No more wrangling slippery shells. This recipe lets you skip the step of boiling your pasta before stuffing it with cheese. Just fill the shells straight out of the box (it’s much easier!) and let the sauce turn them plump and tender in the oven.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large egg
- 1 pound ricotta
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- One 8-ounce bag part-skim shredded mozzarella (about 2 cups)
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- One 24-ounce jar marinara sauce
- One 12-ounce box jumbo pasta shells
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Combine the garlic, egg, ricotta, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, a large pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper in a large bowl. Fold to combine. Transfer the mixture to a resealable plastic bag and snip a 1/4-inch hole in the corner.
- Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Pipe the ricotta mixture into the shells and arrange them opening-side up in the baking dish. Cover with the remaining sauce and 1 1/2 cups water.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil, top with the remaining 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and bake until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the cheese is browned, about 10 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes. Top with the remaining parsley before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 470 |
| Total Fat | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 55 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 6 g |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Cholesterol | 81 mg |
| Sodium | 693 mg |
Reviews
This recipe is quick & easy to make!! I added ground beef & sausage. Oh & fresh basil. Yummy!!! I’ve made this a number of times & my family loves it!! Thank you ♥️
Easy and Tasty
This was a relatively easy prep for delish results. I will do this again for sure!!!
This recipe worked out well. I made the cheese filling per the recipe and had no problem filling the shells using a ziploc bag with the corner cut off. Some of the shells were too curled up to stuff so I wasn’t able to use every shell in the box, but I still ended up with a full 13×9 pan. Instead of marinara sauce, I substituted my spaghetti sauce which has ground beef and italian sausage in it. My husband prefers that to marinara. The shells were thoroughly cooked after baking. I’d make this again.
I made the recipe exactly as printed. I am a very experienced cook and have been making stuffed shells for the past 50 years. This recipe was a complete flop for me. Trying to fill the uncooked jumbo shells was a horrible mess! First, the shells all had different sized openings, some were barely open and too curled over. Impossible to get the filling in when they are almost closed. Second, the pastry bag, which had a sufficiently sized opening at the bottom according to your recipe, decided it wasn’t going to pass the shredded mozzarella through and kept clogging up. Third, the uncooked shells have a round bottom and you have to hold them in your hand. Holding a pastry bag in one hand while trying to squeeze the filling through when it doesn’t want to go, and holding a round bottomed (and by now, slippery with attempted filling) hard pasta with the other hand and forcing the filling through a narrow crack or side hole in the shells, was a frustrating and really messy process. I was saying words I haven’t heard since my Italian father-in-law was alive. My take on this recipe? It is much easier, neater and faster for me to par-boil the pasta until it’s flexible, and fill it with a teaspoon. I’m sure it will taste good anyway, but sometimes these “short cuts” are not worth it. If you’re going to try this recipe, get the finest shredded mozzarella you can find, and look for jumbo shells that all have wide openings, if that is even possible.
I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was a big hit. I used my favourite Bertolli Organic Sauce from Costco instead of Marinara and it had lots of flavor. The directions were easy to follow and the shells were perfectly cooked. I will be making this again!
I wonder, how could you want me to do this? No matter! Mike Stice.
Metric measurements please
I’m doing this…never thought of making it like this…
I’ve been making a Mexican version of this for almost 40 yrs. Prepare ground beef as you would for tacos using your favorite packaged seasoning. Once it’s done, add 1 8oz pack of cream cheese per pound of beef. Set aside to cool. Mix enchilada sauce with Pace chunky salsa and one small can of chopped green chilies. Set aside. Boil jumbo shells as directed. Fill the shell using the beef mixture and arrange in baking dishes. Ladle sauce over shells amost covering. SPread a layer of Mexican blend shredded cheese over the top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 40 mins. Let rest for 15 mins. Serve with diced tomatoes, chopped lettuce, and sour cream.
This was a great meal for the week! Threw it all together and left in the oven while i got some stuff done! Recipe was fantastic! Added a bit of extra cheese!