Spinach Mushroom Cannelloni
Updated March 26, 2019
Spinach Mushroom Cannelloni – stuffed cannelloni with a spinach mushroom ricotta filling and topped with an easy homemade marinara sauce. This cannelloni recipe is my all-time favorite.
Cannelloni – My Favorite Pasta Dish
I love Italian food-pizza, pasta, gelato-they all make me happy. One of my favorite pasta dishes is cannelloni. For starters, I like saying the word, isn’t it a cool word? 🙂 I also really like the cheesy stuffed pasta shells, pasta at it’s best. This spinach mushroom cannelloni recipe is my all-time favorite.
How to Make Cannelloni
This stuffed cannelloni recipe may sound time-consuming, but I promise it is super easy. The spinach mushroom ricotta filling doesn’t take long to mix together and the marinara sauce is simple. You can use store-bought marinara sauce, but I promise my sauce is worth a little extra effort. I do cheat a little and use store bought lasagna noodles. Barilla’s flat homemade no-boil lasagna noodles never let me down.
Assembling the cannelloni is fun. I love rolling up each pasta sheet that has been stuffed with the spinach mushroom cheese filling and sauce. I always top the cannelloni with a generous amount of sauce and mozzarella cheese before popping it in the oven.
Stuffed Cannelloni for the Win
Mushroom spinach cannelloni is the perfect dish for pasta lovers. It is especially delicious on a cold winter day. There is something warming and comforting about pasta that has been stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, sauce, and lots of cheese. Go ahead and help yourself to a warm serving of spinach mushroom cannelloni tonight. I won’t tell if you go back for seconds either:)
Spinach Mushroom Cannelloni
Ingredients
Filling:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Marinara Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 small onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- Dash crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 3 15 ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta:
- 1 box No-Boil Lasagna Noodles we use Barilla No-Boil Homemade Flat Lasagna Noodles
Cheese Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- 2. To make the filling-in a large sauce pan heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook until tender, about five minutes. Stir in spinach and mushrooms, cook until mushrooms are soft and spinach is wilted, about five minutes. Remove from heat.
- 3. In a large bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. Add egg and mix until well combined. Stir in spinach mushroom mixture and seasonings. Set aside while you make the sauce.
- 4. To make the sauce-in a large stockpot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for about five minutes. Add red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and diced tomatoes. Stir in tomato paste. Add fresh basil and season with salt and pepper. Simmer on stove for about 20 minutes.
- 5. For the pasta-add lasagna noodles to a large pot of boiling water that has been salted. Cook for three minutes or until the noodles are al dente. Do not overcook, they will finish cooking in the oven. Carefully remove noodles from water and lay flat on a wire cooling rack.
- 6. To assemble the cannelloni-spread about a ½ cup of the sauce in the baking dish. Spread about ¼ cup spinach ricotta filling in a line along one short side of the lasagna noodle. Put 1 tablespoon of sauce on top and then roll up to enclose filling. Carefully transfer cannelloni to pan and place seam side down. Continue stuffing and rolling remaining cannelloni. Top cannelloni with remaining sauce and 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese. Cover pan with foil and bake until sauce is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 additional minutes, until cheese is melted.
- Note-Cannelloni can be assembled (but not baked) one day ahead. Chill and keep in the refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before baking. It also freezes well.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like this spinach mushroom cannelloni, you might also like:
Stuffed Shells with Spinach, Ricotta, and Mushrooms from Two Peas and Their Pod
Spring Vegetable Cannelloni from Daily Unadventures in Cooking
Chicken Cannelloni from This Week for Dinner
Really pretty photos, Maria! This cannelloni sounds like a perfect way to warm up in this VERY COLD weather.
The filling sounds delicious. I love filling mine with swiss chard and sweet peas as it pairs nicely with the cheeses. Now I am craving some …. can you send me some?? ha ha
I’ve never made this but my boyfriend would LOVE it – I’ll have to make it 🙂
SOunds absolutely wonderful! I bet it freezes great
This sounds fabulous Maria! I’m going to bookmark it and make it one night when my non-mushroom eating husband isn’t around 🙂
You can always leave out the mushrooms. Spinach and cheese would be tasty too:)
Just gorgeous. That looks so delicious!
These look delicious Maria! Italian food makes me super happy too. Something about the comforts of pizza, pasta, and cheese! Really beautiful photo’s too.
oh wow this looks amazing on my to do list!
These look amazing! I love cannelloni, but it’s one of the few Italian dishes I’ve never made myself. Love the spinach and mushroom combo!
