Imagine coming home to this Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni…… a juicy spinach and ricotta filling inside cannelloni pasta tubes, topped with a homemade tomato basil sauce and melted cheese. After you’ve made this, try Beef and Spinach Cannelloni. It’s so good!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
This is one of my go-to freezer meals I make to give to friends, and a great one to make for dinners to cater for both carnivores and vegetarians.
I make it often throughout most of the year, except perhaps at the very height of summer. Yes, I love cannelloni that much!
What is cannelloni??
Cannelloni is a tube shaped dry pasta about 7 cm / 3″ long and 2cm / 2/3″ wide. It is stuffed with filling, covered in a sauce and cheese then baked. It does not need to be cooked before filling, it softens when baked in the oven.
The most common variety is a spinach and ricotta filling topped with a tomato sauce which is the version I am sharing today.
What’s the difference between cannelloni and manicotti?
Manicotti is also a dry paste tube. It’s the Italian-American version of cannelloni. The difference is that manicotti is larger with ridges, whereas cannelloni is smooth.
The spinach and ricotta filling in this recipe fills 18 – 22 cannelloni tubes, or 10 – 12 manicotti tubes.
There are two ways to make cannelloni:
stuffing dry pasta tubes
rolling the filling up in fresh lasagna sheets
I like using the tubes – partly because they are more cost effective. And also because I like the size – a better filling to pasta/sauce/cheese ratio. Lasagna sheets are thicker and you need a double layer where the sheets overlap to seal in the filling and inevitably, the cannellonis end up bigger.
Easiest way to fill cannelloni tubes
And I know what many of you are thinking – stuffing the tubes is a pain.
After many years of using knives / thin spoons / combination of those + the end of wooden spoons and I finally accepted the inevitable fact:
The fastest way to fill the tubes is with a piping bag.
7 seconds per tube x 20 tubes = 2.3 minutes. (Watch the video!)
The Spinach and Ricotta Filling
The Spinach and Ricotta Filling is creamy, has the perfect spinach to ricotta ratio, and made extra tasty with the addition of parmesan and cheese. It’s so good, I can eat spoonfuls of it straight out of the bowl!
Here’s what’s in it:
Spinach – use frozen for convenience (thaw, remove excess water before using), or fresh if you’ve got an abundance of it;
Ricotta – be sure to use a food quality full fat, creamy one. (Tip: avoid Perfect Italiano tub, it’s quite powdery and unpleasant)
Shredded cheese – a flavoured one is best, like cheddar, tasty. Save the mozzarella for the topping.
Parmesan – don’t skip this! It adds extra savouriness and seasoning to the filling. Just store bought finely shredded or grated is fine, or grate your own.
Garlic – because it makes everything better
Egg – for binding (can be skipped)
Nutmeg – optional, but it’s a lovely touch. I use it in almost all my spinach ricotta fillings.
Salt and pepper
This is my standard recipe that is virtually identical (if not identical) to what I use for all things spinach and ricotta, from this Spinach and Ricotta Pasta Bake, to Puff Pasty Puffs, Rotolo (it’s like upright cannelloni – and it’s amazing!), to Spinach Ricotta Rolls.
Can you freeze spinach and ricotta filling?
YES, it’s perfectly fine to freeze. If using to stuff something, then thaw, give it a good mix then use per recipe. If it’s already prepared, like Cannelloni, it can even be cooked from frozen.
I freeze cannelloni more often than cooking it fresh!
Sauce for Cannelloni
Cannelloni has to be smothered generously with sauce to ensure there’s enough liquid for the dry pasta tubes to absorb and cook in the oven, and there is still sauce when serving it up. The most common sauce is a tomato pasta sauce which is what I use.
There are recipes “out there” that say to just use plain canned tomatoes or tomato passata for the topping (or bottled pasta sauce).
I really, REALLY think that if you’re making the effort to making cannelloni, it is a no brainer to make a tiny extra effort to make a simple pasta sauce. It is honestly so much better than using plain canned tomato or a store bought pasta sauce!
Option: Load up on extra spinach
You can double the spinach in this, if you want. It can take it, plus you will use up an entire box of cannelloni tubes. They come in boxes of 30 here in Australia, and it is kind of annoying to end up with 10 or so floating around in the pantry, which then motivates me to make another batch just to use them up, then I end up with more tubes leftover so I have to make another batch.
