Spinach Cheese Manicotti

I thought that this was VERY tasty. I cooked the noodles, used fresh spinach, & also used my own meat sauce, (skipping the water because I didn't want to ruin the sauce). Because I skipped the water, I reduced the baking time as well, baking it until the cheese on top was melted. Oh, I tripled the recipe (because I bought a 5 lb. tub of ricotta) and shared some with my neighbors and they told me that they LOVED it! Their 5 yr. old told me, "Michele I like your food", what a great compliment! Thanks Ernie!!

I have made Spinach Manicotti similiar to this recipe before. It always turns out excellent. I have tried both ways, pre-cooking the noodles, and adding water to the uncooked version of the recipe. I prefer adding the water, the shells are so much easier to stuff when uncooked. I usually freeze half of the recipe. So easy to just pop in oven next time around. It does not change the taste, etc. of the "sauce" by adding the water. The water is absorbed during the cooking process. Add garlic/cheese bread a salad and glass of wine for a true authenic "Italian Dinner." I totally recommend this recipe~~~~ AAAA++++

AWESOME!! Great base recipe, I did make changes by what I thought would be yummy.. I have never made this before but it is something I always order when I'm out, and after the changes I made it ended up being better then any I have had at a restaurant so far. So, I first of all started with a bag of fresh baby spinach, sauteed it in my wok with a tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, and the onion. I used fresh minced garlic. After letting that saute for a few minutes I added 2 tablespoon of fresh sweet basil from my garden instead of parsley, also added dried basil, oregano,garlic powder, parsley and Italian spice all which were eye-balled amounts(Maybe about a tablespoonish of each.) Also plenty of pepper, and a few dashes of salt. I let saute for a couple more minutes then set aside to let cool so the cheese wouldn't melt when it was mixed together. When cooled I mixed it with the ricotta, parmesan, mozza and the egg. Stuffed in to uncooked manicotti noodles and made sauce like recipe called for. Baked at 375 for an hour. Amazing. Everyone who ate it gave it rave reviews and are already asking when it will be made again. Hope this helps!

i make a dish like this often. i use fresh spinach and chop it, and use real garlic. HINT: to stuff the shells easily, spoon the filling into a plastic storage bag, cut of a little bit of one corner, and pipe it into the tube. will save you alot of time. i also cook the noodles for a few minutes to save on baking time.

This is a great make ahead party recipe. I spice it up with some cooked Italian sausage, and a pinch or two of crused red pepper. I have also sub. fresh basil for the parsley and I use 1T. of minced garlic in the ricotta instead of the powder. I serve it with Italian bread and a tossed salad.

I did not add the water, and had it in the oven for five minutes longer than called for. It turned out perfect. Very tasty!!

Very Good!!! I used the large shells instead of manicotti and precooked them that way I didn't have to water down the sauce. Also I added ground chicken to the mixture (precooked it of course!), it was Fantastic!!!!

This recipe is excellent. I cooked the manicotti first then stuffed by hand- much easier. No need to add water when cooking manicotti first.any leftovers freeze well.

If you can find the Barilla brand of no-cook lasagna sheets, you will probably never buy the tubes again. Fill a shallow pan with really hot tap water and place the sheets in the pan to soak while you prepare the filling and sauce. Lay them on paper towels and spread the filling on each sheet, leaving a small border on all sides. Roll up and place seam-side down in the dish. This is so easy it's become a staple in our house. I have also very successfully used fresh spinach....just pulse it in the food processor till it's evenly chopped, and stir in the ricotta, egg, cheese and seasonings of your choice...we like dried basil and garlic pepper. Using the pre-cooked sheets also allows you to make as many or few as you need...they only need to soak for about ten minutes, till they are nice and pliable, so you have plenty of time to prepare a few more if you find yourself with leftover filling. And since I don't eat meat but hubby does, it's easy to make some with meat sauce just for him. To me, they taste like freshly-made pasta and the texture comes out perfectly every time. I hope some of you will try this and share your results. And thanks to Ernie for a great recipe that can put Italian on the table even on a busy weeknight.

