Spinach cheese manicotti is delicious Italian pasta stuffed with spinach and cheese. For those who love vegetable cuisines, this mouthwatering delicacy will always be a welcomed treat.
Let’s have a look at how this amazing dish is made.
Health Benefits
One of the key ingredients in spinach cheese manicotti is spinach. It has a very high nutritional content. It contains iron and vitamins C and K in rich quantities. However, the combination of cheese and pasta makes this a very high calorie dish. Therefore, it should be eaten in moderation to avoid loading up on any extra calories.
Ingredients
olive oil: 2 tbsp
chopped onions: 2
a bunch spinach leaves
salt to taste
Water as needed
salt to taste
olive oil: 1 tbsp
Cream cheese: 1 slab
ricotta cheese: 1 slab
grated parmesan cheese: 1 cup
grated mozzarella cheese: 3 cups
Marinara sauce: 2 cups
How To Make Spinach Cheese Manicotti
For Stuffing
- Heat up a non-stick frying pan.
- Add oil into it and heat it up on medium flame.
- Add chopped onion into the oil and fry it until it turns golden brown.
- Add chopped spinach into the pan and sauté it until it leaves some of its water.
- Let is simmer for at least 10 minutes on low-medium flame until all the excess water dries up.
- Add salt into the pan and cook for another minute.
- Take the spinach off the heat once it is completely dried up and set it aside until it is needed for assembling.
For Manicotti
- Take a deep pot.
- Add 5 to 6 glasses of water into it.
- Add salt and olive oil in the water.
- Bring it to boil then add the manicotti into it.
- Boil it until it is half tender then drain the hot water.
- Run it through cold water and set it aside until it is needed for assembling.
For Assembling
- Take a large bowl.
- Add cream cheese, ricotta cheese and grated parmesan cheese into the bowl.
- Blend all the cheese with a spoon.
- Add spinach and all of the mozzarella cheese leaving some for topping the manicotti.
- Once, it is blended well, use a spoon to stuff it inside each of the boiled manicotti.
- Grease the bottom of your baking dish with marinara sauce.
- Place all the manicotti into the baking dish.
- Top it with more marinara sauce.
- Now cover the dish with an aluminum foil and bake it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, garnish the top of the dish with the remaining mozzarella cheese and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Pull it out of the oven and serve the spinach cheese manicotti hot!
Trivia
- Spinach cheese manicotti is not the original way of cooking manicotti. It is generally stuffed with beef and cheese. This is just the vegetable version.
Consuming half a cup of spinach is considered equal to eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables.