Beef Cannelloni stuffed with a juicy spinach and beef filling, topped with plenty of tomato cannelloni sauce and melty cheese. It’s cosy comfort food that’s mouthwateringly delicious and 100% freezer friendly. Make this recipe using cannelloni OR manicotti!
Beef Cannelloni
I think most people think of spinach & ricotta when they think of cannelloni. And while that’s still a firm favourite, this version with a juicy spinach and beef filling makes more of an appearance in my world nowadays.
I actually make it more for friends than myself – because it’s a sensational freezer friendly standby and a safe bet (ie one of those meals that both kids and grown ups will love!)
This beef cannelloni recipe can be used for either cannelloni or manicotti.
What’s cannelloni? And what’s the difference between cannelloni and manicotti??
Cannelloni is a tube shaped dry pasta that’s stuffed with filling, covered with sauce and cheese than baked. The cannelloni tubes are uncooked when they are stuffed – they cook (soften) while baking.
Manicotti is the Italian-American version of cannelloni. The same concept – pasta in tube form to be stuffed, but they’re usually a bit larger and typically has ridges on it rather than a smooth surface.
This Beef Cannelloni recipe can be used for either cannelloni OR manicotti. In Australia, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen manicotti in Italian grocery stores. But cannelloni is far more popular – sold at all the large grocery stores (Woolies, Coles, Harris).
What you need
The 3 parts to Beef Cannelloni are:
- The Cannelloni Sauce – key to any good cannelloni! Make loads and make it thinner than you think it should be – the uncooked cannelloni tube will suck up a lot of the liquid as it bakes (it needs to, in order to cook the cannelloni pasta);
- The spinach and beef filling – I like to make it extra tasty by using beef cube for seasoning (aka bouillon cube / stock cube – or use powder form) instead of plain old flavoured salt. And extra juicy by adding a bit of the Cannelloni Sauce!
- The cannelloni tubes (above) or manicotti tubes – these are sold uncooked in tube form, to be stuffed with filling then cooked.
How to make Beef Cannelloni
There’s nothing tricky about the making part other than stuffing the cannelloni tubes which is inevitably a bit of a messy / fiddly affair.
But years of cannelloni stuffing have taught me one thing – the fastest and easiest way to stuff cannelloni tubes is using a piping bag. All those times I just couldn’t be bothered to use a piping bag, then I’d regret it 3 tubes in…..
Seriously. Use a piping bag. Or ziplock bag. Anything you can use for piping. You’ll thank me later!
That moment when you pull this bubbling beauty out of the oven….. no telling what it actually is, but you know it’s something delicious!!!
Seriously, cannelloni is as impossible to photograph as lasagna. There’s just no way to make a plate of this saucy cheesy juiciness look elegant. And that’s ok – it’s a delicious mess, and I totally own that!!!
What to serve with Beef Cannelloni
Cannelloni is essentially just another type of pasta. I put it in the same bucket as lasagna. Which means – for a full blown Italian feast, I serve it with:
- Garlic Bread – or even more indulgent, with Cheesy Garlic Bread (or go over-the-top with Crack Bread);
- Garden Salad with Italian Dressing (hit of crisp fresh salad essential!)
- Tiramisu to finish with an Espresso Martini on the side
For a quick midweek meal, I just make a quick salad on the side, like a Rocket Parmesan Salad with Balsamic Dressing. Probably my most made side salad because it’s literally a 2 minute effortless-no-chop salad! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Spinach Beef Cannelloni (Manicotti)
Ingredients
Cannelloni Sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , small, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 celery rib , finely chopped (optional)
- 800g / 28oz crushed tomato , canned
- 2 cups (500ml) chicken stock / broth , low sodium (or vegetable)
- 1/2 tsp EACH thyme, oregano, salt, pepper
- 1/4 tsp chilli flakes , optional
Spinach Beef Filling:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely chopped
- 500g / 1lb beef mince , lean
- 250g / 8oz frozen spinach, chopped , thawed, excess liquid squeezed out (Note 1)
- 1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Cannelloni:
- 21 - 24 cannelloni tubes (220g/7oz) OR 10 Manicotti tubes (Note 3)
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese , freshly grated (or other melting cheese)
- Chopped parsley , garnish (optional)
Instructions
Cannelloni Sauce:
- Heat oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery, cook 5 minutes.
- Add remaining Sauce ingredients then stir. Bring to simmer, lower heat to medium, cover with lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Use a stick blender to blitz until smooth (or cool slightly and use blender or food processor). Set aside.
Spinach Beef Filling:
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook 2 minutes.
- Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until it all changes from red to brown.
- Stir in spinach, then add crumbled beef cube, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and 1 cup of Cannelloni Sauce. Stir, cook 2 minutes.
- Remove and cool slightly.
Assembly and Baking:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Transfer Beef Filling into a piping bag with a wide nozzle. Stand cannelloni tubes upright in a container, then pipe filling in. (Or do this step with teaspoon/finger/dinner knife!).
- Spread about 1 1/4 cups Sauce in a 23x33cm / 9x13" dish. Lay the cannelloni on top, then pour over remaining Sauce.
- Sprinkle with cheese, loosely cover with foil.
- Bake 25 minutes, remove foil then bake a further 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly with some golden spots.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley if using then serve!
Recipe Notes:
- 1 standard packet is usually 250g and has 30 tubes, you will only use 21 - 24 tubes.
