Cauliflower is that delicious, nutritious, and versatile vegetable that we just want to put in eve-ry-thing! We have an amazing comfort food that just transforms cauliflower to a whole nuther level, let us introduce you to our Vegan Manicotti Stuffed with Cauliflower Cream and Spinach. Perfectly creamy cauliflower, protein-packed beans, wholesome spinach, and aromatic Italian spices create a fabulous filling for delicious manicotti. An ultimate Italian comfort food that is sure to put a smile on your face. Grab a dish and get ready to dive into this cozy, satisfying meal. Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi!  Robin here.

Back in the day, I made a mean ricotta stuffed pasta shell dish.  I actually preferred using the large jumbo shells rather than manicotti pasta shells simply because they are easier to stuff.  However, I could not locate a gluten free stuffed shell pasta anywhere, and trust me, I looked.

The good news is I found several gluten free manicotti shells available. If your diet does not require you to be gluten free, then you may find the large jumbo shells easier to work with.

Manicotti Pasta Shells Sizes and Shapes Galore

One surprise to me was there are quite a few manicotti shell shapes and sizes out there.  Some large, some smaller, some wider, some are smooth, others have ridges, some have a diagonal cut, while others are a straight edge cut.  All are beautifully perfect when it comes to eating them!  LOL

The point I would like to make here is that I can’t tell you how many manicotti pasta shells you will end up using simply because of the wide variance in shell sizes.  We used 1 – 7 oz. box of Jovial Foods Gluten Free Brown Rice Manicotti Shells in one of our kitchen tests.  Then I made several other kitchen tests using different/larger manicotti pasta shells (1-8 oz. package).

Worth the Effort

This dish is a tad bit time consuming.  Why? Because instead of going to the store and purchasing tubs of Ricotta Cheese, you are literally making the stuffing yourself from scratch.  And as we all know when you make something from scratch, it is going to take some extra time.

Now, you could easily go to your local health food store and purchase some Vegan Kite Hill “Ricotta Cheese” (made from almonds) and skip all of this, but that is another recipe I am already working on.  LOL However, I can promise you that this recipe is a healthier version simply because the filling is made from cauliflower and beans.

Kitchen Tester Extraordinaire

As most of you know, my husband (TP109) is 100% Sicilian, so it is a fair statement to say that he loves his Italian food and is quite the connoisseur of the Italian cuisine.   I can’t even begin to tell you how excited he was when he found I was WFPB’ing a stuffed manicotti dish.  He was all about it.  He also insisted on having the first served portion out of every kitchen test – that is how excited he was.

After a few changes and some additional kitchen tests, he declared this dish a huge success.  He loved it.  Keep in mind, while not the same as a traditional ricotta cheese stuffed manicotti, he was pretty gosh-darned happy with this dish and so were we!  I’ll let Monkey tell you more.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.

Ameera here!

When Mom wanted to make a creamy cauliflower stuffed manicotti, I was intrigued.  First, we both wanted to use large jumbo shells, but we simply couldn’t find a gluten free jumbo shell.  No worries, the next obvious was the manicotti pasta shell which worked perfectly.

The key is not to cook the shells too long.  You need them to be almost done, the stage before al dente works best.  So, the kitchen tip is to closely monitor the pasta while it is cooking, too done, and your shell splits when filling it, not done enough equals extra time in the oven – which is fine, but who wants to wait extra time to dig into this deliciousness, right?  LOL

We hope you give this awesome dish a try.  Leave us a review or post a picture on Instagram or Facebook.

Looking for more delicious Italian Comfort Food?

Check out these awesome recipes:

• Italian Pasta Fagioli
• Italian Pasta and Peas Soup
• Italian Greens and Beans
• Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce 
• Vegan Sausage Ragu
• Easy Basil Pasta Sauce Topped with Roasted Chickpeas

Products Used:

• 8-quart ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven or similar large stock pot
• High Speed blender
• 9 x 13 casserole dish

Vegan Manicotti Stuffed with Cauliflower Cream and Spinach

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 35 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
• Yield: 5-7 Servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Cuisine: Italian

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Description

Cauliflower is that delicious, nutritious, and versatile vegetable that we just want to put in eve-ry-thing! We have an amazing comfort food that just transforms cauliflower to a whole nuther level, let us introduce you to our Vegan Manicotti Stuffed with Cauliflower Cream and Spinach. Perfectly creamy cauliflower, protein-packed beans, wholesome spinach, and aromatic Italian spices create a fabulous filling for delicious manicotti. An ultimate Italian comfort food that is sure to put a smile on your face. Grab a dish and get ready to dive into this cozy, satisfying meal. Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoons flour (gluten free or flour of choice)
• 1 cup unsweetened plain plant milk
• ¼ cup vegetable broth *
• 1 – [ 15.5 oz. ] can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ½ medium-sized cauliflower, cut into florets, riced, steamed *
• 1 ½ cups fresh baby spinach, chopped (optional)
• 1 – [ 7 oz. box ]  manicotti shells *
• 2 – [ 24 oz. jars ] marinara sauce *

