This spinach manicotti, according to my husband, is just as excellent as the Italian food he has previously enjoyed. It tastes fantastic with a salad and garlic bread and is extremely satisfying.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- ½ cup minced onion
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells
- 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
- 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix ricotta, spinach, onion, egg, parsley, pepper, and garlic powder together in a large bowl. Stir in 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Stuff mixture into uncooked manicotti shells.
- Stir spaghetti sauce and water together in a bowl. Spread 1 cup sauce over the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish. Arrange stuffed manicotti in a single layer in the dish. Cover with remaining sauce, then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until shells are tender yet firm to the bite, 45 to 55 minutes.
- Follow Steps 2 and 3, then cover and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight. When ready to bake, remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while the oven preheats. Bake as directed.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 576 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 69 g |
| Cholesterol | 82 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 1410 mg |
| Sugars | 24 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I did not use the water; the shells turned out just fine probably due to all the liquid in the sauce – with the spinach, the pipe bag was not good so I got my fingers dirty stuffing the shells by hand – but a lovely dish
This is easy to make. I hate boiling the manicotti then trying to stuff a hot shell that falls apart. I was concerned it may not be very good with mixing the sauce with the water. I was happily surprised it was very good! I have made it with jar sauce and my own homemade sauce, both are excellent outcomes.
I did not really care for it. Very bland and not enough ricotta for me. My husbandthought it was fine.
I’ve made this occasionally for about the last ten years. This was my daughter’s favorite meal and the only one she’d request when she was little. Just asked for it again for 16th birthday dinner. Ignore everybody that says they changed everything about it and shocked it didn’t turn out. Follow the recipe and it works.
looks good
It was delicious! I was short of filling by 4 manicotti tubes, and that was even after adding a half lb cooked Italian sausage to some of the filling. I made my own sauce and didn’t measure how many cups I added to the baking pan, I just added whatever amount I thought looked good.
Just awesome!!!
Delicious! Honestly are used to make this probably about 15 years ago and forgot how wonderful it is
Absolutely delicious! My family loves this recipe. I made it when my daughter in law was pregnant and it’s her absolute favorite now.
Made it the day before. Did not add water to sauce. Used 3/4 amount of sauce. Sautéed fresh spinach. Used fresh basil in place of parsley. Was short of stuffing by 2 manicotti tubes.
Loved it!! added fresh basil and oregano from garden into sauce, used garden parsley as well. Not a lover of garlic so used the powder it was fine.
This took way longer to cook than the time indicated in the recipe. Well over an hour and still the noodles in the center were doughy.
A few problems. You do not need to use 2 jars of spaghetti sauce. 1 is plenty. I couldn’t even fit it all in. And the shells were still hard after 45 min at 350. So turned up the oven to 425 for another 45 minutes. I used fresh spinach sauteed with minced garlic & onion. I also added dried basil to the cheese mix and then fresh basil at the end. This is a recipe you need to make your own.
This was really yummy! I caramelized onions and minced fresh garlic to put in the cheese mixture. Also used basil instead of parsley and fresh spinach! Everyone mowed through it
used fresh garlic, lightly sautéed onions, added garlic to onions at the end to cook just a little. blended jarred sauce because kids don’t like any chunks. don’t skip fresh parsley (unless using basil) wonderful!
Absolutely wonderful recipe. Almost a perfect match of filling to a box of pasta shells.
I sauteed fresh spinach in olive oil with fresh, minced garlic and finely chopped red onion then let it cool. Other than that I followed the recipe. I used jumbo shells because I couldn’t find manicotti. It got the family seal of approval so I’ll be making it again.
I added basil and fresh garlic to mine. Absolutely wonderful recipes. Easy to tweak to your liking!
Mine looked more like enchiladas, so it was difficult to serve because we couldn’t see the individual manicottis.
Followed the directions with the exception of using fresh garlic and basil instead of parsley. I had fresh basil from my garden but not parsley. I rarely use powdered garlic. I enjoy the fresh chopped much more. This turned out great without any leftovers. I made another batch at the same time with an Alfredo sauce. I did not add water to this one just a little extra buttermilk to the sauce. About a 1/4 cup. Yummy!!!
This was absolutely delicious!! I was so nervous, but once my kids asked for seconds, I knew it was a hit! Followed the recipe, but I did add oregano, basil, onion powder, and fennel. I also used a little salt. Definitely needed, otherwise, it would’ve been a little bland. Glad I took the advice from another reviewer to cover while in the stove. I agree that 2 jars of sauce weren’t necessary; a jar to a jar and a half would suffice. Also felt a larger-sized pan worked better. Great recipe though!