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This Extra Veggie Manicotti with Meat Sauce is big pan of comfort food! Entirely homemade, it's creamy cheesy stuffed manicotti pasta with a super hearty tomato sauce loaded with both ground beef and a ton of hidden veggies! This Italian classic is an extra special dinner your family will love!
- A Classic Comfort Food Pasta! - Homemade manicotti, like lasagna or Stuffed Shells with Sausage, can take a little bit of extra time and care but it's always worth it! Rich and hearty, it's a complete meal all in one, and so delicious!
- Hidden Veggies! - While they are optional, a red tomato sauce is always a chance to add a few pureed veggies to our family's plate! When pureed in the food processor, nobody can even tell they are in there! I love doing this with my Italian Sausage Bolognese, Mom's Homemade Spaghetti and even Beef Vegetable Chili!
- Serve Manicotti with this Spinach Arugula Salad or an Italian Mixed Greens Salad with Crispy Prosciutto!
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Ingredients
This Homemade Manicotti uses basic pantry staples, ground beef, and extra fresh vegetables that you won't even know are in there!
- Ground Beef - I use 80/20 ground beef. You can choose to drain the fat or not. You could also substitute some or all bulk Italian sausage.
- The Veggies - All those hidden veggies in the sauce just adds nutrition! They are optional and swappable!
- Canned Tomato - I used 1 can of tomato paste and 1 large can of crushed tomato. If all you have is whole peeled tomatoes, you can puree them in the food processor. If you want to make extra sauce for your freezer, you can add 1 or 2 extra large cans of tomatoes.
- The Filling - Do your best to evenly distribute the filling among the 12 or 13 manicotti shells. They don't need to be filled super full. If you end up with a little extra filling, it can be tucked down into the corners of the filled pasta.
- Manicotti Pasta - There are recipes that use a very watery sauce with the uncooked pasta to bake. I boil the pasta for this recipe and I don't bother with the piping bag. Instead, just slit the manicotti open, pulling your finger down one of the groves, smear in the filling with a spatula and roll it back up!
- Shredded Cheese - I used a combination of white cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. You could also use mozzarella or provolone.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Step 1 - Begin browning the ground beef in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Step 2 - Chop the onion, bell pepper and zucchini into pieces and add to a food processor.
Step 3 - Puree the veggies, stopping to scrape down the sides.
Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.
Step 4 - Move the beef to one side of the pot and add the pureed veggies to the other. Season the beef and the veggies with the salt and pepper.
Stir both sides occasionally until the beef is fully cooked, about 15 minutes. You can drain the fat if you like.
Step 5 - Add the garlic, brown sugar and Italian seasoning.
You can stir everything together at this point.
Step 6 - Add the tomato paste and crushed tomato.
Stir well and simmer over low heat.
Step 7 - Mix together the filling, saving about half of the shredded cheese for the topping.
Step 8 - Meanwhile, boil water and cook the pasta following the package instructions, about 9 minutes.
Drain, you can run the pasta under cold water briefly so they aren't too hot to handle.
Step 9 - Line the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with about 2 cups of sauce.
Fill the cooked manicotti with the cheese mixture. My favorite trick for easy filling is to slit a manicotti noodle open down one of its ridges so it is a flat sheet. Then smear in some filling with a spatula, roll it up and set it seam time down in the sauce. Nobody will know!
You can also use a piping bag or make one by snipping the corner off a ziploc.
Step 10 - Top your filled noodles with as much sauce as you like and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 30 to 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
You can broil the top for a few minutes if you like!
Recipe Notes & Helpful Tips
- You can make this recipe one step at a time - Manicotti, like lasagna is a bit of work, but you can do things in stages. Make the sauce, it can simmer away on the stove over low heat for a few hours. Just add a bit of water if it gets too thick. You can make the filling anytime and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to assemble.
- Make Ahead - You can also assemble the entire dish, cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze. When you're ready to bake it, you can let it sit on the counter while your oven preheats. You may want to bake it covered with tinfoil and will need to bake it longer if starting with a cold pan. Thaw completely overnight in the fridge before baking a frozen manicotti.