This recipe was pretty simple to make and the taste is good, but I have to note that the recipe does not call for you to cover the dish during cooking, and I'm wondering if I'm the only person who wound up with burnt cheese on top the first time I made it. I thought it a bit odd that the recipe didn't say to cover the dish, since every other baked pasta recipe I use calls for you to cover, cook for the first 75% of cooking time, then uncover at the end to let the cheese melt and brown on top, but this is also the first time I've ever made a pasta dish without pre-cooking the noodles, so I thought it best to follow the recipe exactly. I will make this again, but I'll definitely cover for the first 30 minutes and uncover for the last 15.

I thought that this recipe was pretty good. I will definitely make it again. I think that next time I will cut the amount of sauce in half, omit the water, and cook the manicotti a head or time.

My family really went crazy over these. Will make again, but the manicotti was a little too al dente for me, so I would boil them first next time. Thanks for a great recipe!

Delicious- even better the next day.

This is the first time I have made a recipe without first reading the reviews, but that didn't hinder this dish from being delish!! I made a few changes: used oregano instead of parsely, used fresh baby spinach that I chopped, and added a little more garlic powder. Next time I would make a few changes. 1 jar of sauce with 1 cup of water would have been plenty!! In the future I will use more garlic, probably fresh minced, sautee the onions and mushrooms before stuffing, and use fresh basil. Excellent dish and rave reviews from my husband (who is a chef), my inlaws, and my kids!! I will make again. Thanks for the recipe!!

TEN STARS PERFECT !!! I followed the recipe except used dried parsley instead of fresh. It didn't say to cover the dish or not - I did use a cover thinking it would help keep in moisture and cook the noodles - it was done in 60 minutes. Maybe next time I'll try the suggestions of cooking the onions and using minced garlic instead of garlic powder - but the recipe as written was truly a restaurant quality new addition to our rotation. Thank you Ernie! *** UPDATE*** I tried a few changes, sauteed the onion and added minced garlic instead of using powder and you really could not tell the difference - so I won't bother adding to the preparation time. AND DH told me to give this recipe to our favorite chef at our favorite Italian restaurant!!!

This was pretty good, but I think it could've been a lot better with a lot of tweaking. I thought this recipe called for WAY too much spinach - half the spinach would be just fine. I figured out the hard way that when you boil the manicotti rather than adding the water to the sauce, you need a LOT more of the filling because the manicotti get a lot bigger and thus have more room inside to fill. I parboiled the manicotti and omitted the water, and they turned out fine except that it turns out that when you leave them in cool water for a while after parboiling...they continue to soften. Oops. I tried using the ziploc-with-edge-cut-off technique to fill the manicotti, but I found using my fingers to stuff the cheese mixture inside to be much easier. I also found these to be a bit bland, I'll be adding a lot more spice next time, and will go with a tomato-cream sauce instead of plain old tomato. UPDATE: I made this again, this time using the Tomato-Cream Sauce recipe rather than tomato sauce, and it was a lot more flavorful and much better.

These were delicious. YUM! I have never made manicotti before without cooking the noodles first, but they turned out great. I used fresh garlic instead of powder, added some italian seasoning and used basil instead of parsley. SO GOOD!

Excellent... thank you for sharing! Par boiled the manicotti (didn't add extra water in the sauce), only problem was my noodles all cracked when I put them in the boiling water. Next time I will put the noodles in the pot with warm water and let it get to a boil.

I made this for dinner it was delicious. I did make some changes though I sautéed onions, parsley and minced garlic in light olive oil and added half teaspoon crushed red pepper. I only put half the sauce in the bottom with water and the rest of the sauce (no water) on top of the manicotti and added the mozzarella on top the last 10 minutes. It took 60 minutes total to bake. The shells were so much easier to stuff this way.