Serve Cannelloni with a simple garden salad tossed with Italian Dressing. For a blow-out Italian feast, add a side of Garlic Bread, or a quick Cheesy Garlic Bread! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni
Ingredients
Sauce (you need LOTS!):
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 4 garlic clove , minced
- 1 bay leaf , fresh (sub dried)
- 1/2 tsp each dried thyme and oregano
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 800 g / 28 oz canned crushed tomato
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock/broth , low sodium
- 1/3 cup Chardonnay or other dry white wine (sub more stock)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/3 tsp black pepper
- 2/3 cup basil leaves , roughly torn (recommended but not critical)
Filling:
- 250 g / 8 oz frozen chopped spinach , thawed (Note 1)
- 500 g / 1 lb ricotta , full fat please (Note 2)
- 1/3 cup parmesan , finely shredded
- 1 cup shredded cheese (Mozzarella, Colby, Cheddar, Tasty, Gruyere, Swiss)
- 1 egg
- 1 large garlic clove , minced
- Grated fresh nutmeg (just a sprinkling) or 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder (optional)
- 3/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Cannelloni
- 18 – 22 dried cannelloni tubes (250g pack) or 14 manicotti tubes (8.8 oz) (Note 3)
- 1/3 cup parmesan , finely shredded
- 1 1/4 cups shredded Mozzarella
- More basil and parmesan , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Sauce:
- Sauté – Heat oil in a small pot over medium high heat. Add garlic, onion, bay leaf, thyme and oregano. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Reduce wine – Add wine, increase heat to high and let it simmer rapidly until mostly evaporated (about 2 minutes).
- Simmer – Add tomatoes, stock, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir then simmer on medium low for 20 minutes.
- Blitz – Remove bay leaf then blitz with a stick blender until smooth. Simmer for 1 more minute then remove from the stove
- Basil – Stir in basil then cover to keep warm until required.
Filling:
- Squeeze spinach – Place spinach in a colander and press out most of the liquid (don't need to thoroughly squeeze dry).
- Mix filling – Place Spinach in bowl with remaining Filling ingredients. Mix, taste, adjust salt and pepper to taste (different cheeses have different saltiness).
Assemble & Bake:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan).
- Pan – Choose a baking pan which will comfortably fit about 20 cannelloni – mine is 21 x 26 cm / 8.5 x 10.5".
- Smear – Spread 1 cup of Sauce on the base (stops cannelloni from sliding around).
- Fill tubes – Transfer Filling to a piping bag with a large nozzle (that fits in the tubes), or use a strong ziplock bag. Or do this step using a knife (it's a bit tedious though!). Pipe the filling into the tubes.
- Assemble – Place cannelloni in baking dish. Pour over remaining Sauce, covering all the tubes.
- Bake covered (but naked) – Cover with foil, then bake for 30 minutes.
- Cheese it! Remove foil, scatter over parmesan then mozzarella. Return to oven for 15 minutes until cheese is melted.
- Serve, garnished with extra parmesan and basil if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Remember how I shared his current favourite toy – this squeaking emoji? Did I mention his favourite place to gnaw away at it? Smack bang in the middle of the new day bed. He literally plonks himself in the middle.
And please… someone remind me why I got a DARK GREY one??? 🙄
Hi Nagi, Can I use passata instead of blending tomatoes? Thank you
Hi Sameera, yes you can – just make sure the passata is pure tomatoes with no added salt/sugar – N x
Always look forward to your recipes…and Dozer. Am a food and doggie freak….You make my day. X
Thanks so much Sandy!
Love this one and prefer tube because it’s not as messy dishing it out. Q: Why did you get grey sofa bed? Dear animal is only testing it out. Thank you kindly for thinking of our Security and privacy. It’s Ok to miss out on post it’s not end of the world. Enjoy your day bed if you can get spot….
Yes it’s definitely easier to dish out! Thanks so much Vera, it’s raining here today so we are stuck indoors 🙁
Thank you for caring about your readers privacy and paying extra money for our peace of mind by putting your recipes on a email of a good security provider. Much appreciated.
☺️
I love how easy this was to follow and final product delish. Also like all your tips, like zip lock bag for piping. I never would have thought of that
Love the pastry bag filling method, will use it next time. I’ve found the easiest, fastest way to squeeze excess moisture out of cooked spinach is with my potato ricer. With a minimum of effort it extracts a lot of liquid.
Genius, thanks Barbara T 👍
That’s a great idea about the potato ricer – I hadn’t thought of that!!! ❤️
Absolutely love this recipe have made it many times. It was a huge crowd pleaser at Christmas. I did add more of the cheese inside. Made them ooey gooey greatness.
