| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 manicotti pasta tubes
- 9 slices applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- One 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
- One 15-ounce container whole milk ricotta, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large pinches ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) coarsely grated whole milk mozzarella
- 1 1/2 cups jarred tomato basil sauce, such as GDL for Target Tomato Basil
- 1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely grated whole milk mozzarella
- Olive oil, for drizzling
Instructions
- For the manicotti: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9- by 11-inch oval or rectangle baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray.
- Bring a large pot of boiling salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the oil and pasta. Cook until just tender, but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and cover with plastic wrap to prevent the pasta from drying out.
- In a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon until crisp and brown, about 7 minutes. Drain on paper towels and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, add the cooled bacon, the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the pepper, nutmeg and egg. Stir until well combined. Using a small spoon, fill the manicotti tubes with the ricotta mixture.
- For the sauce: Bring the cream, milk, flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the mozzarella in batches, constantly whisking, until the sauce is thick and smooth. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 1 minute, whisking occasionally. Whisk in the tomato basil sauce.
- Pour half of the sauce on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange the manicotti in a single layer on the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the manicotti and top with the mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil and cover the dish with foil. Bake until heated through and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 783 |
| Total Fat | 61 g |
| Saturated Fat | 27 g |
| Carbohydrates | 25 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 3 g |
| Protein | 34 g |
| Cholesterol | 176 mg |
| Sodium | 824 mg |
Reviews
Outstanding meal! We did add a bit of garlic to the sauce because it seemed a tad bland without the garlic. But the family LOVED it.
This was fabulous. Lots of steps, but worth it. I used my own marinara sauce. It was so nice and thick and gooey! The hardest part was stuffing the manicotti but it was a big hit on Christmas Eve.
Made this last night. We loved it. I made too much stuffing and sauce, so I fried up some chicken breasts, and topped them with the leftover cheese stuffing, covered them with sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese, and baked them. So yummy! We have enough leftovers for dinner and lunch for a couple of days. A+!
Really really good! I’m not a fan of fonduta (I made it with another recipe of Giada’s) so I just used marinara sauce and it was delicious!
Made this tonight and it was FABULOUS! Will definitely be making it again… and again.. and again!
Love it. I actually stuff the manicotti raw, then let it cook in the sauce in the oven. Way easier to stuff!!
So yummy! My kids (5yrs and 7yrs old LOVED this! I made the sauce with GDL spicy arrabiata sauce. It was my first time using her sauce and I was amazed at how much flavor this dish had. I used pancetta instead of traditional bacon. Served with steamed broccoli. A huge hit in our house! Thanks Giada!!
first of all you can’t go wrong with pasta, tomato, and cheese! I used a plastic baggie to get the spinach mixture into the manicotti tubes. make sure you really cook the manicotti less than al dente as they will fall apart / crack when you go to fill them, and there is enough sauce when you bake it to soften them fully. I also would leave the foil off the last 5 minutes to get a little crusty cheese going. I might even leave out the bacon. I love bacon, but not sure it added value here. i also used fresh chopped basil. I think you could go with a skim milk ricotta if you want to save some fat/calories. it’s a lot of cheese overall. very filling, so don’t overestimate how many each person could/would eat, especially if you serve rolls and salad with it. I froze the leftovers.
Delicious! Followed the recipe to a T with the exception of starting the cheese sauce by making a blonde roux. Don’t skip the bacon!
This is amazing!! Very rich but really good. My 5 year & 7 year old boys also loved it so I would say it is pretty kid friendly (unless your kids refuse to eat spinach! It says to bake it covered w/foil so I did but next time I would leave it uncovered so the mozzarella can be browned.