This Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti is a favorite family recipe.  Watch the video in the post showing you how to make manicotti, then scroll all the way to the bottom of this post and print out a clean copy of the recipe so you can make it at home.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti ready for the oven

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Manicotti is a dish of great comfort. It makes plenty, it’s filling, it’s completely family-friendly, and the leftovers are even better than the freshly made batch. We make this when we have a handful of friends or family around. It’s a nice, no-fuss recipe that everyone seems to love. Make it ahead, keep it in the fridge and toss it in the oven when everybody is ready to eat.

If you didn’t know, manicotti is a pasta noodle shaped like a tube. It’s about 4-inches long, and 1-inch in diameter. Usually it’s boiled until al dente, then cooled, filled with some kind of cheese filling, covered with sauce and baked.  In this recipe, you don’t have to bake the noodles before filling them.  They’ll cook in the sauce when you bake the manicotti in the oven.

🛒Ingredients needed:

  • ricotta cheese
  • mozzarella cheese
  • cream cheese
  • parmesan cheese
  • frozen spinach
  • eggs
  • salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • manicotti noodles
  • marinara sauce

Ingredients for Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

✏️How to make Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti:

*The complete, printable recipe with all ingredients and instructions is at the end of this post.

How to Make Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

The filling is very simple to make. Just mix it all up in a bowl until it’s well-blended. If you (or your kids) don’t like spinach, you can always leave it out… though I’ve found that you don’t really detect it all that much with all of the other wonderful things and sauce in the recipe.

You might consider it a good way to “sneak” some good stuff into dinner.

How to Make Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

A layer of sauce goes into the bottom of a 13×9-inch pan.

How to Make Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

The easiest way to stuff manicotti shells is the put the mixed filling into a plastic bag. You can use either a frosting piping bag or a gallon zip bag. Snip the corner, gather the top and squeeze the filling into the corner.

How to Make Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Hold an uncooked manicotti shell in your hand and squeeze the filling inside the shell. Let it overflow on both sides.

How to Make Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Place the filled shell into the sauce-lined pan.

How to Make Manicotti - Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti : from RecipeGirl.com

Repeat with remaining manicotti and fill the pan with the stuffed shells, until you run out of shells and filling.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Cover with a generous layer of marinara sauce.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Sprinkle cheese on top. At this point, you can cover with foil, refrigerate and then bake when you’re ready. It’s ok to leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

Cover and bake for about an hour.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti on a white plate

Pop open a bottle of red wine and eat! This Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti recipe will feed 6 or 7 hungry people- 2 stuffed shells each is plenty when served with salad and garlic bread.  And lighter eaters will be plenty full with just one shell.

★How to Store:

Store leftovers in the refrigerator and enjoy over the next few days. I guarantee they won’t last long. Manicotti also freezes well. Just place leftovers in an airtight container and you can keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.

 

❤️Why I love this recipe:

  1. My family has been loving this recipe since I was a kid. At our house it’s always been our traditional Christmas Eve meal.
  2. It’s a crowd pleaser. Even people who say they don’t like spinach love these manicotti!
  3. I love that it can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until I’m ready to bake it. Makes getting dinner together so simple.

 

The Best Manicotti Recipes:

4.69 from 29 votes

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

It's easy to learn how to make manicotti.  Start with this delicious recipe for Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti!
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 12 manicotti
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Ingredients

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350℉.
  • In a large bowl, mix the cheeses, spinach, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir together until well blended.
  • Place about 1½ cups of marinara sauce in a 9x13-inch pan. Spread it around to cover the bottom.
  • Place the mixed filling into a plastic bag. You can use either a frosting piping bag or a gallon zip bag. Snip the corner, gather the top and squeeze the filling into the corner. Hold an uncooked manicotti shell in your hand and squeeze the filling inside the shell. Let it overflow on both sides. Alternately, you can stuff the uncooked noodles with a small spoon or fork. Place the filled shell into the sauce-lined pan. Repeat with remaining manicotti and fill the pan with the stuffed shells, until you run out of shells and filling. You should be able to fill 12 to 14 shells- if you run out of room in your pan, use a separate smaller pan to accommodate the extra.
  • Cover the pasta completely with marinara sauce, using about 2½ cups of sauce. Sprinkle ½ cup Parmesan on top. At this point, you can cover with foil and refrigerate until you're ready to bake, or you can cover with foil and place it in the oven immediately.
  • Bake, covered with foil, 50 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Notes

  • It's perfectly okay to use low fat ricotta and low fat cream cheese.
  • If you don't wish to use the spinach, it's ok to leave it out and just turn this into a cheese-stuffed manicotti.
  • If you don't wish to use the plastic bag method of squeezing the filling into the shells, you can use a very small spoon or fork to stuff the filling-- it will just take a bit longer and might be a little messy.

Nutrition

Serving: 1stuffed manicotti, Calories: 347kcal, Carbohydrates: 36g, Protein: 19g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 74mg, Sodium: 874mg, Potassium: 445mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 3630IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 339mg, Iron: 1.8mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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4.69 from 29 votes (10 ratings without comment)

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283 Comments

  1. Zack Nowicki says:

    They were super yummy. >^.^<

  2. James Bradshaw says:

    This is the second time I’ve made manicotti using your recipe and it is beyond delicious. Of course, I’ve changed it up a bit. I use a meat marinara sauce made with ground beef, hot sausage, and bacon. I use a few different chilies in the meat sauce for flavor. I make the filling per recipe. With a salad and crunchy sourdough garlic bread, this is one of the best meals on this planet!! Thanks!!

  3. Darcy says:

    Made this the other night. It was a hit. Chopped up button mushrooms and saute them in olive oil. Added fresh spinach on top of the mushrooms, sautéed till just cooked. Let the veg mixture cool. This was delish! Love the no boil method.

  4. Lauren says:

    Just made this. Super fantastic! No complaints at all! (Will use a smaller bag next time but it was still a breeze, even with the big one).

  5. Mike says:

    I had some leftover sauce and lasagna filling that I had frozen from Christmas. Similar to yours, but with chop meat added to the filling. Used the zip lock method with ease. Got ’em in the oven now. Very simple to put together. If the manicotti shells (Ronzoni) get to al dente, I’m sure it will be a homerun.

  6. De says:

    These look amazing…I would love to make them but I despise Ricotta cheese…is there anything that I can use as a substitute?

    1. Lori Lange says:

      Hmmm, some people use cottage cheese, but using all cottage cheese might be too much.

  7. Pamela Cochran says:

    I made this and it was delicious. Little trouble with the bag method, but it was a great fun and an awesome bonding experience with my girls. This is not only super yummy but very easy to prepare. It made enough for two meals. Highly recommend.

  8. Beedoo! says:

    I wish I’d seen your recipe before seeing the one that told me to parboil the cannolini. :/ And I think I’ll opt for a frosting bag next time I try! (though with the hard noodles, and a smaller hole in the bag, it may not be an issue.)

  9. Steve says:

    Gotta say that 45 min prep time is a lie!! 🙂 I think it only took me 15 mins to get everything mixed and piped into the shells. Couldn’t believe how easy it was with the ziploc. I accidentally started boiling the noodles and pulled them after 3.5 minutes. Actually worked out pretty well. I also browned some ground venison and added it to the marinara. Can’t wait to eat this!

    1. Lori Lange says:

      I’m so glad you thought it was easy. Sometimes it takes me a while to stuff the shells, so I played it safe w/ a 45 min. prep time!

  10. Vera McHenry says:

    Your recipe is very similar to my veggie lasagna, except I use spaghetti sauce.