This Italian Sausage and Cheese Baked Manicotti is so easy recipe for classic, meaty baked manicotti stuffed with Italian sausage and cheese. So delicious and full of flavour!
This recipe only uses 8-ingredients (plus pepper and salt). I love to use prepared sauce for meals such as this, since I really don’t mind the additional time and effort to add fresh veggies.
With Italian sausage rather than ground beef saves money and time also since the meat does not require any extra ingredients or seasoning.
You can see I do not use ricotta (or cottage cheese) in this. I actually prefer the silky, buttery mozzarella and parmesan in this dish. Plus this is not a timeless cheese manicotti so using the traditional ricotta simply does not appear necessary.
Tips and Trick for this recipe:
- If you are baking the manicotti immediately, then boil the pasta for the whole time according to the directions. If you will be assembling this day before cooking (or over two hours), boil pasta 2 minutes less than according to the directions.
- Don’t hesitate to use frozen spinach or to omit it completely. If using frozen, use 1 10 oz box then unthaw and drain really well.
- I usually use Prego-traditional spaghetti-sauce and I favor spicy-Italian -sausage but sweet or regular are great also.
- If you assemble this beforehand then refrigerate before to cooking, add 15-20 minutes to coated cooking time.
Please, if you make this Italian Sausage and Cheese Baked Manicotti Recipe, don’t forget to give me STAR RATE (★★★★★) or comment below. Thanks!
Try these Delicious Recipes options:
- Bow Tie Pasta Lasagna
- Zucchini Rollatini
- Fresh Spring Rolls
- Pioner Woman Meatloaf
- Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Chicken
Italian Sausage and Cheese Baked Manicotti
Ingredients
- 8 oz manicotti pasta tubes
- 1 ¼ lbs Italian sausage
- 8 oz mozzarella shredded (divided)
- 2 cups chopped fresh spinach
- 1 24 oz jar spaghetti sauce
- ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese divided
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 onion finely diced
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Cook manicotti in liberally salted water according to the directions.
- Meanwhile, cook and crumble sausage in a large-skillet till sausage is cooked through & browned.
- Add spinach then continue cooking for a couple of minutes or till spinach is wilted. Drain skillet if needed.
- Remove sausage mix from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes. Then add 1 cup shredded mozzarella, ½ cup grated parmesan, garlic powder, egg, pepper and salt then blend well.
- Spray a 13×9" baking-dish with cooking-spray (or rub with olive-oil). Spread ½ cup spaghetti-sauce at the bottom of the dish.
- Drain manicotti nicely then stuff each tube with meat mix. Put stuffed manicotti in baking-dish.
- Cover manicotti with sauce, cover tightly with aluminum foil and then bake at 375°F for 30-35 minutes or till sauce is tender.
- Remove aluminum foil and top dish with remaining parmesan and mozzarella. Continue baking, uncovered for 20-25 minutes or till cheese is melted and lightly-golden.
- Let dish rest for 15 minutes before serving. You can garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired.