Easy Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni is a delicious vegetarian recipe with home made tomato pasta sauce! Simply combine the spinach and ricotta filling, stuff the tubes, pour the sauce in and let it bake in the oven!
Pasta recipes like our Slow Cooker Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna and Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese deliver us easy dinner options. Twists on traditional Italian dishes like the Instant Pot Spaghetti Bolognese and Instant Pot Penne Pasta teach us to cook in a way that saves time and energy.
Comfort foods such as Blue Cheese Mac and Cheese and Tomato Mac and Cheese are an ultimate delight! Slow Cooker Mushroom Soup gives us another easy vegetarian delicious dish!
Tomato based pasta recipes are a great way to kick off the week with a vegetarian meal!
The delicious spinach and ricotta filling for our cannelloni is smooth and soft. We contrast that with our homemade tomato pasta sauce where the diced tomatoes bring a chunky texture that delights.
What's for dinner? These recipes are!
When you want to get dinner sorted fast, tomato based pasta recipes are your reliable best friend!
Can you reheat Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni?
Absolutely! This spinach and ricotta cannelloni recipe reheats very easily. Simply use the oven or microwave.
This ia a freezer friendly recipe that you can make in advance and then pull out of the freezer as needed.
When reheating the dish, portion it out so that only the parts of the meal that will be eaten will be reheated. The rest can stay in the fridge as leftovers!
Vegetarian pasta dinner recipes are perfect for Meatless Monday and can be made ahead of time!
Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta filling ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are shown in the photo below, they are all easy to find and bring great flavour to the dish!
As you can see we need:
- spinach
- cannelloni tubes
- ricotta cheese
- tomato passata
- diced tomatoes
- eggs
- dried onion (no tears my friend!)
- garlic
- Italian herbs
- cheese
- salt and pepper
- parsley
It may seem counter intuitive to add eggs when the spinach and ricotta combines into a thick paste on their own.
However, the reason we do is that the eggs help bind the cannelloni filling making it more likely to stay in the pasta tube as oppossed to oozying out everywhere.
Ricotta and Spinach cannelloni
Oven baked vegetarian pasta recipes are SO EASY!
There is a little bit of work that goes into the meal prep so that we can get this dish into the oven, like stuffing our tubes.
But once we are prepped and place our baking dish in to cook, we are 'hands off' whilst the oven does its thing!
BROWSE BY:
Comfort Food Family Favourites Quick and Easy recipes
Step by Step Oven baked Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
The steps we need to take are shown in the photos below. They are all super easy!
- add spinach leaves to food processor (photo 1)
- blitz for 5 seconds to finely chop the spinach (photo 2)
- add ricotta (photo 3)
- and eggs (photo 4)
Looking for the latest recipes on the blog? Click here!
Filling and home made tomapto pasta sauce making
- blitz spinach, ricotta and eggs to complete the cannelloni filling (shown in photo 5)
- start your pasta sauce with the passata (shown in photo 6)
- add the diced tomatoes (shown in photo 7)
- salt and pepper (shown in photo 8)
This pasta sauce is rich, thick and has great texture! It is the perfect compliment to the soft cheesy filling in the pasta!
- add Italian herbs (shown in photo 9)
- dried onion (shown in photo 10)
- garlic (shown in photo 11)
- and stir to combine to complete the sauce (shown in photo 12)
You can check out the most popular recipes on the blog, right here!
Spraying your baking dish with cooking oil will ensure the sauce doesn't stick and makes the cleaning up process so much easier!
- spray baking dish with oil (photo 13)
- transfer spinch ricotta filling into ziplock bag and seal (photo 14)
- layer tomato sauce into the baking dish (photo 15)
- snip the end of the zip lock bag (photo 16)
Spinach and ricotta filled canneloni steps
Don't worry if it gets a little messy!
- fill the canneloni tubes with spinach ricotta mix (photo 17)
- cover all tubes with sauce (photo 18)
- pour remaining sauce into baking dish (photo 19)
- sprinkle cheese on top of sauce (photo 20)
Now it is time to pop the baking dish into the preheated oven!
We have got this sucker under control now! The home will smell amazing, there is a delicious tomato sauce aroma wafting through the air and we are feeling like we were made in Italy!
Chop some fresh parsely, grab your cracked pepper shaker, garnish for colour, texture and flavour and pop on the table for dinner!
Pasta recipes:
If pasta is your favourite thing, then get to work on trying these recipes:
- Instant Pot Penne Pasta
- Rocket Pesto Pasta
- Ground Beef Casserole
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Bolognese
- Tomato Mac and Cheese
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
- Blue Cheese Mac and Cheese
- Tuna Spaghetti
- Tomato Spaghetti
Serve your cannelloni topped with fresh parsley and cracked pepper!
