Baked Penne with Spinach, Ricotta & Fontina
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This easy vegetarian pasta bake gives you all the flavor of classic spinach and cheese cannelloni without the fuss.
This vegetarian pasta bake is a quick and easy riff on classic spinach and ricotta cannelloni. Instead of stuffing traditional pasta shells, I toss penne pasta in a creamy sauce made with spinach, basil, and ricotta. After topping the dish with two flavorful cheeses, I bake it until golden and bubbly. To ensure a smooth and creamy texture, I add mascarpone (or cream cheese) to the sauce, which eliminates any potential graininess that can sometimes occur with ricotta-based sauces. While the pasta bakes, I usually toss a big Italian salad to complete the meal.
you’ll need to make Baked penne with spinach, ricotta & fontina
how to make Baked penne with spinach, ricotta & fontina
To begin, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the penne. Cook until al dente, about 9 minutes. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven, so you want it a bit underdone.
Drain the pasta, then place it back in the pan and set aside.
Meanwhile, drain the spinach and squeeze as dry as possible. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the dry spinach, basil, ricotta, mascarpone (or cream cheese), half-and-half cream, 1 cup fontina, 3 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Process until puréed.
Add the spinach mixture to the pasta.
Stir to combine.
Transfer to a baking dish.
Top with the remaining fontina and Pecorino Romano cheese.
Bake until the pasta is bubbling and the top is golden in spots, about 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve.
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Baked Penne with Spinach, Ricotta & Fontina
This easy vegetarian pasta bake gives you all the flavor of classic spinach and cheese cannelloni without the fuss.
Ingredients
- 1 pound penne
- 1 (10-oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- ½ cup packed basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 4 oz (½ cup) mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 6 oz (2 cups) grated fontina or whole milk mozzarella, divided
- 5 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano Reggiano), divided
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Lightly oil a 9 x 13-inch ceramic baking dish.
- Cook the penne in boiling salted water until al dente, about 9 minutes. (It will cook more in the oven so you don’t want it completely cooked.) Drain and rinse under cold water, then place the pasta back in the pan and set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the spinach, basil, ricotta, mascarpone (or cream cheese), half-and-half, 1 cup of the fontina (or mozzarella), 3 tablespoons of the Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano Reggiano), garlic, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Process until puréed.
- Add the spinach mixture to the pasta and stir to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Top with the remaining fontina and Parmigiano Reggiano. Bake until the pasta is bubbling and the top is golden in spots, about 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 692
- Fat: 34 g
- Saturated fat: 20 g
- Carbohydrates: 65 g
- Sugar: 7 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 31 g
- Sodium: 956 mg
- Cholesterol: 112 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Great recipe. Even people who say they didn’t like spinach loved it. I stirred in fresh spinach before serving,
This pasta is awesome and easy to make. Even non spinach lovers like this. i like to stir in fresh spinach before serving.
Hi Jenn,
I’ve made several of your recipes lately to resounding success at the family dinner table. This is the next one I’d like to try. Could you please give me some good ideas for substituting the fontina? I saw you mentioned whole-milk mozzarella, but I live in Germany and the usual Italian “staples” on US grocery shelves can be challenging to find here.
Thanks in advance,
Anne
Hi Anne, So glad you enjoy the recipes! Gruyère, Gouda, or Provolone are all fine substitutes in this recipe. Hope you enjoy!
I made this last Monday, came out great, very tasty. I followed the recipe, except I didn’t use the food processor to combine the spinach and basil with the cheeses, just mixed them with a spoon. I’d make it again.
Jenn,
What brand baking dish did you use? I’d be concerned about using Pyrex at that temp. The recipe looks delicious.
Thanks.
Hi Carol, I used Le Creuset for that recipe. Emile Henry ceramic is also great. Hope you enjoy the pasta!
I made this over the weekend and loved the flavor. I do have a question about the texture of the filling … what should it be like after baking? I found this to be a little drier that I was expecting. Maybe cooking the pasta a bit more next time might help. Thoughts?
Hi Rossalyn, Sorry to hear it was a bit dry. I’m wondering if it was a bit overbaked– does your oven run hot? Maybe next time try keeping it covered with foil for about half the baking time, then remove the foil to let it brown a little on top. (As you suggested, you could cook the pasta for a bit longer; just don’t cook it too long or it’ll get mushy.)
Made this a few weeks ago on a weekend so that we’d have mid-week leftovers. It was a hit with everyone (I don’t typically like baked pasta!) and we got 3 meals out of it. Winner, winner, pasta dinner!!
I MADE THIS AND THREW IT AWAY.
BAKED IT FOR 20 MINUTES PER INSTRUCTIONS. THE CHESS ON TOP WAS CRUSTY AND HARD. PASTA ON TOP WAS DRY AND HARD.
Hi Dorothy, So sorry to hear this didn’t work out for you! Did you have the oven rack in the center position of your oven? Is there any possibility that you measured something incorrectly? I know it’s disappointing to completely trash a dish!
Another fabulous recipe! I didn’t have fresh basil but I do keep batches of pesto in my freezer 🙂 so subbed out a 1/4 cup of basil pesto for fresh basil, and reduced the garlic to 1 clove (since there was garlic in the pesto). Didn’t have any fontina so used Gruyere. It was delicious. My better half and I had trouble not eating the whole thing in one sitting. Definitely a calorie splurge but soooo worth it.
This dish is a great weeknight dish – easy to throw together and serves as a one dish meal. The kids love it and overlook the fact that there is “green stuff” in it.
I don’t bother with the food processor and just mix everything in a bowl, and put some additional whole milk in because the last time I made it, was the pasta felt a little dry. I also make this with brown rice fusili pasta and it comes out great!
Thanks for another keeper recipe!