Four-Cheese Manicotti with Meat Sauce
This manicotti recipe is a hearty dinner that you can make ahead! Manicotti pasta shells are stuffed with a four-cheese filling, topped with a savory meat sauce and cheese, and baked until bubbling hot. The best part? You don’t have to boil the pasta first! It makes the prep so much easier.
Say hello to your new favorite cheese manicotti recipe. It’s a hearty stuffed pasta dinner that happens to be one of my favorite low-fuss baked pastas. It’s got a few tricks and shortcuts up its sleeve.
You Will Love This Recipe
- You don’t have to boil the pasta – just stuff the dry manicotti shells, place them in the baking dish, top them with sauce, and they come out of the oven perfectly cooked. It makes the prep so much easier!
- Use jarred marinara sauce. There are so many good-quality ones available these days -it’s a no-brainer. Just simmer it up with some Italian sausage and a few seasonings, and the sauce is ready to go.
- It’s make-ahead friendly, so go ahead and make it, stick it in the fridge, and bake it the next night.
- It’s top-notch comfort food. Cheesy stuffed pasta topped with hearty meat sauce hits all the right cozy notes.
Ingredients
- Manicotti shells: You don’t have to boil them!
- Italian sausage: Choose hot Italian sausage or mild.
- Cheese: The filling is made with ricotta, mozzarella, Asiago, and Parmesan cheese
- Sauce: Use your favorite jarred marinara sauce.
- Egg: There’s just one mixed into the filling.
- Seasonings: Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Fresh parsley: Some goes in the sauce and the rest is for garnish.
How to Make It
- Make the meat sauce: Brown the sausage and then add the marinara and parsley. Simmer the sauce while you prepare the manicotti.
- Make the cheese filling: Mix the ricotta, mozzarella, Asiago, and Parmesan in a bowl. Add the egg and seasonings and mix until well combined.
- Prepare the pan: Coat the bottom of the baking dish with marinara sauce.
- Stuff the manicotti: Fill each dry manicotti shell with cheese filling and place them in a single layer in the prepared baking dish.
- Add the sauce and cheese: Pour the meat sauce over the top of the stuffed manicotti and sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top.
- Bake: Cover the pan with foil and bake the manicotti for about 45 minutes at 375°F. Take the foil off and bake it for 10 minutes or until bubbling hot.
Recipe Tips
You can assemble the manicotti ahead and bake it later. Keep it covered in the fridge.
If you have leftovers, they will keep in the refrigerator for several days. They also freeze well – just pop them in a freezer-safe airtight container. They’ll keep for a month or two. When you want to reheat them from frozen, let the manicotti and meat sauce thaw in the fridge and then warm them up in the microwave.
More Baked Pasta Recipes
Four Cheese Manicotti with Meat Sauce
This cheesy baked manicotti recipe has a couple of shortcuts that take an otherwise fussy dish to a deliciously simple level. Plus, you can make it ahead to make life even easier.
Print
Pin
Rate
Servings: 14 stuffed manicotti with sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (8-ounce) box manicotti
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 (24-ounce) jar marinara sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley plus extra for garnish
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups shredded Asiago cheese
- 2 cup shredded mozzarella divided
- 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Brown the sausage in a large pan over medium heat. Add the marinara and 2 tablespoons parsley and stir to combine. Adjust the heat to low while you prepare the manicotti.
- Mix 16 ounces ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add 2 cups of the asiago cheese, 1 ½ cups of the mozzarella, and 1 ½ cups of the Parmesan. Reserve the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan for sprinkling over the top of the stuffed pasta and sauce.
- Coat the bottom of a 9×13” baking pan with a thin layer of the meat sauce. Stuff each uncooked manicotti (see note) with the cheese filling. Place them in a single layer in the prepared pan.
- Pour the meat sauce over the top of the stuffed manicotti and spread it over the top of the pasta so it’s covered. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese and Parmesan over the top.
- Cover the pan with foil and bake the manicotti for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake it for 10 minutes. Sprinkle extra chopped parsley over the top for garnish. Let the pasta stand for a few minutes at room temperature before serving.