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni quick info:
About the recipe:
- baking dish 38cm (L) x 22cm (W) x 6cm (H)
- this is a vegetarian recipe
- we use 500 grams fresh spinach leaves
- and 10 cannelloni tubes
- we use 2 eggs to help bind the filling in the pasta
FAQs about oven baked Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
- we spray the bowl to ensure that nothing sticks and clean up is easy!
- this process is the same if you want to cook this recipe in the oven
- this is a freezer friendly recipe
- also a family friendly recipe
- this is an EASY recipe
Here are Quick and Easy recipes which will get dinner on the table FAST!
Spinach and Ricotta Canneloni Pro tips:
These additional tips are so that you can master this easy cannelloni from the 1st time you attempt it:
- the zip lock bag technique is like piping icing, it contains the ingredients and controls the flow
- fresh spinach will have less water and is recommended over frozen
- keep the sprinkled cheese over the pasta only as this will make it easier to see portions for serving
You can check out the most popular recipes on the blog, right here!
To freeze this recipe, you can wait until it is cooled and then portion out and place in the freezer.
To serve, allow to defrost and then reheat in a heatproof dish in the oven or microwave.
Find us on Facebook by clicking this link
This cannelloni is designed to be a meal in one! If you like, you can serve with a simple salad or side like creamy garlic potatoes.
With baked pasta dishes like this one, it is best to let them cool ever so slightly when fresh from the oven to allow the liquid to thicken and the cannelloni to firm up, allowing portioning and plating so much easier!
PIN and save this recipe for later!
Easy Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Equipment
- Baking dish
- Food processor
- Measuring jug (pasta sauce)
Ingredients
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
- 5 cups spinach leaves Note 1
- 375 grams smooth ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs free range
- 700 grams tomato passata
- 800 grams diced tomatoes Note 2
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 tbsp Italian Herbs Note 3
- 1 tbsp dried onion Note 4
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup tasty cheese Note 5
- parsley to garnish
Instructions
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5
Spinach and Ricotta Filling
- Add the spinach to the bowl of a food processor then blitz.
- Pour in ricotta and eggs and blitz to combine
- Transfer the spinach and ricotta filling to a zip lock bag, place in fridge till ready to use Note 6
Tomato Pasta Sauce
- To make the pasta sauce combine the passata, diced tomatoes, Italian herbs, dried onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir till thoroughly combined.
Cannelloni
- Spray a 38cm (L) x 22cm (W) x 6cm (H) (approx ) baking dish with cooking oil
- Pour in a base layer of the tomato pasta sauce
- Cut the tip off the zip lock bag and fill each a dried canncelloni tube with the spinach and ricotta mix. Place it onto the pasta layer in the baking dish. Repeat till all 10 tubes are filled.
- Pour the tomato pasta sauce over the cannelloni, ensure all pasta is visibly covered by the sauce.
- Pour the remaining pasta sauce into the dish.
- Sprinkle the cheese down the middle of the dish over the cannelloni tubes.
- Place the baking dish on a middle rack in the oven for 40mins. You can test that it is cooked by inserting a skewer into a cannelloni tube and if it goes straight through it is cooked.
- Use oven mits to remove from the oven, set on a heatproof rack and allow to cool for 3-4 mins.
- Garnish with freshly chopped parsley to serve.
Video
Notes
- Note 1 I much prefer cooking with fresh spinach than frozen. When I was younger I always used frozen and I was delighted the day I changed my mind and started using fresh. There is much less water and it is fresher!
- Note 2 You might know from many of my recipes that for a tomato sauce combo I use passtata, condensed tomato soup and crushed tomatoes. I vary up that technique for this recipe as I want the additional texture of the diced tomatoes in the dish. So we double that quantity and remove the condensed tomato soup altogether (if you are familiar with my cooking).
- Note 3 For the passta and diced tomatoes, buy the plain ones and add your own seasoning with the Italian herbs, garlic, dried onion, salt and pepper. This is the best way of knowing EXACTLY what goes into your food with no hidden extras.
- Note 4 Dried onion will be found in the herbs and spinces aisle. It is SO much easier to use than buying and chopping an onion and crying over it!! I use this product for SO many recipes!
- Note 5 Regular tasty, cheddar, light or mozzarella are all good cheese options for this recipe.
- Note 6 As there is time in the process, after I have adding the spinach and ricotta filling to the zip lock bag, I place it in the fridge. The idea is that it will be firmed and easier to pipe.
Nutrition
Vegetarian Pasta
Easy week nights are possible with a few vegetarian pasta recipes like this cannelloni to turn to!
Make your nights a breeze and try it tonight.
Please give me a shout if you have questions or make the recipe as I would love to hear your feedback.
Spinach and ricotta, delicious tomato pasta sauce, oven baked cheesy awesomeness, I've got you covered!
Adrianne x
This is such a delicious dish. The whole family was raving about it and gave me two thumbs up. 🙂
We love pasta dishes and this looks like the ultimate comfort food. Will be making this week.
I hope you love it Julie, how good is pasta. Cheers!