Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake Recipe
Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake is made with creamy ricotta and a great deal of spinach stirred by means of pasta, topped with pasta sauce, cheese after which baked till bubbly and golden. It tastes like a Spinach and Ricotta stuffed shells – however approach sooner to make!
Fabulous lazy Monday meal – constructed from scratch, utilizing my cheeky “shake and pour” shortcut pasta sauce!
Spinach and Ricotta
Spinach and ricotta. We stuff issues with it (Cannelloni, Rotolo, shells!), we layer issues with it, we roll it up in puff pastry and we wrap it in pastry.
So why don’t we stir it by means of pasta bakes?
This can be a lazy Monday meal I’ve been making for years. I do know it’s slightly totally different, but it surely actually is tasty. It tastes like spinach and ricotta cannelloni or stuffed shells – however with out the labour. 🙌🏻
Take a look at this pile of gooey, juicy deliciousness….no dry ricotta in MY pasta bakes!
Shake and pour pasta sauce!
As a result of it is a lazy meal, I make this with my shortcut do-it-yourself pasta sauce. It’s a shortcut recipe as a result of I don’t cook dinner it on the range with sautéed onions and garlic like I ordinarily do. All I do is add pasta sauce flavourings proper 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 further flavours into the sauce. 🙂
Sub for tomato passata?
Tomato passata is pureed strained uncooked tomatoes, unflavoured. It’s bought in tall bottles within the pasta part of most supermarkets in Australia these days, and prices across the similar as canned tomato. In case you’re within the US or Canada, I’ve seen it at Walmart and listed here are a few Amazon – Mutti (glorious Italian model I exploit) and Cento (a superb worth one). Or sub with what you understand as tomato sauce.
What goes in Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake
Right here’s a snapshot of the components. For comfort, I exploit frozen spinach right here however contemporary can be utilized in a cinch.
As for the ricotta, any kind will work right here. Some are creamier and softer than others which makes it straightforward to combine into the pasta.
If yours is the thicker extra crumbly kind, it’s a straightforward repair – simply stir by means of a few of the pasta cooking water to loosen it up. The starch within the pasta cooking water will make the ricotta combination bind higher than utilizing regular water or milk to loosen the combination. The identical impact as tossing pasta by means of pasta sauces proper earlier than serving – it’s referred to as emulsifying the sauce (what a exhibit!😂).
This actually does style like a Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni* – with out the fiddly stuffing of the cannelloni tubes. As a result of as a lot as all of us love consuming these stuffed tubes of pasta smothered in tomato sauce and molten cheese, no person’s leaping off the sofa to supply to assist stuff them. Proper?? 😂
So – are you feeling lazy right this moment too? -Johnsat x
* For these of you within the US & Canada – cannelloni is principally the identical as manicotti, besides the tubes are barely smaller and clean, no ridges. Simply as tasty!
All issues Spinach and Ricotta!
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Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
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Spinach and Ricotta Rolls
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Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo – and it tastes as spectacular because it appears to be like!
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Ricotta and Spinach Puff Pastry Bites
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Vegetarian Lasagna
And extra huge juicy pasta bakes
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Baked Ziti
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Extremely Lazy HEALTHY Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake
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Tuna Pasta Bake
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Seafood Gratin Pasta Bake
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Cheeseburger Casserole (Selfmade Hamburger Helper) – OK, so it’s not baked, but it surely appears to be like like a pasta bake!
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Chili Mac and Cheese – ditto for this one 🙂
Watch how one can make it
Ingredients
- 300g / 10 oz ziti pasta, uncooked, or other short pasta of choice
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese , shredded (or more! For topping)
- 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
- 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)
- 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!
Notes
1. Ricotta – Some ricottas are soft and creamy, others are a bit drier and more crumbly. Use pasta cooking water to loosen ricotta so it can be tossed through the pasta (see video for consistency).
Spinach – or use 1 large bunch of fresh, shredded.
3. Mixed Italian Herbs is a dried herb mix you can get from the supermarket which costs the same as other herbs. You can substitute with a mix of other dried herbs – basil, parsley, oregano and thyme go particularly well.
4. Tomato passata is strained pureed canned tomatoes. Readily available in supermarkets nowadays, usually alongside pasta sauces, same price as canned tomatoes. US/Canada best sub – what you know as Tomato Sauce (eg. Hunts)
5. Storage – Keep leftovers in the fridge and reheat in microwave. To freeze, assemble but do not bake, then freeze. Thaw then bake per recipe.
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