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Cannelloni are long pasta tubes stuffed with ricotta and parmesan cheeses, spinach, and mild Italian sausage. Then baked in a red sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese.
This was one of my Mom’s signature dishes. I’m not sure where she got the recipe but it was always a big hit when she made it which was usually for Sunday supper.I’ve changed Mom’s recipe over the years and I think she would approve. Mom’s recipe didn’t have spinach, mainly because my Dad was not a vegetable lover. I’m pretty sure Jo (my Mom’s name) really wanted to add any type of vegetable because when it came to veggies she was the polar opposite of Dad.
Over the year’s I’ve gotten so comfortable with calling my Mom, Jo, that now when I think back, we used her name, instead of Mom, as a term of endearment. Many years have passed and I still miss Jo every day. OK, now I’m tearing up so I better get back to sharing this Cannelloni recipe.
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Cannelloni
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Cannelloni are long pasta tubes stuffed with ricotta and parmesan cheeses, spinach, and mild Italian sausage. Then baked in a red sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 large box of Cannelloni or Manicotti noodles – cooked al dente per package
- 3–4 links sweet Italian Sausage
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion – diced
- 1 15 oz. container of Ricotta cheese
- 1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup of romano cheese
- 1 TBS Italian seasoning
- 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
- 2–3 cups Pasta sauce (you can use a jarred sauce from the grocery store or make your own)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook noodles per package to al dente.
- Remove sausage from casing and brown it in a large pan.
- Remove cooked sausage from pan and drain on a plate covered with 2 paper towels to soak up and remaining grease.
- Place spinach in a stovetop skillet with the TBS of olive oil and cook on medium for no more than three minutes or until the spinach is wilted.
- Remove spinach from the pan and let it cool.
- When spinach is cooled, squeeze out any excess fluid. (I do this with a paper towel.)
- In a large bowl combine cooked sausages, spinach, ricotta cheese, parmesan and romano cheeses and 3/4 of the mozzarella.
- Add Italian Seasoning and salt and pepper; mix well.
- Cover the bottom of a large baking pan with three-quarters of the pasta sauce.
- Fill each of the cannelloni shells with the sausage, cheese, spinach mixture.
- Place them in the baking dish on top of the pasta sauce.
- Spoon the remaining pasta sauce over noodles.
- Cover with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes.
- After 40 minutes, remove foil, add remaining mozzarella cheese and cook for another 5-7 minutes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: Baked pasta, filled pasta, Manicotti
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