The broccoli and sausage cannelloni are a delightful, easy, quick, and delicious baked pasta dish that will impress with minimal effort. Knowing that baked cannelloni are among my favorite first courses, I couldn’t resist making a version with broccoli that I adore. Creamy, soft, delicious and with a special béchamel sauce, lighter and tastier, without butter and flour, the broccoli and sausage cannelloni are quick to prepare and can also be made in advance, the day before and kept in the fridge, or even frozen raw and then cooked just before serving, they are perfect for your holiday menu, a perfect first course for Christmas or New Year’s Eve, they will be a hit!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Oven, Electric Oven, Air Fryer
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients
- 3 cups béchamel sauce
- 1 lb broccoli
- 1 lb ricotta
- 9 oz sausage
- 9 oz cannelloni
- 3.5 oz grated Parmesan cheese
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
Steps
The broccoli and sausage cannelloni are very simple and quick to prepare, first clean the broccoli, detach the florets and cook them in salted boiling water for about ten minutes, then drain and blend them, adding a little cooking water if necessary to aid in the process.
Remove the casing from the sausage and brown it in a non-stick pan without adding anything.
In a bowl, place the ricotta, grated Parmesan, 3/4 of the blended broccoli, salt, pepper, and mix well, then add the sausage you browned earlier.
Transfer the filling to a pastry bag without a nozzle and fill all the cannelloni. Prepare the béchamel and season it with salt, black pepper, nutmeg, grated Parmesan, and the remaining blended broccoli.
Spread some béchamel on the base of a baking dish, place all the cannelloni on top, cover them with the béchamel, add a generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan and cook the broccoli and sausage cannelloni in a preheated oven at 392°F (200°C) for 20-25 minutes, pierce them with a fork to check for doneness.
Tips:
The broccoli and sausage cannelloni can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days. You can also prepare them in advance and keep them in the fridge or freeze them (just let them thaw and cook them just before serving), in this case, leave the béchamel a bit more liquid, so they will always be perfectly creamy. For a vegetarian version, you can omit the sausage. You can also replace the sausage with speck, bacon, or other cured meats of your choice.
More cannelloni recipes HERE
More recipes with broccoli HERE
