Italian
Manicotti
Ricotta, mozzarella, and parsley are spooned into parboiled manicotti tubes and covered with marinara. The pan bakes until the cheese bubbles and the pasta edges turn tender.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 1 hr 10 min
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- Medium
Why you’ll love it
- Undercooking the tubes keeps them from tearing while you fill them.
- Sauce under the pasta stops the bottoms from drying out.
- A mix of ricotta and mozzarella stays creamy without a white sauce.
- A short rest lets the filling set so the tubes slice cleanly.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
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Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven to 375°F. Spread 1 cup marinara in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- 2
Boil the manicotti in salted water until just flexible, about 6 minutes. Drain and cool them on a sheet pan so they do not stick.
- 3
Mix the ricotta, egg, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
- 4
Fill each tube with the cheese mixture and lay the tubes in a single layer in the dish.
- 5
Spoon the remaining marinara over the tubes. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan and drizzle with olive oil.
- 6
Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more until the cheese is bubbling and the pasta is tender.
- 7
Rest the pan 10 minutes before serving.
Pro tips
- A spoon or a zip-top bag with the corner cut makes filling the tubes faster.
- If the tubes split, overlap the seam under the sauce and keep going.
- Use a thick marinara so the filling does not water out in the oven.
Easy substitutions
- whole-milk ricotta
- part-skim ricotta
- marinara sauce
- crushed tomatoes simmered with garlic
- fresh parsley
- 1 tsp dried parsley
Storage and reheating
Storage
Cool, cover, and refrigerate up to 4 days.
Reheating
Cover and bake at 350°F until hot, about 20 minutes, or microwave a single portion.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 486
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 46 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fiber
- 4 g
Moderate · Oven · Vegetarian
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