Pretty good and definitely easy as far as something like this is concerned. Next time, maybe I will make my sauce homemade, I think the sauce makes a big difference.

My family loved it and it was a hit at a potluck. I added some rotisserie chicken (chopped) to half of it for the people "protein-conscious". I also found it easier to put the filling into a ziplock bag and snip a small corner off. It just squirts the filling into the shells more easily.

This is absolutely delicious! My husband and I both could not get enough of it! The only thing I did was I waited until the last 5 minutes to put the cheese on top of the dish. I also turned the noodles over half way through the cooking so that they would be equally cooked and tender. This will be made at least once a week at my house!

This recipe was excellent. The idea of preparing the night before and putting in the refrigerator was priceless as was stuffing the uncooked shells. This recipe was a major time and aggravation saver. A definite keeper.

My husband, the cook, said it needed a little more flavor/seasoning in the filling. I thought it was fine. We fixed it exactly according to the recipe, but because of the alleged blandness, it gets a 4. Thanks!

One of the BEST dinners ever. You'd think the spinach makes it gaggy, but it doesn't. It's perfect. I've made this at least 8 times in the past year. So so so good....I don't change anything.

It was good, but nothing spectacular.

I also used fresh baby spinach and garlic, although no fresh herbs. As someone else suggested, I sauteed the onion, garlic, and spinach in olive oil before combining them with the cheese. My preference is to use jumbo shells, just because they are easier to stuff and serve. I bought a 10 oz. box and had plenty left over. I partially cooked the pasta beforehand, so I omitted the water, and I was able to take the manicotti out of the oven 5-10 minutes early.

I too used fresh garlic and sautéed with onion before adding to the ricotta. To save a bowl to clean and so my 8yo DD could help, I put all the filling ingredients in a gallon freezer bag and let her mush it all together before snipping the corner to fill the shells. I also used a homemade sauce and served with meatballs and a salad. Another great recipe to prove there's no need to boil your noodles for a baked pasta dish !!!

Followed the recipe to a T. Everyone at my dinner partied loved the manicotti!

This was wonderful!! I did saute the onions, garlic (& I added red pepper) in a little olive oil before mixing in with the cheese and spinach mixture. I also used fresh basil instead of parsley. It has wonderful flavor and I can only imagine it will taste even better tomorrow. I am also going to try freezing some to see how it does when reheated! Very yummy, thank you Ernie!

My hubby swears this is the best manicotti he has ever had! I took the advice of previous posters and sauted my onion and minced garlic before adding them to the filling. I also browned up 1/2 lb of sausage and added that to the filling as well. turn out SO yummy! I did have some extra filling left over but it worked great in omlets the next day for breakfast.

This was the best manicotti I have ever had. My mother and I made this for valentines day dinner and she said it also was the best she ever had. It was so creamy inside and you could taste the spinach just slightly at the end of every bite. It was very very good, i would recommend cooking this for any special occasion.

Very delicious! I went ahead and added 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, and about 2 tsp of italian seasoning. I replaced parsley with basil as well. I used 1 tsp minced garlic and used a little onion powder plus 1 Tbsp of minced onion. Pretty much the same stuff called for in the recipe just altered a bit to our tastes. I used the red sauce from a lasagna recipe i found on here (worlds best lasagna) instead and it was perfect!! Thank you for sharing this recipe, we all really loved it! Oh... I did also cook my manicotti for maybe 3 minutes or so before stuffing them... it worked great on cutting down the cooking time a bit but didn't make them too difficult to stuff!!

Delicious and so, so easy to make!

These were a bit on the bland side

Fabulous. I made a few adjustments: fresh spinach instead of frozen (wilt for 3-4 minutes in pan with just a tablespoon of water first), added double the amounts of parmesan and garlic, and added basil and oregano. I also prefer to cook the noodles to al dente beforehand. YUM!

