This simple vegan cannelloni with macadamia ricotta is a crowd-pleaser. It only takes 60 minutes to make. It features a dreamy creamy vegan ricotta filling and an irresistibly rich marinara sauce!
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🌟 Why this recipe works
- Italian heritage – as a bonafide quarter Italian person (I know my English rose complexion says otherwise) I feel very qualified to be able to put this recipe together. Having grown up eating traditional Italian food on the regular, made by my Italian Nan, I picked up a thing or two about Italian cooking. And even better, I can make all the classics vegan now! Just check out our spaghetti arrabiata, vegan carbonara or vegan spaghetti bolognese.
- Flavour combo – the combo of the rich creamy filling and the slightly acidic tomato sauce is perfect. It's a really popular dish for a reason and this recipe shows vegans don't have to miss out.
- Pretty simple – while there are a few steps involved, it's all pretty simple and straightforward to make a vegan cannelloni (and definitely worthwhile). Once the ricotta spinach mix and the rich marinara sauce is done, you just need to put it all together and bake.
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Cannelloni tubes – these are bought in a packet and are dried tubes. This vegan cannelloni, like most other cannelloni, is made with dried cannelloni tubes. Just make sure that they are egg free, and they don’t need to be pre-cooked. In fact, pre-cooking would make them even harder to make!
- Macadamia nuts – we really like the texture and flavour of macadamia nuts for making vegan ricotta. When compared to other nuts, such as cashew or almonds, the macadamia came out on top. However, there are lots of ways to make vegan ricotta, including with other nuts, as previously mentioned, or with tofu.
- Spinach – any old spinach will do but we used baby spinach for this vegan cannelloni. Just don’t use frozen spinach.
- Passata – using passata is a bit of a shortcut in this recipe. It helps to create a smooth, rich tomato sauce that's ready in a fraction of the time. That’s because you don’t have to hang around waiting for the tomatoes to break down.
Check out the recipe card at the bottom of this article for exact measurements to make this easy vegan spinach and ricotta cannelloni recipe.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
This is a step-by-step overview with photos for making vegan cannelloni with spinach and macadamia ricotta. The full recipe, along with measurements and detailed instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
1. First, make the spinach and ricotta filling. Add a splash of olive oil to a saucepan and bring up to a medium heat. Once the oil is hot enough, add half of the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion softens and starts to turn slightly translucent. Remember to keep it moving so that it doesn’t burn.
2. When the onion is cooked, add the spinach to the pan. Cook it until it is completely wilted.
3. Take your spinach, onion and garlic mixture and add it to your blender along with all of the macadamia ricotta ingredients. Blitz it until the mixture is smooth. It should turn a lovely pale green colour, then set aside.
4. Now for the marinara sauce. Grab the same saucepan you were using before, and heat up another splash of olive oil. Add the remaining onion and garlic to the pan and cook until the onion has turned slightly translucent. Pop in the oregano and cook for a minute.
5. Pour in the passata, give everything a good stir, and bring to the boil. Immediately bring back down to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Once the passata has had a couple of minutes to simmer, stir in the basil and cook for another couple of minutes.
6. Grab the cannelloni tubes, a piping bag and a chopping board or plate. Fill the piping bag with the spinach and ricotta mix. Then carefully fill the tubes with the ricotta and spinach mix as evenly as possible. The best way of doing this is to stand each tube on one end on a chopping board, fill it up to the top, then lay it out on the baking tray.
7. Get a small oven dish, and spread a layer of the marinara sauce over the bottom of it.
8. Fill all of the tubes and lay them out on top of the sauce in the tray.
9. Pour the rest of the sauce over the cannelloni. Make sure that it’s all covered, otherwise some of the pasta tubes won’t cook properly. It needs to all be covered in the tomato sauce.
Put the dish into the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes (or whatever the cannelloni tube packet says, if different).
Top the vegan cannelloni with fresh basil and vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast. Serve and enjoy!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
- Fresh spinach – whether you’re using baby spinach or ‘fully grown’ spinach, it’s best not to use frozen. That's because frozen spinach releases a lot of water when cooking, and so it will change the texture of the spinach and ricotta mix.
- How to fill the tubes – there are various ways to fill cannelloni tubes, but by far the easiest is to use a piping bag. Fill the bag with the spinach and ricotta mix, stand a tube up on its end so one of the holes is flat to a chopping board or tray, then pipe in the mix until it's full. Having one end of the tube sat on something stops the filling spilling out the other side and helps to completely fill the tubes and any air pockets that initially form.
