In case you’re unfamiliar, cannelloni is essentially stuffed pasta rolls baked in a cheese sauce. This spin on a classic cannelloni recipe uses readily available ingredients and a few healthier options to reduce the fat and calorie content.
When it’s all said and done, you’ll have beef and ricotta stuffed lasagne rolls smothered in a blend of marina, alfredo sauce, and parmesan cheese. Each extra cheesy, beefy serving has 23 grams of filling protein with just 280 calories and 8 grams of fat!
How to Make Cannelloni
Stuffed pasta shells baked in cheese sauce may sound complicated at first glance, but it’s a pretty simple recipe. I’ll quickly run you through the recipe parts below and give a few ingredient notes along the way.
- Cook the filling.
- Stuff the pasta with the filling.
- Cover with marinara, alfredo sauce, and parmesan cheese.
- Bake. Serve. Enjoy!
How to Make the Filling
This is a simple beef mixture. All you need to do is cook ground beef in a skillet with diced onion, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Then let it cool slightly before mixing in ricotta and chopped parsley.
That’s it, ya fill me?
If you wanted to take things to the next level, you could swap this mixture for something like my ground chicken white bolognese or best turkey bolognese. I would still add the ricotta for binding.
Cannelloni vs Manicotti vs Lasagne
You may be able to find cannelloni shells in specialty stores or online, but I’ve yet to come across them in my travels. Another common pasta option for cannelloni is manicotti, the tube-looking pasta shells.
This cannelloni recipe, however, calls for oven-ready lasagne sheets. I went this route because I wanted something quick cooking, and I didn’t want to use a piping bag or try to spoon the filling into manicotti shells.
Instead, all you have to do is soak the lasagne sheets in water while you cook the filling, put the filling in, and roll like little Italian enchiladas.
Important: Put the entire box of lasagne sheets in the water so you have 1-2 to test pliability before rolling. If they’re not softened enough, they’ll break instead of roll. You can speed up the softening process by placing the sheets in boiling water for a few minutes or microwaving covered in water for 5-6 minutes.
Why cut the lasagne sheets in half?
The recipe calls for cutting the softened lasagne sheets in half. This makes them easier to roll, serve, and leaves room for sauce penetration in the center.
It can also be difficult to fit them all in the baking dish. I tested a batch and had to get creative around the edges and really jam the last 2-3 in.
Can I use a different pasta?
If you use something like manicotti, I’d boil them for a few minutes before filling and baking. You can go in without boiling at all but be sure the pasta is fully covered in the marinara and sauce mixture. You’ll need to extend the bake time to maybe 50-60 minutes and cover with foil for all but the last 10-15 minutes.
Side note: A low carb alternative might be the Palmini Lasagna Sheets that I used in my low carb lasagna recipe. I think they’re too thin to roll from their longer sides, so you’ll have to go top to bottom. This will make short rolls, and you may need two cans to use all the filling.
Baking the Cannelloni
It’s smooth sailing from here on. Simply fill in the gaps with marinara, followed by alfredo, and topped with shredded parmesan. You can top the cheese layer with some freshly cracked black pepper and crushed red pepper.
Note: For a higher protein sauce, check out the blended cottage cheese and spicy vodka sauce from my high protein lasagna recipe.
Final Cannelloni Recipe Notes
Don’t be intimidated by all the recipe notes and potential tweaks. I just like to cover as many questions in advance as possible. It’s really as simple as cooking some beef, rolling it in some softened lasagna sheets, smothering in marinara and cheese, and baking!
That said, there are other ways to make this dish happen. If you wanted to skip the rolling, I’ve found you can just simmer pasta in a meat sauce and top with a ricotta cheese mixture and shredded mozzarella before broiling to get a crispy cheese crust. Check out my healthy lasagna casserole for an example.
If you have a question about this cannelloni recipe I missed, leave a comment below or hit me up on my Instagram. I would love to help you out!
Beef and Ricotta Cannelloni
Ingredients
For the Cannelloni Filling
- 1 lb Ground Beef, I used 96/4
- 1 Onion, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
- 1 C 248g Low Fat Ricotta
- 1 Tbsp Chopped Parsley
For the Shells and Sauce
- 12 sheets Oven Ready Lasagne, I used Barilla
- 24 oz jar Marinara
- 1 C 240g Light Alfredo Sauce, I used Classico
- 1/2 C 56g Shredded Parmesan
Instructions
- Before you do any other prep, fill a 13×9 baking dish with water and submerge the lasagne sheets in the water to soften.*
- Preheat oven to 350F.
Cooking the Cannelloni Filling
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with nonstick cooking spray. Add the onion, garlic, beef, salt, and pepper. Cook until no pink remains and the beef is cooked through.
- Remove from the heat to briefly cool before stirring in the ricotta and parsley.
Filling the Cannelloni
- Once the lasagne sheets have softened (about 15-20 minutes in the water), transfer them to a flat surface and cut them in half.**
- Drain the water from the baking dish and place about half the marinara in the bottom of the dish.
- Fill each half of the lasagne sheet with the beef mixture and tightly roll. Place them, sealed-side-down in the dish on top of the marinara. Repeat until you have 24.
- Add the remaining marinara around the edges and in the center gaps. Followed by the alfredo sauce and parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 25-35 minutes. (If the cheese browns too quickly, cover with foil until the pasta is tender.)
Notes
- Each serving has 8 Smart Points (blue plan).
- If you have questions about using different types of pasta, non-oven-ready lasagna, or other ingredient substitutions, check the post above.
Making this now. You do drain the ground beef don’t you?
Not unless you’re using a beef/meat with more than 15% fat. Anything above that should thicken after cooling and adding the ricotta.
Great recipe. I definitely recommend using mozzarella in this recipe.
One of my favorites so far! It was moderately time consuming only due to wrapping the cannelloni but well worth it. It was so tasty I couldnt believe I made it. Restaurant quality recipe! I used ground sirloin because it is what we had but was still very tasty!
This was delicious!!! Great recipe!
This was delicious!!! Great recipe!
Have you ever prepped these the night before?
I think I would recommend baking them and reheating as opposed to prepping and baking later. I’d be worried about the pasta resting in the sauces overnight.
do you have any suggestions to make this vegetarian somehow? maybe tofu for the filling?
Worth a shot! I’ve seen others successfully use products like the Beyond beef crumbles in other recipes with ground beef.
Quick question… when you cut the pasta sheet in half, is it width wise or length wise?
Width-wise. The 4-photo collage (far right photo) under the “Cannelloni vs Manicotti vs Lasagne” heading shows an example.
SO glad you posted this on your story on instagram and that I followed the link! I thought this was another palmini pasta recipe (I tried it- just can’t get behind it). Literally so excited to try this with the Barilla lasagne sheets!
This recipe is the real deal, glad I bought a big size ricotta and extra box of pasta to make it twice in one week 🤦🏼♀️ even my picky toddler loved it! I light try making it as a lasagna next time instead of cannelloni since it can be hard to see where each roll starts/ stops once cooked with all the sauce. I also extra extra cheese on top because why not!
Okay, really obsessed with this one. When I meal prep on Sunday’s I make the beef filling ahead of time which makes the recipe come together super quickly for dinner.
One of my favorites so far! It was moderately time consuming only due to wrapping the cannelloni but well worth it. It was so tasty I couldnt believe I made it. Restaurant quality recipe! I used ground sirloin because it is what we had but was still very tasty!