Creamy Ricotta Spinach and Chicken Cannelloni
Jun 08, 2018, Updated Jul 03, 2024
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Cannelloni pasta tubes packed with a cheesy ricotta and chicken filling, and topped with a creamy and delicious tomato sauce. Simple, super easy to make, and SO tasty!
Cheesy chicken stuffed cannelloni baked to a creamy and tender perfection. A classic recipe made EASY. These lovely bundles of joy will melt in your mouth!
This cannelloni is a quick recipe that comes together with some fresh spinach, chicken, and ricotta cheese, all topped with an easy creamy sauce.
The sauce on its own is Half & Half, seasonings, and parmesan. The addition of all the cheese in this cannelloni makes the flavors pop even more. Besides, one serving of milk, cheese or yogurt provides 8 grams of protein and 9 essential nutrients.
The flavors of cheese and milk and yogurt run pretty deep on this blog, including one of my all time favorite recipes, Spinach Artichoke Chicken.
We’re also celebrating June Dairy Month, so you’re free to eat up all the cheese and milk that your heart desires! 😉
Just in those two States, dairy farm families raise more than 274,000 dairy cows on about 2,500 dairy farms. In an average year, Ohio and West Virginia dairy cows produce approximately 5.6 billion pounds, or about 656 million gallons of milk.
To get the full benefits of milk, according to the USDA, adults should consume three servings of dairy – milk, cheese, or yogurt – each day. A serving size is 1 cup of milk or yogurt, and 2-ounces of cheese.
My point is that you need this Creamy Ricotta Spinach and Chicken Cannelloni in your life. Especially in June! The cows will appreciate it.
HOW TO PREPARE CANNELLONI
Bonus tip about this recipe? You don’t have to precook the pasta! Say whaaaat?! *raising the roof*
Edit: Some commenters have said that their tubes needed to be precooked because they were still crunchy after baking. I suggest to precook the cannelloni tubes in boiling water for 5 minutes before filling with the chicken mixture.
- The cannelloni tubes are filled with a warm mixture of chicken (use cooked leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken), cheese, and fresh spinach.
- The prepared cannelloni are then transferred to a baking dish and arranged over some pasta sauce. Use your favorite pasta sauce, homemade or store bought.
- For a finishing touch, the cannelloni are topped with a combination of Half & Half and cheese, a liquid that the cannelloni will cook in while baking.
20-ish minutes later, din din is served! The entire recipe should not take longer than 40 to 45 minutes, from start to finish. The dish is easy to make, kid friendly and makes for some great leftovers.
The ricotta gives a deliciously creamy texture and the sauce results in a beautiful golden crust. Just go make it, dinner-makers!
MORE CHEESY PASTA RECIPES:
- Creamy Chicken Asparagus Shells and Cheese
- White Cheddar Shells and Cheese with Shrimp and Peas
- Skillet Baked Gluten Free Pasta with Ground Turkey and Tomatoes
- Spinach and Artichoke Pasta Alfredo Casserole
ENJOY!
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Creamy Ricotta Spinach and Chicken Cannelloni
Ingredients
- 12 cannelloni tubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion,, diced
- 2 cloves garlic,, minced
- 3 cooked chicken breasts,, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup part-skim Ricotta cheese
- 1 bag (8 to 10 ounces) baby spinach
- salt and fresh ground pepper,, to taste
- 1 cup pasta sauce
- 1 1/2 cups half & half
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- salt and fresh ground pepper,, to taste
Instructions
- Cook cannelloni tubes for 5 minutes in boiling water; rinse and set aside to cool for a few minutes, or just until cool enough to handle.
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and saute for 2 minutes; stir in garlic and chicken and continue to cook for 4 minutes.
- Add milk and simmer for 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Stir in ricotta cheese until well blended.
- Add spinach and cook for 2 minutes, or until wilted.
- Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes, or until cool enough to handle.
- Spoon pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
- Using a spoon, your hands, or even a piping bag, stuff the prepared chicken mixture into cannelloni tubes.
- Arrange the cannelloni in a single layer on the bottom of the previously prepared baking dish. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine half & half, parmesan, basil, oregano, nutmeg, salt, and pepper; whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Pour the half & half mixture over the cannelloni.
- Bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until top is golden brown and the cream is reduced.
- Remove from oven and let stand 3 minutes, or until sauce has slightly thickened.
- Spoon the sauce over the cannelloni and serve.
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.
I think I will make a few modifications to this recipe next time I make it. I think it would be better if an actual cream sauce were made in the skillet with whole milk, garlic, all of the same spices as this recipe, and more parmesan. I’d let it get nice and thick and let the parmesan melt. The quick mixing of the half and half and putting it in the oven like that just made it all seem kinda dry overall. I’ll probably put some of it inside the cannelloni, too, because the filling ended up being kinda dry as well.
Made this last night. Did not have cannelloni noodles but had manicotti noodles. It was great. My husband loved it and we got our parsley from our garden.
Will make again!
L
Excellent recipe. One of the best I’ve made. I made two casseroles and froze one.
This recipe has a lot of potential. I followed it except for I used whole milk ricotta and I used a rotisserie chicken. There was way too much half an half. I believe it needs mozzarella cheese added to the chicken mixture. Cheese makes everything better! So ppl add your own spin to it. Play with it.
I agree with previous reviewer that the chicken, milk, ricotta mixture was liquid. The recipe needs a lot of help. It’s very bland and just not good. I will never make this again. I was able to salvage it with using extra ricotta and discarding the watery mix. Starting over w ricotta and wasting cheese which I hate. I also had to make a completely different sauce for the mixture form another recipe I love just to give it flavor. Do not use this recipe.
I made this pretty much following the recipe except I added b
Chopped mushrooms and more onions to the chicken plus a dash or two of cayenne pepper. Must have worked as the plates were all but licked clean. I will definitely be using this recipe again! I also made my own tomato sauce, which I admit, is pretty darned good 😊. Thank you for sharing!!
That’s great to hear! I’m very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
I wish I had read more of the reviews before making this because it was undoubtedly one of the worst things I’ve ever made (and I am no stranger to the kitchen). There is a lot of potential, but the method is disastrous. I used manicotti because I couldn’t find cannelloni and cooked it for 8 minutes (1 minute more than what was on the Barilla box) and it was still undercooked and chewy in spots. So blame that one on Barilla, it really needs more like 10 minutes. Then, both the milk and the ricotta cheese curdled when added to the pan and heated and the filling was watery (it definitely did not end up like the photo). I used 2% milk and as called for, part-skim ricotta. If you’re going to make it and insist on making it as written, I’d recommend using full-fat dairy to at least try and prevent curdling and maybe that would also cut down on some of the wateriness. I’m also not sure I understand the point of adding milk and simmering it until it’s evaporated so would definitely skip that step. Chopped chicken was a nightmare to try and wrestle into the shells so if I were to try this again, I’d use shredded chicken instead. As far as the filling goes, it makes more sense to cook the onions, garlic, and spinach, and then let it cool for a few minutes before mixing with the ricotta and shredded chicken. It holds together better and I think would prevent some of the wateriness. And finally, I used fat free half and half and that was too thin, though I’ve never had a problem making that substitution with other recipes. The ratio of pasta sauce to half and half mixture seemed off as well. Next time, I’d use full fat half and half, or heavy cream, but less of it, along with the parmesan and spices, and mix them together with the pasta sauce, then pour over the pasta before baking. It took far longer than 20 minutes at 400 degrees (I don’t know what kind of oven can heat and reduce 1.5 cups of, presumably cold or at least cool, half and half in 20 minutes. Beyond that, it sounds like the recipe originally intended for the pasta to be cooked in that cream mixture in 20 minutes. There’s no way). Probably should go more like 45-55 minutes, at least. Overall it was bland, watery, and far more complicated than it needed to be and while I recognize that my use of low fat dairy products could have contributed to that, the only specification on fat percentage to use was the part-skim ricotta. We choked it down for dinner and I threw out the rest. I may try again with a different method and manicotti that’s more cooked or even stuffed shells.
Made just as written and my family loved it. Amazing receipe,
That’s great! I’m very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Have you tried to make using ground chicken instead of chicken breast? Thanks!
No, I have not made these with ground chicken.
This recipe sounded great. My Mom can’t eat tomato products, so I was wondering if Alfredo sauce might be a good substitute for the marinara. Thoughts?