Spice/Herb Ingredients: 

• 2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley (or 2 Tablespoons fresh)
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried crushed thyme leaves *
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Optional Toppings:

• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Italian microgreens
• Vegan Parmesan Cheese

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Fill a large stock pot full of water. Add some sea salt to the water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower until ready to add the pasta.
3. In a large ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven/pot or similarly large stockpot, add the diced onion. Sauté over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until the onions are tender.  (If needed to prevent sticking, add a splash of vegetable broth or water).
4. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds to one minute.
5. Then sprinkle the flour over the onions and garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Add the vegetable broth and plant milk, increase the heat to a boil, then immediately lower to a simmer.
7. Add the Spice/Herb mix, nutritional yeast, and cannelloni beans. Stir to combine.
8. Add the fresh/raw cauliflower florets to a food processor and process to create a rice like texture. You may have to do this in batches. Place the riced cauliflower into a large bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes (or steam in a fine-sleeved mesh container).  Dump the cooked, riced cauliflower into a clean dish towel and then squeeze out as much water as you can. Be careful, it’s hot! Place the cauliflower into the pot, stir, and cook for 5 minutes.  This mixture should be thick.
9. Remove the pot from the stove to slightly cool, then process the mixture in a food processor until thick and creamy. Return the mixture to the pot and fold in the chopped baby spinach and remove from the stove to cool.  See recipe notes.
10. Add the pasta (manicotti or giant shells) to the boiling water and boil based upon package directions, do NOT overcook, then carefully remove from the boiling water and then briefly run cold water over them, shake off any excess water, set aside until ready to use.
11. Place a bowl on the counter, then take a gallon freezer bag or pastry bag, and place it in the bowl (the bowl is used to steady the bag), folding the open flaps of the bag over the edge of the bowl to create an opening. Then with one of the bottom edges facing downward, place about 1/3 to ½ of the cauliflower mixture into the bag. Do not place the entire mixture in the bag as it will be too hard to control and pipe. Squeeze the air out and push the mixture firmly to the bottom corner. Snip off about ½ inch of the corner with scissors to create a piping bag.  Then pipe the mixture into manicotti tubes or shell pasta. Refill the bag with the remaining mixture and continue pipping until all the mixture has been piped. Depending on the size of your manicotti shells, you may have some remaining pasta shells left over.
12. Place 2 cups of marinara sauce in the bottom of a casserole pan; spread it out evenly, then place the filled manicotti (or shells) on top of the sauce. Once all the pasta has been filled, then place the remaining marinara sauce (from ONE of the 24 oz. jars of marinara sauce) on top of the pasta.  The other jar of marinara sauce is used as extra sauce for serving (if needed). Cover with foil and bake in a 375 F oven for 40 minutes (if the pasta is nearly cooked, then you only need to cook for 20 minutes.  You can test for this by clipping off a tiny part of the pasta and taste testing for doneness.  If you would be comfortable eating the pasta as is, then only bake for 20 minutes.  If it is still a little stiff, which is fine, then bake for 40 minutes.
13. After 40 minutes (or 20 minutes – see above), remove from the oven, and allow to set on the counter from 10 minutes before serving.
14. Top with your favorite toppings: Vegan Parmesan cheese, Italian microgreens, red pepper flake, etc.

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Notes

*Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.

*Chopped Baby Spinach: You want to chop up the baby spinach into small pieces otherwise it can clog up your piping bag while trying to pipe the mixture into the manicotti or shell pasta.

*Steamed or Microwaved Cauliflower:  The key is to wring out as much of the water as you possibly can from the cooked, riced cauliflower.  This will allow the mixture to remain thick inside the pasta while baking. Cauliflower tends to give off a lot of water while cooking so it is important to wring out as much as you can.

*Marinara Sauce: We like extra sauce with our shells or manicotti, so we purchased 2 – 24 oz. jars just ensure that everyone has plenty of sauce with their dish. One jar went into the dish, the other jar was extra to pour on top when serving. Watch labels to ensure that the brand you select is refined sugar free and oil free. Or you can use our Easy Healthy Marinara Sauce recipe.  You will need to 2.5 X the recipe.

*Manicotti Shells: (or large pasta shells)  We used 1 – 7 oz. box of Jovial Foods Gluten Free Brown Rice Manicotti Shells Believe it or not there is a huge difference in the size and shape of manicotti shells and giant shells based upon brands.  Some brands are way larger than others. You may or may not have left over pasta after filling the pasta with the cauliflower mixture.  This wasn’t a problem for us since we just threw the extra shells in a bowl and ate it with the leftover marinara sauce.

*Thyme Leaves: We use Penzeys French Thyme.  It has amazing flavor.  Please note that dried crushed thyme leaves is not the same as ground thyme. You can use either in this recipe.  We used dried crushed thyme leaves, so if you are using ground thyme, scale back a little more than half of the amount used, and check for flavor. Adjust as preferred.

*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Serving:  5 – 7

*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 7 days.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.