out this week. Once you make it, please leave us a comment and let us know what you think. We love hearing from you guys. All right, don’t forget recipe linked in the description. Don’t forget to like and subscribe so you never miss one of our recipes. [Music] All right, I’m out of here, guys. I’m hungry. I will see you guys next time in my sister’s kitchen. And until then, don’t forget, eat at home by eating on a dime. Bye, friends.