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!
Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo – and it tastes as spectacular as it looks!
And more big juicy pasta bakes
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
Ingredients
- 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:
Nutrition Information:
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
Reaping the rewards of the Easter Egg Hunt!
PS Don’t worry, it’s a dog friendly Easter egg!
Since I had little time, I used jarred sauce (great tip) and this dish came out really well. I even snuck in whole wheat pasta, but the boys didn’t flinch; they gobbled it up. Delish dish! Thanks Nagi!
Another great recipe! I’m so glad I found your site.
OMG Nagi you are the woman of my dreams!
Another delicious hit! I can’t believe how flavourful this dish was. Definitely adding to the rotation.
Omg – this is soooooo good! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Really loved this recipe. I love anything with spinach and ricotta and what a bonus that this goes together so quickly. So refreshing too that it is meatless! It is my new lasagna!
Hi Nagi, I REALLY want to make this recipe as it looks and sounds sublime. But… I live alone and usually when I cook, I freeze what I don’t eat in individual servings. If I did that here, because it’s not cooked first, I don’t know how long to bake a single serve for, or what I’d bake it in. I thought that the solution would be to simply use the sliding scale and just prepare enough for two serves. Unfortunately, things like 0.17tsp chilli flakes, 0.67 garlic cloves and 0.33tsp of sugar, are too difficult to measure out (especially when your eyesight isn’t that great).
So can you PLEASE offer any suggestions on how to best make and freeze this recipe? Because as I said, I REALLY want to make this.
Thank you, Lorraine
You could bake it and then freeze it in individual portions to just defrost and warm up as needed. I just used jar sauce without adding any additions to keep it easy and no eye glasses needed 🙂
Thanks for the suggestion Heather😊👍🏻
Great recipe! Easy and tasty. And my meat-loving kids ate a vegetarian meal!
Making again tonight.. so quick and easy and my husbands late so he can heat it up when he gets home. Also found out today to stop my kids
From fighting I sat by 6yr old daughter down to look at loads of photos of Dozer who she said was adorable 😍
Every time I cook one of your recipes I say to myself (and anyone else who will listen) “THIS is the best one!”. But then I cook another dish the next day and it becomes my favorite. Today I’m cooking 2 of your recipes…. How will I choose?!!!
This was another winner Nagi! As you said – it was like spinach & ricotta canelloni without having to individually stuff the pasta tubes! Also loved the slight hint of chilli in the pasta sauce. SO GOOD and the family all loved it – Thanks Nagi!
Easy and delicious. I had leftover ricotta after another recipe and wanted to use it up and came across this recipe. Loved that I didn’t have to spend time stuffing pasta shells or rigatoni. I followed recipe as written. Would make again. Made a nice meal served with salad. Thank you!
I am surprised by how amazing this recipe is! The parmesan is the secret ingredient that makes everything fit together in an amazing symphony!
One note is that the amount of “passata” is confusing. Because the list says 700 gm, then in description you through away some.
This is pure genius. I love the shake in the pasta bottle and the pasta water trick to loosen the ricotta. I keep having dry dry ricotta in my baked and I couldn’t figure it out. I am for sure trying this tomorrow. I am so excited!!
Hi! Can you make this the night before, refrigerate overnight, then bake the following evening? Let me know, thank you ⭐️
Yes that will be completely fine Steph! N x
Have made this a few times, it’s everyone’s favourite whenever I put spinach in a dinner they don’t like “green stuff” but it’s like they do t notice it in this dinner! Plus they also love so achy and ricotta tortellini (pasta parcels) and do t know that has spinach in either! Thanks for a pasta bake recipe 😀😀😀😀
I’m going to marry this dish. Perfection.
Made this tonight and it’s another winner Nagi. I made your spinach and ricotta cannelloni last week and the fam said it’s the best I’ve ever made but tonight they are saying they prefer this so we have a new replacement! As per usual another winner Nagi thank you! Xx
Forgot to rate lol. 5 stars! Xx
Hi. I just tried this recipe today for a nice hot lunch, and even my picky mum in law, as well as my LO ate it all. I made a few changes though. I did not use the pepper flakes. I added about a cup or less of Alfredo sauce to the spinach mix because, my ricotta was not as creamy as it should’ve been. I didn’t want to add any more water and risk the flavor. Also, I used a salt-free seasoning and medium shells for the pasta. Very good! I am always looking for a meatless option.
I have to say it, but if you make changes to the actual recipe you shouldn’t rate it, or not less than 5 stars because you did your own thing. It is unfair to the cook, your dish was 4 stars, not hers.
I cannot believe I’ve never made this Nagi seeing I’ve been following you for so long. It was really delicious and even my carnivores went back for a second helping. I’m really focussing on having a meat free day at least once a week and this hit the brief 👍
When a recipe actually brings your hubby to tears it’s a solid keeper. My family loved ever bite. Thank you so much👍👍