This is an old recipe from Nasoya tofu that I’ve been making for years. It’s great comfort food for me, and because the tofu-to-pasta ratio is so good, I don’t feel so guilty eating the white-flour shells. I’ve also added a little bit of shredded carrot and nutritional yeast to the mix with great success, so I’ve included that in the recipe below. This also freezes quite well, so I often double the batch. If you’re lucky enough to have access to good vegan cheese (like Daiya), then you can certainly sprinkle some of that on top during the last few minutes in the oven. However, I’ve served this to omnivores who loved it and said it didn’t seem as though it was “missing anything”. Enjoy!

UPDATE

November 2, 2011 – I’ve been adding 1/2 cup of soaked cashews to this to make it even creamier. It’s totally optional, but I’ve added it to the ingredients above. Also, I realized that I’ve been mistakenly referring to these as Manicotti – I’ve since updated the recipe for Cannelloni as well.

Vegan Cannelloni (Manicotti)

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★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
Yield: 3-4 1x

Ingredients

Scale

8 cannelloni/manicotti noodles (gluten-free, as required), cooked al dente
1 16 oz. jar of your favorite pasta sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1o oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed and chopped – or 1 bag of fresh baby spinach, chopped
16 oz. firm or silken tofu
1/2 cup soaked cashews, drained and finely ground (optional)
1/4 cup shredded carrots (optional)
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Shredded vegan cheese, such as Daiya (optional)

Instructions

In a nonstick skillet, sauté the onions in the oil until translucent. Stir in the spinach and turn off the heat.
In a bowl, mix the tofu, cashews (if using), carrots, lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.
Add the spinach-onion mixture to the tofu mixture and stir until well-mixed.
Preheat oven to 350F. Pour a thin layer of pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9×13″ pan.
Fill each cooked shell with filling using a small spoon. Line the filled shells up in the pan and cover with the rest of the pasta sauce.
Cover the pan with foil to keep the shells from drying out.
Bake for about 30 minutes,or until bubbling.
If adding vegan cheese, sprinkle it on top for the final 2 minutes in the oven.