Crockpot Manicotti

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Manicotti has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. Of course admittedly I just love all kinds of pasta. When I discovered the Crockpot Manicotti recipe I was extremely thrilled! Making Manicotti the traditional way can be extremely time consuming and somewhat frustrating trying to get the cheese in the noodle without totally maiming it.

For Crockpot Manicotti you start with all of the same basic ingredients

The original recipe calls for cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Especially since this is being cooked in the crockpot ricotta is a better choice. Generally cooking meals in the crockpot that have a lot of sauce to them if you add a cheese that is also "saucy" it just turns into a mush mess. Also the ingredients listed Bertolli Spaghetti Sauce. I don't like Bertolli, the flavor does nothing for me. I picked Classico because their sauces have good flavor and actual chunks of spices in them. 

Your first step you want to start cooking the ground beef. I like my beef to be completely thawed before I being because then it has a better chance of crumbling nicely. After it's completely cooked, add a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, and diced tomatoes. Let it simmer for a while, this is kind of up to you how long is long enough. I like to leave it 10-20 minutes so the meat has a chance to soak up the sauce. 

While it is simmering mix up your cheese filler. I used Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Parmesan. Then add your Italian Spices, salt and pepper. If you get this mixed pretty well in the bowl it should stick to itself enough that it makes it easy to transfer to your storage bag. 

For ease, I just got my cheese mostly mixed up and then put it in the storage bag and squished it around to get my spices completely mixed into the cheese. When you cut the corner of the bag to fill your Manicotti shells make sure not to cut it too wide. It needs to fit into the hole of the noodle. If it's cut right you should have a very easy time doing this: 

You should have enough chees to fill all 14 noodles completely with cheese. I even had a little cheese left over. Before filling your noodles you should pour the second can of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the crockpot so that as you fill you can lay them in there. 

By the time you are finished with the noddles your meat sauce should have simmered long enough for it to have good flavor. Pour this over the top of your noodles. And cook on high for 2 hours and 15 minutes. 

After put the remaining mozzarella on for about 15 minutes to melt it. 

When it's completely melted you are free to enjoy this fantastic meal!! 

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Recipe 

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 1/4 cups Ricotta Cheese

1 1/4 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 1/4 cups shredded Parmesan Cheese

2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

Remaining Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

2 jars Classico Tomato Basil Spaghetti Sauce (or your favorite sauce)

14.5 oz can of Diced Tomatoes

Manicotti Shells

1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese 

Instructions:

• Brown the ground beef and add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes.
• While meat is simmering, put together your filling by combining all ingredients.
• Place the filling in a gallon bag and snip the corner off.
• Place remaining jar of sauce in the bottom of an oval crockpot. 
• Pipe the filling into the manicotti and place them into the crockpot.
• Cover the filled manicotti with the meat mixture and cook in high for 2 1/2 hours. (Manicotti should be tender when poked with a fork.) 
• Top with Mozzarella when there is 15 minutes left to cook.