Delicious! This recipe is a keeper! I tried the ziploc bag to pipe the filling in but I ended up ditching that idea and using another reviewers suggestion of using a baby spoon. That was a quicker, easier way to stuff the filling. One thing I will do next time is sprinkle the cheese topping about 15 mins before done. My cheese looked orange! Nevertheless, it had wonderful flavor. I will make again! Thanks!

This recipe was fantastic! I made it last night for a small dinner party, and everbody loved it. Some people even went back for thirds. I made a few changes, from the suggestions that I got from others on here. I sauted the spinach, onions, and garlic, to bring out the flavor. I also used real garlic that I roasted. I mixed two sauces one a regular speggetti sauce onion and garlic flavored. The other on I used was Sundried tomato Alfredo to give more of a creamy flavor to the sauce made by Classico. Will definatly make many times again! Thanks for the recipe! Also thanks all for the seggestions!

I love this recipe and so has everyone I've made it for thus far!!! I've made it a few times now and always add more cheese (2 cups mozzarella), use fresh crushed garlic (2-3 cloves) rather than garlic powder, and use 2 cans of lasagna sauce rather than spaghetti sauce - I find it zestier. I also omit the water, because rather than stuff the manicotti shells totally uncooked I cook them partially, and baking in the sauce alone they turn out perfectly. I highly recommend this dish!!!

Terriffic recipe. Make sure to use the water. The pasta needs it to thouroughly cook and swell. I should not have omited the water. Tomarrow I plan to add more sauce and cook a little more.

I used tofu instead of ricotta and added mushrooms. I sautéed the mushrooms and onions before stuffing. It came out really tasty!!

I didn't use garlic powder, I used four cloves of finely minced garlic and added it to the ricotta mixture. I was concerned the noodles wouldn't get done because it didn't call for them to be boiled first, but they were great! The only thing I would do different next time - saute the onions and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes before adding it to the ricotta mixture. (We told my son that the green stuff was parsley, not spinach, and he fell for it.) For the side I bought a loaf of italian bread, split it lengthwise and laid the loaves crust-side-down on a cookie sheet. Then I "generously" spread softened butter on each loaf, followed by a sprinkling of garlic powder and salt. Baked the bread at 350 for a few minutes, long enough to let the butter get melty, then turned on the broiler. (Thanks Pioneer Woman!)

First time making it, and it was good. Second time making it....much better!! When I made it the first time, I used only 1/4 c water, and instead of 1 1/2 c mozz cheese, I divided it and used Monterey Jack also. But no where did I see a mention of cook covered, or uncovered. So I cooked uncovered.....noodles were kind of rubbery, and sauce dried up quite a bit. SO the second time making it, I cooked covered (w/foil) and sooooooooo much better!! Noodles were softer, and nice and "saucey"!! My 17 yr old daughter and her boyfriend ate almost ALL of it!! I just can't tell her it has spinach in it....lol!! It's a great receipe and I'm thankful I found it!! THANKS!

Incredible recipe, very flavorful and easy to follow for someone like me that ruins complicated ones easily.

This turned out great for me, I doubled the recipe, put it together the nite before. I tweaked the recipe w/ homemade sauce and used low fat cheese. I can see where you could allow this to set overnite, freeze, and thaw to cook later, since it is all about the noodles soaking up extra water and replacing pre-cooking them. I will pass this one along and be sure to save it to my recipe box.

Great recipe, no complaints. I added more garlic powder, oregano, and pepper to the recipe and I only had Muenster cheese, so that is what I used, excellent!

Wonderful vegetarian dish. No changes needed. Freezes well. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Really good but I should've used all of the sauce. For some reason I thought it would be too much. Our family of 4 wiped out almost the entire pan! Thank you!

My family and I loved this recipe and I liked that it was easy to prepare!

Pretty good. I only used 1 jar of sauce with 3/4c water and it was fine. I did add fresh basil and fresh spinach. Didn't sauté anything before adding, and really enjoyed the fresh flavours (all came out soft though after 45 minutes!) Next time would add more garlic for an extra oomph and more red pepper.

