The whole family will jump for joy when they try this easy Italian dish!
This tasted great. I don't know about others, but I had difficult fitting all the shells into a 9x13 pan without having to stack some on top of each other. Fortunately, there was enough sauce to make this possible and keep the shells from sticking to each other. To the pasta sauce, I added ground sirloin, minced onion, and Italian seasoning. When I make this again, I will probably try adding a cup of water to the pasta sauce and not pre-cooking the shells, as I found it impossible to stuff them and not tear them in some way once they were al dente. The Ziploc baggie trick also didn't work for me when stuffing the shells. I had much better success with taking some of the cheese mixture, rolling it in my hands into a tube like it was playdough, and then inserting the rolled cheese into the shell. ****UPDATE**** I've now made this a second time with spinach added to the cheese mixture (which is a good way to sneak in a veggie since I couldn't even taste its presence) AND 1 cup of water added to the sauce to allow the shells to cook in the oven. It was MUCH easier to fill the shells with a Ziplock baggie while they were uncooked, and I just adjusted the cook time to 1 hour, which worked perfectly. The dish tasted the same and was much less work.
Read MoreA pretty good base recipe, but I found it very bland. The second time over, I seasoned the cheese mixture with salt and pepper, as well as some parsley and a pinch of nutmeg. I cooked the garlic in a tad of butter, just to soften them up a bit before adding them to the mix. (The first time I made it we were bitting into almost raw pieces of minced garlic!) I also shredded the mozzarella by hand, with the finest grate setting, which helped it melt more evenly into the mix. It takes a little longer in the oven then stated. But again, like I said, a pretty good base recipe, just season it a bit and then make it yours with your choice of ingredients!!!
Read MoreThis tasted great. I don't know about others, but I had difficult fitting all the shells into a 9x13 pan without having to stack some on top of each other. Fortunately, there was enough sauce to make this possible and keep the shells from sticking to each other. To the pasta sauce, I added ground sirloin, minced onion, and Italian seasoning. When I make this again, I will probably try adding a cup of water to the pasta sauce and not pre-cooking the shells, as I found it impossible to stuff them and not tear them in some way once they were al dente. The Ziploc baggie trick also didn't work for me when stuffing the shells. I had much better success with taking some of the cheese mixture, rolling it in my hands into a tube like it was playdough, and then inserting the rolled cheese into the shell. ****UPDATE**** I've now made this a second time with spinach added to the cheese mixture (which is a good way to sneak in a veggie since I couldn't even taste its presence) AND 1 cup of water added to the sauce to allow the shells to cook in the oven. It was MUCH easier to fill the shells with a Ziplock baggie while they were uncooked, and I just adjusted the cook time to 1 hour, which worked perfectly. The dish tasted the same and was much less work.
This was great! I did take the advice of others and only put the manicotti into boiling water and removed the pan from the burner and let it sit for about 5 min. then filled them. They finished cooking perfectly in the oven. Very easy and tasty meal. Great with a tossed green salad and garlic bread.
HELPFUL SUGGESTION WITH MANICOTTI: I didn't know what method to try on cooking the manicotti just enough to stuff and finish cooking while baking so I took the easiest, and each time it works out perfectly! Heat a big pot until it boils, take off, stick manicotti in it, and let sit for 15 min! Take out one at a time and let them dry as you prepare the filling. I wasn't sure if this would taste gross if I filled them too much and I'm glad they weren't overpowered by the ricotta! Using a gallon size freezer bag and cutting the end, I just stuffed as much as I could. Easier to not put ALL the filling in at once so you can squeeze it out the bag w/o feeling really weak (guilty). I didn't bother adding the Parmesan at the end of baking and w/all the mozz on top, it wasn't needed! 2C of sauce on the bottom of 9X13 was perfect. Served w/garlic bread and salad! Perfecto :)
This was the first manicotti I ever tried, much less made. I'm not a big ricotta fan but this turned out really good. For the pasta sauce, I made the "Best Marinara Sauce Yet" also from allrecipes.com. I followed the recipe exactly as far as ingredients but I took the advice of others here (I love simple!) and put the cheese mixture in a gallon freezer bag, cut the corner and stuffed the uncooked manicotti quite easily and with no mess! I then added a cup of water to the marinara, put everything in the baking dish as directed and cooked the manicotti in the oven for an hour. Worked perfectly, little mess and easy for a baking newbie! I will make this again!
