Stuff n' Serve: Delicious Cannelloni Dinner

The box marked cannelloni is often high up on the shelf in the pasta aisle right near the lasagna and manicotti noodles. If you’ve never had cannelloni, then you probably never even look that high during your regular grocery shop, or maybe you’ve had it once or twice and wonder – how exactly do you fill those tubes of pasta? 

 

 

I’m here to tell you it’s super easy and takes about as much effort as making a lasagna. In fact, my husband loves cannelloni so much he would always choose it over lasagna and maybe over this favourite pasta dish too.

 

Simply sauté your beef, onions and garlic.

 

 

Add spinach.

 

 

Then an egg and parmesan cheese.

 

 

Pour some tomato sauce on the bottom on your casserole dish.

 

 

Stuff your shells.

 

 

 

 

Top with more sauce, tin foil and bake.

 

 

Add parmesan cheese, re-cover with tin foil and bake some more.

 

 

Remove from oven, uncover and let cool 10 minutes.

 

 

Serve and enjoy!

 

 

Ingredients
 

1 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ lbs lean ground beef

2 jars tomato sauce (approx. 650mL each)

1 box oven ready cannelloni noodles (approx. 375g) (oven ready is VERY important!)

 

 

  Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft (approx. 3 minutes).

 

  Add your ground beef and cook until no longer pink, breaking up big pieces occasionally.

 

  Once ground beef is cooked through, remove from heat, add spinach and stir until combined.

 

  Add egg and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Still until combined, set aside.

 

  Pour 1/2 jar of tomato sauce onto bottom of 9 x 13 casserole dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

 

  Stuff your cannelloni tubes with beef mixture and place in single layer in casserole dish (pictured above).

 

  Cover stuffed cannelloni tubes with 1 1/2 jars of tomato sauce (if a piece of noodle isn't covered with sauce it will get crunchy in the oven so make sure everything is covered in sauce), cover casserole dish with tin foil and bake in pre-heated 350F oven for 45 minutes.

 

  Remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese, re-cover with tin foil and continue baking for another 15 minutes.

 

  Remove from oven, uncover, let cool 10-15 minutes and serve.

 

  Note about stuffing tubes. I let the beef mixture cool a bit so it's easy to handle, then scoop some into my hand and stuff directly from my hand using my thumb to push the beef mixture into the tube. Careful not to overstuff or you'll break the tube! If one does happen to break, just hold together as best as possible and place in into the pan - it will be just fine after baking.

 

For more of my family's favourite pasta dishes check out my Meat Lovers Pizza Skillet Pasta, my Easy Weeknight Cheesy Perogies, my Slow Cooker Vodka Cream Sauce and the Easiest (and Healthy!) Baked Pasta You'll Ever Make.