This came out so rich and wonderful tasting! Uses fresh spinach & sauteed the onion and fresh garlic before adding to cheeses. Also reduced water to 1 cup. It came out great!!!!

This is an A+++ dish. You will not be disappointed. I used freah spinach and did a mixture of my own vegetarian sauce along with off the shelf sauce without the water added. This is going to become a staple for family dinner. Kids love it.

I made this recipe for a dinner party and got rave reviews! I changed it up a little, used only 3/4 of the spinich, and only 1 jar of sauce (prego basil and tomato). It's relatively easy and tastes fantastic!

Excellent! This recipe calls for a little too much sauce, especially when diluting with water. 1 jar spaghetti sauce would have been enough for me. I guess it depends on how big your baking dish is. Followed directions exactly (it's much easier to stuff uncooked shells) with exception of adding fresh basil.

My family (including 5 kids age 8 and younger) devoured this! There was just enough for all 7 of us to have hearty helpings and seconds. I added some minced red pepper to the spinach-cheese mixture and doubled the garlic. Fabulous and so easy! Everyone wants me to add this recipe to the standard rotation, and I definitely will. Thanks, Ernie!

This is a great guide to manicotti. I used frsh minced garlic instead of powder, a little garlic salt, fresh ground pepper, 1 egg, fresh flat Italian parsley, shredded Italian cheeses (Sargento) for my cheese, one 26 oz jar of red sauce with 1 cup of water then drizzled on 15 oz jar of alfredo sauce (about 3/4 of the jar)...baked for about 50 minutes and let it rest for 10 min...it was delish!!!

I thought this was pretty good but I prefer the "three cheese manicotti" recipe better.

I thought this recipe was very good. I followed the directions pretty much exactly but I only used half of the spinach and it was just the right amount for us. Any more than that would have been overpowering! Also, I did end up with quite a bit of sauce and didn't use all of it.

Excellent recipe!! The only things I did different was homemade marinara sauce (didn't have any jar stuff on hand), and I added some baby bella mushrooms (about 3/4c). This recipe rocks!!

SO GOOD, and So Easy!! This is a keeper and one I will make on a regular basis.

This was excellent. Very easy once you get the hang of it; I've made it several times. Be sure you have enough sauce to cover the manicotti noodles and that your oven is hot enough (made it in two different ovens; one was not hot enough and the noodles took FOREVER to cook!) I used fresh basil instead of parsley, and canned diced tomatoes instead of prepared sauce. I also used refrigerated minced garlic instead of powder. I get rave reviews for this one whenever I make it - and everyone thinks it's such a difficult dish! Only you'll know the secret...

Recipe was easy and good!

My husband loved it, I also sauteed the garlic and onion first.

I made this for girls' game night and served it with a blackberry merlot. Everyone RAVED over how good it was. I was expecting leftovers to last me at least another 2 or 3 meals, but the girls ate it all up and left me with an empty pan! Delicious!

I made this the night before taking it to my small group for our dinner. I made it exactly as written except I subbed 3 cups of homemade marinara sauce that I had in the freezer for one of the jars of spaghetti sauce. I also did not have chopped spinach, so used leaf instead. I should have chopped it first. Although it did not detract from the flavor, it was a bit stringy. My bad. I shredded fresh mozzarella and grated the Parmesan myself. My concern that the shells would not be done without pre-cooking, was unfounded. They were fine. Served with garlic bread and a tossed green salad, the manicotti was well received. Several folks went back for seconds and two requested the recipe. I served a light dessert of rainbow sherbet and cookies to round out the meal. I will definitely make this again, adding Italian spice, some basil and fresh minced garlic to make it a bit spicier.

This recipe is very good! I browned 1 lb ground beef and 1 link of Italian sausage together and added to the cheese mixture. I also used half package of ricotta and half package cottage cheese. I used Marinara sauce and it was delicious!! My kids complained about the spinach, but you have to sneak veggies in somehow!!!! I will make again!! Served with buttered french bread and seasoned fine green beans.

