Italian Sausage Manicotti- an easy recipe for manicotti stuffed with Italian sausage and cheese and covered with tomato sauce. This Italian favorite makes a great family meal.
There’s 4 types of cheese in this manicotti for maximum flavor. A container of chive and onion cream cheese adds not only flavor, but lots of richness. Ricotta cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese combine to make this a wonderfully cheesy pasta dish. Since it is so rich and filling, 1 to 2 manicotti are plenty per person, especially if you serve it with garlic bread and a salad.
I love using sausage for this recipe because it is already seasoned and tastes so good.
What to serve with Italian Sausage Manicotti:
- A green salad with Creamy Italian Dressing.
- Steamed Broccoli
- Pepperoncini Garlic Bread
Recipe Notes:
- I use a jar of spaghetti sauce, but you could use a homemade sauce.
- If you want to add in some vegetables, mix a box of frozen chopped spinach into the filling. Be sure to defrost it first and squeeze the excess water out.
- Use either sweet or hot Italian sausage. If you use spicy sausage, you may want to cut down on the crushed red pepper flakes unless you want a lot of heat.
- Can be assembled ahead of time and refrigerated until you are ready to bake it. Add 10 to 15 minutes to the cooking time.
- If you can’t fit all the filling into the manicotti shells, place the excess on top of the manicotti or tuck it around the sides of the manicotti.
- Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Italian comfort food doesn’t get any better than this.
Try These Other Italian Favorites:
- Italian Meatloaf
- Baked Sausage with Italian Sausage
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti Casserole
- Chicken Patty Parmesan
- Italian Sausage Rigatoni with Spicy Cream Sauce
Italian Sausage Manicotti
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1/2 medium yellow or sweet onion,, diced
- 3 garlic cloves,, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepepr flakes
- 8 ounces chive and onion cream cheese
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese,, divided
- 10 manicotti tubes,, cooked according to package directions
- 1 (24-ounce) jar pasta sauce
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Cook and crumble Italian sausage in a large nonstick pan. Once you have it broken apart, add the onion. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink.
- Add garlic, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute.
- Turn heat to low and add cream cheese. Stir until melted. Remove from heat.
- Let cool slightly and then stir in 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, and pepper.
- Stuff the mixture into the manicotti shells. You can either use a spoon or fork to push it in or you can transfer the mixture ot a large ziptop bag and snip the corner and pipe it in.
- Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce in the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly. Place the filled manicotti tubes on top of the sauce.Pour remaining sauce on top of manicotti.
- Cover and bake for 25 minutes.
- Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this and my boys loved it! Thanks for the recipe! 💕
I made this recipe for company and it was a huge success. My husband even called me at work the next day as he was having leftovers, to tell me how great it was. Only change I made was I added a jar of Classico roasted red pepper alfredo sauce on top instead of marinara (which was on the bottom and in between).
I’m a bit confused. Are the manicotti noodles supposed to be pre-cooked somewhat before stuffing? I don’t see where it says if this recipe is for cooked or uncooked pasta prior to stuffing. Thank you in advance.
10 manicotti tubes, cooked according to package directions
This was and is THE most delicious meal that is also a breeze to put together! I admit to questioning the flavored cream cheese but went ahead anyway. . MAGIC! Everyone in the family ate seconds (though since I am the cook I hid 2 for my lunch the next day promising I would make this again this week. Going to make and freeze for my grandkids to have when their parents are working late. Thank you for an amazing dish.
I would suggest mincing the onion instead of dicing it. The diced onion was too large to get tender without overcooking the sausage. That problem should be solved by mincing the onion instead.
This dish was fantastic. I’m a working mom, and feeding a family of 4 and it was just easy enough to whip up for a quick nightly meal! I only had jumbo shells on hand and it worked out just fine. I will definitely add to the rotation!
This recipe is fantastic! Relatively easy to make, and flavor is incredible. My whole family loved it. Definitely use the hot sausage. Thanks for sharing!
I need to make this in smaller quantities, or freeze half. Do you know if that’s possible? I’ve heard that pasta doesn’t freeze well, but I’ve eaten other people’s and it’s fine. Do you know if this will freeze well?
I freeze lasagna all the time. Same thing and works great!
Do you think this would work using strips of zucchini instead of the actual real pasta? It looks so good!
Although I haven’t tried this yet, it’s so close to the recipe my family has enjoyed (devoured!) for years that I feel perfectly comfortable rating it.
The only significant difference between my version and yours is the inclusion of the flavored cream cheese. That sounds like an inspired idea, and I can’t wait to try it. It’s so cool to be able to take an old family favorite and update it to make it even better. So thanks for the brilliant suggestion!