With a little advance prep this Make-Ahead Manicotti will be ready to pop in the oven when you’re ready for dinner. This no-boil, make-ahead method is a real lifesaver on busy days!
Long before the scores of one-pot pasta dishes started hitting all the recipe sites, I came across this make-ahead method for preparing manicotti. It was the first pasta dish I ever cooked that skipped the step of boiling the pasta and it was truly a revelation to this busy mom of four.
Once I discovered this method, this super satisfying, meatless meal appeared frequently on our table when my guys were involved in high school sports.
During water polo season, I was spending my early evening hours on the pool deck and needed dinner, pronto, when we walked in the door. The guys were hungry and tired and Make-Ahead Manicotti was always a happy thing to come home to.
Table of contents
Easy Make-Ahead Manicotti
Walk in the door, pop it in the oven, and while it’s baking you can get to work on a salad or veggie side. A warm, satisfying pasta meal is on your table in under an hour. Fabulous!
I’m sharing the base recipe for a vegetarian 3-cheese and spinach filling, but you could really change things up here and add or substitute a variety of ingredients to suit your taste. See the recipe below for my suggestions. I’ve done this recipe lots of different ways and they’ve all been delicious.
Ingredient Notes
- Pasta – You will need 12 uncooked manicotti shells for this recipe.
- Sauce – Use your favorite store-bought or homemade marinara sauce. Look for a reduced sodium sauce to significantly reduce the amount of sodium in this recipe.
- Cheese Keep things light by using part-skim mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Or go for the full-fat variety – your choice!
- Spinach – Look for a box of chopped frozen spinach in the frozen veggie section of your grocery store.
Prep the Ingredients
- Wring out and drain the excess liquid from the completely thawed spinach by wrapping it in a double layer of paper towels and squeeze it tightly with your hands over the sink. Squeeze out as much of the excess liquid as you can to prevent the spinach from watering down the filling.
- Shred the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
- Mince your garlic, if using fresh.
Make the Spinach and Cheese Filling
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and eggs until blended.
- Stir in the drained spinach, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper.
Fill the Manicotti
- Spoon the filling into a gallon-size plastic storage bag to create a disposable makeshift pastry bag.
- Grab some kitchen shears and snip off the corner from one of the bottom edges of the bag.
You can now quickly and easily squeeze the filling into the uncooked manicotti shells and toss the bag when you’re finished
- Coat the bottom of a 13- x 9-inch baking dish with marinara sauce and placed the uncooked, filled manicotti shells on top of the sauce.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the filled pasta, being sure it is covered completely.
Refrigerate the Manicotti
- Cover the dish with foil and pop it in the fridge. You can assemble the casserole the day before and refrigerate it overnight or you can prepare it to this point in the morning and bake it that same evening for dinner.
Bake the Manicotti
- Transfer the foil-covered dish to a preheated 400 degree F oven for 40 minutes.
- Remove the foil and sprinkle the manicotti with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
- Return it to the oven, uncovered, and bake until the cheese has melted.
FAQ and Valerie’s Tips
I recommend you bake the manicotti within 24 to 32 hours for the best result.
Topping the uncooked manicotti with marinara will begin the process of slightly softening it before baking. I recommend you refrigerate it for at least 8 hours so the pasta can soften slightly in advance and become perfectly tender when it is baked.
Yes! Assemble the dish as directed in a freezer-safe dish. Cover it tightly with a double layer of foil and freeze it for up to two months. To cook, safely thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Allow it to rest on the counter for about 30 minutes before baking to take the chill off. Baking time may need to be increased a bit to fully cook the manicotti. An instant read thermometer inserted in the center of the filling should read 165 degrees F before removing it from the oven.
An 8 ounce box should include at least 12 shells but this can very depending on the brand.
Filling Variations
You can customize the filling with a variety of different ingredients to suit your taste. If you add substantial ingredients like ground meat or chunky vegetables you might need to use a spoon to fill the manicotti shells instead of a pastry bag.
- Add chopped fresh mushrooms.
- Substitute half of the mozzarella with shredded provolone for some really nice flavor.
- A little (about one-third to a half pound) cooked, crumbled Italian sausage – I like to use turkey or chicken sausage to reduce fat and calories.
- Finely chopped rotisserie chicken (fully-cooked chicken) is also a great choice.
- Omit the spinach and add some fresh basil for a simply luscious cheese manicotti.
- If adding substantial ingredients, you may end up with enough filling to fill more than one box of shells.
What to Serve with Make-Ahead Manicotti
Toss a simple green salad and pop some Cheater Garlic Bread in the oven to round out this meal.
More great side dish choices include my Butter Lettuce Salad with Grapes and Gorgonzola, Zucchini and Sweet Corn with Feta, or Balsamic Grilled Zucchini.
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Make-Ahead Manicotti
Ingredients
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese, (part-skim or regular)
- 2 eggs
- 9 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed (squeeze out excess liquid)
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (part-skim or whole milk)
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces uncooked manicotti shells, (12 shells)
- 36 ounces marinara sauce, (I used 1 ½ (24 ounce) jars)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and eggs until blended. Stir in spinach, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper.
- Transfer mixture to a gallon sized sealable plastic storage bag. Use scissors to cut off the tip from one of the bottom corners of the bag.
- Spread about 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce over the bottom of a baking dish, spreading it out evenly. Use the makeshift pastry bag to squeeze the spinach and cheese mixture into the uncooked manicotti shells. Arrange the stuffed shells on top of the marinara sauce in a single layer. Pour remaining sauce over the top, being sure that all of the pasta is covered well. Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, and bake uncovered for another 7 to 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is beginning to get light golden brown.