Notes
You don’t have to boil the pasta first. Just stuff each manicotti shell with the filling – once you cover them with the sauce and cheese, they will cook in the oven.
When I stuff manicotti, I take small spoonfuls of the filling and press it into the shells with my fingers. I’ve tried piping it, but the filling is very thick, and you end up wasting some of the filling because it gets stuck in the bag.
There is enough filling to fill 14 manicotti. I haven’t had a problem with the filling running out of the shells while they bake – it’s pretty thick, and the egg holds it all together, so it doesn’t melt too much. So, go ahead and stuff the shells completely full with the filling – you don’t need to leave space at the ends. There is a picture in the post if you want to see what the dry shells look like stuffed with filling.
You can assemble the manicotti a day ahead. Get them in the pan, cover them with the sauce, and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Tightly cover the pan with foil and refrigerate it until you’re ready to bake it. Leave it out at room temperature while you preheat the oven. You may need to add an extra five minutes of baking time, as well.
Nutrition Estimate
Serving: 1 manicotti with sauce | Calories: 411kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 1122mg | Potassium: 361mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 772IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 468mg | Iron: 2mg
Sign up here to get recipes delivered to your email!
More Recipes with Italian Sausage
- Easy Creamy Spinach-Sausage Pasta
- One Pot Italian Sausage and Peppers
- Baked Sausage Gnocchi
- Italian Sausage Pepper Soup
I hope you love this pasta recipe! If you’re craving comfort food, it’s a great one to try.
Happy cooking,
This manicotti with meat sauce recipe, photos, and post was updated from the archives. It was first published in December 2012.
Well, had a hankering for manicotti (that was different from my usual beef and 2 cheese recipe) and found this one.
Now, to source the ingredients.
-Had a pound of ground pork in the freezer. Check. I just added the appropriate spices that Italian sausage uses to bring it into line with the recipe ingredients.
-Usually used spaghetti sauce BUT I really do like marinara so found a jar on supermarket shelf. Check.
-Wanted fresh parsley vs dried so..check.
Four major supermarkets where I live (one being too far away to check after visiting the other three)
One was SOLD OUT of asiago. Really? Sold out?? Must be a popular item.
Second store: only had 1 pound packages. Twice what I wanted. My oh my.
Third store: nope, don’t carry it.
Not going back to second store so subbed Montery Jack. Not the same flavour by a long shot but…..
Now for the manicotti.
NOT ONE STORE HAS IT ! ! ! Must have run off with the asiago .
So, I really don’t want to do this BUT subbed in canneloni.
Message to self: NEVER sub in canneloni for manicotti. Takes forever to fill, being substantially smaller than manicotti tubes.
The prep work went as detailed in OP directions. Very easy.
After the stated cook/rest time, time to dig in.
THIS IS SUPERB. The flavours were over the top and the 4 cheese (even with the substitution) mix was fantastic. Great flavour and had “stretchability” that is the true mark of almost anything Italian.
I give this 5* as it’s quick and easy (as long as you can find asiago and manicotti tube).
😀
Sounds like an adventure to find the ingredients! I’m so glad you loved the recipe with the subs you made – thank you for sharing your suggestions.
I just made this last night and WOW! It is so delicious! I love the fact that you don’t have to boil the manicotti noodles before stuffing them, it makes it so much easier. I tried Rao’s marinara sauce and it is the best I have ever tasted, hands down. Thank you for recommending it. I got the 32 ounce jar of sauce instead of the 22 ounce because I like my pasta a little saucy 😉. Also, instead of getting pre shredded cheese, I got Parmesan and asiago wedges and shredded them by hand (well, I made my husband and son shred them by hand, why should I have all the fun, right). The freshly shredded cheese really made this dish over the top yummy. I did use pre shredded mozzarella because I had some in the fridge that needed to be used. This recipe was a big hit with me, the hubby, my 15 year old son who is a picky eater and 1 of my 3 cats (who is not a picky eater and quite frankly a bit of a chonky kitty). The sneaky feline grabbed a quick bite off of a plate when no one was looking.
Our family gives this recipe 2 thumbs up and Gumbo the cat gives it 2 paws way up.
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it (especially Gumbo :)!