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My baked chicken cannelloni is made with cannelloni pasta tubes stuffed with a cheesy ricotta, chicken, and spinach filling, topped with creamy sauce. This is an easy make-ahead dinner that’s family-friendly, customizable, and so tasty!
Cheesy Baked Cannelloni With Chicken
Like my homemade stromboli, baked mostaccioli, and crockpot lasagna, this cheesy chicken-stuffed cannelloni is a classic Italian dish made EASY. Chicken cannelloni is quick and stuffed with a filling of fresh spinach, chicken, and ricotta, all nestled in pasta sauce and topped with a creamy mixture of half-and-half, Parmesan, and Italian seasonings. A side of air fryer garlic bread is perfect for sopping up all that sauce!
The entire recipe takes 45 minutes from start to finish. It’s kid-friendly and makes for some great leftovers.
Reader Review
“This is a delicious recipe!! One of your longer recipes, but absolutely worth a little more effort! I love that all of your recipes allow for changes of supplies on hand, adding veggies, spices, and different proteins!! Thank you 😊” – Lynn Marie
Ingredients You’ll Need
This chicken cannelloni recipe is flexible. I love reading comments where you guys have swapped out the pasta, changed up the ingredients, and adapted it for your families with delicious success!
Here’s what I use. Scroll to the recipe card for the printable details and amounts.
- Cannelloni: These are large pasta tubes made for stuffing and baking. Manicotti shells are a close substitute.
- Olive Oil: Or any other cooking oil.
- Garlic and Onion: Diced yellow onion and minced fresh garlic.
- Chicken: I use shredded chicken for the filling, or about 3 cooked chicken breasts. You can bake the chicken, use the air fryer, or chop up leftover rotisserie chicken. Alternatively, replace the chopped chicken with ¾ to 1 pound of cooked ground chicken.
- Milk: Any kind (whole milk, 2%, etc.).
- Ricotta Cheese: I use part-skim ricotta, a soft Italian cheese you’ll find in the dairy aisle or deli section of most grocery stores.
- Baby Spinach: Fresh or frozen. If you’re using frozen spinach, thaw it and squeeze out any excess moisture to avoid a watery filling.
- Pasta Sauce: Use your favorite pasta sauce, homemade or store-bought.
- Half-and-half: Heavy cream works for an extra-rich cream sauce.
- Parmesan Cheese: I like freshly grated for the best flavor, but pre-grated parmesan is fine.
- Seasonings: I season the creamy sauce with dried basil, oregano, ground nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Substitute the individual herbs with Italian seasoning if needed.
Cannelloni Alternatives
If you can’t find cannelloni tubes, the ricotta and spinach filling is also delicious in stuffed shells or lasagna sheets, but the baking times can vary.
- Jumbo shells. Simply swap cannelloni tubes with jumbo pasta shells and prepare the recipe as directed.
- Lasagna sheets. Another option is to roll the chicken filling inside fresh or pre-boiled lasagna sheets, like lasagna roll-ups. Nestle the roll-ups on top of the red sauce, pour over the white sauce, and bake!
Should I Pre-Cook the Cannelloni Tubes?
It may be the pasta brand I used, but I never par-cooked my cannelloni for this recipe until I switched brands. Some commenters said their tubes needed to be precooked because they remained crunchy after baking. To avoid this, I suggest precooking the cannelloni tubes in boiling water for 5 minutes before filling them with the chicken mixture.
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Chicken Cannelloni
Ingredients
- 12 cannelloni tubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cooked chicken breasts, finely chopped
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup part-skim Ricotta cheese
- 8 to 10 ounces baby spinach
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup pasta sauce
- 1½ cups half-and-half
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Par-cook the cannelloni. Cook the cannelloni tubes in boiling water for 5 minutes; rinse and set aside to cool for a few minutes, or just until cool enough to handle.
- Prepare to bake. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- Sauté. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for 2 minutes; stir in the garlic and chicken, and continue cooking for 4 minutes.
- Make it creamy. Add the milk and let it simmer for 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the ricotta cheese until well blended.
- Add the spinach. Add the spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until wilted. Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes, or until cool enough to handle.
- Stuff the cannelloni. Spoon pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and set aside. Using a spoon, your hands, or a piping bag, stuff the prepared chicken mixture into cannelloni tubes.
- Assemble. Arrange the cannelloni in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish, over the pasta sauce. Set aside.
- Make the sauce. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, parmesan, basil, oregano, nutmeg, salt, and pepper until thoroughly combined. Pour the half-and-half mixture over the cannelloni.
- Bake. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the cream is reduced. Remove from the oven and let stand for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Spoon the sauce over the cannelloni and serve.
- Finish and serve. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Spoon the sauce over the cannelloni and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
How to Make Chicken Cannelloni
Stuffed cannelloni are delicious bundles of dinner-joy. Stuffing the pasta tubes takes time, but it’s so easy that you can even prepare this the day before. It’ll be ready for the oven during the week.
- Par-boil the pasta. Cook the cannelloni tubes in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes. Then, rinse the pasta and let it cool enough to handle.
- Make the filling. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in oil, then add the garlic and cooked chicken. After a few minutes, stir in the milk, let that simmer, and add the ricotta and spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted, then let the filling cool and thicken.
- Assemble. Spread the pasta sauce into the bottom of a casserole dish. Stuff the cannelloni with the cheesy chicken mixture. You can do this by hand, with a spoon, or by piping (my preferred method).