Notes
- Add chopped fresh mushrooms.
- Substitute half of the mozzarella with shredded provolone for some really nice flavor.
- A little (about 1/3 to 1/2 pound) cooked, crumbled Italian sausage – I like to use turkey or chicken sausage to reduce fat and calories.
- Finely chopped rotisserie chicken (fully-cooked chicken) is also a great choice.
- Omit the spinach and add some fresh basil for a simply luscious cheese manicotti.
- Assemble the dish as directed in a freezer-safe dish. Cover it tightly with a double layer of foil and freeze it for up to two months. To cook, safely thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Allow it to rest on the counter for about 30 minutes before baking to take the chill off. Baking time may need to be increased a bit to fully cook the manicotti. An instant read thermometer inserted in the center of the filling should read 165 degrees F before removing it from the oven.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
This post was originally published on December 8, 2015. It has been updated with new text and images.
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
This was so good! I’ve never made manicotti before and consider myself blessed to avoid the dreaded boiled noodle, haha. We tripled it but split in two large pans for our big family. It was very forgiving to the adjustments we made. Spinach, sausage. Next time we plan on adding mushrooms. Thank you! Oh and we used the gluten free jovial noodles.
I’ve added cooked Italian sausage before and it was great. So glad you loved it!
I made this tonight for my family, my daughters and their families come on Sunday so I doubled the recipe. The loved it so much they split a few remaining and took them home. Even my four year old granddaughter asked for more! I assembled it yesterday to allow the marinara to soften the shells. Perfectly cooked. Why I spent years trying to stuff boiled manicotti is a mystery! Thank you.
Right? This method is so much easier. Thanks, Phyllis!
Hi Valerie, Do you think this will work using the jumbo (sea)shell shaped pasta?
I believe it would work. Let me know how it goes if you try it!
I used jumbo shells the first time I made this. Grocery store didn’t have any manicotti noodles. No matter WHAT noodles you use, that sit time is essential! I didn’t realize the recipe site I had used had “adapted” the recipe from. This site and OMITTED that step!! The noodles were still crunchy!! I’m certain that if I bad known to ,et them sit for several hours before baking, it would have been perfect!!
I recommend that you refrigerate the manicotti for a minimum of 8 hours or preferably overnight after it is topped with the sauce. This is clearly stated in both the FAQ section of the post and the recipe card. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you but hope you’ll give it another try with the correct method.
Oh I know… now, lol! I was following this recipe that had been adapted… on a different site and they had omitted that crucial step! I followed the link to THIS, the original recipe, and it came out beautifully! Absolutely wonderful! Thank you!
Ah! I misunderstood. Well, happy to hear the recipe worked out so well for you. Thank you!
Also, I forgot to rate it. If there were 100 stars, I’d give them!
Added 3/4 # of browned hamburger and same amount of hot Italian sausage. Sauteed onion, red and yellow peppers, and garlic and added to sauce. Added 3Tsp. of prepared pesto to ricotta mixture with fresh basil chopped. Had enough filling and sauce for 16 shells. Served for a birthday party and it was a real hit!
Sounds delicious, Judy! So happy it worked out well for you 🙂
Do you think fresh spinach would be ok to use? That’s all I have on hand. Thank you!
I do think it would be okay but I’d recommend sauteeing it to wilt it and draw out the moisture, letting it cool, and then chopping it before adding it to the filling.
I made this for my parents when I was visiting last; I couldn’t find manicotti noodles at the grocery store so got cannelloni noodles instead (oven ready to boot). My Mom got a bit misty-eyed and said it was just like the one she ate when she was taken out for the first time to a restaurant on her 16th birthday (they lived through the war so this was extremely rare), and that anytime she was lucky enough to go back she would always order the same thing because it was so good. It’s super yummy! I skipped the parmesan for her (it’s one of her migraine triggers) and it turned out great. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
Oh my gosh, Monika, your comment brought tears to my eyes! It warms my heart that you cooked for your sweet mom and that it brought back such a wonderful memory. Chills!
Can you just use parsley
You can use parsley and omit the spinach if you’d like.
Can you make – put in refrigerator and not cook till 3 days later
I would not recommend that, Pat. It’s best for both food safety concerns and the quality of the dish that it be baked within 24 hours.
I’m a bit hesitant about using the uncooked shells,
Another resipe I looked at says, cooking the shells for 5 min.
I’m so confused!
perhaps that’s because it’s nearly 5am.
Also my mixture looks a lot greener than yours. .
Maybe because I used a hand blender? (as the other recipe said ) Why is it one says this and the other says that!
But, I am going with your idea of uncooked shells. Don’t let me down Valarie . I’ll let you know ♡ I’m trusting you here.
Hoping it worked out well for you! I made this recipe countless times when my boys were younger and it never failed me. 🙂
Hi Valerie- I found your fabulous recipe last minute and do not have time to refrigerate over night. Will this be ok If I just add a little bit a water and cook it without the overnight refrigeration?
Thank you
Roz
Hi Roz. I think as long as the pasta is covered well with the sauce you’ll be fine. I hope it works out well for you!
Panicking here…..I made this last night and popped in fridge to cook later for dinner. When I checked on it this morning, the manicotti shells are a bit soft, like they’ve absorbed the sauce a bit. Will this affect the final outcome??
Hi Lynn. It’s going to be just fine! It’s ideal that they’ve softened a bit. They will continue to soften in the oven and I’m betting it will turn out just right. Let me know how it goes.
Can this be frozen after the shells are filled but before the dish is cooked?
I’ve not tried this, Jane, but I do think it would work really well. Please let me know how it works out if you try it.
I’ve tried freezing it and it worked wonderfully!