Meaty Manicotti

This simple dish has been very popular at family gatherings and potlucks. You can assemble it ahead of time. —Lori Thompson, New London, Texas

Meaty Manicotti Recipe photo by Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 14 uncooked manicotti shells
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound ground beef
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 3 ounces cream cheese, cubed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups meatless spaghetti sauce, divided
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Cook manicotti shells according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook sausage and beef over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Remove from the heat. Cool for 10 minutes.
• Drain shells and rinse in cold water. Stir the mozzarella cheese, cream cheese and salt into meat mixture. Spread 2 cups spaghetti sauce in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish.
• Stuff each shell with about 1/4 cup meat mixture; arrange over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
• Cover and bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and heated through.
  Freeze option: Cover and freeze unbaked casserole. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake casserole as directed, increasing time as necessary to heat through and for a thermometer inserted in center to read 165°.

2 stuffed manicotti: 507 calories, 26g fat (13g saturated fat), 90mg cholesterol, 1265mg sodium, 39g carbohydrate (11g sugars, 3g fiber), 30g protein.

Reviews

Average Rating:

• This is such a great recipe. I thought the shells would be hard to stuff but the meat mixture was really easy to work with (I used 1.25 lbs of ground beef instead of the .75 called for in the recipe). This was wonderful and I will definitely put this in my regular recipe rotation.

• This is a good crowd-pleasing recipe. It is very cheesy and the cream cheese in the mixture is a nice touch. I made the recipe exactly as written as I am a true believer in not being critical of a recipe until you try it as written. However, since I'm not a huge fan of prepared spaghetti sauce I think a homemade tomato sauce would send this recipe over the top (if you have time to prepare it). Having said that - the recipe is very nice the way it is.

• I made this last night and it was incredible!! I did exactly per the recipe and had some extra meat left over after stuffing the 14 manicotti shells, so I just put it over the manicotti in the pan before baking since I didn't have any shells left. I will definitely make this again and again! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

• Very good and a keeper. First, be prepared to have at least 20 manicotti noodles ready to fill with this recipe. Also with more filled manicotti I suggest 6 cups of sauce. (I like to completely cover the manicotti before putting in oven to keep noodles from being too hard). I use a baby spoon to stuff and this is a perfect size and keeps from splitting. Also, parboil your manicotti (about 5 mins). (This helps to keep from tearing while filing, trust me.) I divided my 20 filled manicotti into to 2 casserole dishes. One cooked and one I froze. I went to my butcher and bought their store made sweet Italian sausage and removed them from their casings before frying. Also, you really don't need any salt since it's in the sausage and spaghetti sauce. I doubled the garlic and added black pepper on top before baking.

Original article and pictures take http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/meaty-manicotti site