OH my WORD. WOW. YUM. I want!
This looks so delicious! I have never made cannelloni before.
Yum, yum, yum. I love ever single ingredient in your recipe. I’m a huge fan of no-boil noodles and really like how you use them in this dish. I think my kids would really enjoy this too!
Thanks Liz!
Looks very good . I like that it looks light ~ not a heavy pasta dish.
Looks really good! I need to make this! 🙂
Maria, this looks absolutely delicious. I haven’t made cannelloni for years – I find it to be a lot of trouble but you are right, it is so good! I have to say I’m surprised to see this here. An awfully decadent recipe from our super healthy girl! Bring it on!
this looks fabulous! Not too crazy on the fat, you really added it where you needed it. I like that. This makes me wanna make Cannelloni – we have a snowstorm coming tonite. Yikes!
I’ve never attempted cannelloni! I might just have to though…this looks fabulous!
Mmm…this really does sound wonderful! I’ve made stuffed shells similar to this in the past. I’ll have to try your recipe out!
Oooh, these look incredible! I am dreaming of how spectacular this would be with fresh homemade pasta!
Nothing better than baked pasta on a cold day : )
This looks great-I’ve only tried the yummy cheesy variety so must try this too!
lovely pictures of an italian masterpiece! and you’re right–cannelloni is an awesome word. 🙂
Though I might not put together this recipe – it looks and seems amazing. I have to agree with the homemade sauce. Rather than buy prepared sauce, always take the extra time to cook up a batch at home. Great job!
Growing up in an Italian family, cannelloni has a special place in my heart. The fennel seeds seem like an excellent addition
My dad always used fennel in his sauce, I decided to carry on the family tradition:)
This is food at its best. I am beginning to wonder if I could make every one of your recipes. They are all so good sounding.
Love this recipe! My wife made it tonight for dinner, it was so so so so so good.
Your recipe looks great, it doesn’t look hard at all, I only use Barilla Pasta in our home, will get the no boil lasagna noodles and make this..yummy for the tummy, good way to eat your spinach and cheese each and everyday..wonderful for the 35 degree days with no sky only gloomy here for about 7 to 8 months of the year..will brighten up my families meal times..thanks for the recipe!!!!!!!!!
You are very welcome. Enjoy!
I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and have my children check
I love the combination of spinach and mushrooms and cannelloni is one of my favorite dishes. Have you tried making crespelle (Italian crepes) for it instead of pasta? It’s a wonderful, easy traditional way to make cannelloni. You can find my lightened version at http://fightthefatfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/06/meatless-monday-asparagus-mushroom.html
I made this last night and it was delicious !!! A new family fav.
I used hunts diced oregano and basil flavored tom. which gave it grreeat flavor!! I also loved used the no boil lasagna noodle… easy to fill and roll up and best of all NO mess!!!
Thanks for sharing …
T
Question on freezing: I am planning to make this for a party tomorrow night and thought that I’d freeze some for a later time – do you freeze before or after baking?
Thanks, can’t wait to try this recipe.
I like to freeze it after it is cooked and cooled, so all I have to do is reheat it. Enjoy!
Just waiting for mine to come out of the oven but can tell it looks like a great recipe. The only addition I could make would be to think about roasting some tomatoes to make your marinara if you have the energy. It’s certainly more work but I love me some good marinara and nothing offers the flavor of freshly roasted tomatoes.
Only criticism I have is the estimated cook time. 35 minutes? Maybe on the freaking food network where everything is prepared and magically happens during the commercial break. You are supposed to simmer your marinara for 20 minutes and then bake for another 35? How does total cook time = 35 minutes?
I made this for dinner last night and just about was able to pull it together in 2 hrs. It was absolutely delicious. The next time I will up the spices in the filling – flavor gets lost in all that cheese. Can’t wait to have it for lunch for the next couple of days!
This was amazing and so so easy! We had it for dinner the other night. So yummy will be making again and again.
I came across your website while searching Google for cannelloni+mushrooms+spinach recipes. Delicious and easy to make! Loved it!
Major fail with the noodles… I’m not sure how one could remove these carefully enough to not have them tear or stick together–I was careful to undercook, too. I would just use shells with this filling in the future and avoid the aggravation.
What can we replace the egg with?
My husband’s home country Argentine beef version uses bok choy instead of spinach. Anyone try subbing bok choy for the spinach. I’m a terrible cook and so straying from the recipe gives me anxiety