Baked Manicotti Recipe with Homemade Tomato Sauce

02.15.2016

Baked Manicotti Recipe with Homemade Tomato Sauce

If you love manicotti, you’ll love this version.

I like to add sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and red pepper flakes to the filling, which gives the dish more depth. Also, make note of this go-to tomato sauce recipe. It’s great on all sorts of pasta dishes and as a dipping sauce for bread!

Ingredient note: For the filling, I suggest using the sun-dried tomato pesto found at Trader Joe’s. If you cannot find this product, you can use 1 Tbsp of finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes with a little bit of the juice. Add 1 tsp of finely chopped pine nuts. Then, place in a food processor with a little bit of olive oil and mix till smooth.

This recipe was originally posted on my blog at Parade Magazine.

Baked Manicotti

Author: Nisa Burns Cochran

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 (8-oz) box manicotti

For the sauce:

2 (14-oz) cans unseasoned tomato sauce
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ Tbsp garlic, minced
½ Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp red pepper flakes

For the filling:

½ cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups soft ricotta cheese
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
8 oz artichoke hearts, chopped
1 Tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375℉.
Boil manicotti till al dente (about 9 to 10 minutes), then drain and allow to slightly cool.
Make the sauce. Mix all sauce ingredients into a large pot. Place the pot on low to medium heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While sauce is simmering, make the filling. Place all filling ingredients into a large bowl and stir till everything is combined.
With a spoon, fill manicotti with your filling and place in a casserole dish.
Pour your sauce over the manicotti, place in the oven, and bake for 30 minutes.
Top finished manicotti with extra Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Notes

Makes stuffing for 12 manicotti