This is a great recipe for manicotti. I didn't realize I had no mozzarella, so I used montery-jack and it was very good. I used Pecorino-romano cheese for the filling, and shredded parm for the top part. I didn't boil my manicotti first- just made sure there was plenty of sauce covering the shells, and I baked, covered for 35 minutes, then uncovered, added the parm and baked 10 minutes more. Perfect! The pasta was cooked perfectly. I used Marinara Sauce II from this site- great match. I really enjoyed this.
This is an excellent base recipe and can easily be adjusted to anyone's tastes. I thought that this was missing a little something. Next time I will add some onions and minced garlic to the cheese mixture and maybe saute some fresh mushrooms to add to the pasta sauce. I will be making this again, with a few tweaks.
this was pretty good. my family liked it. i only boiled the manicotti tubes for four minutes and i added some finely chopped spinach to the cheese mixture. other than that, i followed the recipe exactly. very yummy.
Delicious and easy! I did 1/2 recipe and added water to the marinara sauce so I could have the noodles cook at the same time. Thank you!
This was a great base recipe that I just tried but will use much more. Here's what I did: I used 2 cups of cottage cheese (blended) instead of ricotta. I also grated fresh parmesan instead of the shake kind. I chopped up one bunch of fresh basil in place of dried (gives such fresh wow flavor). With the sauce I added 1 pound of ground beef. My husband always likes to have meat with his meals. The outcome was so yummy and it was very easy to make. Oh, another thing I did was stuff the manicotti noodles while they were uncooked, then I put about 1-2 cups of sauce in bottom of pan, placed the stuffed noodles on top and then poured the remaining sauce over noodles. I then baked in 400 degrees for about 45-1 hour(covered). You can poke the noodles with fork to check for doneness. The noodles absorb the sauce. Thanks for the easy, great recipe!
A pretty good base recipe, but I found it very bland. The second time over, I seasoned the cheese mixture with salt and pepper, as well as some parsley and a pinch of nutmeg. I cooked the garlic in a tad of butter, just to soften them up a bit before adding them to the mix. (The first time I made it we were bitting into almost raw pieces of minced garlic!) I also shredded the mozzarella by hand, with the finest grate setting, which helped it melt more evenly into the mix. It takes a little longer in the oven then stated. But again, like I said, a pretty good base recipe, just season it a bit and then make it yours with your choice of ingredients!!!
My son made this recipe. Delicious. He added 1 cup chopped drained (wilted) spinach to the cheese mixture. He used the Best Marinara Sauce Yet recipe (also fabulous). He split the recipe in half and froze one pan. We ate with a caesar salad and crusty roll. There were two left which we had the next day with Chicken Parmesan, caesar salad, and roll. What a treat for a mom with a broken foot!
This was so amazing that we ended up making it for my department at work the next week. I did not cook the noodles like someone else suggested and added 1 C water to the sauce instead and cooked for an hour. It turned out perfectly. I do think that 2 jars of sauce is a lot, and would recommend 1 or 1.5 because it bubbled and splattered all over the inside of my oven.
Turned out great!! I also put the manicotti in boiling water. Turned off the burner an let them in the water for 5 minutes. That worked fine.
The filling is great - and I had just enough to fill the manicotti tubes. Thought that the basil seemed like 'a ton' and only 1 egg wouldn't be enough but in the end it tasted very good! Only needed 1 26oz can of sauce - 2 would be overkill. Also, do NOT follow others' short cut to 'soak noodles for 15 minutes in hot water' because 15 min is WAY too long. Most of my noodles tore, so I had to wrap the filling like enchiladas. Still tasted great but not a nice presentation. Cut back the soak time to at least the minutes required for boiling for the brand you're using.
This was DELICIOUS! Made it with Best Marinara Sauce yet and changed the cook time a little (because my 9x13 pan was so full), but it came out perfectly and got rave reviews from my guests!
