Ricotta and Spinach Vegan Cannelloni
Vegan Cannelloni… Cannelloni pasta stuffed with a cheesy and savory dairy-free Ricotta, covered in homemade marinara sauce and baked with parmesan until crispy.
How have YOU been? I was soo happy that Winter was finally gone and done with but then this past week it came back with a vengeance! Snow, wind, ice, and freezing cold temperatures. And with the cold comes a NEEEEEED for comfort food like Vegan Cannelloni… in other words pasta stuffed with cheese, baked and full of so much goodness it can even beat the cold in March!
[easy-tweet tweet=”You don’t need dairy to make cheesy, savory, and perfect Ricotta cheese at home. ” user=”CearasKitchen” url=”https://goo.gl/Zdp1Fb” template=”light”]
And this Vegan Canneloni is really ALL about the Dairy-Free Ricotta. ↡ ↡ ↡
I actually had big plans to share my Vegan Cannelloni recipe with you a couple of weeks ago but then when I went to write my post and ALL the notes on my phone (where I write down all my recipes as I cook) mysteriously got deleted. I almost crieeed because this recipe is all about the Vegan Ricotta. It took me several tests to perfect the texture and taste. I remembered the ingredients but couldn’t remember the exact measurements. A few Google searches later and I found my Ricotta recipe with an iPhone recovery software. PHEW! Low and behold, I think I’m going to start writing out my recipes the good ol’ fashioned way by hand again! 😉
This Vegan Cannelloni is a fun recipe to make. Once you make the homemade Marinara Sauce and the Ricotta cheese, the best part is stuffing the Cannelloni with the homemade Ricotta. I find the best way to do this is to take a big scoop of Ricotta cheese on a spoon and carefully stuff the Cannelloni until it is filled the entire way through. This can get a bit messay but that’s half the fun.
Arrange your Cannelloni in a casserole dish on top of a layer of Marinara sauce…
Add a few more scoops of Marinara on top. Top with Vegan Parmesan and bake until crisppppyyyyy.
If you make this Vegan Cannelloni at home, snap a photo and tag me #CearasKitchen on Instagram or leave your feedback in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Enjoy with more Parm, fresh basil, and fresh bread if you oh-so please. Enjoy!
Ricotta and Spinach Vegan Cannelloni
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
Description
Cannelloni pasta stuffed with a cheesy and savory dairy-free ricotta, covered in homemade marinara sauce and baked with parmesan until crispy. Prepare the marinara sauce first so it simmers on the stove while you are cooking your cannelloni noodles and preparing the ricotta cheese.
Ingredients
- 10 cannelloni shells
Marinara Sauce
- 2 white onions, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp herbes de provence
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (796 ml/28 oz each)
Ricotta
- 3/4 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 cup tofu, crumbled
- 3/4 cup frozen spinach (measured after defrosting)
Garnish
- Vegan Parmesan
- Fresh Basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Prepare the cashews by soaking them overnight in cold water or for 15 minutes in boiling water.
- Defrost frozen spinach in the microwave. Squeeze out exceed liquid and measure out 3/4 cup of spinach. Set aside to use in the ricotta cheese.
Marinara sauce
- In a deep pan, saute onion and garlic with balsamic vinegar and herbes de provence on medium-high heat until the onions are soft and lightly-sauteed. Add the canned tomatoes.
- Simmer on low for 30 minutes while preparing the cannelloni. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.
Cannelloni Noodles
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook your cannelloni noodles until al dente. Make sure to not cook them until they are too soft, this will make them easier to stuff. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Ricotta
- Saute onions and garlic over medium heat until soft with a splash of water.
- Add the onions and garlic to a high-speed blender with the soaked cashews, nutmeg, bouillon, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and nutritional yeast. Blend until creamy.
- And the crumbled tofu to the same pan where you were sautéeing the onions and garlic. Saute for a couple minutes (this will soften the flavor of the tofu a bit).
- Add the tofu to blender and pulse two to three times until you get a chunky ricotta texture (see photo).
- Stir in the defrosted spinach. Taste test and add salt and pepper to taste.
Prepare the Cannelloni
- Add two scoops of the marinara sauce to a casserole dish. With a spoon, stuff the Ricotta cheese into the cooked Cannelloni until it is filled the entire way through. Place the stuffed Cannelloni in the pan and repeat until all the cannelloni are stuffed.
- Pour the rest of the Marinara sauce on top of the stuffed cannelloni. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is crispy and the tomato sauce is bubbling at the sides. Garnish more parmesan and fresh basil.
- Prep Time: 55 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Main
