Our Manicotti recipe is an easy pasta casserole featuring a 3 cheese filling and topped with delicious marinara sauce. It has all the melty cheesiness and amazing flavor that makes Italian food so irresistible, and it’s incredibly easy to make.
Just like with our Spaghetti and Meatballs or Baked Ziti, there’s something so satisfying about perfectly cooked pasta in a flavorful tomato marinara sauce. Manicotti is one of those timeless classics that you’ll make on repeat.
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Stuffed Manicotti (Pronounced: ma·nuh·kaa·tee) is similar to a traditional Italian dish called Cannelloni. In the Americanized adaptation, Manicotti shells are stuffed with a cheese filling, topped with marinara sauce, and baked.
If you enjoy the classic flavors of Lasagna and Stuffed Shells, you will love this Italian-American Manicotti Recipe. It’s a quick and easy weeknight meal but also feels special enough for a holiday dinner.
This Manicotti is also the perfect recipe when making and delivering a meal to friends or neighbors after having a baby or when someone is under the weather. Cheesy Italian comfort food makes everyone feel loved. Here are some of the reasons you’ll love it:
Natasha shows you how simple it is to assemble and bake this cheese manicotti recipe. Be sure to see her tips on the easiest way to fill the pasta before baking.
The ingredients for stuffed Manicotti feature Italian staples and three delicious cheeses. It’s a winning combination!
In this recipe, it’s best to grate your own cheese using a box grater or your food processor instead of using pre-shredded cheese. It will melt better and taste better!
This cheese manicotti recipe is delicious, but you can make it your own with a few quick substitutions. Here are some of our favorites:
This dish looks complex and upscale—but I promise it’s so simple to make and comes together quickly in these easy steps:
Salting pasta water is so important for taste and texture! We use about 2 Tbsp of salt for a large pot of water, but since salt can differ, be sure your water tastes like ocean water.
When parboiling the manicotti shells, you want the pasta only slightly cooked since it will finish cooking in the oven. It should be ‘extra al-dente’ and cooked for less than the package instructions. We boiled for 5 minutes while the package called for 7 minutes. This will also make it easier to fill.
I have found that the quickest and least messy way to stuff manicotti shells is to use a disposable piping bag or large zip-top bag to fill the pasta tubes, as demonstrated in the video above. You can also use a long-handled, thin spoon to scoop the filling into the shells.
Do I have to boil the Manicotti pasta before stuffing?It’s important to parboil the manicotti before filling the pasta to be sure it fully cooks. You don’t want any crunchy pasta bites that didn’t cook in the sauce and No-boil pasta tends to turn out gummy. It’s worth the few extra minutes!
Can manicotti be frozen?This dish freezes well, so see my tips in our Make-Ahead section below.
What is manicotti vs stuffed shells?The difference between Stuffed Manicotti and Stuffed Shells is the type of pasta used in the dish. The name Manicotti means “little sleeves” in Italian referring to how the pasta resembles tubes with ridges, while stuffed shells resemble shells with a bowl shape and ridges.
What is the difference between cannelloni and manicotti?Cannelloni is a traditional dish that inspired the Americanized Manicotti recipe. Instead of tube pasta, Cannelloni uses rectangle pasta, similar to lasagna noodles, spread with cheese filling and rolled into a tube.
This Italian-inspired dish is so satisfying and delicious and pairs well with fresh salads, roasted veggies, and crusty bread to soak up the sauce. Here are a few of our favorite sides (and don’t forget dessert):
Manicotti is a great dish to make ahead since it freezes well and feeds a crowd.
This baked stuffed Manicotti recipe has all the yummy Italian flavors and the cheesy, saucy goodness we love in an easy-to-master recipe. It’s a great weeknight meal, but impressive enough to serve at a holiday party. I know this will become one of your go-to dishes.
Once you try this stuffed pasta recipe, we know you’ll also love these other fan-favorite pasta dishes:
PS. If you love pasta recipes, we have some new ones in our new Cookbook that haven’t been shared on the blog. Family favorites like Baked Mac and Cheese, Italian Style Lasagna, and my son’s Famous Alfredo sauce. You can order the Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook here.
