These stuffed pasta shells are filled with a tasty cheese mixture and topped with a homemade meat sauce for a delicious and hearty meal.
This hearty Italian shell recipe is easier than you may think.
It starts with a 3 cheese mixture. Ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan are stirred together with eggs and some fresh parsley. This can be done first and placed in the refrigerator while you cook the pasta and the sauce.
I learned this meat sauce recipe from my sister. It's super easy, fresh and can be used on any pasta.
However, if you don't have time or the ingredients for this one, you can use any jarred sauce or your own favorite pasta sauce. Just make sure you have about 4 cups for this pasta shell recipe.
When you fill the shells, place them open side down in your baking pan. This is a 9 by 13 inch glass baking pan and it's a little hard to fit 36 shells. However, once you've squeezed in as many as you can, feel free to stick a few in between the rows.
Save a little shredded cheese for the top.
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In the recipe below I stated that this serves 6 people. That's a big portion and just how we like it, but you can feel free to eat as many or as little as you like.
Italian stuffed pasta shells with meat sauce is a wonderful treat at our house. Serve it with a side salad for a complete meal.
Bonus: This recipe also tastes great leftover or you can freeze the extras for another meal.
Stuffed Pasta Shells
Ingredients
- 12 oz box of Jumbo Pasta Shells approx. 36 shells
- 4 cups ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Meat Sauce
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 3 large cloves of garlic - crushed
- 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- salt and pepper to taste a pinch
Instructions
- Make the cheese filling by combining the ricotta, 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella, and parmesan cheese in a large bowl.
- Add the eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Mix well and refrigerate until you are ready to stuff the shells.
- Make the meat sauce by browning the ground beef.
- Add the garlic and mix well.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Boil shells and drain water.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with vegetable oil
- Spread about 1 cup of the meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.
- Fill each shell with the cheese mixture and then turn upside down and place it into the pan.
- Continue until you use up all of the shells. You may have to overlap a few to fit them all in.
- Top with remaining meat sauce.
- Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and brown cheese under the broiler for 1-2 minutes if desired.
- Remove pan and let sit for 15-20 before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although attempts have been made to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
MrsSW
Hi Patti - we used the filling part of this recipe last night for manicotti - YUM. 🙂
I already had some spaghetti sauce made, the filling was easy to prepare and pasta is easy to cook. It took longer to fill the shells than anything else. I told Steve he had better appreciate them because I'll never make manicotti again. It had been years since I made them and now I remember why. 😉
I do think I'll try it with the large shells though.
Thanks for the recipe - we really enjoyed it,
Sheila
Patti Estep
Sheila, I was grinning when I read this because I just did the same thing 2 weeks ago. I basically used the same recipe to make manicotti for my brother-in-law. It was a lot more work. To me, shells are easier but that week I could not find large shells in the store. So glad to hear that you enjoy it and I know Steve appreciated your hard work.