Stuffed Pasta Shells combines large shell pasta, ground beef, sausage, ricotta cheese, Italian spices and jar sauce to make an easy and delicious meal.
My kids love Italian food, so I decided I would make Stuffed Pasta Shells. The ingredients in this recipe are pretty much the same ingredients that would be used in most manicotti or lasagne recipes.
I use a jar sauce because it makes preparing this dish so easy. We like many jar sauces and that is one of the ways that I make an Italian dish different from other Italian dishes that I make, I just use a different brand or variety of sauce.
I used a half pound of lean ground beef and a half pound of Italian bulk sausage, but you could easily use all ground beef or all sausage.
You could also make it meat free by using spinach instead of the meat. I make a meatless manicotti, and it is yummy, but for this recipe I wanted to use some beef and sausage to make it different.
Stuffed Pasta Shells
Ingredients
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound bulk Italian sausage
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 egg
- 1 container ricotta cheese 15 ounces
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese divided
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 28-30 jumbo pasta shells
- 1 jar pasta sauce 24 ounces
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- While the pasta cooks brown ground beef and sausage in a medium skillet. When the meat is almost finished add the garlic.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Spray a 9" X 13" baking dish with cooking spray and put enough pasta sauce in the bottom of the dish so that it covers the surface.
- Combine the meat mixture, egg, ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stuff shells and place them in a single layer into prepared baking dish. Cover with foil.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and add remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and cook for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
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This is the perfect web site for anybody who wishes to understand this topic. You understand so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I really will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a fresh spin on a subject which has been discussed for ages. Excellent stuff, just excellent!
Can I freeze these? If so how? Thank you for your help
I have never done it but I bet you can! I think you would have to cook it covered longer. I would try to find some recipes that tell how long to cook a dish similar to this that is frozen.
And I agree, sometimes pasta is a little better the next day, all melded together ?
This looks great! Can’t wait to try it!
Thank you!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing your thoughts! These stuffed shells look great and I’m loving the vibrant photos!
Thanks! I am still learning my way around the camera.
Cool blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine.
Please let me know where you got your design. Bless you
It is a wordpress theme. I got it when I set up my website.
I am so making this!
It was a hit with Kimberly and her boyfriend, Tyler, and Lee will eat anything. It is easy too.