Traeger Smoked Veggie Manicotti
Traeger smoked veggie manicotti is both a cheesy comfort food recipe, but with that healthy-ish feel thanks to all of the veggies!
We do not typically eat vegetarian meals, but the meat was not even missed one bit in this dish.
My boys actually joked at dinner that they couldn’t believe they were eating vegetarian and loving every single bite.
Stuffing manicotti shells is a bit of a labor of love and a little time intensive, but you could easily substitute large shells and stuff those with the same filling to make this even easier.
For the veggies I went with onion, zucchini, red bell pepper, and spinach with some garlic cloves.
You could mix it up and add eggplant, mushrooms, or just about any other veggies of choice.
How to make Traeger smoked veggie manicotti
First peel the onions and garlic and remove the stem and seeds from the pepper.
Then chop them into large chunks and place on a baking sheet.
Add some fresh spinach and toss everything well with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning.
Next stop is the Traeger pellet grill set to 250 degrees.
The veggies will cook for about 2 hours, and use tongs to toss a few times.
While the veggies were on the smoker I did pre boil the manicotti shells according to the package directions.
Remove the veggies and turn the heat up to 375 degrees on the Traeger while you make the manicotti.
For the filling add the smoked veggies to a food processor and pulse a few times.
I did this in two smaller batches to make sure that the veggies still had some texture to them.
Pulse just so that the veggies are all chopped together in tiny bits, but not pureed.
Put the veggies in a large bowl and add ricotta cheese, two eggs, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, kosher salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning.
Mix until evenly combined and then transfer the filling to a large gallon sized plastic bag.
Cut a hole in the corner of the plastic bag slightly smaller than the manicotti.
Hold the bag up to the opening of each manicotti and squeeze slightly to fill each one.
This was a fun job that my son loved helping with… probably because it was messy đŸ˜‰ !
You should get it between 12 and 16 manicotti depending on the size of the shells that you bought.
Put some marinara pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish to prevent the manicotti from sticking.
Then arrange them in the casserole dish so that they fit over the marinara sauce.
Add more marinara pasta sauce over top and sprinkle more mozzarella and parmesan cheese as well.
Place this in the Traeger pellet grill set to 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.
Once the cheese is melted to ooey gooey perfection and the sauce is bubbling, Traeger smoked veggie manicotti is ready!
We had ours with some Texas garlic toast and it was the perfect combo.
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If you like Traeger smoked veggie manicotti, you might also like these recipes…
Traeger Smoked Veggie Pizza
Traeger Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Smoked Salami Pepper Rolls
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Traeger Smoked Veggie Manicotti
Equipment
- Traeger/Pellet Grill
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 1 zucchini
- 1 red bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 5 oz fresh baby spinach
- olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning
- 12 to 16 manicotti shells (more or less depending on the size of the shells)
- 15 oz container ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 24 oz jar marinara pasta sauce
Instructions
- Cut the onion, zucchini, red bell pepper, and garlic into larger chunks. Place them on a baking sheet and toss with the spinach, olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning.Note: Peel the onion and garlic and remove stem and seeds from the pepper before cutting.
- Set the Traeger or pellet grill to 250 degrees. Place the sheet with the veggies on the grill grate for two hours, toss them a few times throughout with tongs.
- Pre boil the manicotti shells according to the package directions.
- Put half of the veggies in a food processor and pulse a few times. Put the pulsed veggies in a bowl and repeat with pulsing the other half of the veggies in the food processor.
- To the bowl with the veggies add the ricotta cheese , one cup of the mozzarella cheese, half cup of the parmesan cheese, the eggs, kosher salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning.
- Mix this until combined then place in a gallon size plastic bag.
- Cut the corner of the gallon size plastic bag slightly smaller than the opening of the manicotti shells. Put the opening of the bag into each manicotti shell and squeeze until the shell is filled.
- Spread a few spoonfuls of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Arrange the manicotti so they fit over the sauce. Pour the remaining marinara sauce over top and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese over top.
- Turn the Traeger or pellet grill up to 375 degrees. Place the 9 x 13 casserole dish on the grill grate for 40 to 50 minutes.
- Let it cool slightly before serving.
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