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5 from 1 vote

EASY CHEESE MANICOTTI

Easy Cheese Manicotti recipe that is made with homemade crepes for the noodles and then stuffed with a cheesy filling. This simple Italian dish comes together easily for a delicious meatless meal that the whole family will enjoy!

Ingredients

NOODLES

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

CHEESE FILLING

  • 1 1/2 lbs. Ricotta cheese
  • 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese divided
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp dried parsley

SAUCE

  • 1 24 oz jar spaghetti sauce

Instructions

  • To make the noodles, combine the eggs, milk, flour and salt, whisking well until mixture is thin and smooth. I like to use a hand mixer because it makes it a lot easier to get all of the lumps out of the batter. It is easiest to make the crepes if you have a crepe maker but you can make the crepes in a skillet very easily as well. 
    -To make the crepe noodles in a skillet, put about 1/4 cup of the batter in a heated skillet over medium heat, allowing the batter to coat the bottom thoroughly. Right after pouring the batter in the skillet, pick it up and tilt it around until it makes a nice circle. Cook about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. You don't want the noodles to get crispy, so just cook them until they are cooked through but still soft. You want the crepes to be about 5"-6" so a small skillet will work the best.
    -To make the crepe noodles with a crepe maker, set the crepe maker on medium heat. Once heated, pour 1/4 cup of the batter in the center and then use the crepe spreader to make a 6" circle. My crepe maker cooks very quickly so as soon as I'm done spreading the batter, the bottom side is done. Flip the crepe over and cook the other side for about 20 seconds.
  • To keep the noodles from sticking to each other, place a small piece of wax paper in between each crepe and stack them all up until you are out of batter. You should get about 16-18 crepes from this batter recipe. 
  • Mix the Ricotta cheese, half of the shredded Parmesan, the egg and the dried parsley until well combined. 
  • Pour half of the spaghetti sauce into the bottom of an ungreased 9X13 pan. Spoon about 2-3 tablespoonfuls of the cheese mixture into each noodle. Roll up each filled crepe and place into the pan, seam side down. Once all the noodles are filled and placed in the pan, pour and spread the rest of the spaghetti sauce over the top.
  • Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 20 more minutes. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese on top and then cook for about 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

Video

Notes

Shredded parmesan doesn't melt as well as other cheeses but tastes amazing with this recipe. You can also use mozzarella if you prefer - mozzarella will melt more smoothly than the parmesan cheese does.