Simple, tacky stuffed shells (with a secret ingredient within the filling!!) that may be assembled and within the oven in a matter of minutes. This simple dinner recipe is by the way vegetarian and made with the choice to make use of home made or jarred sauce (for those who’re in a rush!). Lower than 20 minutes of prep! Recipe features a video tutorial!
Traditional Stuffed Shells
Whereas stuffed shells aren’t probably the most lovely of dinners, they make up for his or her rustic look with their extremely comforting and satisfying taste. This traditional recipe is a staple in our family as soon as the climate will get cooler and we crave hearty, filling dishes (like my pot roast!).
In the present day we’re pairing jumbo, completely cooked shells with a velvety, tacky filling and flavorful tomato sauce. Bake the entire thing into bubbly perfection, and oh boy, you’re in for a deal with! The entire household loves this recipe, and as a bonus, it’s a vegetarian dinner possibility–nice for meatless Monday!
Why You’ll Love My Recipe
- Could be made prematurely and even frozen. Ultimate for meal-prepping!
- Versatile. This recipe works with store-bought sauce or home made sauce. When you’re in a pinch and want a fast dinner, follow store-bought, in any other case I actually advocate you employ my home made marinara sauce.
- Features a secret ingredient within the filling! This lends a easy, velvety creaminess and a delicate depth of taste. I swear by it!
- Able to eat in lower than an hour. That is minimal effort, most reward type of consolation meals!
Substances
My recipe makes use of just some primary elements plus one sneaky secret addition.
- Jumbo shells. Be sure to boil a number of greater than you want, simply in case you may have a some that tear or stick with the underside of the pan. Any extras you don’t use make a pleasant little snack when you wait to your dinner to complete baking 😉
- Marinara sauce. You will want three cups of sauce. You’ll be able to at all times get artistic and use one thing apart from marinara like arrabiata sauce (for spice lovers!) or vodka sauce.
- Ricotta cheese. Ricotta is a traditional ingredient for shells and lasagna! I favor complete milk ricotta right here for greatest outcomes.
- Cream cheese. My secret ingredient! Including cream cheese to the filling makes for an opulent texture and depth of taste. It’s not overpowering although! When you’re a cream cheese hater, I wish to let you already know that I’ve two siblings who hate cream cheese, however love this recipe and cannot detect a lot as a whiff of cream cheese taste. I’ve tried this recipe with and with out the cream cheese, and it simply tastes so a lot better with it. I additionally use it when making manicotti.
- Egg. The egg helps to function a binder for the filling. When you can’t or don’t do eggs, you may depart it out, simply notice the filling can be looser after baking.
- Contemporary parsley. This provides some colour and contemporary taste to our filling (which is far wanted with all that cheese!). When you don’t have contemporary parsley, you may substitute two teaspoons of dried parsley as an alternative.
SAM’S TIP: To stop overcooking, prepare dinner your shells till they’re al dente and rinse with chilly water after boiling. The shells will proceed cooking within the oven and can be good once they’re achieved!
Keep in mind, that is simply an outline of the elements I used and why. For the complete recipe please scroll right down to the underside of the submit!
The right way to Make Stuffed Shells
Boil the shells
To make them simple to handle (and fewer inclined to ripping or falling aside), boil them one minute shy of package deal directions. Then, drain, rinse with chilly water (this stops the cooking course of and cools them down to allow them to be dealt with straight away) and organize on a baking sheet so that they don’t stick collectively.
Put together the filling
Stir collectively the cheeses, egg, garlic, parsley, spices, and salt. The cream cheese ought to be barely softened to make it simple to stir (you can even simply pop it within the microwave for a number of seconds to assist transfer issues alongside!).
Stuff the shells
Calmly grease a casserole dish (I exploit butter, however a little bit of olive oil would work, too) and add a layer of sauce. Stuff filling into every shell and organize in rows in your ready pan.
Layer it up
Add the ultimate layer of marinara sauce overtop and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
Bake, then serve
Bake lined at first, then uncovered for the final 10 minutes (this may assist flip the cheese barely brown and bubbly). I like to recommend serving with a aspect salad and a few garlic knots or crusty artisan bread or sourdough bread.
