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Jump to RecipeI’m a huge pasta fan. I love it in all forms, but I especially love it when it comes stuffed with lots and lots of cheese. This Easy Cheese Manicotti is an easier and more budget-friendly version of my Baked Manicotti.
Ingredients for Easy Cheese Manicotti
This budget-friendly recipe only takes a few ingredients to make a delicious dish.
- manicotti pasta
- ricotta cheese
- marinara sauce
- mozzarella cheese
- minced garlic
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
- salt
- pepper
How to Make Easy Cheese Manicotti
Making a stuffed pasta might be a little intimidating if you’ve never done it before. Reading the recipe might seem like it has a few steps, but I promise it isn’t too hard. I’ll break down the steps for you here.
Prepare the Ingredients
Boil the manicotti and prepare the cheese mixture.
Boil the pasta until it is al dente. Don’t cook it too long or it will get mushy in the oven. I like to use this strainer to strain the pasta. It’s so convenient.
Mix all of the ingredients for the cheese filling together in a small bowl. I love these glass bowls that come in a huge array of sizes.
Fill and Assemble
This is probably the most frustrating part of the process, but trust me; it does not need to be perfect to taste delicious!
First, pour a little of the pasta sauce into the bottom of the greased baking dish. Next, fill the manicotti.
The easiest way to fill manicotti is to add the cheese mixture to a plastic bag and cut off one of the corners. Pipe the cheese into each tube. If you skip this step and try to fill the pasta with a spoon, you will be even more frustrated and it will take forever. Just take the extra step to put it all in a bag and pipe it in.
Place each manicotti side by side in the baking dish and top with the rest of the sauce and the remaining cheese.
Bake
Bake at 350℉ for 30 minutes. Serve it up and enjoy!
More Budget-Friendly Pasta Recipes
Easy Cheese Manicotti
4-5
servings20
minutes30
minutesStuffed with creamy ricotta and mozzarella and baked with lots of sauce and cheese, this Easy Cheese Manicotti is budget-friendly and tasty!
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Ingredients
8 oz manicotti pasta
15 oz ricotta cheese
24 oz marinara sauce
4 oz mozzarella cheese (more if you like it cheesy)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add in the manicotti and cook according to the box instructions. Drain and set aside.
- To a medium-sized bowl, add the ricotta cheese, half of the mozzarella cheese, minced garlic, and seasonings, and stir well. For easy filling, place this cheese mixture in a large Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner of the bag.
- Grease a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray and pour half of the marinara sauce into the baking dish. Fill each manicotti shell with 2-3 tablespoons of the cheese mixture. Place into the baking dish side-by-side. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
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Turned out just as described, but I used half of the sauce and pasta to make it more cheesy.