Recipe: cannelloni with spinach and ricotta

You can really impress your guests with this pasta oven dish! Although spinach and ricotta cannelloni is not very difficult to make, it does take some time. It is therefore a great dish for the weekend.

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni is the leaner and vegetarian version of another traditional cannelloni recipe where the tubes are filled with minced meat (the classic ragu), and topped with béchamel sauce.

In addition to the delicious spinach and ricotta filling, we cook the cannelloni in a simple tomato sauce. Divide the filling over 16 to 20 tubes depending on your baking dish and how full you fill them. 

Buon appetito!

Ingredients for the cannelloni with spinach and ricotta

Main course for 4 persons

Ingredients for the filling

• 500 grams of spinach
• 500 grams ricotta
• 40 grams freshly grated Parmesan cheese + extra
• pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper

Ingredients for the sauce

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• olive oil
• 1 large bottle (720 ml) strained tomatoes
• 1 tl dried oregano
• salt and pepper

You need further

• 16 to 20 cannelloni tubes
• 1 ball of mozzarella
• piping bag
• large baking dish

Preparation of the filling

1. Wash the spinach, chop it finely and let it shrink in a hot pan with a little olive oil.
2. Let cool and drain in a colander.
3. Mix the ricotta with the Parmesan cheese and add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg.
4. Squeeze the spinach further with your hands and mix into the ricotta mixture.

Preparation of the sauce

5. Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic.
6. Heat a dash of olive oil and fry the onion in it. After a few minutes, add the garlic and fry briefly.
7. Add the strained tomatoes, the oregano, a pinch of salt and pepper and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add a dash of hot water every now and then to ensure that the sauce does not become too dry or thicken too much.

Cook and fill the cannelloni

Tip: Tubes can often be filled without boiling them first. This is indicated on the packaging. If you want to be sure that they come out of the oven properly cooked, pre-cook them.

8. Place a large pan of water on the stove.
9. Pre-boil the cannelloni in batches for 2 minutes.
10. Rinse and let them cool further. 
11. Fill a piping bag with some of the ricotta-spinach mixture.
12. Take a tube and fill it: the easiest way to do this is to first squirt some into one side and then some into the other. Repeat this until all tubes are used up.

Fill the baking dish

13. Spoon a generous spoonful of sauce into an oven dish and make sure the bottom is covered.
14. Place all the cannelloni in the baking dish against each other (if it doesn't fit, you can also make 2 layers of the cannelloni) and pour the rest of the tomato sauce over it.
15. Tear the mozzarella into small pieces and spread over the sauce. Grate some more Parmesan cheese over it.
16. Place the dish in a preheated oven at 200° C and bake according to the time indicated on the packaging.