This was very good and super easy. Using the ziploc bag with the cut corner makes this very easy to pipe into the manicotti shells and filling the uncooked was a breeze. After reading several reviews I opted to add the water, as the water does cook out over the 45 mins cooking time. I used fresh spinach which I cooked down adding the onions and fresh garlic instead of powder to the spinach as it was cooking; which gave the cheese blend flavor. Great easy dish! Thank you for sharing!

Sooo good! I add extra herbs. Either a blend or basil, parsley and oregano. I also add much more garlic... but we LOVE garlic. I add everything put a little in a dish, microwave and taste it before filling my shells just to make sure it's how I want it. But it is honestly a great start. Many people have asked for this recipe.

I think this recipe calls for too much water. I should have taken other users advice and just skipped the water. Besides that, it was really good. I used fresh garlic, fresh spinach and sauteed them all together with the onions first. Then added the cheese, egg etc.

Very good recipe! Will definitely make again.

This was turned out very good. The secret to stuffing the shells is to use a very small spoon such as a baby spoon. Stuffing the shells becomes fast and easy. I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, 1 tsp dried basil instead of parsley, 2 cloves of garlic in place of garlic powder and reduced the water to 1 cup. I baked covered for 80 min. and the noodles were perfect. Thanks for a great recipe.

awesome! didn't vary at ALL from the recipe, and the family loved it!!

I have made this recipe twice now and it just gets better everytime! Fabulous and not too difficult!

This was absolutely delicious!! Even my finicky eaters munched it up (and while I was making it too!). The only thing I changed was that I used fresh spinach. I used the recipe for Very Special Spaghetti Sauce (which I found on here) as well. Very, very good and thank you for sharing!!

I made this for dinner tonight and it was really good - very flavorful and the manicotti was cooked perfectly! I followed some reviewers' advice and... * Added fresh chopped garlic * Added fresh chopped onion * Added fresh chopped basil * Used only 1 jar of tomato sauce plus 1+ cups water * Used a Ziploc bag to pipe the filling into the uncooked manicotti (so much easier!) I used reduced fat ricotta and frozen chopped spinach. I also used freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I will definitely make again! (Even my 20-month-old and 5-year-old ate it!)

Fantastic! I followed the recipe exactly, except it took an additional 15 minutes in the oven. My wife orders manicotti quite often when we are out. She said this is the best she's ever had. We also made alfredo sauce (from this site) to go over the manicotti on the plate. We will make often!!!

This is a very good recipe - the ease of filling the uncooked shells was great. I used the smooth type of shells (no fluting or ridges) and the consistency was perfect. I wish I could rate 4-1/2 stars because although it is good, it is a tiny bit bland. I used chopped fresh garlic, an Italian herb blend, and used additional parmesan cheese. The filling was allowed to sit in the refrigerator for a full day. Regardless of the sauce used, a little crushed red pepper would have gone nicely. I will make this again, and would definitely make for company!

My husband, who is very picky, ate two big platefuls of this. And my seventeen year old told me that it's better than the manicotti at her favorite Italian restaurant! I used fresh chopped spinach and added Italian seasoning to the filling. It was probably about 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning, but I didn't measure. I also left the cheese off the top until the last 15 minutes of baking so that it would not burn. Served with a fresh salad and homemade bread. I had intended to freeze the leftovers for another evening, but there weren't enough! I will definitely make this again.

This was an excellent recipe!! I was skeptical about not cooking the noodles beforehand, but after about 55 minutes in the oven they were perfect! I made two pans for a crowd of 15 and everyone loved it! Two little modifications I did was to add sweet italian sausage (I browned it up and put it on top of both layers of sauce), and since I didn't have enough mozarella I topped the whole thing with extra parmesan. AWESOME! Served with homemade garlic bread and a fresh green salad, big hit!

