There's a whole lot to love about this Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Baked Manicotti recipe.
1. Roasted vegetables! The best kind of vegetables! I like cheese manicotti, but it's never been a favorite of mine because the filling is a little bit boring. Cheese, cheese, and more cheese. Roasted vegetables make this baked manicotti recipe more flavorful, more filling, and they up the nutrition a little bit too.
2. It can be made a day in advance. I'm a fan of any recipe that will let me assemble everything the night before and then pop it in the oven to cook the next evening. Sometimes I know I'm going to have an especially busy day and won't have time to make dinner--I love that we can still have a filling homemade meal and don't have to rely on takeout or frozen pizzas. (I'm not hating on frozen pizzas, of course, but if I eat ⅓ like the package always says, I'm hungry 20 minutes later. Also, dividing your pizza into thirds just isn't right. It's not!)
3. It can be frozen too. Yes! You have 3 options with this recipe! Assemble and bake right away, assemble, refrigerate and bake the next day, or assemble and freeze. And the best news is that it doesn't just freeze (because technically, you can freeze anything, right?), but it freezes well. When I was testing this recipe out, we had it all 3 ways and it was nearly impossible to tell the batch I baked right away from the frozen or refrigerated batch.
This post was originally published on March 7, 2013.
Ingredients
- 8 oz. cremini mushrooms trimmed and quartered
- 1 small or baby eggplant, diced
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- salt + pepper to taste
- 1 package manicotti shells 14 shells
- 15 oz. ricotta cheese I use low fat or fat-free
- 1 egg beaten
- ½ c. shredded parmesan cheese divided
- 1 c. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese divided
- 2 c. jarred marinara sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Combine mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl; toss to coat. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time, or until vegetables are softened and just starting to brown. Set aside.
- If you're planning on eating the manicotti the same day you make it, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Otherwise, turn oven off.
- Cook manicotti shells al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and run under cold water until shells are cool enough to handle.
- While shells are boiling, in another large bowl, stir together ricotta, egg, salt and pepper. Fold in roasted vegetables, ¼ c. parmesan cheese, and ½ c. mozzarella cheese.
- Spread 1 cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish (use a freezer-to-oven safe dish if freezing). Using a small spoon, carefully fill each manicotti shell with cheese and vegetable mixture. Place finished manicotti in baking dish. Once all manicotti are filled, top with remaining sauce and cheese.
To make right away:
- Cover casserole dish with foil. Bake manicotti at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake 10 minutes more.
To refrigerate:
- Cover casserole dish with foil and refrigerate for up to one day. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until heated through, then remove foil and bake 10 minutes more.
To freeze:
- Place plastic wrap directly on top of manicotti to minimize freezer burn, then cover casserole dish with lid. Freeze for up to 1 month. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees; remove lid and plastic wrap and cover with foil. Heat for an hour, then remove foil and bake about 15 minutes more or until manicotti is heated through and cheese has melted.
This looks delicious!!! Can't wait to try this manicotti - and I will feel so healthy while I'm eating it with all those yummy veggies!!!
Okay, this is just amazing! I totally agree with you! When I think of cheese manicotti I just think it is too boring and needs just a little "something". You figured it out! Any advice on a substitute for eggplant? I've tried but I just can't. Would more mushrooms work?
You can double either the mushrooms or zucchini. 🙂
While I'm perfectly content with cheese manicotti, there's also nothing wrong with changing it up now and then. Yum!
i was never a big fan of cheese manicotti, but one filled with roasted vegetables sounds delicious!
Oh this looks so good... Perfect comfort food for a day like today.
What a marvelous idea to add roasted veggies! Much healthier, and I'm sure it tastes way better than it's overly-cheesy counterpart. I'm a fiend for make-ahead meals - especially make-ahead *freezer* meals - adding this one to my list.
I looove manicotti and since I just went through the last of the stuffed shells, I'm going to see if I can find some whole wheat ones. YUM!
