Spinach And Ricotta Zucchini Cannelloni
Rich and creamy spinach and ricotta stuffed inside Zucchini tubes to make another low carb, guilt free and healthy dinner! Baked until the cheese is bubbling and golden…this is one dinner that’s not only easy to make, but full of flavour it’s hard to stop at 4 Cannelloni. Or 6 even.
Who says low carb-ing is boring anyway? Not me.
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It’s no secret on this blog how much I love pasta. Pasta; carbs; bread; carbs; pasta…and did I mention carbs? Finding lower carb and healthier options is turning out to be pretty easy. Especially with Zucchini.
After the Creamy Sun Dried Tomato + Parmesan Chicken Zoodles exploded all over the world wide internet, it’s pretty obvious a lot of people are looking for healthier alternatives to pasta.
Well, here’s another one.
Zucchini sliced into thick and wide ribbons to create the perfect no-pasta lasagna sheet /cannelloni tube.
With a creamy spinach ricotta filling, packing a punch with cheese, garlic and rich flavour….
…..which is then spooned onto Zucchini ribbons, rolled up, and [laced into a baking dish. That’s it.
If you have a mandolin, the ribbons are created in seconds. But, you can create them with a cheese slicer, vegetable peeler or thinly sliced with a sharp knife. The choice is yours.
From experience, a mandolin worked better for me than the other options, but that could just be me.
Bake until the cheese is bubbling over and your kitchen has been filled with the mouthwatering aromas of Mozzarella and garlic.
And eat them straight out of the baking dish. Plates are over rated.
So.Much.Cheese.
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Weight Watchers: 5pp per serve (about 5-6 Cannelloni)
- 2 large and wide Zucchini , washed and unpeeled
- 1 x 400g | 14oz can crushed tomatoes (or pasta sauce of choice/or Passata)
- 500 g | 18oz frozen spinach , thawed
- 500 g | 18oz Ricotta
- 2 eggs
- 3 garlic cloves , crushed (or 2 teaspoons garlic powder)
- 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese , divided
- Salt to taste
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Preheat oven to 210°C | 410°F. Prepare a shallow baking dish with half of the pasta sauce. Set aside. Using a mandolin, slice Zucchini lengthwise to create wide ribbons. Set aside.
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Place spinach in a large bowl and squeeze out any excess liquid and discard. Mix in the ricotta, eggs, garlic and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese until all ingredients are well combined. Mix through salt to taste.
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Place two zucchini ribbons on top of each other (as pictured above); spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture onto the smallest end. Roll up to form a cannelloni and place into a shallow baking dish, open end facing up. Repeat with remaining zucchini and spinach mixture. Pour the remaining sauce over the 'cannelloni,' and top with remaining cheese.
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Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbling and the zucchini is soft when tested with a fork or toothpick.
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Ara says
This was quite nice (Have been looking for pasta substitutes and love cannelloni.) Added a little chilli to the tomato and some parsley to the top for extra flavour and used reduced calorie ricotta which still worked fine. I couldn’t get my zucchini into roll-able sheets either so ended up doing a kind of cannelloni-vege lasagne hybrid with the sauce on the bottom, then the zucchini, then the ricotta mix, then more sauce and some cheese on top and it tasted fine. Unfortunately the rest of the family doesn’t share my enthusiasm for a lower carb health kick or I’d make it more often.
Marylin says
Delicious, but couldn’t get my zucchini to roll. I used the mandoline, but zucchini slices still wouldn’t roll.
I then tried warm water bath for zucchinis, but still mo luck! A veggie peeler is paper thin, so I didn’t go further. Did anyone else have trouble rolling zucchini??
Donna says
You can get thin strips of zucchini using a potato peeler.
Nice, but a little on the dry side (unless I just overcooked it). I would prefer it a bit creamier.
Chelsey says
Do you have a suggested amount of fresh spinach, instead of frozen? I cannot find a good conversion anywhere.
Thanks!
Karina says
This is what I found: One standard 10-ounce package of frozen spinach equates to approximately 1 1/2 pounds of fresh spinach. Hope that helps!
Laura says
Made this tonight for dinner – absolutely delicious! I love pasta and this was a way to get that comfort food feeling without the carbs! Thank you! X
Nejra says
What happened to tomatoes?
Karina says
Please refer to Step 1 and Step 3 in the instructions.
Jolandi Rautenbach says
This was absolutely delicious!!
Karina says
Thank you Jolandi! I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know 🙂
mara says
got all the ingredients to make this tonight!!! yaay!! do you know if this would freeze well? before or after baking? thank you! <3
Karina says
Hi Mara! I’m so sorry I’ve only just seen your comment. I know I’m probably too late but yes it should freeze well after baking!
Staella says
If I wanted to add a protein like ground turkey when/how would I do that?
Karina says
Hi Staella. You can fry the meat separately first, and allow to cool. Once cooled, mix it through the spinach/ricotta mixture 😉
SuzA says
Just spent 40 minutes trying to slice two decent sized zucchini. Tried slicing end to end. Tried slicing top to bottom holding it upwards like a rocket sitting on the launch pad. Tried putting thinner widths through a grater slice opening. Ended up with 12 not to bad looking sort of slices and loads of attempts. I rolled then stood the 12 up like soldiers against one end of the 9×13 glass dish. The rest of the misfits were chopped and layered with sauce and cheese mixture like a lasagna. It’s in the oven for what I am certain will be longer than 30 minutes.
Lesson learned? Get a mandolin or something else that will work. Slicing by hand does NOT. I’m certain my troop will gobble this up as they are not picky and enjoy anything I make. I would really like to try this again using a utensil that works.
Karina says
Oh No SuzA! I can only imagine how difficult it was slice them! It takes me a while to slice them free-hand! But a Mandolin is a definite life saver and takes less than 5 minutes for perfect and even thin slices. I hope the troops did enjoy it though! I have to admit…I did laugh a little at your description of the misfits. Haha. Thank you for commenting!
Mani Refler says
Does it have to be Ricotta Cheese. I’m really not a fan of what ricotta tastes like.
It looks super delicious. I will definitely try it.
Karina says
Hi Mani. You could try Mascarpone? Or any other creamy based cheese?
Heidi says
Can this be be made without the eggs?
Karina says
Hi Heidi! Yes you can do without eggs! The eggs act like a binder but it can done without 🙂
Heather (Delicious Not Gorgeous) says
been looking for recipes with less/no carbs, and this sounds amazing. your pictures are gorgeous- i love that last one!
Karina says
Thank you so much Heather! I’m so happy to hear that! Xx
Jeannie Weddle says
This was delicious, none left in the pan lol, I had left over stuff my pie dish wouldn’t hold more. Used left over ricotta mix in a fritata this morning so none of that yumminess went to waste. Loving your recipes!! Ty!!!!!!
Karina says
That’s wonderful! I’m so so happy you tried it! Love the left overs idea too! Xx