Cheesy Sausage Manicotti

12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Cheesy Sausage Manicotti is stuffed with Italian pork sausage and ricotta cheese then topped with marinara sauce and melty mozzarella cheese.

This Manicotti recipe is the perfect comfort food pasta dish with an amazing cheesy filling and simple Spaghetti Sauce. This easy Dinner Recipe is similar to other cheesy pasta recipes like Lasagna and Baked Spaghetti.

Cheesy Sausage Manicotti on a plate

Manicotti is a great way to make a special dinner. Instead of traditional spaghetti and pasta sauce, you get the same classic flavors, but in a fancier looking pasta bake with amazing manicotti pasta. Manicotti is shaped like a large pasta tube. For this recipe, you make an easy cheese filling with Italian sausage and ricotta to go inside the large pasta.

Even though the dish looks impressive with the filled pasta it’s actually quite easy to make. All you have to do is stir together the cheese and Italian sausage, then pipe the ricotta mixture into the unbaked manicotti pasta. Layer it in a baking dish with store-bought or Homemade Sauce. As the recipe bakes the hot sauce and filling will cook the pasta until it’s tender. Once it’s done, you’ll have the perfect flavorful, cheesy, melty pasta dish to share with the family.

Cheesy Sausage Manicotti collage

While the pasta is baking you can prep some of your favorite easy side dishes to go along with the perfect comfort food dinner. Cheesy Sausage Manicotti would taste amazing with a side of Garlic Bread, Pesto Bread, or a simple garden salad.

FAQs for Cheesy Sausage Manicotti

How do you keep Manicotti from getting flat?

While filling your Cheesy Sausage Manicotti, be sure that you are filling it up entirely, with no air pockets, gaps, and make sure it goes all the way to the end. As the filling cooks it will shrink a bit, so filling it up full will ensure your Manicotti doesn’t fall flat.

What is the difference between Manicotti and Cannelloni?

Manicotti shells have ridges in them and the pasta shell itself is a little bit thicker. Cannelloni shells are smooth, thinner, and can even be a bit smaller. They are very similar, are both long tubes can be stuffed with cheese, meat, veggies, or anything you enjoy. The two shells can be used interchangeably in recipes.

More Pasta Dishes

How to Make Cheesy Sausage Manicotti

  • Prep: Get out a 9×13-inch baking dish and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Sausage and Cheese Mixture: Break the raw pork sausage into small chunks, then add it to a medium bowl with the ricotta cheese. Fold until combined, then transfer the mixture to a ziplock bag. Cut a 1-inch opening in the bottom corner for piping. Then pipe the cheese and sausage mixture into each manicotti tube. Place the filled manicotti noodles on a flat surface while you prep the baking dish.
  • Assemble: Pour 1 cup tomato sauce over the bottom of the oven-proof casserole dish. Place the uncooked manicotti shells in a single layer over the pan. Then top the manicotti noodles with the remaining marinara sauce.
  • Cooking Time: Cover the dish tightly in aluminum foil, then put it in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes. It’s ready to take out of the oven when the cheese is bubbly, and the manicotti noodles are tender. The sausage inside will be fully cooked.
  • Broil: Remove the baked pasta dish from the oven, and take off the aluminum foil. Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top of the manicotti noodles and sauce. Set the oven to broil, and return the dish to the oven until melty and slightly browned on top.
  • Serve: The filling is super hot when you first take the dish from the oven, so let the Manicotti Noodle dish cool for an additional 4-5 minutes before serving.
Cheesy Sausage Manicotti in baking dish topped with sauce and cheese

Variations on Cheesy Sausage Manicotti

  • Additional Seasoning: For some more flavor, season filling with your favorite Italian seasonings like oregano, black pepper, garlic powder or minced garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, rosemary, thyme, or fennel seeds.
  • Meat Mixture: Instead of sausage, you can make the recipe with ground beef, lean ground beef, ground turkey, or seasoned ground chicken. You’ll even find turkey sausage and chicken sausage as a great substitute while still containing all the great flavor that sausage brings.
  • Vegetables: Try mixing some chopped vegetables into the filling to experiment with the taste and texture. Fresh spinach, sweet onion, bell peppers, or mushrooms would all taste great.
  • Types of Cheese: You can try different kinds of cheese in the filling like cottage cheese and goat cheese to replace the ricotta. Then add your favorite pre-grated cheese to the top like provolone cheese, parmesan cheese, or pepper jack. A combination of cheeses would also taste wonderful. A sprinkle of parmesan cheese will pack a lot of punch in terms of flavor, adding some nutty and salty flavors.
Cheesy Sausage Manicotti in baking dish topped with sauce and cheese fully baked

Can Cheesy Sausage Manicotti be made ahead?

Manicotti is a wonderful dish to prepare ahead of time. Follow the recipe directions up until after your sausage is stuffed. Then place the stuffed manicotti in your pan with the tomato sauce and cover the top to store it in the fridge over night. You can pop it in the oven the next day and have a bubbly, piping hot baking dish full of Cheesy goodness for dinner. Doing all the prep the day before will allow you time to prepare a fresh salad and bread to go with your Italian dinner.

Side Dishes to Pair with Cheesy Sausage Manicotti

Cheesy Sausage Manicotti in baking dish up close

How to Store

  • Serve: After baking, don’t leave the baked pasta dish at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
  • Store: Let the dish cool completely, then cover it in plastic wrap, or put it in an airtight container to store in the fridge. It’ll stay good in the fridge for 3-5 days.
  • Freeze: You can also carefully seal the dish to freeze it for up to 3 months. Then reheat it in a 375-degree oven until warmed through.
Cheesy Sausage Manicotti on a plate

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Cheesy Sausage Manicotti

Cheesy Sausage Manicotti is stuffed with Italian pork sausage and ricotta cheese then topped with marinara sauce and melty mozzarella cheese.
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pound raw Italian pork sausage
  • 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 8 ounces manicotti shells
  • 4 cups marinara sauce , or 30 ounces
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Break apart the pork sausage into small chunks, then fold into the ricotta cheese.
  • Put mixture into a large ziplock bag and cut a 1-inch long opening into the bottom corner.
  • Pipe filling into manicotti shells.
  • Add 1 cup marinara sauce to the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
  • Add the stuffed shells and top with the remaining sauce.
  • Cover tightly with foil and bake for 50-60 minutes until the shells are tender and the sausage filling is cooked through.
  • Remove from oven, uncover, and top with mozzarella cheese.
  • Turn the heat in the oven up to broil.
  • Put the baking dish back in the oven and broil until cheese is melty and lightly browned.
  • Let cool 5 minutes before serving, filling will be very hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 305kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 722mg | Potassium: 429mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 629IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 2mg
Cheesy Sausage Manicotti collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. Great! I love it when the Family says “Yes”!! Thank you Shirley, and thank you for the 5 star rating!

        1. Pipe the ricotta mixture into the unbaked manicotti pasta. Layer it in a baking dish with store-bought or Homemade Sauce. As the recipe bakes the hot sauce and filling will cook the pasta until it’s tender. Once it’s done, you’ll have the perfect flavorful, cheesy, melty pasta dish to share with the family.