Meat cannelloni with meat sauce and béchamel are a globally known first course that is filled with minced meats or with ricotta and spinach. The cannelloni are made with fresh egg pasta, thin rectangles of 4-5 inches that are pre-boiled, stuffed with filling, and then rolled up upon themselves. Then they are covered with tomato sauce or meat sauce, plenty of béchamel, and lots of grated cheese.
To halve the preparation time for meat cannelloni with meat sauce and béchamel, you can use pre-cooked dried cannelloni, which are less laborious because they do not require boiling; just fill, season, and bake them. In this case, you will need to add an extra glass of liquid, be it water, milk, or broth, to facilitate cooking.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6 People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 12 egg cannelloni (fresh or pre-cooked dried)
- 500 ml béchamel
- 3.5 cups béchamel
- 3.5 oz Parmesan (grated)
- 12 oz ground beef (or mixed, beef and pork)
- 5.3 oz sausages (2 fresh)
- 14 oz tomato puree (I use Mutti)
- 4 tbsps olive oil
- 2 tbsps ready soffritto (or chopped carrot, celery, onion)
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 pinch nutmeg and bay leaf
- to taste salt and ground black pepper
- 2 cups water
Start preparing the meat sauce that will also be used for the cannelloni filling.
Put olive oil in a saucepan with vegetable soffritto made with half a carrot, half an onion, half a stalk of celery chopped, or 2 tablespoons of ready soffritto.
Sauté the vegetables, then add the sausages in small pieces without the casing.
Add the ground meat and crumble the meats with a fork while they sauté for 5 minutes in the soffritto.
Add the red wine and let it evaporate, a pinch of cinnamon, bay leaf, and a sprinkle of ground black pepper. When the alcohol from the wine has evaporated, add the tomato puree with a glass of water and a pinch of salt. Do not add too much salt, the sausage is already flavorful.
Cover the saucepan and cook the meat sauce slowly for 1 hour over medium-low heat.
In the meantime, prepare the 120 sheets for the cannelloni. As I mentioned, you can use fresh egg pasta and boil the sheets, or you can use pre-cooked dried cannelloni.
In the first case, with fresh pasta sheets, cut 4×4 inches squares and boil them in slightly salted water for 1 minute, drain them, and let them dry on a cloth.
In the second case, with pre-cooked dried cannelloni, there is nothing to do, just fill them and arrange them in the baking dish. In this case, add an extra glass of liquid at the bottom of the pan, be it water, milk, or broth, to ensure optimal cooking of the pre-cooked cannelloni.Also prepare half a liter of béchamel and set it aside.
You can follow my quick and practical recipe at this link Béchamel by halving the doses.
This recipe’s doses are for 4 people, calculating 3 cannelloni per person, but you can also serve 6 people with 2 cannelloni per portion.When the meat sauce is cooked, thick, and hearty, turn off the heat.
With a spoon, remove and drain 3/4 of the meat from the sauce and transfer it to a bowl.
The remaining meat sauce will be used to cover the cannelloni before baking.
Add the grated Parmesan, 4/5 tablespoons, and taste the mixture to check saltiness.
Let the filling rest for 10 minutes before filling the cannelloni.
2 teaspoons of the mixture are enough to fill 1 cannelloni, whether it’s fresh pasta to roll or pre-cooked dry to fill.In a baking dish, spread half of the béchamel on the bottom and place the cannelloni side by side. If they are pre-cooked dry pasta, this is the time to add a glass of liquid.
Continue with a layer of the remaining meat sauce, the rest of the béchamel, and finish with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Let the cannelloni rest in the baking dish for 10 minutes before baking them.
Just enough time to turn on the oven and preheat it to 340°F convection or 356°F static.
Bake and cook the meat cannelloni with béchamel sauce for 40 minutes until fully cooked.
Before serving, let them rest again for 10 minutes and then, enjoy your meal.

