These vegan manicotti are stuffed with a mix of kale and dairy-free ricotta, then smothered in creamy blush sauce and baked up to bubbly perfection!
I have a tendency to get nervous when cooking for new people. The thing is this: I always try to make an educated guess as to what kind of food someone might be into, and I just about always get it wrong.
Like if I'm entertaining the guest who's traveled all over the world, I assume they'll be super adventurous and then I go and feed them vindaloo and end up burning their tongue. Or I'll have those occasions when I'm feeding omnivores so I assume they want something pretty basic like spaghetti, and then they proceed to tell me how much they'd have loved some tofu or a curry or that vindaloo I fed to last week's company.
So I'm working on coming up with a list of go-to dishes that I think everyone will love.
Folks, this is number one on that list.
Wait, isn't vegan manicotti weird? Too weird maybe to feed your omnivorous guests that have never eaten vegan food? No, actually it's perfect, because I promise, you'd never, ever, ever, guess that this one is vegan. The ricotta and the pink sauce are so rich and creamy that anyone would dig this dish.
The sauce is a simple tomato sauce made extra creamy (and pink!) with some coconut milk and thickened with bit of flour. The flour also helps the sauce to form a nice rich coating on the pasta while it bakes, which works great in dishes like this because you don't have cheese to sprinkle on top.
And as for the coconut milk, I realized back when I created this spicy tomato sauce recipe that coconut milk works great in tomato-based sauces, and the tartness of tomatoes pretty much completely disguises the coconut flavor.
The ricotta is based with a mix of cashews and tofu. Blend the cashews up with some non-dairy milk and lemon juice until smooth, then blend in the tofu, but keep it a bit chunky so you have a ricotta-like texture. Finally, in with some sautéed kale. The kale goes so well with the creamy ricotta and blush sauce!
Ladle some sauce into your pan, and then stuff your manicotti. I used a pastry bag to pipe the filling into my pasta, but a zippy bag with the corner snipped off works too.
The rest of the sauce goes on top, and then everything gets baked until bubbly.
Tips for Making Perfect Vegan Manicotti
- If it's available, try using lacinato kale (also known as dinosaur or Tuscan kale). Curly kale was all I could get my hands on this time, but it still came out delicious.
- I recommend using full fat coconut milk for this, but light or another type of non-dairy milk would work as a substitute if you're trying to keep the fat content down or just don't like coconut.
- Shortcuts! Maybe you've noticed that this recipe is a bit of a project? I love it the way it is and recommend going all out if you have the time, but I understand if you don't. You can speed things along by making the sauce and/or filling in advance, using your favorite jarred sauce in place of the blush sauce in the recipe (you'll need about 4 cups), or even skipping the kale part of the filling.
- Do you always tear your manicotti shells while filling them? Me too! If you see a small tear at one end, try piping the filling in through the other end. This will help prevent the tear from getting any bigger.
- Make sure to chop your kale finely. Otherwise it could clog up the tip of your pastry bag.
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Manicotti with Blush Sauce and Kale
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried manicotti pasta (about 16 shells)
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup minced shallots (about 2 shallots)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (14 ounce) can full fat coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon organic granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
For the Ricotta-Kale Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 cups finely chopped kale leaves (about 1 small bunch), stems removed
- 1 ½ cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours and drained
- ¾ cup unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
- 1 pound firm or extra firm tofu, drained
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
For Serving
- Chopped fresh basil or parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook it according to the package directions.
- Drain the pasta into a colander and toss it with a dash of olive oil to prevent sticking.
To Make the Sauce
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and place it over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the shallots. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until soft and translucent.
- Stir in the garlic and flour. Continue to sauté for about 2 minutes, until the garlic becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the wine and raise the heat to bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and allow the it to simmer until most of the liquid has cooked off, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, coconut milk, sugar, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Lower the heat and allow the sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes, until it thickens up a bit.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and season with salt.
To Make the Filling
- While the sauce simmers, coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and place it over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, until very fragrant.
- Add the kale and continue to sauté until it has fully wilted, about 8 minutes. You can add a splash or two of water to help this along, but no more than that.
- Remove the skillet from heat and let it sit to cool while you make the ricotta.
- Place the cashews, milk, lemon juice and onion into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade. Blend until smooth.
- Add the tofu and pulse until a chunky, ricotta-like texture is achieved.
- If the kale will fit into your food processor bowl, add it and pulse a few times to incorporate it into the mix. Otherwise, combine the ricotta and kale in a large mixing bowl.
To Assemble and Bake the Manicotti
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- Ladle about half of the sauce into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
- Use a pastry bag or zippy bag with a corner snipped off to pipe the ricotta mixture into the shells.
- Arrange the shells in the baking dish once filled, and then ladle the remaining sauce over top.
- Cover the dish and bake for about 25 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
- Divide onto plates and top with fresh basil or parsley.
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This sounds amazing! I am allergic to tree nuts tho, anything I can substitute the cashews with?
Thank you! Try just doubling the tofu! Enjoy!
i am so excited to try this! it looks delicious!
I am wondering if you would also be able to just make this sauce and keep it in the refrigerator to use on pasta. what do you think?
I think that would work just fine, and it should be delicious on pasta. Enjoy!!
Fantastic!!!! I cheated a bit with the sauce and used a jar marinara but added a bit of wine and the can of coconut milk to it. Who knew how brilliant coconut milk and tomato sauce We used Jovial gf manicotti and slightly undercooked them so they held together well when filling them. The "ricotta" filling was wonderful! Everyone loved it-- vegans and non-vegans. We served it with a big green salad. Would be a great dish for company. And didn't take quite as long as I thought. Thank you!
Yay!! I'm so glad it was a hit! Coconut milk in tomato sauce was such a revelation to me - now it's one of my favorite things!
Can I make the ricotta without using tofu and use more cashews, etc? Since it messes with hormones, I can't have it. :( Thank you!
Absolutely! I'd say double the cashews for that. You might also be able to get steamed cauliflower or white beans to work as a substitute. Enjoy!!
What can I substitute for coconut milk to cut calories from fat?
You could try another type of non-dairy milk such as soy or almond - just make sure it's unflavored and unsweetened!
Made this last night and it was awesome! We couldn't find Manicotti pasta so had to use Paccheri instead but it worked well. Thanks!
Awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Jon!
We made this tonight and didn't taste the kale at all! But I don't see why you couldn't use spinach
You could absolutely use spinach, or even chard it you like! :)
My husband hates kale - can i substitute it with spinach?
Absolutely! I think if you use baby spinach you could even skip the skip of sauteeing it. :)
What can I substitute for the white wine?
I would just leave it out if it doesn't work with your diet. :)