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Olive Garden Cannelonni Al Forno

I’ve missed this recipe ever since they took it off the menu years ago. I’m going to try this and see if it’s close!

🍝 Recipe: Olive Garden-Style Cannelloni al Forno

Ingredients

Filling

  1. 1 cup diced red onion  
  2. ½ cup diced celery  
  3. ⅓ cup diced carrot  
  4. 2 Tbsp olive oil  
  5. 2 cloves garlic, minced  
  6. 1 lb ground veal  
  7. 1 lb mild Italian sausage (ground)  
  8. 1 lb ground chicken  
  9. ½ cup white wine  
  10. 1¼ cups beef broth  
  11. 1 tsp Italian seasoning  
  12. 1 bay leaf  
  13. Salt & black pepper (to taste)
  14. 2 egg yolks  

Sauces & pasta

  1. Pasta tubes (cannelloni shells) or you can make fresh pasta if desired.  
  2. 1 (16 oz) jar high-quality marinara sauce (for bottom of baking dish)  
  3. For the cheese-cream sauce:
  4. 2 Tbsp butter
  5. 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  6. 1 cup milk
  7. ¼ tsp ground nutmeg  
  8. ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese  
  9. (Another version uses ½ lb Fontina cheese, ½ cup heavy cream, 5 Tbsp butter, ¼ cup Parmesan) for the cheese sauce part.  

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to about 400 °F (≈205 °C).  
  2. In a deep skillet, heat olive oil. Sauté the onion, celery and carrot until softened. Add garlic for ~1 minute.  
  3. Add the meats (veal, sausage, chicken). Cook until no longer pink. Drain off excess liquid.  
  4. Add wine, reduce ~1 min. Stir in beef broth, Italian seasoning, bay leaf; bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover & simmer ~15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Reduce further until almost dry. Set aside to cool.  
  5. Meanwhile make the cheese-cream sauce: melt butter, whisk in flour ~2 min, add milk, nutmeg, salt/pepper, simmer ~5 minutes until thick. Stir in Parmesan (and if using the alternate version, add Fontina/cream/butter mix)  
  6. Combine cooled meat mixture with the cheese sauce, add the egg yolks and mix well. Set aside.  
  7. Prepare the pasta tubes (or fresh pasta strips rolled) according to instructions (if making fresh, knead, roll dough, etc.)  
  8. Cover bottom of a 9×13″ baking dish with ~¼″ marinara sauce.  
  9. Fill each cannelloni tube with the meat/cheese mixture (about ~¼ cup per tube per the recipe) and lay seam-side down in baking dish. Repeat for remaining.  
  10. On one half of the tubes, ladle remaining marinara; on the other half, spread the cheese-cream sauce. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese on top.  
  11. Bake at 400 °F for about 10 minutes or until bubbling. Then broil ~2 minutes until golden.  
  12. Garnish (optional) with chopped parsley and serve immediately.


👌 Tips & Notes


The “blend the meat mixture in a food processor” step helps to replicate the smooth, restaurant-style texture.  

  1. If making fresh pasta, you’ll need a rolling machine or patience to roll thin sheets and cut into strips. The faster route: use store-bought cannelloni tubes.
  2. Make sure the baking dish is large enough for a single layer of tubes.
  3. The broiling step ensures a nicely browned top.
  4. This dish is rich — pairs well with a lighter salad and perhaps some bread.
  5. Because this is a copy-cat recipe (the official restaurant recipe isn’t publicly available), you may want to tweak seasoning or sauce ratios to your taste.

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