I can never find whole wheat manicotti shells. Or the jumbo shells for stuffing either! Let me know if you have better luck...
This sounds amazing! I'm going to have to start stalking your site...every night when I say "Dinner's ready!" They reply "There's no meat, is there?"
I'm gonna try this because it looks and sounds delicious. And having dinner ready ahead of time is the best feeling. But I have to ask, how can cheese be boring?!
Ha! Well, most cheese is never boring, but I find the ricotta filling that's used in stuffed shells & manicotti a little bit meh. I know some people eat it with a spoon with a little honey or fresh fruit and I've tried it, but I just can't get into it!
This looks delicious - cheese and mushrooms, you can't go wrong! I'll probably make two smaller pans at once, so I can have one in the freezer for another day!
This looks divine! I was thinking of you when looking at a Dominican dish online with meat. I need to find it , I bet it would be great with lentils. It was kind of like Sheppard's pie only the mashed potatoes where mashed plantains.
Happy Day to all of you and yours!
Pam
That sounds amazing! My husband loves plantains...
Here it is.
http://www.dominicancooking.com/250-pastelon-de-platanos-amarillos-ripe-plantains-casserole.html
It looks so tempting, but I do not eat ground beef. So I was thinking lentils or lentils with mushrooms, or maybe a weird mix. I am so out of my element. lol
Yes, lentils would be perfect in this! I think black beans would work well too, or crumbled tempeh. If you make it, let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Oh my, this sounds so amazing! I wonder if my veggie haters would eat this...I mean, it's stuffed in pasta! How can you go wrong with that?
Well, my ricotta hater loves it for the veggies, so maybe your veggie haters will love it for the ricotta? 🙂
I'll give it a shot! 🙂
Oh yum, this looks gorgeous. So tasty.
This sounds like a perfect weekend lunch for me. I love roasted veggies!
love roasted veggies!!! and idea of adding to manicotti is just fantastic. I am glad you mentioned the flexibility with the recipe. I will make a great weeknight dinner or when I have to feed crowd 🙂
It's definitely a great recipe for a crowd! If you serve it with a salad on the side, you could probably get 6-7 servings out of it.
this is so brilliant. can't wait to make this ahead and whip up for my boyfriend and i on busy friday nights. i'm always looking for something quick like this b/c i don't get home from the gym until 7ish and on friday's i like to make something special, but that doesn't require a lot of time. this is perfect and the boy will love the cheeeeese.
I'm trying to do more make ahead and freezer recipes. They take a little more time to develop, but so many people (myself included--and I do this for a living!) don't have time to cook dinner everyday. I hope you like it if you make it! 🙂
I love that you loaded these guys with some roasted veggies. Perfect!
Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Baked Manicotti...OH MY...that looks so good! My daughter loves to make manicotti and I can't wait to forward this post to her! Thank you for creating the most wonderful things to eat and sharing them with the rest of us.
Aw, thank you Brenda! 🙂
This is a great weeknight meal! Yum yum.
How does your hubby hate ricotta?? That's just nuts! It's so yummy! These look really good - haven't had manicotti in forever!
I know, right? And he's Italian too!
This looks really really delicious, and I LOVE the convenience of being able to make it ahead. What a time saver :).
such a great vegetarian blog... i eat fish/chicken, but at home I primarily cook veggie. love manicotti, but never made it at home. looks so simple and tasty.
Thank you! 🙂
Oh my goodness....this looks like my perfect dinner! Pasta, cheese and veggies. Mmmmm! This is definitely going on my meal plan for next week. 🙂
I love this idea! I almost never make/eat manicotti because I feel so unhealthy eating all the carbs and cheese, but adding vegetables cancels everything out, right? (Say yes.) Plus I just love roasted vegetables.
Yeah, regular manicotti is just TOO MUCH CHEESE. 🙂 Adding vegetables definitely makes it feel much more virtuous.
Ooo girl, great idea to add all those lovely veggies!