This was my first attempt at manicotti and it was really good. I boiled the water, dropped the noodles in, and let set for 5 min. This worked out great! I also put the cheese mixture in a baggie and snipped off the end to stuff them. I found i needed to put my fingers on the end i wasn't stuffing so it didn't smoosch out the back. I also think that there was too much pasta sauce, unless you are just sauce crazy (i used 1 1/2 cans and could have probably done with 1).
This recipe is really good but it is very heavy. I halved the recipe because there are only 4 of us and there were still leftovers. Whoever said this was 6 servings must be feeding giants!
This was delicious. I was short 1 cup of mozzarella so I substituted with 1 cup of cheddar for the inside cheese mixture. I also skipped the egg since I was out of them as well, added 1 tbls of fresh minced parsley to the cheese mix, and upped the sauce qty by 1 cup since I wanted a meat sauce. Used 1 lb of ground beef.
I made these last night and they were delicious! I added chopped fresh spinach, extra fresh basil and a little onion powder. AND since I didn't have time to make my own sauce I used ROMA'S jarred marinara. It's the BEST all natural bright red italian marinara made from plum tomatoes you can get in a jar!! A little more expensive but well worth it if you can find it. They are sold in Stop & Shops. =)
Good recipe, I use a nice meaty marinara over the Manicotti if you use a large pastry bag with no tip you stuff the shells pretty fast without tearing.
I made this for my very picky husband and he LOVED it! I gave it 4 stars only because I changed a few things. I added a few pinches of crushed red peppers to the cheese mixture and used alfredo sauce instead of tomato. When I cooked it I covered it in tinfoil and cooked covered for 30 minutes. I removed the foil and added remaining cheese and cooked uncovered for 20 min (until the cheese was nice and brown)
If you don't mind the taste of store-bought pasta sauce, this is a very good tasting recipe. I've been spoiled, so I had to doctor my sauce up quite a bit with some garlic, minced onion, parsley, italian seasoning, basil, salt and sugar. Instead of fully boiling and cooking the noodles I soaked in very warm water for 15 minutes and added an extra 1/4 C. water to the sauce. The three-cheese stuffing was delectable and I will continue to make this often!
Great recipe. I have a hard time squeezing it into the shells with a baggie so I just shove it in with my fingers :) I also like to add chopped spinach to the cheese mixture for some added nutrition. I like to make my own sauce with venison sausage to make this a real hearty meal! HUsband gets very excited when I say, "Manicotti's for dinner!"
I am just rating the filling because I made a fresh tomato basil sauce and homemade manicotti shells. The filling was perfect with added fresh basil and spinach. 5 stars!
Perfect cheese manicotti! I made as written except that I heated it covered with foil for 30 minutes and then uncovered, sprinkled with the rest of the mozzarella and baked for another 15 minutes. Absolutely perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
I've made this 2x. First time came out perfect. Second time, the noodles fell apart on me, so I tore them into flat pieces and layered the ingedients to make an awesome lasagna!
LOVE IT! I used (prego traditional spaghetti sauce) and it was perfect. Great Recipe :-)
I'd been craving the manicotti from a local Italian eatery, but didn't feel like eating out after a long work week. So, I thought this homemade version might do the trick. Of course, I didn't expect it to taste nearly as good as the dish offered by my favorite restaurant. Much to my surprise, this dish was even better! I am thrilled to have found this recipe. Now I can enjoy the great taste that I love for a fraction of the cost. This was my first attempt at making manicotti, and it was much easier than I expected. I followed the suggestions to soak the noodles in hot water for 10-15 minutes rather than cooking them completely prior to stuffing them. To prepare the filling, I measured the ingredients into a gallon-sized plastic storage bag and squished it together to mix. I snipped off the corner of the bag and piped it into the partially cooked shells. I only had 2 cups of mozzarella, so I used 1-1/2 cups for the filling and 1/2 cup for the topping. I made Homemade Tomato Sauce II from this site for the sauce. I'm so glad that I gave this a try!
very good! I was worried there wouldn't be enough stuffing, since I tend to be generous with the stuffing. But in the end, I still had enough left over to fill one more shell than I had. My family of 2 adults & 2 kidss ate half this - the kids had seconds (which is rare!), leaving the rest for leftovers. I added some spicy sausage to some of the shells to please hubby. I give it only 4 stars, cause even though it was very good, and I will make it again, I feel it still needs something... I may try adding some cooked spinach to the cheese mixture next time.