Great recipe! Lots of flavor.. next time I will only use 1 1/2 jars of sauce as there was a bit too much for my liking. Thanks for a great recipe!

This was great! One of my favorite manicotti recipes. I used fresh spinach, only one jar of sauce, and added some additional parmesean and garlic powder for flavor. Num!

This recipe is very delicious. We followed the recipe exactly except no parsley and added some seasoned ground beef on top. We cooked 1 pound of ground beef and then added it on top during the last 5 minutes of baking time. It came out delicious!

Froze these and cook later... very good!

Very good recipe. Definitely use a bag for piping the filling into the shells. I, too, didn't add water to the sauce. It would have been way too watery otherwise. Sauce alone was perfect. And it froze and reheated heavenly.

Upon reading this recipe I was so excited to make this for my family. I followed the directions to the "T". Way too much onion!

Wow!! This was *the best* Manicotti I have ever eaten! Even my daughter who eats nothing, went back for seconds! My husband, he went back for thirds! I sauteed fresh spinach, minced garlic, & Italian seasoning with a tablespoon of olive oil & added an extra 1/2 cup of cheese to the mix & a bit more on top too. I didn't pre-cook the shells & I didn't add the water either, I just cooked it for 5 minutes longer. It was PERFECT! Thank you so much for this recipe!!

Excellent recipe. Modifications - fresh spinach, lots of fresh chopped garlic and chopped onions - all sauteed in olive oil. Added a mix of ground sirloin and italian sausage.

I changed quite a bit, but loved the basic concept and in the end, I produced a really tasty manicotti. I cooked my manicotti only for 6 minutes so they were easy to handle. I didn't use an egg or any water. I used a garlic flavoured shredded cheese (I believe that means garlic butter is added) and I mixed that into the ricotta mixture as well as used it for topping. I added some breadcrumbs to the topping - cooked covered for 25 mins, uncovered for 5 and a couple on broil. AMAZING.

My boyfriend really loved these. I sauteed chicken in olive oil, garlic, and rosemary, then chopped into fairly small pieces. I sauteed fresh baby spinach lightly in the oil from the chicken sautee, then mixed with other ingredients from the recipe and followed the direction. Really great!

I've been using this recipe for years, but hated how long it took to boil pasta,drain,stuff. It is a definate time saver to stuff uncooked manicotti and add water to the sauce! Thank you!! Also used fresh garlic in place of garlic powder.

Yes, this was very good. I precooked the manicotti, and skipped the water in the sauce. Also sauteed the onions with crushed garlic before adding. I followed a tip from another reviewer to put the filling into a large ziploc bag, cut off a corner, and use it to squeeze the filling into the noodles. It worked great- but only cut a bit of the corner of the bag off. To much, and the filling just plops out!

I used a little more spinach stuffed inside and more cheese on the outside! It was wonderful, the whole family loved it! Stuffing the shells is an art; my husband split two before I made him stop and let me do it.

Delicious and easy to make!

I loved this recipe! It was easy to make and everyone in my family loved it! I added ground beef to the sauce, added mushrooms and crushed red pepper to the spinach mixture, and used twice the amount of spinach that the recipe called for. A new family favorite!

This was a great recipe! None of the leftovers went to waste, even my 2 year old loved it and he is a picky eater.

This recipe is great! I followed it exactly and got wonderful results, however, I always hate stuffing the manicotti shells!

I left out the spinach because I didn't have any, and I added ground beef. This was a good recipe though, I will be using it from now on.

WOW! My whole family loved it. I used Cottage cheese rather than the ricotta cheese (little local store did not carry ricotta cheese) and it turned out great. I covered mine to bake, then reheated them the next day without the cover and they were perfect.

I was sorely disappointed after trying this recipe. The filling itself is tasty enough, but my manicotti pasta did not cook properly in the sauce. The pasta was gummy and mushy. I was so sad! I may use the filling again, but next time I will cook the pasta separately! Oh well, you live, you learn!