These cheesy spinach stuffed shells taste totally amazing, and are so easy to make. A restaurant-quality meal that you can make at home!
Stuffed Shells Recipe
When I was growing up, stuffed shells were one of my favorite foods! With five kids in our family, money and time were always in short supply, so my mom generally stuck to simple, healthy, and inexpensive meals. Every once in a while, though, she would make this delicious stuffed shells recipe for dinner, and we would all feel like we were eating at a fancy Italian restaurant. They’re easy to make for a crowd, and also totally delicious!
How to Make Stuffed Shells
Making stuffed pasta shells is actually quite simple. The filling is made from ricotta, parmesan, and chopped spinach, and I love how the flavors work together to make these stuffed shells super tasty. I’ve had the best results using whole milk ricotta, but you can substitute part skim instead if you’d prefer to save a few calories.
Once the shells are stuffed, you’ll smother them in a simple meat sauce, then bake them until hot and bubbly. You can easily make the stuffed shells vegetarian by leaving out the ground beef, but my family loves them with the meat sauce.
One of my favorite things about these stuffed shells is that they are totally amazing as leftovers. The recipe makes around two dozen shells, which works out to be more than two meals for my family. I love that I can make a batch, and then have the leftovers in the fridge to pull out for an easy lunch later in the week. These cheesy spinach stuffed shells are one of my family’s favorite meals!
Here are a couple more Stuffed Pasta Shells Recipes we know you’ll LOVE –
Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells
Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 package jumbo shells
- 32 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1/2 package frozen spinach, thawed
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 pound ground beef
- 24 ounces pasta sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, then drain.
- While the pasta is cooking, mix together the ricotta, spinach, egg, parmesan, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until browned and cooked through. Drain the ground beef, then add the pasta sauce to the skillet and heat until warmed.
- To assemble, spread about 1 cup of the meat sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Scoop about two tablespoons of the cheese mixture into each of the shells, and place in the baking dish. Repeat with remaining shells. Spoon the remaining meat sauce over the shells, and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
- Bake 30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Stuffed shells have always been one of my favorites. I used to request it on my birthday almost every year! This recipe is exactly why I like them so much.
Thanks Katie, you’re too sweet!
Stuffed shells are one of my favorite meals! I subbed them with Italian sausage instead of beef. SO GOOD.
They’re my favorite too! That sounds delicious…I think I’ll try sausage next time too.
Everyone at my house was impressed with this recipe! It was so good!
Thanks!
Such a great recipe. My family and I enjoyed these very much.
Thanks Stephanie!