4-Cheese Sausage Manicotti
This 4-cheese sausage manicotti with marinara sauce makes a delicious main dish that can be served with a salad and garlic bread.
Back in the day when I ate a lot of frozen dinners, my favorite one was cannelloni with tomato sauce.
I think it was that frozen dinner that actually inspired me to come up with this manicotti recipe.
This recipe includes cottage cheese to go along with the traditional ricotta cheese filling.
But if preferred, more ricotta cheese can be used in place of the cottage cheese.
This manicotti also includes a quick and easy homemade marinara sauce that tastes especially good with the cheese filled shells.
The filling in this recipe has Italian sausage in it.
Feel free to change up the meat to ground beef or ground turkey if preferred.
Or it can be made meatless too.
Let’s check out the ingredients.
Marinara Sauce – olive oil, garlic, tomato sauce, dried basil, dried oregano, ground black pepper, dried red pepper flakes and salt
Pasta and Filling – manicotti pasta, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, chopped spinach, green onion, parsley, Parmesan cheese and…
…shredded mozzarella cheese…
…and cooked Italian sausage
HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE
A printable recipe with the measurements and instructions is located at the bottom of this post.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
For the Marinara Sauce:
Dice the garlic and set aside for a moment.
Heat a medium size saucepan on low to medium heat.
To the pan add olive oil and…
…chopped garlic.
Stir for a moment before adding the tomato sauce.
To the pan add tomato sauce,
…oregano,
…basil,
…pepper,
…dried red pepper flakes,
…and salt.
Stir the sauce.
Turn the heat down to the lowest heat possible and cover the pan with a lid.
Let simmer for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.
For the Filling:
In a medium size bowl add cottage cheese,
…ricotta cheese,
…Parmesan cheese,
…spinach,
…green onions,
…parsley,
…mozzarella cheese,
…and cooked and crumbled Italian sausage (or your choice of ground meat).
Stir together.
For the Manicotti:
Stuff the manicotti shells with cheese filling.
In a casserole dish (either one large oven proof casserole dish or serving size oven proof dishes),
add a layer of the sauce to the bottom.
Lay each stuffed manicotti in the casserole dish.
For the Toppings:
Spread the sauce over the top of the manicotti.
Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake in a preheated oven (at 350 degrees F.) until the shells soften and the filling heats up (45 minutes).
Serve warm and…
…top with grated Parmesan cheese.
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4-Cheese Sausage Manicotti
Ingredients
For the Marinara Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
- 2 cans (15 ounces for each can) tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 3 dashes salt
For the Filling:
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped spinach
- 2 green onions chopped, including the green tops
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley Italian or curly parsley
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup cooked and crumbled Italian sausage (broken up in small pieces with a spatula when cooking) can substitute with ground beef, ground turkey or ground pork
For the Manicotti Pasta:
- 1 box (12 to 14 count) uncooked (dry) manicotti shells
For the Toppings:
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
For the Marinara Sauce:
- Heat a medium size saucepan on low to medium heat. To the pan add olive oil and chopped garlic. Stir for a moment before adding the tomato sauce.
- To the pan add tomato sauce, oregano, basil, pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt. Stir together.
- Turn the heat down to the lowest heat possible and cover the pan with a lid. Let simmer for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.
For the Filling:
- In a medium size bowl add cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, spinach, green onions, parsley, mozzarella cheese, and cooked and crumbled Italian sausage (or your choice of ground meat). Stir together.
For the Manicotti Pasta:
- In a large shallow oven proof casserole dish, or serving size oven proof dishes, add a layer of the warm sauce to the bottom.
- Stuff the manicotti shells with the cheese filling. Then lay each stuffed manicotti in the casserole dish.
For the Toppings:
- Spread the sauce over the top of the manicotti.
- Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in a preheated oven (at 350 degrees F.) until the shells soften and the filling heats up (45 minutes).
- Serve warm and top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this manicotti as a main dish with salad and garlic bread for a delicious meal.
Pasta Recipes
Here are more pasta recipes “Green Chile Macaroni and Cheese“, “Sloppy Joe Macaroni and Cheese” and “3-Cheese Stuffed Shells with Marinara“.
More Pasta Recipes You May Like:
Italian Sausage and Radiatore Pasta with Homemade Sauce
Mostaccioli Pasta with Blue Cheese and Bacon
Have you tried freezing this?
Hi Audrey, good question. I haven’t tried freezing this recipe. But, I do happen to like the frozen Lean Cuisine manicotti dinner which seems to be just fine when frozen. Now you’ve got me thinking. I’m going to try freezing this the next time I make it. Seems like it should work well. Thank you for the idea!
I have made this once and found them to be easy as well as tasty. Not sure why it has not been a repeat dish-but this is a great reminder that I need to get this on the table again. Your version does look delicious, so I am saving this recipe. Great photos here-very enticing!
Hi Tina, I sometimes forget what I’ve made in the past and don’t repeat it (that’s why I love this blog as a reminder). Thank you for stopping by!
Beautiful looking manicotti and gorgeous photos…that top one is just stunning!
Happy Valentines Day!
Thank you very much!
This is one gorgeous manicotti. I have never made my own. I am not a cottage cheese fan so I am curious if I can just leave that out. This is calling my name in a big way.
Hi Kim, yes for sure you can leave out the cottage cheeese….just use more ricotta instead. Have a great day!
Thanks so much. I just keep coming back here to stare at this. Lol!
Hi Kim, so glad you like it!