I know, I know — I teach a low fat diet, but I am about to load your plate with a guilty pleasure — manicotti!
While my vegan manicotti recipe is much lower in fat than the traditional rendition of this recipe, I shamelessly use vegan cheese in it. Since I make this dish only about once a year, I have no regrets doing it.
My husband loves it. And it is especially perfect for those times when you are entertaining non-vegan Italian and comfort food loving guests.
When I made manicotti to take images, I had a couple of non-vegans over; one of them admittedly said that she could not live without cheese. When she was tasting my manicotti, I did not tell her what was in it — impressively, she enjoyed it!
I love to pour extra spaghetti sauce on top of my manicotti and highly recommend you do the same — it makes it all taste divine.
- 14 pieces (1 container) manicotti shells
- 10 oz. Vegan Gourmet mozzarella cheese, grated or 1 (8 oz.) Daiya Mozarella shreds
- 15-16 oz. (1 tub) firm or extra firm tofu, drained and mashed
- 4 oz. vegan cream cheese
- 5 oz. baby spinach
- Salt to taste
- ½ cup dill, chopped
- 1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce
- Preheat oven to 375º F.
- Prepare pasta according to instructions (do not overcook it. I cook mine for 6 minutes).
- While pasta is being cooked, mix grated cheese, tofu and cream cheese, salt to taste.
- Wilt spinach over light heat a little; add to cheese mixture, along with dill.
- Mix everything well.
- When pasta is ready and rained, remove it from hot water and put on ice, then fill each tube with the cheese mixture.
- Spread about ⅓ of pasta sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.
- Lay stuffed manicotti over it. Spread ⅓-1/2 of remaining pasta sauce over it. Keep some for plating.
- Cover baking dish with foil and place in the oven.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Spread remaining sauce on plates. Serve hot manicotti over it with a delicious green salad of your choice.
Make this dish for Christmas! Enjoy the little vegan guilty pleasure and let me know what you think of it.
Bon Appétit!
