Cheese Manicotti is truly comfort food. Tender manicotti noodles stuffed with a blend of three kinds of cheese, baked in a hearty marinara sauce, and topped with melted mozzarella make this dish a delicious meal the whole family will love.
Making pasta dishes like your favorite Italian restaurant is easier than you think. My cheese manicotti recipe uses simple ingredients and can easily be adapted to include Italian sausage, ground beef, fresh spinach, and your favorite Italian seasoning.
If you love Italian comfort food as much as I do, my Lasagna Bolognese is another delicious recipe for you to try.
You can make homemade manicotti ahead of time and have them ready for easy weeknight meals. I like to make a double batch and freeze them unbaked for easy weeknight meals for those days I don’t have time to make dinner.
Just add the frozen manicotti to a baking dish, topped with your favorite pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese, and dinner will be ready in no time.
Ingredients to make Cheese Manicotti
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make the Best Cheese Manicotti. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Made with simple ingredients
- pasta tubes
- ricotta cheese
- spaghetti sauce (your favorite brand or use my marinara sauce recipe)
- part-skim mozzarella cheese
- large eggs
- grated Romano cheese (or parmesan cheese)
- dried basil
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- Italian parsley
- salt
- black pepper
How to make Cheese Manicotti
- Add the ricotta cheese, shredded mozzarella, grated Romano or parmesan cheese, eggs, and all the seasonings to a large bowl.
- Mix well to combine the ingredients.
Add the ricotta mixture to a pastry bag (piping bag) or a large ziplock bag with one end snipped off to fill the manicotti tubes. Refrigerate the cheese mixture until needed.
- Place a large pot of cold water over high heat and bring it to a boil. Add ½ teaspoon of salt to the water.
- Add the uncooked manicotti shells to the large pot of boiling salted boiling water. Cook al dente per instructions on the box, then drain using a colander and rinse with cold water. *Don’t let the noodles get too soft, they will finish cooking in the oven.
- Add one-half cup of tomato sauce to the bottom of a baking dish.
- Fill the par-cooked pasta shells with the ricotta mixture and place them in the baking dish in a single layer.
- Add the remaining sauce on top of the prepared manicotti.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place it on the center rack of the preheated oven. Bake the manicotti, covered, for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove the foil and top the manicotti with shredded mozzarella cheese and chopped parsley.
- Place back into the oven and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes or until the cheese is nicely melted.
Let the manicotti sit for five minutes before serving to allow the cheese to set.
Serve the cheese manicotti with a side salad and garlic bread or your favorite sides. My easy manicotti recipe is perfect for a weeknight family meal and is also a delicious option when you need to a large crowd.
Leftover manicotti should be stored refrigerated in an airtight container, or it can be frozen, baked, or unbaked.
Recipe FAQ’s
Manicotti is made with a blend of three cheeses, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan (or romano). The cheese is mixed with Italian seasonings and stuffed into pasta tubes, then baked with tomato sauce. Sometimes ground meat is added to the cheese mixture.
Both manicotti use the same cheese filling, but manicotti uses a pasta tube, while stuffed shells are made with conchiglie pasta.
Some popular options include a simple green salad with vinaigrette dressing, Ceaser salad, garlic bread or breadsticks, and steamed vegetables. You can also serve Italian sausage or meatballs with manicotti.
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Homemade Stuffed Shells Recipe
Ingredients
- 24 shells
- 24 ounce ricotta cheese
- 1 ½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ cup Romano or parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 24 oz marinara sauce
- 1 cup mozzarella shredded
- 1 tablespoon Italian parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Add one-half cup of marinara sauce to the bottom of a baking dish and set aside until needed.
- Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring it to a boil. Add ½ teaspoon of salt to the water.
- Add the manicotti shells to the boiling water. Drain. *You only want to soften the pasta, not cook it. The manicotti tubes will finish cooking in the oven.
- Add the ricotta, mozzarella, grated Romano, eggs, and all the seasonings to a large bowl. Mix well to fully combine the ingredients.
- Add the cheese mixture to a pastry bag or a large ziplock bag with one end snipped off.
- Fill the par-cooked manicotti shells with the ricotta mixture and place them in the baking dish.
- Add the remaining sauce on top of the manicotti and top with a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and finely chopped Italian parsley.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place it on the center rack of the preheated oven.
- Bake the manicotti, covered, for 40- 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.
- Serve with extra grated Romano or parmesan cheese and a side salad.
Barb D. says
This is a terrific recipe. I like to use my meat sauce with sausage instead of marinara. Also, I use 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk for the filling. I don’t know why, that’s how I was taught. Lastly, and this has done me well with lasagna noodles, manicotti sleeves, large shells, etc… I boil the salted water by itself, and then I lay the pasta in the water for 4 to 5 minutes. Then I remove the pasta and set it aside to cool for the filling. It’s soft, but not al dente. I don’t have an issue with the pasta tearing that way. Have a good New Year…
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed my manicotti and how you prepared yours.