I never thought making cannelloni at home would be so easy and so much fun! If you haven’t had cannelloni before, they are tube-like pasta shapes filled with a ricotta cheese-based filling and covered with a sauce. My recipe below uses lasagne sheets to make these homemade cannelloni, that are then stuffed with aubergine and ricotta cheese and finished with a tomato sauce. The great thing is though, that the filling is really versatile! I’ve made these cannelloni with aubergine, courgette, and spinach in the filling, and they were delicious every time! Check out the recipe below and give it a go yourself!
A few tips for making Homemade Cannelloni
THE PASTA
First of all, you will obviously need pasta for this recipe. While you are able to buy dried cannelloni tubes in some supermarkets, I have always found these very difficult to fill. Plus you can’t use them for anything else but making Cannelloni. A much easier option therefore is to use lasagne sheets, and when you have made the cannelloni you can use the rest to make my Easy Lasagne or Vegetable Lasagne recipes 😉.
The lasagne sheets are cooked first so that you can roll them up with the filling inside. I cook them for about 7-8 minutes so that they are soft but still al dente. It’s important to add the sheets to the pan with boiling water separately and add a little oil to the water to prevent the lasagne sheets from sticking to each other. Once you have strained the pasta through a colander, rinse thoroughly in cold water and make sure they are not sticking to each other.
THE FILLING
Ricotta cheese is used to make the creamy, cheese filling that goes inside these cannelloni. It’s seasoned generously with salt, pepper, and garlic and is then ready to be spread over the lasagne sheets.
While you can use just ricotta for the filling, I also like to add some vegetables to it. My favourite is to thinly slice aubergine and then briefly grill it in the oven for 10 minutes or fry in a griddle pan until softened. The sliced aubergine can then simply be rolled up into the cannelloni. If you don’t like aubergine, you can use courgette instead. I have also used frozen whole leaf spinach before, the important thing is just to make sure you thoroughly squeeze out all the water from it first.
THE SAUCE
The tomato sauce that accompanies the cannelloni in this recipe is very simple to make. All you need to do is quickly fry up some onion, a bit more garlic (I love garlic and there is quite a bit in this recipe, so feel free to leave some out) and then add some tomato passata. Season with salt and pepper and bob’s your uncle!
For an alternative twist, you could serve your cannelloni with a Béchamel sauce (white sauce). This would be particularly yummy if you filled your cannelloni with ricotta cheese and spinach. Click here to find a recipe for homemade Béchamel sauce.
How to make Cannelloni
Making these cannelloni is very quick and easy. It takes around 1 hour from start to finish, and that includes 20 minutes in the oven to finish it off!
Start by thinly slicing the aubergine (or other veg) and cook it under the grill in the oven or in a frying pan until soft and slightly charred. If frying, you can use the same pan to make the tomato sauce in. Once the tomato sauce is simmering away, cook the lasagne sheets and quickly make the ricotta cheese filling while you wait.
To assemble the cannelloni, each lasagne sheet is cut in half to make two squares, and then some of the ricotta cheese filling is spread across. Then you add a thin layer of aubergine and simple roll the lasagne sheet up! The rolled cannelloni are then put into an oven-proof dish with the tomato sauce. Finally, the cannelloni are sprinkled with grated cheddar cheese and then baked in the oven under the grill for 15-20 minutes to heat everything through and melt the cheese.
More easy and delicious Pasta dishes
Everyone loves pasta – or at least I have never met anyone who doesn’t! XD What’s not to love though, easy to cook and delicious when served with an amazing sauce on the side! I have lots of great pasta recipes on my blog, make sure to check out some of my other favourite recipes listed below:
- Creamy Chicken and Pesto Pasta
- Spaghetti with a Tomato and Meatball Sauce | Lady and the Tramp
- Butternut Squash and Tomato Tagliatelle
- Pasta with Cheese Sauce and Crispy Bacon
- Spaghetti Alioli (Aglio e Olio) | Family Favourite
- Smoky Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti
- Pasta with Spinach Sauce and Salmon
- Creamy Hummus Linguine
- Fingal’s Butternut Squash Pasta
- Easy Lasagne Recipe
- Spaghetti Pesto with Feta Cheese
Homemade Cannelloni with Tomato Sauce
Recipe
Ingredients (serves 2):
- 5 lasagne sheets
- A little olive oil
- Fine sea salt
- 125g ricotta cheese
- 1 large (or 2 medium) aubergines (or use courgettes, spinach etc.)
- 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 500g tomato passata
- 75g cheddar cheese, grated
- Basil, to serve (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven with the grill on to 180°C.
- Start by thinly slicing the aubergine. If grilling in the oven, spread it out in an even layer on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Grill for 10-15 minutes turning half-way through until softened and slightly charred. For a slightly faster version, fry the aubergine in a large frying pan (you will have to do it in batches) and softened. Transfer the aubergine to a plate until needed.
- In the same frying pan (if you used one), warm 1 tsp of olive oil and gently fry the onion for about 5 minutes until softened. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and cook for a minute, before adding the passata. Leave to gently simmer while you make the pasta.
- To cook the lasagne sheets, bring a large pot of water to the boil, add some fine sea salt and a teaspoon of olive oil to help prevent the pasta from sticking. Cook the lasagne sheets for 7-8 minutes until al dente and soft enough to roll. Drain through a colander and rinse with lots of cold water, making sure the sheets don’t stick to each other.
- To make the ricotta cheese filling, simply mix the cheese with two crushed cloves of garlic and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Next, fill two thirds of the tomato sauce into an oven-proof dish.
- To assemble the cannelloni, place the lasagne sheets onto a clean plate or work surface and pat dry with some kitchen towel. Then cut the sheets in half to make two equally sizes squares.
- Spread over a layer of ricotta cheese, then place a layer of griddled aubergine on top (you may have to cut the pieces to make sure they fit). Then carefully roll up each filled cannelloni and place, seam-side facing down, into the sauce in the prepared oven dish. Repeat until you have made all 10 cannelloni.
- Carefully spoon the remaining tomato sauce over the cannelloni and scatter the grated cheddar cheese on top. Cook the cannelloni in the preheated oven under the grill for 15-20 minutes, or until the pasta and sauce are heated through and the cheese on top has melted.
- Scatter with some freshly chopped basil before serving and enjoy!
