Manicotti in Creamy Tomato Sauce, recipe

If you follow me on snapchat (@ TaneshaAwasthi), you probably noticed I love to cook and I cook quite often. While I’m no trained chef, and very rarely cook from scratch, I do know how to whip up some delicious, fuss-free meals for my family!

Manicotti is a long time family favorite I learned as a teen from my mom. Her original recipe calls for traditional tomato sauce which is just as delicious, but my boys prefer something a bit creamier, so my version- as you’ll notice with most of my cooking, is a bit more untraditional.

After sharing the finished meal on social media a couple of weeks ago, I received a lot of requests for the recipe, so I’m excited to finally share it:

Manicotti in Creamy Tomato Sauce, recipe
INGREDIENTS (serves 3-4)
  1. 12 Manicotti Shells
  2. 1 lb Ground Chicken, Turkey or Beef
  3. 8 oz Monterey Jack Cheese
  4. 29 oz. can of tomato sauce
  5. 15 oz jar of alfredo sauce
  6. 13 oz can of leaf spinach *only use half the can
  7. 15.25 oz can of whole kernel corn, no salt added *only use half the can
  8. Parsley Flakes
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. In a large pan, cook 1 lb. ground chicken and let cool for 5 minutes. (Feel free to sub. chicken for ground turkey or ground beef). Once meat has cooled, add 8 ounces of grated monterey jack cheese and stir. Mix in spinach and corn.
  3. Stuff manicotti shells with meat, cheese and veggie filling by hand (mine and Narayan’s preferred method!) or by transferring it to to a large zip-top plastic bag. Twist and squeeze bag so filling is in one corner. With scissors, snip a 3/4-inch opening in corner. Pipe filling into both ends of each pasta shell and place in baking dish.
  4. In a medium bowl, mix tomato and alfredo sauce, then pour sauce evenly over stuffed shells.
  5. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, sprinkle with parsley flakes and serve.