- Add the white sauce. Nestle the stuffed cannelloni in a single layer over the pasta sauce. Whisk the half-and-half with parmesan, herbs, and seasonings, and pour it over the cannelloni.
- Bake. Bake at 400ºF for 18-20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Give the cannelloni a few minutes to cool and rest so the sauce can thicken before serving.
Use a Piping Bag to Fill the Cannelloni
I’ve found this is the easiest way to fill cannelloni tubes. Add the chicken mixture to a ziplock bag (or piping bag), snip off the tip, and place the tip inside the open end of the cannelloni. Pipe the filling into the tubes. Works like a charm!
Can I Freeze Cannelloni?
This is a freezer-friendly meal, usually when it’s cooked in a tomato-based sauce. Because this recipe has a cream-based sauce, I usually avoid freezing it, as the sauce can change texture when reheated.
However, if you still want to freeze it, let it cool, wrap it tightly, and freeze it unbaked. Thaw the casserole in the fridge overnight. Before baking, add a splash of liquid, like milk, and bake as directed.
I would like to make your Cannelloni recipe; however, it has cream in it and I am not sure it can be frozen after cooking. Can it be frozen ?
Hi! Technically, yes, you can freeze the cannelloni after cooking, but cream-based sauces change texture once frozen and thawed. They may separate a bit and become grainy. That said, if you’re okay with a little texture shift, it should still taste great. 😊
This is a delicious recipe!! One of your longer recipes but absolutely worth a little more effort! I love that all of your recipes allow for changes of supplies on hand, adding veggies, spices and different proteins!! Thank you 😊
Thank you so much! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
It would be great to know how many lbs of chicken you use and how many cups of cooked chicken it is. Chicken breasts can be so different in size. I was also thinking of using rotisserie chicken. Looks delicious!
Hi!
I used about ¾ pounds of chicken for the filling—that’s roughly what you get from 3 average-sized chicken breasts. I’ll update the recipe to make that clearer. Thank you! 🙂
I was looking forward to making this recipe but I found that next time I make it I’ll go for frozen spinach as that it mixes better and less clumpy, I accidentally used too much ricotta but flavour was still there
Thank you for the tip! Frozen spinach is a great choice, and glad the flavor was still good with the extra ricotta!
Can I freeze this recipe?
Hi!
Technically, yes, you can freeze this. That said, I usually avoid freezing cream-based dishes since the sauce will change in texture when reheated – cream sauces can sometimes separate or get a grainy texture. If you decide to freeze them, I recommend letting the dish cool completely, wrapping it tightly, and freezing it unbaked. When you’re ready to serve, thaw it in the fridge overnight, then bake as directed, adding a little extra liquid, like milk, if needed to refresh it.
Followed this exactly it says 1.5 cup half and half. Way too watery. No idea what to do now. I can’t stuff shells ,this is like water. Was that a typo ? Nothing I can do now 🙁
Hi!
I hope I can help here. The half-and-half is not used for the stuffing. The sauce with the half-and-half is poured over the cannelloni before baking them.
Made this for dinner last night! I couldn’t find the right noodles so I did jumbo shells and it was a hit with the whole family including a 6 yr old and 8 yr old!
I’m so glad the recipe was a hit with your family, and it’s always a huge win when the kids love it, too! 😄
Great recipe! I made a couple changes just based on personal preference 🙂
– Substituted 1lb ground chicken
– Subbed jumbo shells for cannelloni (less drama!) – cooked al dente
– I cooked the chicken, set it aside to cool, then cooked the onion, spin, and garlic adding it to the chicken. Once cooled, I mixed in the ricotta and scooped the mixture into the cooled shells
– I had a cup of tomato sauce leftover so I mixed that w/ the half and half before pouring over the shells (more flavor!)
– Finally, I zested an entire lemon over everything before popping in the oven 🙂
It was flavorful, easy, and my husband LOVED it! Thank you for the inspiration!
I am very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
I followed this recipe exactly as written, however I couldn’t find cannelloni, so I substituted in Barilla oven-ready thin lasagne (no piping or stuffing required). I boiled the lasagne noodles 4-5 minutes, rinsed gently, then I spread the ricotta chicken mixture over the pasta sheets and rolled them up beautifully. I did top this recipe with mozzarella cheese. This recipe was delicious and my kids loved it! The next time I make this I’ll probably double the red sauce and make a little more of the white sauce, as we’re a family who likes a lot of sauce. Cheers!
That sounds like a fantastic adaptation! It’s great to hear that the substitution worked out well and that your family enjoyed it. Doubling the sauce next time sounds like a delicious plan for sauce lovers. Cheers to many more successful and tasty meals! Thank YOU! 🙂
I made this for supper and it was delicious. I used manicotti shells. I did not have spinach so substituted chopped red pepper. I also added Parmesan cheese to the filling along with salt and pepper. I made a bechamel sauce adding extra Parmesan and a little extra sprinkle of parmesan cheese at the end then browning under broiler. Finished with sprinkling of fresh basil. I loved that not having all the ingredients that I could use substitutes. Thank you for the recipe.
I layer the bottom of the baking dish with the pasta sauce and I made corkscrew pasta and made one layer on the bottom of the dish. Then I topped all of it with the ricotta cheese mixture and chicken. I did S&P and Italian seasoning. I added mushrooms and topped the dish with breadcrumbs and mozzarella cheese. I used all the ingredients in the recipe except the correct noodles. It was terrific.