Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

4.96 from 21 votes

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni made with a simple tomato, basil sauce and topped with melting mozzarella cheese.

Prep Time35

Cook Time40

Total Time1 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: people

Finely chop the shallot and garlic and saute in a pan with a little olive oil for around 1-2 minutes until soft and translucent but not browned. Add the tomato passata (pureed tomatoes) with some torn basil leaves, salt and pepper and simmer for around 5 minutes, set aside.

Add the washed raw, fresh spianch to a large pan and wilt on a medium heat. Add a splash of water (around 1 tbsp) to stop the spinach from burning and to help wilt it all. Leave to cool or rinse under cold water then squeeze out as much water as possible and finely chop.
To make the spinach and ricotta filling, add the ricotta, parmesan, chopped spinach, egg, nutmeg and salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl and mix everything together until creamy and thoroughly combined.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350F/gas mark 4.
To assemble the spinach and ricotta cannelloni, add a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce to the bottom of a large baking dish. Transfer the spinach and ricotta filling to a piping bag or a disposable freezer bag with the corner cut off and pipe the filling into the cannelloni pasta tubes. Add each filled cannelloni tube in an even layer in the baking dish.
Top the cannelloni with the remaining tomato sauce then top with torn mozzarella and grated parmesan. Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes then uncovered for 10 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Prep ahead: you can prepare and assemble the cannelloni in advance and store it in the fridge for up to 24 hours before baking.

Leftovers: once cooled, you can refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days and eat cold or reheat in the oven until piping hot.

Freezing instructions: you can freeze the cannelloni for up to 3 months, defrost (thaw) completely then bake.