Aggie's Kitchen

Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti

My family loved this Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti! Classic baked manicotti filled with healthy roasted butternut squash and spinach. A great fall inspired pasta dish.

My family loved this Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti! Classic baked manicotti filled with healthy roasted butternut squash and spinach. A great fall inspired pasta dish.

Patience. Something I’ve been majorly lacking in lately and I’m not proud of it. I’m not sure being patient has ever been a strong characteristic of mine but the older I get, the busier I get, the more unorganized I feel, the less patient I’ve become. It’s one of those things that I know I have to work on…but how does one actively work on patience? Can someone chime in here with any advice? Experienced moms, women, people…talk to me about this please. This is something I’m truly trying to change.

If I was a more patient person, I would probably cook with my kids more. Just sayin’. Here’s the thing, it’s not that I don’t enjoy my kids cooking with me, I actually love when they take interest in what I’m making or ask to help. I just think that most of the time when I’m cooking – I’m cooking fast. And fast cooking and kids usually don’t go together. Fast and baking don’t work well together either so maybe that explains my lack of enthusiasm for baking too. 😉

My family loved this Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti! Classic baked manicotti filled with healthy roasted butternut squash and spinach. A great fall inspired pasta dish.

A couple of Sundays ago I decided my daughter and I were going to cook together. My son had a couple of basketball games (my husband coaches) and I knew that our littlest one would most likely not be able to hang out at the games all day. So it was a good day to spend some time at home, make a nice meal, and include my daughter in the process. It was such a nice feeling to know there was no rush to be anywhere for the day, that the boys were coming home later in the afternoon and that we would be able to all have dinner together. Dinner that my girl and I cooked up together. We even made some extra to share with my husband’s parents.

Looking at pictures of my sweet girl cooking this Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti makes me want to do this more. She is a mini me…LOVES to cook! It makes my heart smile. Taking time on this Sunday to do nothing but cook with my girl was the best. She learned what butternut squash tastes like (she forgets she’s had it before 😉 ), she learned how to fill manicotti and she told me she wants her own blog. I’ve recently come across several old photos and blog posts that have pictures of my kids when they were itty bitty…helping me in the kitchen. Makes me realize I can’t keep them from growing up but I sure can keep them helping me in the kitchen. And in all honestly…it’s a good lesson in building patience for me too.

So you know the old saying, stop and smell the roses? Well, I guess I stopped and smelled the manicotti. Aaaand I can’t believe I just said that. Out loud.

Oy…

Corniness aside…I am sure you’ll love this Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti. My entire family gobbled it up. Manicotti definitely takes a little extra time (patience), but is so worth it. I roasted the butternut squash up earlier in the day so it was ready when I was ready to fill the shells. I had a lot of squash leftover (it was a big squash!) and my little guy ate it on it’s own for days. Ricotta, nutmeg, butternut squash and spinach go so well together, made the perfect filling for this baked pasta dish.

My family loved this Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti! Classic baked manicotti filled with healthy roasted butternut squash and spinach. A great fall inspired pasta dish.

Print Recipe

Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti

Ingredients:

  • 1 package manicotti shells
  • 1 cup cooked butternut squash
  • 10 oz package chopped spinach, defrosted
  • 1/4 cup parmesan
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 large container whole milk ricotta cheese
  • about 3 cups marinara sauce
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions:

  1. To Cook Butternut Squash: Peel and dice squash. Dice into 1" pieces. Toss in 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper and place on cookie sheet. Cook in 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.
  2. To Cook Manicotti: Cook manicotti pasta shells according to directions. Set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. In a large bowl prepare filling by combining ricotta with eggs, nutmeg, parmesan, chopped spinach and butternut squash. Spoon ricotta mixture into a large ziplock bag. Cut 1/2" off one of the bottom tips of the bag. (Use the bag for piping in the ricotta mixture into the cooked pasta shells, or spoon into shells instead - I find piping easier)
  5. Pour 1/4 cup of marinara sauce in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Pipe or spoon ricotta mixture into each cooked pasta shell and carefully place into baking dish, lining up manicotti until all are filled. Pour remaining sauce evenly over pasta and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

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Here are a few ideas for leftover butternut squash:

Vegetarian Penne Pasta with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce

Massaged Kale Salad with Butternut Squash and Beets

Squash Toasts with Ricotta and Cider Vinegar

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19 comments on “Butternut Squash and Spinach Manicotti”

  1. Awww I love this post!!!! Asher is no longer afternoon napping so we have been doing more and more cooking in the afternoon when Jacob is asleep. Patience is not my strong point either but cooking requires it so it’s been a good lesson for both of us. Great post and I LOVE this recipe!

  2. THOSE PICTURES! I die. They are SO cute!
    It kind of makes me wish I had kids to cook with. But I also MAJORLY lack in patience, so I probably won’t cook that much with them either 😉
    What I WOULD do though, is eat ALL these babies! YUM. Pinned!

  3. My husband would go crazy for this recipe, he is always asking for me to make manicotti!!

  4. I HATE cooking with my kids too, haha! Mine are 3 and 5 and they are interested for about 30 seconds and somehow in that 30 seconds the whole thing goes to crap! This manicotti looks wonderful and I love that you sneak in that healthy butternut squash, yum!!

  5. I’m SO with you. I have a major lack of patience. Its gotten a little better since I had Kay but…still not bueno haha. She is so cute! I love baking and cooking with Kaylin too. And this recipe! Drool! Making for sure.

  6. Love this recipe! The butternut squash in this is perfect.

  7. I’m afraid that I can’t help out in the patience department.

    Your daughter is darling and what a gift that she loves to cook too! You two were quite a team in making these gorgeous manicotti…

  8. I love this post, so sweet!!! I will be making this recipe soon!

  9. I’m also not good with patience, but this post is a nice reminder to work on it. Love this butternut squash spinach manicotti, perfect fall comfort food!

  10. Thank you for posting this recipe. I am roasting my squash right now to prep for dinner tonight. This is my first time making manicotti. Can’t wait to try it!

  11. The recipe sounds yummy! The diet is all inclusive.

  12. I’m not very patient either. I have to I have to make myself slow down and let the kids help every once in a while. I don’t want them to remember me running them out of the kitchen because I was too busy for them to help, but I’m afraid that happens more often than not! This manicotti is right up my alley, so comforting and delicious.

  13. I can’t wait until Nat and Will are old enough to do all my cooking for me! I mean, help me. Okay, do it all.

    This looks amaaaazing.

  14. This turned out fantastic! My husband was surprised he liked it, now we have another great dish to add to our rotation! Thank you for sharing!

  15. This looks tasty, i’m going to try it with my youngest this weekend! 😉 

  16. Made this with pumpkin as we were all out of squash. It was fantastic! Great job on this recipe!