Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake

Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake is made with creamy ricotta and loads of spinach stirred through pasta, topped with pasta sauce, cheese and then baked until bubbly and golden. It tastes like a Spinach and Ricotta stuffed shells – but way faster to make!

Fabulous lazy Monday meal – made from scratch, using my cheeky “shake and pour” shortcut pasta sauce!

Spinach and Ricotta

Spinach and ricotta. We stuff things with it (Cannelloni, Rotolo, shells!), we layer things with it, we roll it up in puff pastry and we wrap it in pastry.

So why don’t we stir it through pasta bakes?

This is a lazy Monday meal I’ve been making for years. I know it’s a little different, but it really is tasty. It tastes like spinach and ricotta cannelloni or stuffed shells – but without the labour. 🙌🏻

Look at this pile of gooey, juicy deliciousness….no dry ricotta in MY pasta bakes!

Shake and pour pasta sauce!

Because this is a lazy meal, I make this with my shortcut homemade pasta sauce. It’s a shortcut recipe because I don’t cook it on the stove with sautéed onions and garlic like I ordinarily do. All I do is add pasta sauce flavourings right into a bottle of tomato passata, shake then pour it over the pasta bake.

To compensate for skipping the sautéed garlic and onions, I add extra flavours into the sauce. 🙂

Sub for tomato passata?

Tomato passata is pureed strained raw tomatoes, unflavoured. It’s sold in tall bottles in the pasta section of most supermarkets in Australia nowadays, and costs around the same as canned tomato. If you’re in the US or Canada, I’ve seen it at Walmart and here are a couple of Amazon – Mutti (excellent Italian brand I use) and Cento (a good value one). Or sub with what you know as tomato sauce.

What goes in Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake

Here’s a snapshot of the ingredients. For convenience, I use frozen spinach here but fresh can be used in a cinch.

As for the ricotta, any type will work here. Some are creamier and softer than others which makes it easy to mix into the pasta.

If yours is the thicker more crumbly type, it’s an easy fix – just stir through some of the pasta cooking water to loosen it up. The starch in the pasta cooking water will make the ricotta mixture bind better than using normal water or milk to loosen the mixture. The same effect as tossing pasta through pasta sauces right before serving – it’s called emulsifying the sauce (what a show off!😂).

This really does taste like a Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni* – without the fiddly stuffing of the cannelloni tubes. Because as much as we all love eating those stuffed tubes of pasta smothered in tomato sauce and molten cheese, nobody’s jumping off the couch to offer to help stuff them. Right?? 😂

So – are you feeling lazy today too? -Nagi x

* For those of you in the US & Canada – cannelloni is basically the same as manicotti, except the tubes are slightly smaller and smooth, no ridges. Just as tasty!

All things Spinach and Ricotta!

• Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

• Spinach and Ricotta Rolls

• Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo – and it tastes as spectacular as it looks!

• Ricotta and Spinach Puff Pastry Bites

• Vegetarian Lasagna

And more big juicy pasta bakes

• Baked Ziti

• Ultra Lazy HEALTHY Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake

• Tuna Pasta Bake

• Seafood Gratin Pasta Bake

• Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper) – OK, so it’s not baked, but it looks like a pasta bake!

• Chili Mac and Cheese – ditto for this one 🙂

Watch how to make it

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Spinach & Ricotta Pasta Bake

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 40 mins

Total: 55 mins

Pasta

Dinner

4.88 from 78 votes

Servings6

Tap or hover to scale

Print

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Recipe video above. A lazy meal for midweek that tastes like spinach and ricotta stuffed shells or cannelloni - but without all the labour! Feel free to use your favourite store bought pasta sauce if you prefer. Reheats well and freezes well too!

Ingredients

CupsMetric

• ▢ 300g / 10 oz ziti pasta, uncooked, or other short pasta of choice
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese , shredded (or more! For topping)

Ricotta Mixture

• ▢ 1 lb / 500 g ricotta (Note 1)
• ▢ 1/2 cup parmesan cheese , grated
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• ▢ 350g / 12oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and excess liquid pressed out
• ▢ 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
• ▢ 3/4 tsp salt & pepper

Shortcut Pasta Sauce

• ▢ 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ 700g / 24oz tomato passata (1 standard bottle) (Note 2)
• ▢ 1 tsp EACH onion and garlic powder
• ▢ 2 tsp dried Italian Mixed Herbs (Note 3)
• ▢ 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes , to taste (optional)
• ▢ 1 tsp sugar
• ▢ 1 tsp salt
• ▢ Black pepper
• ▢ 2 tbsp water (if needed)

To Serve

• ▢ Parmesan cheese , grated

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
• Pasta Sauce: Pour out about 1/4 cup of the passata (to make room to add flavourings). Add the remaining Pasta Sauce ingredients into the bottle, screw the lid on and give it a shake.
• Cook pasta for time per packet MINUS 1 minute. 
• SCOOP OUT 1 mugful pasta cooking water, drain and set aside.
• Ricotta Mixture - Mix Ricotta Mixture ingredients in a very large bowl. Use a splash of pasta cooking water if needed to make it creamy.
• Add pasta and stir to combine. Transfer to a heatproof baking dish.
• Top with Pasta Sauce, top with cheese. Loosely cover with foil.
• Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
• Serve while hot and fresh!

Recipe Notes:

1. Ricotta - Some ricottas are soft and creamy, others are a bit drier and more crumbly. Use pasta cooking water to loosen ricotta so it can be tossed through the pasta (see video for consistency).

Spinach - or use 1 large bunch of fresh, shredded.

3. Mixed Italian Herbs is a dried herb mix you can get from the supermarket which costs the same as other herbs. You can substitute with a mix of other dried herbs - basil, parsley, oregano and thyme go particularly well.

4. Tomato passata is strained pureed canned tomatoes. Readily available in supermarkets nowadays, usually alongside pasta sauces, same price as canned tomatoes. US/Canada best sub - what you know as Tomato Sauce (eg. Hunts)

5. Storage - Keep leftovers in the fridge and reheat in microwave. To freeze, assemble but do not bake, then freeze. Thaw then bake per recipe. 

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 569cal (28%)Carbohydrates: 53g (18%)Protein: 32g (64%)Fat: 26g (40%)Saturated Fat: 14g (88%)Cholesterol: 81mg (27%)Sodium: 1346mg (59%)Potassium: 782mg (22%)Fiber: 5g (21%)Sugar: 8g (9%)Vitamin A: 7860IU (157%)Vitamin C: 14.6mg (18%)Calcium: 611mg (61%)Iron: 3.8mg (21%)

Keywords: spinach and ricotta, spinach ricotta pasta bake

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Originally published September 2015, updated April 2019 with fresh new photos, new writing, new video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added!

Life of Dozer

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PS Don’t worry, it’s a dog friendly Easter egg!