Do you ever get a random hankering for a specific food? I do all the time and this dinner was a result of a random craving. No special story for this recipe, I just wanted some pasta a cheese. LOL!
I’m not your typical food blogger, my recipes are driven 90% by what I’m craving to eat. The other 10% is what seasonal produce is available. But for this one…nothing more than pasta and cheese and even though it looks like it took me all night to make, it’s really not that bad. 🙂
Pipe filling into the shells 
Line up the shells on top of the sauce.
Easy Chicken and Cheese Manicotti
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 box (or at least 12) Manicotti shells
- 1 + 1/2 cups shredded chicken – I use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to save time
- 1 (16 oz) container ricotta cheese – I use the whole milk version
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs – beaten
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp Epices Rabelais Spices *(optional)
- salt and pepper
- 1 large jar of marinara sauce
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350F
- Boil a large pot of water (and a large pinch of salt) and cook manicotti shells for approx 6 min, they should be slightly under cooked. Do not over cook or they will fall apart later when you try to stuff them. Once cooked, drain and immediatly rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Sprinkle the shredded chicken with the Epices Rabelais Spices (if not using skip to #3)
- In a medium bowl mix together the ricotta cheese, eggs, thyme, basil and oregano, a pinch of salt and pepper. Fold in the shredded chicken and mix well.
- Scoop the chicken mixture into a gallon-sized ziploc bag, try to keep the misture in one corner of the bag. Snip the end of bag to make a hole about the size of a dime.
- In a large baking dish spoon in half the jar of marinara sauce. Start filling the manicotti shells and place in the baking dish on top of the sauce. Repeat until you run out of filling.
- Top the stuffed shells with more sauce and mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and broil until the cheese is melty and starting to brown around 5 or 6 min.
Notes
If you happen to see me making this on Instagram I served it with crunchy garlic bread. I buy fresh Italian bread and have the bakery slice it up for me. I butter one side then sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Wrap loosely in foil and pop it in the oven while the manicotti is baking.
Keywords: Easy Chicken and Cheese Manicotti
Y’all! Go make this right now! It’s the easiest recipe and seriously so dang good. This is in the regular rotation of dinners and an all-the-time go-to. Highly recommend whipping this dish up when entertaining visitors for dinner too. They will not be disappointed and think you slaved in the kitchen. It’s such an easy recipe!
★★★★★
This makes my heart so happy! This is one of the first things I made for my food blog and it’s still one of my favorites! I am so glad you and your family enjoy it as much as I and my family do! THank you for trying so many of my recipes, you have no idea how much it means to me! Sending you all the hugs from TN!