This easy no-boil baked manicotti pasta dish, known as Cannelloni is stuffed with ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella and lean ground beef, then covered in sauce and cheese. Perfect for the holidays, for to bring to a potluck or to enjoy any night of the week!
Baked Beef and Cheese Manicotti (Cannelloni)
Baked Beef and Cheese Manicotti (Cannelloni)I have a ton of ground beef recipes but one that I love to make for a crowd or for the holidays are these Beef Manicotti. I usually make homemade crepe-style manicotti for the holidays, but it’s pretty time consuming so I save it for special occasions! This easy, streamlined version is made with manicotti pasta, which you don’t even have to boil, and jarred Pomodoro Fresco Sauce from Delallo, my favorite and the only brand I would use if I am not making my sauce from scratch!
Serve this with a salad or vegetable on the side.
Variations
- Swap the beef for turkey and chicken sausage.
- Leave the meat out and use vegetables. I love using chopped spinach or sauteed mushrooms.
- Swap the parsley for other fresh herbs such as basil.
How To Make No Boil Manicotti
Tips For Success
Stuffing cooked manicotti shells is a challenge, so using uncooked shells is preferred and saves you the extra step. The tip to making sure the pasta cooks in the oven in using enough sauce to completely cover the shells and covering the casserole dish tight with foil.
How To Make Ahead
You can prep this dish the night before, to do so stuff the manicotti shells, transfer to the baking dish, cover with sauce then tightly cover with foil. Refrigerate then pop it on the oven when you are ready to bake.
How To Freeze Leftovers
For leftovers, transfer individual portions of cooled manicotti to freezer containers; freeze. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Transfer to a microwave-safe dish and microwave on high, or reheat in the oven.
More Baked Pasta Recipes You May Like:
- Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
- Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables
- Easy Macaroni Casserole
- Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese
Baked Beef and Cheese Manicotti (Cannelloni)
Ingredients
- 1 carton, 15 ounces part skim ricotta cheese
- 3/4 pound 93% lean ground beef
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
- 2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided*
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- black pepper, to taste
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups Pomodoro Fresco sauce , about 1 1/2 jars
- 14 manicotti pasta shells, 8 ounces (for gluten-free use Jovial)*
Instructions
- Heat a heavy medium skillet over high heat. Add the ground beef, season with salt and pepper. Saute until the meat browns, drain then add the onion and garlic, cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and cool.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, cooled ground beef, parsley, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, salt and black pepper. Transfer the a piping bag or gallon size ziplock bag, with a 1/2 inch hole snipped off the corner and stuff each uncooked manicotti shell with about generous 1/4 cup each.
- Spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Arrange stuffed manicotti shells in a single layer over sauce. Top with remaining sauce. Cover tight with foil and bake at 375F until pasta is tender, 60 to 65 minutes, until the pasta is tender and cooked. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake covered 3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
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Nutrition
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by DeLallo. I only share products I use in my own kitchen.
Absolutely delicious!!
Best tastiest recipe ever! It was soooo delicious I can’t wait to make it again
Do you think I could substitute sausage for the beef?
Never mind my previous comment. I didn’t see the ricotta above the ground beef.
A little high in calories for me- I’d swap the beef for mushrooms or spinach, cut the mozzarella to a cup. So this is a good recipe base for me, but not one I would follow.
This dish wowed my family. Will make again!
If I wanted to use more ground beef could I do that?
Probably not. You might get arrested.
This is the first time I have been disappointed in one of your recipes. Â No flavor. Very surprising.Â
Add .ore garlic and spices
Just wanted to bring it to your attention that there is an error in part 2. I’d want to know, so I’d thought I’d share 🙂
Great recipe! Love the ease of making it with raw shells. I haven’t made Manicotti in years because it was such a pain. I especially love love how it made the piping so much easier. First time I have had Pomodoro! Love the thickness of it. I did add fresh basil to the meat (because I was making it with ground beef) and the sauce.
Holy Hanna! The pasta was tough. I thought maybe I missed the addition of liquid, but no. Still tasty and I love your recipes.
What can we use if we can’t find the pomodoro sauce?Â
You can try my recipe 🙂 https://www.skinnytaste.com/filetto-di-pomodoro-1-ww-p/?swcfpc=1
Wow wow wow!! I make tons of Skinnytaste’s recipes, so of course I knew this would be good. But it’s better than I even imagined!! I don’t like ricotta cheese, so I was a little nervous. I did a full pound of beef, and the ratio is absolute perfection. I also now see the hype with pomodoro sauce. Nice and thick. I couldn’t find the manicotti noodles anywhere, so I did the jumbo shells. The longest part was stuffing them all, but well worth it. Once again, you nailed it. Skinnytaste for president!!!
Lol thanks Lyndsey!
This was so delicious! The whole family loved it. I swapped the beef for sausage, cottage cheese for ricotta, and my grocery store didn’t have the manicotti tubes so I used jumbo shells. I was concerned that the noodles could turn out a bit dry based on some of the reviews, so I added about a cup of water and poured it right on top. It turned out perfectly. Everyone had seconds.
I made this for dinner last night and it was amazing!!! I used turkey sausage and a double batch of your quick marinara sauce. The WW calculator said 11 points and it was worth every point. What a nice treat! I’m new to WW and enjoying eating carbs again. I’m a huge fan of your recipes. Thanks for all your hard work!
