My baked chicken cannelloni is made with cannelloni pasta tubes stuffed with a cheesy ricotta, chicken, and spinach filling, topped with creamy sauce. This is an easy make-ahead dinner that’s family-friendly, customizable, and so tasty!
Cheesy Baked Cannelloni With Chicken
Like my homemade stromboli, baked mostaccioli, and crockpot lasagna, this cheesy chicken-stuffed cannelloni is a classic Italian dish made EASY. Chicken cannelloni is quick and stuffed with a filling of fresh spinach, chicken, and ricotta, all nestled in pasta sauce and topped with a creamy mixture of half-and-half, Parmesan, and Italian seasonings. A side of air fryer garlic bread is perfect for sopping up all that sauce!
The entire recipe takes 45 minutes from start to finish. It’s kid-friendly and makes for some great leftovers.
Reader Review
“This is a delicious recipe!! One of your longer recipes, but absolutely worth a little more effort! I love that all of your recipes allow for changes of supplies on hand, adding veggies, spices, and different proteins!! Thank you 😊” – Lynn Marie
Ingredients You’ll Need
This chicken cannelloni recipe is flexible. I love reading comments where you guys have swapped out the pasta, changed up the ingredients, and adapted it for your families with delicious success!
Here’s what I use. Scroll to the recipe card for the printable details and amounts.
- Cannelloni: These are large pasta tubes made for stuffing and baking. Manicotti shells are a close substitute.
- Olive Oil: Or any other cooking oil.
- Garlic and Onion: Diced yellow onion and minced fresh garlic.
- Chicken: I use shredded chicken for the filling, or about 3 cooked chicken breasts. You can bake the chicken, use the air fryer, or chop up leftover rotisserie chicken. Alternatively, replace the chopped chicken with ¾ to 1 pound of cooked ground chicken.
- Milk: Any kind (whole milk, 2%, etc.).
- Ricotta Cheese: I use part-skim ricotta, a soft Italian cheese you’ll find in the dairy aisle or deli section of most grocery stores.
- Baby Spinach: Fresh or frozen. If you’re using frozen spinach, thaw it and squeeze out any excess moisture to avoid a watery filling.
- Pasta Sauce: Use your favorite pasta sauce, homemade or store-bought.
- Half-and-half: Heavy cream works for an extra-rich cream sauce.
- Parmesan Cheese: I like freshly grated for the best flavor, but pre-grated parmesan is fine.
- Seasonings: I season the creamy sauce with dried basil, oregano, ground nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Substitute the individual herbs with Italian seasoning if needed.
Cannelloni Alternatives
If you can’t find cannelloni tubes, the ricotta and spinach filling is also delicious in stuffed shells or lasagna sheets, but the baking times can vary.
- Jumbo shells. Simply swap cannelloni tubes with jumbo pasta shells and prepare the recipe as directed.
- Lasagna sheets. Another option is to roll the chicken filling inside fresh or pre-boiled lasagna sheets, like lasagna roll-ups. Nestle the roll-ups on top of the red sauce, pour over the white sauce, and bake!
Should I Pre-Cook the Cannelloni Tubes?
It may be the pasta brand I used, but I never par-cooked my cannelloni for this recipe until I switched brands. Some commenters said their tubes needed to be precooked because they remained crunchy after baking. To avoid this, I suggest precooking the cannelloni tubes in boiling water for 5 minutes before filling them with the chicken mixture.
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Par-cook the cannelloni. Cook the cannelloni tubes in boiling water for 5 minutes; rinse and set aside to cool for a few minutes, or just until cool enough to handle.
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Prepare to bake. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
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Sauté. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for 2 minutes; stir in the garlic and chicken, and continue cooking for 4 minutes.
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Make it creamy. Add the milk and let it simmer for 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the ricotta cheese until well blended.
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Add the spinach. Add the spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until wilted. Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes, or until cool enough to handle.
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Stuff the cannelloni. Spoon pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and set aside. Using a spoon, your hands, or a piping bag, stuff the prepared chicken mixture into cannelloni tubes.
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Assemble. Arrange the cannelloni in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish, over the pasta sauce. Set aside.
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Make the sauce. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, parmesan, basil, oregano, nutmeg, salt, and pepper until thoroughly combined. Pour the half-and-half mixture over the cannelloni.
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Bake. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the cream is reduced. Remove from the oven and let stand for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Spoon the sauce over the cannelloni and serve.
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Finish and serve. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Spoon the sauce over the cannelloni and serve.
Serving: 2Cannelloni Tubes + Sauce | Calories: 458kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 113mg | Sodium: 458mg | Potassium: 784mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 4184IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 309mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
How to Make Chicken Cannelloni
Stuffed cannelloni are delicious bundles of dinner-joy. Stuffing the pasta tubes takes time, but it’s so easy that you can even prepare this the day before. It’ll be ready for the oven during the week.
- Par-boil the pasta. Cook the cannelloni tubes in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes. Then, rinse the pasta and let it cool enough to handle.
- Make the filling. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in oil, then add the garlic and cooked chicken. After a few minutes, stir in the milk, let that simmer, and add the ricotta and spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted, then let the filling cool and thicken.
- Assemble. Spread the pasta sauce into the bottom of a casserole dish. Stuff the cannelloni with the cheesy chicken mixture. You can do this by hand, with a spoon, or by piping (my preferred method).
- Add the white sauce. Nestle the stuffed cannelloni in a single layer over the pasta sauce. Whisk the half-and-half with parmesan, herbs, and seasonings, and pour it over the cannelloni.
- Bake. Bake at 400ºF for 18-20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Give the cannelloni a few minutes to cool and rest so the sauce can thicken before serving.
Use a Piping Bag to Fill the Cannelloni
I’ve found this is the easiest way to fill cannelloni tubes. Add the chicken mixture to a ziplock bag (or piping bag), snip off the tip, and place the tip inside the open end of the cannelloni. Pipe the filling into the tubes. Works like a charm!
Can I Freeze Cannelloni?
This is a freezer-friendly meal, usually when it’s cooked in a tomato-based sauce. Because this recipe has a cream-based sauce, I usually avoid freezing it, as the sauce can change texture when reheated.
However, if you still want to freeze it, let it cool, wrap it tightly, and freeze it unbaked. Thaw the casserole in the fridge overnight. Before baking, add a splash of liquid, like milk, and bake as directed.