- Change Up or Omit Veggies - The veggies just add a huge burst of extra nutrition, but really they are optional. So if you don't have a zucchini, or a bell pepper, you can just leave it out. You could also substitute a small amount of carrot, celery, mushroom, kale or spinach. Fresh chopped spinach or herbs could also be added to the ricotta filling.
- Keep the Beef and the Veggies Separate - The veggies are full of water which will not help your beef brown. So keep them as separate as you can. However, if they mix a little, not a big deal, just keep cooking until your beef is fully browned. I use this method often like in my Spicy Rigatoni with Meat Sauce!
- Kid-Friendly Tips - As my kids go in and out of stages of pickiness, I make certain adjustments. Like if they don't like "green specs" in the cheese filling, just leave out the Italian seasoning. If one doesn't like manicotti, I boil up some spaghetti noodles and serve it with the manicotti sauce.
- Storage - Leftover manicotti can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Recipe FAQs
If you have a bit of leftover sauce it can be refrigerated for 4 days or frozen. Use it as pasta sauce over spaghetti or as a sauce for flatbread pizzas.
Yes, manicotti ricotta filling can be frozen. Just thaw it overnight in the fridge to use. It contains egg so it does need to be baked. Sometimes I just toss thawed filling with hot pasta like shells or penne, top with sauce and bake. Kind of a quick version of manicotti!
Yes, this sauce can be made without the hidden veggies. You may just want to add chopped onion to saute with the ground beef.
Yes! If you'd rather leave the egg out, the cheese filling will be fine without it.
Yes, you could make manicotti sauce with ground beef or Italian sausage. Italian sausage will be heavily seasoned so you may want to cut back on the salt in the sauce.
Yes, feel free to keep it simple and just buy your sauce! You can choose to add it to browned beef, with or without the pureed veggies, or just keep the dish vegetarian.
More Favorite Pasta Recipes!
If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!
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Extra Veggie Manicotti with Meat Sauce
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Print Pin RateIngredients
For the Sauce
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 small zucchini
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 grinds fresh black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 8 oz can tomato paste
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomato
For the Filling
- 8 ounces manicotti pasta
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese about 2 cups
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 grinds fresh black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning (optional) or 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley or spinach
- 3 cups mozzarella, provolone or white cheddar cheese shredded (divided)
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded (divided)
Instructions
For the Sauce
- In a large pot over medium heat, begin to brown the ground beef.
- Chop the onion, bell pepper and zucchini into large chunks. Add to a food processor and puree.
- Move the ground beef to the side of the pot and add the veggies to the other. Season everything with the salt and pepper. It's ok if the ground beef is not done cooking when you add the veggies. They will finish cooking together, about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally, keeping the beef to one side and the veggies to the other.
- When the beef is completely browned, add the garlic, Italian seasoning and brown sugar and stir well to combine.
- Add the tomato paste and crushed tomato and simmer over low heat while you prepare everything else.
- Meanwhile, set a large pot of water to boil. Add a pinch of salt and cook the manicotti about 9 minutes. Drain and rinse briefly under cold water just so you can handle it.
For the Filling
- In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, egg, seasonings, and half the shredded cheese.
To Assemble
- Add about 1 to 2 cups of sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Fill the manicotti pasta with the cheese mixture. An easy trick is to slit the manicotti open with your fingers along one of the groves and use a spatula to smear in the ricotta filling. Roll the manicotti back up and lay in the sauce, seam side down. You could also use a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped.
- A whole box of manicotti will fit in a baking pan if you squeeze it, or you can put the few extra in a small additional baking pan. Top with more sauce and sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake at 375℉ for 30 to 40 minutes or until heated through and bubbly. Broil the top for a minute or so to caramelize the cheese if you like!
Notes
- Make Ahead - Manicotti can be made ahead unbaked, covered with foil and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance or frozen. If baking from the refrigerator, you may want to keep it covered with foil for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake until hot and bubbly.
- Short Cuts - You could use a jar of store-bought marinara sauce for this recipe, made with or without the meat and veggies.
- Veggie Options - The hidden veggies are optional and can be left out or substituted with a small amount of carrot, celery, mushroom, kale or spinach. They do add flavor and nutrition!
- The Fat From the Beef can be drained if you like. It can also be substituted with bulk Italian sausage.
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