This Recipe For Baked Manicotti Is The Real Deal
We love a good food history lesson, especially when it involves our favorite subject: pasta. What is the difference between manicotti and cannelloni? Manicotti means “little sleeves” in Italian, and manicotti noodles are thought to be a product specifically made by Italian pasta makers for the American market. Cannelloni is essentially the same noodle shape, but unlike its American counterpart that has ridges, cannelloni has a smooth exterior. Whichever name you give it, these noodles are best served stuffed with a rich cheesy filling and baked in a sauce.
How Do You Fill Manicotti Shells?
Our recipe for manicotti involves piping the cheese filling into the tube shaped pasta–a fun and interactive process that can be shared with the family. If you have a pastry bag, that’s great! However, one of our all-time favorite kitchen hacks is using a zip-top plastic bag and cutting the tip off of one corner. Voilà! Instant pastry bag. Fill your pastry bag (or zip-top bag) with the cheese filling and get ready to fill the pasta! Since we’re filling cooked pasta noodles, which can be fragile, we find that partially filling the manicotti from one side, and then finishing piping from the other side, to be the easiest way to avoid breakage.
Let’s Make Homemade Manicotti!
Everything you need to make our stuffed manicotti recipe:
Noodles-aka manicotti, aka “little sleeves”
Cheese-specifically the trinity of Italian cheese–ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan
Seasoning-we stick to the classic Italian seasoning plus chopped fresh parsley
Sauce-a jar of marinara
Eggs-we use two to bind the cheese filling and add texture while it bakes
Cheese-yes, more cheese! Fresh mozzarella gets dotted across the top of the manicotti before you bake it
Let’s Get This Pasta Party Started: How To Make Manicotti!
Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees.
Cook the manicotti according to the package directions, being careful not to overcook as this will result in a noodle that will easily break.
Make the manicotti filling–mix cheese, eggs, parsley, garlic clove, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
Prepare your pastry bag or zip-top bag with the cheese filling.
Stuff the shells! See our note above for our tips to make this as easy as possible.
In a casserole dish, spread half the marinara sauce, arranging the manicotti shells in an even layer.
Cover with the remaining marinara sauce and dot with fresh mozzarella.
Bake covered for 20 minutes, and uncovered for another 20 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly!
Tools You’ll Need
Casserole dish (9x13 is best)
Piping bag or zip-top bag (this is an easy hack!)
We’ve Got Plenty of Pasta Where That Came From!
We think that there can never be enough pasta dishes in our family recipe box. After you make this easy manicotti recipe, here’s a few of our favorites we hope you try in your home:
For more stuffed pasta, might we suggest Easy Stuffed Pasta Shells?
Baked Ziti for another easy oven pasta
And because we all love a classic, our Simple Ragù
When The Moon Hits Your Eye
This baked manicotti recipe is bound to be a crowd pleaser. Snap a photo of the happy faces around your dinner table and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Buon appetito, amici!”