This is a great recipe. I've made it twice so far. I wasn't able to find the manicotti shells (seriously!) so made it layered between lasagna noodles. I added about 1/3 cup of water to the sauce on the bottom, then covered with a layer of (uncooked) lasagna noodles and used the "no boil" method mentioned before. The first time I added spinach and mushrooms. The second time I skipped the spinach but added more garlic and more mushrooms. The second time I made it I was short mozzarella and had a little extra ricotta, so I made the normal mixture and then "iced" the top with the extra ricotta. It was delicious both times but I liked it the second time a little more. There is a lot you can do with this recipe. Next time I am going to add some sausage.
Really yum! Only thing I had to change was that I used some Jack as I ran out of Mozzarella. Also used fresh basil instead of dried. Yum!
AMAZING! I only used one 26oz can of sauce and it was plenty! And I only boiled the noodles for 5 min instead of 7 like it said on the package and they didn't fall apart but were perfectly cooked after baking in the sauce :) Thanks for the great recipe!
Mmm so yummy and quite easy. Very rich in the cheese department though. You could probably make this with only one jar of pasta sauce and still have enough, our's was almost too saucy.
My husband and I LOVE this recipe! It was my first time ever trying to make any version of manicotti at home and it was wonderful!. I've made it twice now and I plan on keeping the recipe on my menu. It was very simple to make. To make filling the manicotti easier I suggest (as a previous reviewer did) that you fill a plastic baggy with the stuffing and cut off the corner to push the filling into the pasta. Much easier. Also, be gentle with the noodles because they tend to rip pretty easily. You should definitely try this !
Excellent! I boiled the manicotti for 5 minutes so that it would be easier to stuff. Otherwise I made it as directed.
Made this as written the first time, it was good. Now I cut the mozzarella cheese down to 2 cups and add a pound of cooked Italian sausage. Also use 2 jars of Ragu's white cheese sauce instead of red, I like it much better this way. Took other reviewers advice and did not precook the shells but added a cup of water and baked at 350 for an hour, perfect every time!
I have fixed this twice and my family loves it!! I do saute some garlic and onion in a little oil and add to the cheese mixture. And this last time I added frozen spinach. It was GREAT!!!
I didnt have parmesan so I used romano instead. The cheese filling was good. Will definitely make again.
I used sun dried tomato alfredo sauce, and added some cooked italian sausage when plating.. very good.. makes a nice 'date' style dinner.
I loved it!!! That was probably one of the best things I've ever made. I soaked the shells for minutes, but they still fell apart. I filled them anyway, pinching them shut and they managed to stay together and not come apart during the cooking process. My husband is already asking me to make this recipe for our Christmas dinner.
Great recipe..a littel too cheesy.. will definitely add spinach next time.. overall what I expected
Excellent. I had no problem stuffing shells. I cooked them 2 minutes less than package al dente. Rinsed in cool water with a touch of olive oil. Filled each one by hand, pushing an amount smaller than the radius of the shell till it got thru, then over stuffing at both ends. I recommend soft, fresh mozzarella that you shred yourself. And I line an oblong glass baking dish till it is full with a single layer, about ten longtitudally and two laterally on each side. Awesome. I usually combine jarred pasta sauce in a pot on the stove, add half a can of tomato sauce, and spice it up to flavor with oregano, basil, fresh garlic, and a teaspoon of sugar. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, and they taught me everything!
My son and I fixed this for dinner. Excellent!! I realized at the last minute I didnt have garlic, so I used garlic powder. We used a tsp and half. Next time we'll go with just a teaspoon if I dont have any fresh. This turned out so good!
This us good and was good as leftovers too. Tastes like a frozen meal. Just wished it tasted more gourmet.
