Manicotti
man-ee-KOT-tee
Large ridged tube for stuffing, the American cannelloni.
28.5 mm across, 1.1 mm wall
Name. Little sleeves, from manica, sleeve. The word is Italian; the pasta is Italian-American.
What it is
Manicotti are large ridged tubes for stuffing and baking, the Italian-American cousin of cannelloni. In the United States they are sold dried, boiled, then filled with ricotta and baked under tomato sauce and mozzarella. Some families make them from thin crepes instead of pasta.
In Italy the word is rare; the dish is cannelloni.
How to cook manicotti
20 to 30 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
20:00
Start when the water returns to the boil.
Water and salt
- Pasta, dry
- 400 g
- Water
- 4 L
- Salt
- 40 g
100 g per person as a main. A litre and 10 g of salt per 100 g. Adjust with the portion calculator.
The steps
- Bring 4 L of water to a full boil in a tall pot. Add 40 g of salt when it boils.
- Add the manicotti. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Bite a piece at 19 minutes. A hairline of white at the centre is al dente.
- Scoop out a cup of the cooking water. Drain, or lift the pasta straight into the pan.
- Toss with the sauce over the heat for a minute. Add cooking water a splash at a time until it clings.
Read more: what al dente means and why the pasta water matters. Times for every shape are on the cook page.
How it holds sauce
A stuffed tube under the oven. A smooth tomato sauce and cheese on top. The ridges hold a little more sauce than smooth cannelloni.
Pairs with: Baked (al forno) · Pomodoro · Meat ragu
Classic plates: Baked manicotti, Manicotti with ricotta and spinach.
Nutrition
Per 100 g of dry semolina pasta. The shape does not change these numbers. The dough does, so a whole wheat or egg version of this shape reads differently. See every dough.
| Per 100 g | Energy | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fibre | Fat | Sodium | Iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | 371 kcal | 13.0 g | 74.7 g | 3.2 g | 1.5 g | 6 mg | 3.3 mg |
| Cooked | 158 kcal | 5.8 g | 30.9 g | 1.8 g | 0.9 g | 1 mg | 1.3 mg |
One portion. 100 g dry becomes about 235 g cooked, 371 kcal and 13 g of protein. Pasta takes on 2.3 times its weight in the pot.
Who makes manicotti
19 manicotti products are catalogued, most of them sold in United States.
Brands: New World Pasta (3), Perfect Pasta Inc (2), Barilla (1), Prince (1), Davinci (1), World Finer Foods Inc (1), Market Pantry (1), Target Stores (1), Skinner (1), DeLallo (1).
No manicotti? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.
Side by side
Easy to confuse with
Other names
manicotti shells.
Sources
- Cook time: oven, stuffed and baked.
- Photograph: EMS-109321-Manicotti-rule..JPG, E. Michael Smith Chiefio, CC BY 2.5.
- Open Food Facts (products, brands, labels), Open Database License, read on 2026-08-25.
- USDA FoodData Central (nutrition per 100 g, by dough: FDC 169736, Pasta, dry, enriched; FDC 169737, Pasta, cooked, enriched, without added salt), public domain. The cooked yield is derived from the two energy figures.
- Manicotti, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Q16903587, Wikidata
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.