If you want to elevate your pasta game, check out this basic recipe that makes a delicious gluten- and dairy-free manicotti.
Gluten Free Pasta Options
Gluten free pasta can be a hurdle because making tasty stretchy pasta relies on gluten development so that you can roll out the pasta. I have been meaning to try out The Loopy Whisk’s recipe for pasta, but if you’re not in the mood to make your own pasta sheets I’ve got you. Check out Taste Republic’s lasagna sheets! They make great lasagna, but they are going to be a great base for out dairy-free manicotti also! They are super soft and pliable and don’t crack when you roll them.
Almond Ricotta
Ricotta cheese is a very soft cheese that is made from the whey from the cheese making process. Lactose is water soluble, and hangs out in the whey of the cheese making process. So, people who can handle some lactose usually can eat harder cheeses. That’s because most of the whey has been removed. But, they may have more problems with softer cheese. Also, there isn’t much sharpness to ricotta to recreate making dairy free cheese is mostly about getting the texture right.
Almond flour is going to be a great tool here! Almond flour is ground almonds that this used in baking. It can also be a great tool for people who want to make nut cheeses but don’t have a high-speed blender to process nuts. Mixing the almond flour with a non-dairy milk like oat milk makes a nice creamy and clumpy mix similar in texture to ricotta. It works great in recipes because most of the time you aren’t eating ricotta strait with a spoon. Usually it’s mixed into dishes where’s it’s just adding creaminess, and the almond substitute works just great for that!
Making your own Marina Sauce
We’ve talked about making your own marinara sauce before, and you can read about that on my lentil meatball post. Today, I’m going to teach you how you can cheat a bit by staring with a jar of store bought marinara and just jazz it up with some extra aromatics and vegetables. Just sautéing up some fresh onion and garlic before adding your jarred sauce can make it taste so much better! Of course, if you don’t have the time or the ingredients, you can skip these steps and just use a jar of sauce if you’d like
Tips and Tricks for Making Dairy-Free Manicotti
The easiest way to get the ricotta into the manicotti is to use a piping bag. The easy hack is that if you don’t have piping bags you can use a Ziplock bag and just push the mixture down into one corner. Fold the bag open over a cup or your hand and spoon in the mixture. Then twist the bag at the top to prevent the mixture from coming out the top of the bag. This lets you easily pipe the mixture easily onto the pasta sheets.
The Taste Republic pasta sheets fit perfectly in an 8×8 pan. If you wanted to scale up this recipe, the best way would be to double the recipe and cook it in 2 pans since a 9×13 pan isn’t much longer.
I added mushrooms and spinach to give this dish some more flavor, but you could leave those out or add in your favorite vegetables. You could also make this with alfredo sauce if you wanted to switch it up. The pasta I used does contain egg, so this is not vegan, but if you used vegan pasta, then the dish would be vegan. Get the whole recipe below!
Dairy-Free Manicotti
Equipment
- 8×8 Pan
Ingredients
Almond Ricotta-
- 1½ cups almond flour
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1½ tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Marinara Sauce-
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 shallot diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 8 oz. tomato sauce
- ¼ cup red wine
- 8 oz. mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup spinach
- 2 tbsp basil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 sheets fresh lasagna
- 2 tbsp basil for topping
Instructions
To make the ricotta-
- In a bowl mix the almond flour, milk, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Spoon the mixture into a piping bag or the corner of a ziplock bag and set aside.
To make the sauce-
- In a pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and add the diced shallot. Cook over medium heat until the shallot is translucent.
- Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid.
- Add the tomato sauce and the red wine and bring to a simmer.
- Add the basil, salt, pepper, and spinach. Adjust the flavor to taste and cook until the spinach is wilted (or thawed if frozen).
To assemble the dish-
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In an 8×8 pan, spoon about half the sauce into the bottom of the pan and set to the side.
- To roll the manicotti set up a small bowl with water to seal the the pasta, the pasta sheets, and the ricotta. Cut the tip of the ricotta bag.
- Lay the pasta sheet down and pipe the ricotta along the long side of the pasta sheet. Depending on how big the hole in the piping bag is, you may want to pipe two lines. Roll the sheet into a tube.
- Dip your finger into the water and run it across the the other end of the pasta sheet and roll the pasta over to seal the tube. Place the tube in the dish seam side down.
- Repeat the process for all six sheets which should fit perfectly in an 8×8 dish.
- Spoon the rest of the sauce on top of the pasta. You can add optional plant cheese on top if you’d like.
- Cover with aluminum foil to keep the moisture in and cook for about 40 minutes. If you add some cheese on top remove the aluminum foil and broil for a minute or two to make sure it melts.