You can never have enough cheese!
Loved it but used manicotti shells bc that’s all the store had. Before serving, I put the servings in the microwave to soften some more [manicotti shells were SO firm!] and with 2 minutes more were absolutely perfect!
PS: Thanks for your reply, Nagi. To be 100% accurate, I covered the glass microwave dish with plastic wrap before microwaving, which kept the moisture IN, and used 80% power so that it would not explode.
What a great idea Rose!
i lov3 italian pasta,they’re all the very delicious on the table.!
I’m with you there!
These were scrumptious, and as always, your directions and notes are perfect,
When I don’t make my own shells (which are just crepes that I fill and roll) I use store bought shells/tubes. I boil them, cut them lengthwise with kitchen shears (so that they lay flat like crepes), fill them with a quarter cup of filling, roll them, and put them seam side down in the baking dish.
Thanks again for this and all of your wonderful recipes!
Thanks for the great piping tip Nagi, such a simple thing but makes such a difference to the time and mess!!
I used home grown silverbeet which I will make sure I cut up very small next time as we had silverbeet stuck in the piping nozzle!! Wonderful recipe as usual.
Im so glad you loved it Dianne – and love that you have home grown produce to use!
Your suggestion of piping was brilliant. I tried it using a ziplock bag, but with manicotti, since our local grocery doesn’t carry cannelloni. So much quicker than the spoon-forced method, plus they filled completely. Thanks!
That’s so great to hear Gregory! Thanks for sharing your feedback – N x
How many does this serve please?
In my experience with it, it serves 4 + leftovers (approx 6 tubes leftover).
Hubby 4-5 x tubes, me 3, kids 2 each, with salad.
Hope that helps 😀
Hi Nagi!
Although I’ve already made this many times, im wanting a make ahead option..However, we do usually have leftovers but dont find it anywhere near as saucy as the day of..
But I see you dont recommend making ahead without cooking..but im wondering, although it may soften up the pasta, it wouldnt soak up nearly as much as if it we’re already cooked, don’t you reckon?? 🤔😞😄
Hey Jax, See recipe note #4 for instructions for freezing or refrigerating before you cook the tubes. I didn’t read this and ended up bottling my tomato sauce and freezing my tubes separately, so I’m hoping they’ll still be okay when I cook them tonight!!!
This was absolutely delicious! The sauce was amazing and so simple to make. It paired really well with the cannelloni. I’m always on the hunt for great tasting vegetarian entrees and this hit the mark! Thank you for sharing a wonderful recipe!
Great to hear you enjoyed this Dawn! N x
Solid, exceptional recipe for cannelloni. I made this just as written and it was delicious. Yours is one of the only sites where I feel I can make a new recipe for the first time when having a dinner party 🙂 This makes the perfect tube to filling ratio and fits just right into a 9×13 pan. Thanks for another hit!
FANTASTIC!!! So glad you enjoyed this Amy, thanks for letting me know! N x
I’ve made these multiple times now, and they always come out amazingly.
I use slightly more spinach because our local supermarket has bags packaged at 350g and slightly less ricotta (I save the extra to make lemon ricotta hotcakes for breakfast the next morning) and I sometimes like to add about 100g of fresh basil pesto… I actually like filling the cannelloni tubes with a knife, I find it very therapeutic. Especially with a glass of cold white wine nearby 😉
Well! With a glass of white I could probably deal with it too!! 😂
Hi Nagi,
I have enjoyed cooking and eating many (and I mean many!) recipes of yours. Tonight I will make your cannelloni- I don’t use dried cannelloni shells when I make cannelloni- I use fresh lasagne sheets and roll them up. So quick! BTW_ my family love your enchiladas and burritos!
Hey nagi, just read your cannelloni recipe and its very different from my own. For instance i use chicken(pre-poached and cubed small), mushrooms and bocconcini cheese as well as your ingredients. Im looking to find straight to oven pasta in edmonton alberta. Just thought id share. Thanks
It’s just called ” Oven Ready ” pasta and they have lasagna and cannelloni that you can use! Check superstore, walmart, iga, or safeway. Really any store should have oven ready.
Oh yum!I must confess I haven’t made a chicken cannelloni before, here in Australia, this one is the most popular! N x
Perfect recipe, thank you for sharing. I added capsicum and grated zucchini to the tomato sauce for the extra veggies. It was delicious!
I’m so pleased you enjoyed this Helen! Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback! N x ❤️