Great!
The amount of ricotta is not in the ingredients list.
I’ve made this several times, all 3 kids love it and my 7 year old now says it’s her favorite food. My ground beef comes in 1 lb packages so I use the whole package and just put the extra filling in the corner of the pan to cook (it doesn’t stick together like a meatball would so we jokingly call it the “meat blob”.) Stuffing uncooked manicotti is WAY easier than stuffing cooked manicotti and if you use 1&1/2 jars of sauce as directed, it doesn’t turn out dry. I like to make this in the morning, store it in the fridge, then put it in the oven on a timer while we are running around to sports/activities prior to dinner. Thank you for this kid friendly delicious recipe!
Made these for dinner last night and was a little disappointed. Â The flavor is good, but because the pasta is not boiled first, it gets a bit dry and hard as it cools. Â It also soaks up huge amounts of the tomato sauce. Â If I made it again, I would take the few minutes needed to boil the manicotti first. Â The pasta would be more tender and there would be more sauce left. Â
just add water around the edges of the dish before baking; it will help cook the pasta – I never pre-boil my pastas in casserole dishes
I absolutely love this recipe.  It’s delicious.  My only quibble is that when I actually put the recipe into the recipe creator (Not the calculator) using the Delallo Marinara, I get 17 points per serving.  I will still make these frequently because they are so good, but it would have been really disappointing to eat over my points without knowing it.  Is there a way to figure out why the huge discrepancy between your calculations and mine?
I used fat free ricotta and fat free mozzarella. It came to 8 points for me. You could try that.
I made this subbing in 16 oz of frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained well, for the ground beef, and it was excellent! Delicious–I will make it again.Â
All prepped and ready to go for tonight. Tomorrow is Spicy Sausage with Butternut squash pasta with spinach!
These recipes are going to help me win the. Ingest Loser competition at work! Â 15 pounds to goal!
Entered all ingredients and serving size as they are listed and WW recipe creator in the app says that this recipe is 15 points for one serving…not sure where the discrepancy is…
HI Zak. The only accurate way to determine any recipe’s SmartPoints® value is to plug the ingredients into the recipe builder on the Weight Watchers website (Click on “My Foods,” select “Recipe,” and click “Create a recipe.”) which does not count fruits and vegetables in recipes in the calculations as they are now 0 points.
The SmartPoints® calculator isn’t meant for recipes and will often give you the wrong points (usually higher) because it’s counting the fruits and vegetables. So if you see a recipe with a SmartPoints® value that’s different from what the calculator tells you, now you know why.
Yes thank you for your help!
What is the serving size foe 10 points?
NUTRITION INFORMATION
Yield: 7 servings, Serving Size: 2 manicotti
Amount Per Serving:
Freestyle Points: 10
Points +: 12
Calories: 438 calories
Total Fat: 17.5g
Saturated Fat: 8g
Cholesterol: 94mg
Sodium: 760mg
Carbohydrates: 38g
Fiber: 4g
Sugar: 7g
Protein: 36g
Read more at https://www.skinnytaste.com/baked-manicotti-cannelloni/#srscKQfqaDr0cboJ.99
What can I substitute for the Delallo pomodoro fresco sauce?
I can’t find it anywhere!
I LOVE every recipe I get off your site and in your cookbooks! Â Love them all!!! Â Quick question this recipe.
How do I make this ahead and place in the freezer. Â Should I follow the “How to freeze leftovers” or follow “How to make ahead” and then freeze it? Â I want to make for a friend who is having a baby but want to give her the option when to eat it.Â
Has anyone frozen this dish? Im wondering if I should omit the sauce covering the manicotti before freezing? Great dish to make for friends, but I want them to be able to keep it frozen.Â
I have frozen this before. I made this complete with sauce prior to freezing just as with lasagna.Â
Melissa
I make this and divide into 3 meals for my husband a d myself. I freeze unbaked, and thaw before baking. It has been delicious every time.Â
Gina,
If you were to sub spinach in for the beef, what kind and how much would you use?
Thanks!
I used spinach instead of beef and it worked out great. I used 16 oz frozen chopped spinach (2 packages), cooked and drained extremely well.Â
I made this last night, and it was amazing! My sister in law is very pregnant so I thought it would be nice to make for her, but they’re headed to the hospital and I have it ready to bake! Can I freeze the whole pan so it’s ready for when they bring home the baby?
Thanks!Â
Did you end up freezing this? I’m going to try it, wonder how it’ll work out?Â
I made this with hot italian sausage and used shells. It was soooo good! I boiled the shells first and was able to cut the bake time down to about 30 min. So yummy!
I am making this right now! I added a little spinach and used ground chicken.
I also made your Chic Pea Tomato soup and Crockpot Santa Fe chicken today!
Love your recipes Gina!
Thanks Robin!
Delicious. No complaints from family. There was no mention of diet or healthy!
What a treat!! I love that I can enjoy such a decadent dinner without blowing my daily points out of the water. And it’s relatively easy to prepare as well. I did have some filling left after packing it into the shells. I just squeezed it in and around the stuffed shells in the baking dish, then covered all with sauce. The pasta was cooked perfectly…going the full 65 minutes. Already looking forward to leftovers later in the week!