I'm cooking this now so will update. I added spinach as another vegetable. I cut the recipe in half cause it's just my boyfriend and myself, so we just needed 2 a piece for dinner and 2 for his lunch tomorrow. I have the ingredients, so it can be dinner one day next week also. I brought the water to a boil, turned the burner off, added 7 shells and waited 14 mins. Perfect Al dente. I only filled 6 shells, one split during cooking, and I had just enough filling for 6. I put a ball of filling in one end, used a small juice glass to stand the pasta tube up and filled it from the other end. My filling didn't really look all that soft to be squeezable, so that's how I filled it and it worked perfectly and easily. I might add a small amount of meat to the sauce next time. Since I split the recipe, I wish I had another small bag of mozzarella to sprinkle over it, at the same time, it already has a lot of cheese, it's more for presentation. Serving with a small romaine lettuce salad with tomatoes and croutons and a piece of garlic bread. I'll post a pic once plated. Txs for the recipe!
My family loves this recipe. I put sauce on the bottom of the pan to prevent burning the bottom of pasta. It makes a lot so I freeze one portion after assembly. It freezes beautifully. I usually only make it when family is here but last time I made it, it was just me and my husband so even one dish was way too much. I froze what we didn't eat into individual containers and when we wanted it again, I just put it in a dish with a little water in the bottom and microwaved. Tasted like it was just baked. This is a great versatile dish.
I've made this dish twice this week alone! So easy to make - I come out looking like such a pro! I did find that using my hands to stuff the shells was much easier, it also made me feel like I belong in the kitchen! Do not change this recipe, it's perfect! Thanks for sharing!
This has good flavor but it was WAY too rich for us! I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta because I couldnt find ricotta. It doesnt have enough pasta to balance the richness of the cheese and sauce. I would add other things like peppers, mushrooms, etc to cut the proportion of cheese. I would also find a different recipe.
Very easy to make and very yummy for your tummy :) Didn't have any ricotta so used cottage cheese instead. I used garlic basil sauce.
Me and my mom make this and it turns out PERFECT each and everytime....its one of my favorite recipes!
I halved this recipe and I have to say it needed much more pasta sauce. Next time I will use twice as much sauce. Other than that...excellent dish!!!
This was really good! I did change a few things. I didn't cook the manicotti first. Instead, I made sure that I added extra sauce and some water to the pan. I didn't measure. I used the time honored "eyeball" method :-) However, the pan had LOTS of sauce/liquid. I used garlic/basil pesto in place of the regular garlic. I covered it and baked at 350 for almost 75 minutes. Then I uncovered it until it was nice and bubbly and lightly brown, maybe 15 minutes. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes and dinner was served. The manicotti were done just right, the flavor of the filling was REALLY good. I made 1 1/2 of this recipe and it filled 2 packages of manicotti shells perfectly!
Me and my husband absolutely LOVED this! I added a pound of ground beef to the cheese mix, cause we can't do without meat in a meal! : )
Really liked this and it was fairly easy to prepare. Next time I will just boil the noodles instead of letting them soak since I like my noodles to be fairly soft. Used cottage cheese instead of ricotta and Romano cheese instead of Parmesan. Also halved the basil as suggested. Served with french bread and a salad and even my 4 yr old gobbled up his dinner!
My family absolutely Loved this dinner! I also did not boil the pasta (soaked it in water for 15 min) and the texture of the noodles turned out perfect-I think they would have been too mushy if I had boiled them. I also made my own sauce-because that is where all the flavor comes from.
I try this recipe exactly how it says and turn out great.Will do it again and again!!!
My fiance is a very picky eater, and he absolutely LOVED this! If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would! I did, however, use fresh basil when I made it. Absolutely Awesome!
This was great! Used Sicilian Homemade Ricotta Cheese from AR. Easy recipe and I followed the advice of one reviewer. I boiled water, removed from heat, and put the manicotti for 15 minutes. I'll probably do 13 minutes next time.
My family loved it. I did add a little sauted onion and spinach to the cheese mixture. Anyone have any tips on how to keep the noodles from splitting after you boil them? Did I cook them too long?
My husband who is not usually a manicotti fan loved this! I used the suggestion from some of putting the cheese mixture in a ziploc and cutting off the end to fill the shells. In addition, I added a bechamel sauce at the end which gave the dish a delicious creamy flavor. Highly recommended!
Loved this recipe, but made some changes. I cut the basil in half, and used 1/4 tsp garlic powder instead of fresh (there is already garlic in the sauce you use anyway). I added some Jimmy Dean Ground Sausage, that I browned and chopped up finely in the blender. (Another time I added frozen spinach that I thawed and put in the blender, then sqeezed it dry). I used the Prego Zesty Mushroom Spaghetti Sauce. And for the final part of adding the Parmesan cheese on the top - I only dusted it a little bit. This recipe was a huge hit at my house and I'm sure I'll make it for years to come!
We loved this recipe. I was a little worried about stuffing the already boiled shells at first. That turned out to be easily done. I used a plastic baggie filled with the cheese and cut the corner to squeeze through the cheese. The mix went in easily and quickly filled the shell. I hope this helps someone!
My husband thought this was really good and from him that is a big compliment. He is very picky. I thought it was ok. I added more garlic and italian seasoning as suggested by another review. It still seemed alittle bland for my taste.
this is my husbands favorite dish and I've always just winged my recipes but lately I haven't been happy with mine, so I seeked out sometime more concrete and came across this. I would give it more stars if I could, it was amazing and easy.
This dish was a hit for adults and children alike. I changed the amount of ricotta cheese to 1 cup (because I dont like the taste) and substituted a combination of sauteed garlic, 1T red onion, 1c. mushrooms and a handful of spinach. I also only used a jar and a half of pasta sauce. Delicious!
Awesome recipe! The first one I've rated as 5 stars because I wouldn't change the recipe at all. Very good, my boyfriend and I both loved it. I'm sure I gained 5lbs from all the cheese and the amount I ate, but it was worth it.
turned out great! i used pesto instead of the dried basil. will definately make again.
GREAT recipe. I didn't make ANY adjustments and it turned out wonderful. I prepared it in the morning and cooked it once I got home from work. A lot of other reviews suggests toning down the spaghetti sauce but I wouldn't have minded adding more! It was soooo good. This is for sure a must on making again, and again, and again!!!
This tasted every bit as delicious as a restaurant. Loved loved loved this recipe and so did my family.
This is a very easy recipe, but it turns out great. I did use fresh basil and parsley, but otherwise, followed everything exactly. Terrific!
The filling was a little tough to get in, but it tasted amazing, especially if you love garlic like I do.
Stellar manicotti recipe! On the first bite, I was expecting the average Italian flavor, but my tastebuds got a fabulous shock! Perfect blend of textures and flavors. This dish is casual enough for a family meal, yet classy enough for entertaining. I did make some modifications: 1) added ground beef to pasta sauce, 2) added 2 cups chopped & cooked spinach to filling. I distributed noodles between a 9x13 dish and an 8x8 square dish for baking. Served with green beans and Italian bread spread with olive oil. Quite a bit prep time -- mostly filling the noodles. But it was worth it! Will definitely make again!
Quick to make using jar sauce if you are short on time and I softened the shells in hot water prior to stuffing. They cooked just fine in the oven with the sauce and I added 1/2 cup of water while cooking.
This was the first time that I attempted to make Manicotti. The recipe was wasy to follow and turned out very good. My husband is a meat man, so I added Italian Sausage. It was good, more hearty. Will definatly make this again
yummmmm!!! family loved it! I used only one jar pasta sauce, and used fresh basil and added fresh parsley. End result=NOM NOM!!
It was great! i used it tonight and it was my biggest hit yet. I used less motzzarella cheese but it was stil delicious.
I took some of the advice from the others. I tried the Ziploc method however, the mixture kept popping the bag open and coming out the top. I didn’t cook my shells before filling them, I filled them and instead of adding water to the sauce mixture I just used a little extra sauce. And the last thing I did was right before they were done I took them out of the oven and added a little extra mozzarella and parmesan cheese to them and they were great. The hubby and my picky son loved them. They both we back for seconds. In fact my son has asked many times Mom when are you going to make them noodle things again.