- Cannelloni is a tube shaped dry pasta 7cm / 3″ long, 2cm / 2/3″ wide. Stuff uncooked, will cook & soften in oven.
- Can also use manicotti - bigger version of cannelloni with ridges. Recipe will fill about 10 manicotti tubes.
- Can also roll filling up in fresh lasagna sheets - whatever size you want them to be!
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Dozer in his Sunday Best at a Melbourne Cup lunch we attended yesterday, the race that stops a nation!!! The chokehold grip was necessary – it was the only way I was going to get a photo of him. Look how unhappy he is!!! 😂
PS Didn’t last for long, he shed the top hat 2 seconds after this photo was taken and his tux mysteriously went missing not long after so he was streaking around naked.
PPS His top hat cost even more than my $2 discount store fascinator! 😂
This recipe is delicious. I used a smallish silicone funnel to fill the tubes. Cleaning up was easier than having to clean up a reusable piping bag.
Perfect Patricia!
Combined this recipe with the filling from your spinach ricotta filling recipe, made my own ricotta and mixed the 2 fillings. Super creamy lots of rich flavour and your sauce was fabulous. Thank you for more great food.
Perfect Rob, sounds like you nailed it!!
Can I make this with ground turkey instead?
Hi Ingrid, as long as it’s not lean turkey – I feel it may be missing the richness that beef has – just add a beef stock cube to compensate or an extra teaspoon of Worcestershire + salt. N x
Hi from Oregon! I tried this recipe last week, substituting bulk Italian sausage for the beef. My store had no cannelloni so I used manicotti. In a witless moment I added the herbs called for to the sausage/spinach filling, but the sausage comes already seasoned, so the final product was over-seasoned. My error. Folks, this dish is a keeper!
Oh no John, I hope you managed to salvage it!
Kept looking at the recipe and wondering when I would have time to try it. Made sauce and filling one day and stuffed the pasta the next and baked. Excellent! Sauce was great and the stuffing can be used for other things as well IF you have any left after stuffing the cannelloni. I did use fresh spinach – microwaved it; chopped it and it worked very well.
Sounds like you nailed it Ruth!!
I agree with Tim here. I made it with fresh spinach and forgot to blanch it so it was a mess to pipe. Although it did bring great laughter to the kitchen. I tasted extremely similar to lasagna, so I wondered with go through the hassle of piping these canneloni.
I turned out great though, and great reheated too!
Thanks for the recipe Nagi.
Oh no! I’m so glad you still enjoyed it though ❤️
I made this recipe into a complete self inflicted hassle.
I didn’t have frozen spinach so I used fresh silverbeet that I didn’t blanch.
My piping bag is a cheapo ebay one and the nozzles were all too small to get the mixture out easily, probably because I diddnt chop the silverbeet properly. My cheapo cheapo cannelloni tubes were either broken or cracked and I made a hell of a mess in the kitchen.
All that withstanding, it turned out very well, although I think I will stick to lasagna in future. It’s more suitable to my skill level.
Thank you for a wonderfull recipe Nagi, and hi to Dozer.
Cheers
Tim
OH NO!!! But I totally agree, it’s a labour of love!
Very good. Will make this recipe on a regular basis.
Wahoo! That’s great to hear Terri!
Yet another cracking dinner that my family of fussy faces has devoured in one sitting! 🐷 Thanks so much Nagi 🙏🏻
Awesome Teale!!
Hi Nagi! Love your recipes so much! Dozer is ADORABLE. Could I use chicken instead of beef with this recipe?
Hi Krystal, you can – I just find beef has more flavour 🙂
Love your site Nagi
It is a very happy site and I always feel good reading about recipes and Dozer!!!
I do hope you are as happy
working on your sitea s we are reading it
Probably happier!! 🙂 I love what I do so much, it’s what motivates me to constantly improve! N xx
I SO love your Cup hat: Nagi – we do have a similar sense of humour 🙂 ! And Dozer got ‘naked’ without the consumption of a bottle of coloured waters – fabulous !! And both of you had a great time . . . Oh, like the cannelloni and really must make it with spinach next . . .
My $2 Cup hat!!!! Seriously!!
Hi, Nagi!
This looks scrumptious! One question, though: is there garlic in the filling? It’s not listed in the ingredients, but is mentioned in the directions.
Thanks!
Bugger! Fixing it now – thanks so much Cheryl! N x
That looks amazing!!! I am going to try it. Fingers crossed 🤞🏼
You don’t need to cross fingers!!!!
Oh my goodness does that ever look good. Going to try to make them this weekend. What an awesome recipe! Thanks Nagi 🙂
Yes yes, try it!!! I want to know what you think! N x
These were so easy to make! Great flavor and stuffing them with the bag is so much easier to do. Thanks Nagi and have a great Thanksgiving and give Dozer a hug for me.
This cannelloni looks mind blowingly.. Love it.
Thanks Arpita! N x
When are you going to tell us about your new home? Hope it’s even nearer Dozer’s favorite lake/the ocean. Can’t wait to hear!
I’m in limbo at the moment!! I am housesitting for someone until mid December at which time I SHOULD be moving into a new home….but there were some complications with the purchase so I don’t want to jinx myself!! When I get a better grasp of certainty of the new place, I will share, I promise 🙂 Dozer has seen it and he approves!! N xx
i love the recipe and you have made stuffing so much easier. i didn’t know you can stuff uncooked cannelloni. I think you were having more fun than Dozer.
He ALWAYS looks so grumpy when I force him to dress up!!! 😂