Easy Three Cheese Manicotti Recipe – This Easy Three Cheese Manicotti is a delicious combination of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, this dish makes a perfect weeknight meal yet is fancy enough for a company dinner.
Manicotti is so simple to make. You need just a few ingredients and just a little bit of time and your on your way to a delicious meal!
It’s just a matter of mixing the filling, cooking the manicotti shells then stuffing or filling them.
First making the stuffing or filling will take maybe 5 minutes.
Filling manicotti shells can be a royal pain, but I found a super fast and easy way to fill the shells.
You can do it two ways. One way is to cut the shell in half then fill the shell and roll it. That is the easiest way to me.
The other is to fill a resealable plastic bag then cut one corner and fill the shells but squeezing the filling in one end of the shell ,then filling the other end. You can try both ways if you like. I think slicing them in half is easier and much quicker. And I’m all about easy and quick. After you fill them lay them on the seem in a baking dish.
We sometimes just make half this recipe for a weeknight meal. Easy Three Cheese Manicotti freezes well too so it’s perfect for one of those nights when you don’t feel like cooking but want a delicious meal. Just pull a tray out of the the freezer and your good to go.
This is cheesy, flavorful, pasta basically it’s comfort food at it’s best.
If you want to change things up a bit here and there you can add some spinach to the cheese mixture or crumbled cooked sausage or some shredded cooked chicken works well too.
A few tips also:
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Fill the manicotti shells as soon as they are cool enough otherwise the stick together and get flat and break and are hard to fill.
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After you fill the shells set them in the pasta sauce you have placed in the pan.
Make this Easy Three Cheese Manicotti today!!
- 1 pkg manicotti shells
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs, large
- 24 oz jar of your favorite sauce. Or make your own!
- 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
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1. Cook manicotti about 8-10 minutes or until Al dente, drain, and lay on parchment paper to cool and dry
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Prepare a 9 x13 baking dish by spreading a thin layer of pasta sauce along the bottom
4. Using a large bowl, mix together mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper until smooth.
5. Using a knife, gently slice the manicotti noodle to open it up. Add cheese filling and close the noodle back up placing it in the baking dish, seam side down
6. Arrange manicotti in a single layer in the baking dish. When all manicotti are filled, cover the top with remaining pasta sauce
7. Cover dish with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Remove foil and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese has fully melted.
9 Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes