Vegan Cannelloni

4.91 from 10 votes

This vegan cannelloni is stuffed with a spinach and tofu ricotta, layered with marinara sauce, topped with vegan cheese sauce and baked to perfection in the oven. It's insanely good, surprisingly easy, and perfect for a fancy dinner!

Prep Time35

Cook Time45

Total Time1 20

Course: Entree, Savory

Cuisine: Vegan

Diet: Vegan

Servings:

Calories: 536kcal

Author: Alison Andrews

Ingredients

Tofu Ricotta:

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice Freshly Squeezed
28 ounces Firm Tofu (800g)
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
¼ cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes (15g)
2 tsp Dried Oregano
2 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt
½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 cup Baby Spinach (30g) Chopped

Vegan Cheese Sauce:

3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
2 cups Soy Milk (480ml)
¼ cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes (15g)
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
¼ tsp Salt
⅛ tsp Ground Black Pepper
½ tsp Onion Powder
½ tsp Garlic Powder

Assembling:

20 Tubes Cannelloni
2 ½ cups Marinara Sauce (600ml)

Serving:

Fresh Chopped Parsley
Ground Black Pepper

Instructions

Tofu Ricotta: Add crushed garlic to a bowl with fresh lemon juice and let it soak for 5 minutes.
Then add tofu to a bowl and mash it with a fork.
Add the mashed tofu, crushed garlic and lemon juice, olive oil, nutritional yeast, oregano, onion powder, sea salt and ground black pepper to the food processor.
Pulse the food processor until the ingredients are well combined but the texture is still chunky.
Transfer the tofu ricotta to a mixing bowl and add in chopped baby spinach. Mix together.
Vegan Cheese Sauce: Add olive oil to a pot and heat on medium to high heat until the oil is hot. Add all purpose flour.
Fry the flour in the oil briefly and then add in soy milk, stirring vigorously all the time.
Heat the sauce, alternately whisking and stirring with a wooden spoon while it heats to prevent any lumps.
Bring to the boil and then continue to stir until the sauce has thickened.
When the sauce has thickened, remove it from the heat and add in nutritional yeast, dijon mustard, salt, ground black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir in.
Let the sauce cool and thicken while you work on the rest of the recipe.
Assemble: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Add a layer of marinara sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
Fill a piping bag with the tofu ricotta and pipe it into the cannelloni tubes.
Lay the cannelloni tubes in the baking dish on top of the marinara sauce. It's okay if some of the tubes have to lie vertically instead of horizontally, this will depend on the size of your cannelloni tubes. Just fit in as many as you can so that there aren't gaps in your dish.
Cover the stuffed tubes with the remaining marinara sauce.
Add the vegan cheese sauce to the top and smooth it down.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Top with fresh chopped parsley and a sprinkle of ground black pepper and serve.

Notes

Firm tofu - You can use firm or extra firm tofu. It does not need to be pressed first.
Soy milk - you can switch this out for pretty much any non-dairy milk that heats well.
Dijon mustard - this adds cheesy flavor to your sauce. Any prepared yellow mustard will also work.
Marinara sauce - you can use any brand, just choose a jar of your favorite marinara sauce.
Cannelloni pasta tubes - we used 20 cannelloni tubes. You may end up using a few less or a few more depending on the size of your tubes. Just use as many as you can fit in your dish. It's fine if some of them lie vertically instead of horizontally, just make sure to fill up the space in your dish.
Gluten-free: If you can get hold of gluten free cannellloni tubes then sure! For the vegan cheese sauce you can make it gluten free by using a gluten free all purpose flour blend in place of the regular flour.
Make ahead: You could make the tofu ricotta and the vegan cheese sauce up to 2 days in advance. Let the cheese sauce cool and then refrigerate. Then assemble and bake when you're ready.
Storing: Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 3-4 days and can be reheated in the microwave.
Freezing: Let it cool completely and then freeze for up to 2 months.

Nutrition