- Cover the tubes – make sure that the tubes are fully covered in the sauce before they go in the oven. This will ensure that they cook properly, so you don’t end up with partly crunchy pasta!
- Freezing and storage – vegan cannelloni can be frozen, no problem. However, the pasta tubes don’t reheat the best, they’ll likely be chewier when defrosted and reheated. So, for best results it should be eaten fresh. It will store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days though, in an airtight container.
- Vegan ricotta – if you have a store bought vegan ricotta, you can of course use that instead. It’s important to choose a vegan ricotta that doesn’t melt too much, as it’s what gives the filling texture. The measurement should be around 1.5 cups. For a truly delicious vegan cannelloni, the vegan ricotta should have a relatively ‘chunky’ texture. A lot of coconut oil-based vegan cheeses pretty much disappear when you put them in sauce, so bear that in mind. We recommend nut-based vegan ricotta. Or make your own with the recipe we've included!
💭 FAQs
No! Definitely don’t boil the cannelloni tubes before cooking. The tubes need to be hard (uncooked) for the filling to get into them easily.
Yes, you can use almond or cashews, but we think macadamia is the best, for both taste and texture. Cashews blend up too smooth and almonds bring too much of an almond flavour. Macadamia nuts don’t have such a distinct flavour.
Yes, take a look at this tofu ricotta recipe by Create Mindfully.
There are various ways to fill cannelloni tubes, but by far the easiest is to use a piping bag.
Yes. If you use gluten free tubes, the vegan cannelloni will be completely gluten free!
🥖 Serving suggestions
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Cannelloni
Ingredients
For the spinach & ricotta filling:
- 1 onion - chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 140 g spinach
- 1.5 cups macadamia nuts
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp white miso
- ½ cup water
- 1 Pinch salt
For the cannelloni:
- 125 g cannelloni 12 tubes
- 700 ml tomato passata
- 4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 4 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp fresh basil - roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper
For garnish (optional):
- Fresh basil
- Vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast
Instructions
For the filling:
- First, make the spinach and ricotta filling. Add a splash of olive oil to a saucepan and bring up to a medium heat.2 tbsp olive oil
- Once the oil is hot enough, add the onion and garlic clove. Cook until the onion softens and starts to turn slightly translucent. Remember to keep it moving so that it doesn’t burn.1 clove garlic, 1 onion
- When the onion is cooked, add the spinach to the pan. Cook it until it is completely wilted.140 g spinach
- Take your spinach, onion and garlic mixture and add it to your blender along with all of the macadamia ricotta ingredients. Blitz it until the mixture is smooth. It should turn a lovely pale green colour, then set aside.1.5 cups macadamia nuts, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp white miso, ½ cup water, 1 Pinch salt
For the cannelloni:
- Now for the marinara sauce. Grab the same saucepan you were using before, and heat up another splash of olive oil.
- Add onion and four garlic cloves to the pan and cook until the onion has turned slightly translucent.4 cloves garlic, 1 onion
- Add in the oregano and cook for a minute.4 tsp dried oregano
- Pour in the passata, give everything a good stir, and bring to the boil. Immediately bring back down to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper.700 ml tomato passata, Salt & pepper
- Once the passata has had a couple of minutes to simmer, stir in the basil and cook for another couple of minutes.2 tbsp fresh basil
- Get a small oven dish, and spread a layer of the marinara sauce over the bottom of it.
- Grab the cannelloni tubes, a piping bag and a chopping board or plate. Fill the piping bag with the spinach and ricotta mix. Then carefully fill the cannelloni tubes with the ricotta and spinach mix as evenly as possible. The best way of doing this is to stand each tube on one end, fill it up to the top, then lay it out on the baking tray.125 g cannelloni
- Repeat until all of the cannelloni tubes are full and laid out on top of the sauce in the tray.
- Pour the rest of the sauce over the cannelloni. Make sure that it’s all covered, otherwise some of the pasta tubes won’t cook properly. It needs to all be covered in the tomato sauce.
- Put the dish into the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes (or whatever the cannelloni tube packet says, if different). Once done, top the vegan cannelloni with fresh basil and vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Use gluten-free cannelloni tubes for a gluten-free version.
- Use fresh spinach for best results, rather than frozen spinach.
- Store in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container. We don’t recommend freezing.
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