SAM’S TIP: If you wish to prep your shells prematurely, I like to recommend doing so earlier than baking. I present directions for this under.
Regularly Requested Questions
Nope! You’ll be able to retailer the assembled casserole dish lined tightly with plastic wrap or foil within the fridge for as much as three days earlier than baking.
Sure, and I like to recommend doing so earlier than you bake them (slightly than after). You’ll be able to freeze considered one of two methods:
Boil and stuff every shell, place on a wax paper lined baking sheet and freeze for about half-hour. Place frozen shells in an hermetic container like a Ziploc bag (as a result of they’re frozen, you gained’t have to fret about them smashing each other or freezing into each other) and freeze for as much as a number of months. When able to bake, observe the recipe directions for getting ready the pan/overlaying the shells with sauce and cheese, and bake as indicated. Frozen shells will take longer to bake than indicated within the recipe.
Or, put together the recipe, however don’t bake! Cowl dish tightly with plastic wrap and foil in order that it’s hermetic and freeze for as much as a number of months. Permit casserole dish to thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than baking.
Have in mind you shouldn’t put a freezing chilly glass/ceramic dish within the oven–the temperature change will trigger it to crack!
Sure! You’ll be able to both use my meat sauce because the sauce or you possibly can simply crumble some floor beef or floor sausage over the shells when assembling. When you’re searching for a meatier pasta recipe, take a look at my rigatoni or baked ziti within the meantime.
When you’re searching for a aspect, I like to recommend whipping up a batch of my garlic knots. Yum.
Take pleasure in!
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Stuffed Shells
Servings: 20 shells
Energy: 185kcal
Forestall your display screen from going darkish
Directions
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Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
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Put together shells in line with package deal directions, however boiling one minute lower than instructed on package deal. Drain, enable to chill a number of minutes, then separate and place on a baking sheet when you put together your filling. Whereas the shells are boiling, I’ll normally begin getting ready my pan and making my filling:
20 jumbo shells¹
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Calmly butter the edges and backside of a 9×13 casserole dish. Layer with a number of spoonfuls of marinara sauce (simply sufficient to frivolously coat the underside).
3 cups (719 ml) marinara sauce²
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Put together filling by stirring collectively ricotta cheese, 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese (170g), ⅓ cup parmesan, cream cheese, egg, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and floor pepper till well-combined.
15 oz (425 g) ricotta cheese, 2 cups (226 g) shredded mozzarella cheese, ⅓ cup (60 g) grated parmesan cheese, 4 oz (113 g) cream cheese, 1 giant egg, 2 Tablespoons contemporary parsley, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ½ teaspoon floor pepper, 1 giant garlic clove
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Portion into ready shells by heaping spoonful.
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Evenly spoon remaining marinara sauce over shells. High with remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese (56g) and a sprinkle of grated parmesan (if desired).
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Calmly butter one aspect of a bit of foil (or spray with cooking spray) and loosely place foil (butter aspect down) over your dish. Switch to 350F (175C) oven and bake for 20 minutes, lined, then take away foil and proceed to bake an extra 5-10 minutes.
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Take pleasure in!
Notes
¹Shells
You’ll solely want 20 shells for this recipe, however I normally boil a number of additional in case some tear
²Marinara
You should utilize store-bought marinara sauce or you should use my home made marinara sauce recipe (higher possibility!!). My recipe makes 3 cups, so you’ll use all of it for this recipe.
Storing and Freezing
Cowl and retailer within the fridge for as much as 4 days. This recipe may be frozen, I like to recommend getting ready after which freezing earlier than baking. To bake, you may bake from frozen or thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than baking.
Diet
Serving: 1stuffed shell | Energy: 185kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 10g | Fats: 11g | Saturated Fats: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 4g | Ldl cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 221mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1300IU | Vitamin C: 13.2mg | Calcium: 210mg | Iron: 1.3mg
Dietary data is predicated on third-party calculations and ought to be thought-about an estimate solely. Precise dietary content material will fluctuate based mostly upon manufacturers used, measuring strategies, cooking methodology, portion sizes, and extra.
Recipe initially printed Feb 27, 2019. The recipe itself is unchanged, however I’ve up to date the submit to incorporate extra ideas and useful data, and new photographs!
