Children always seem to adore this flavorful baked pasta meal with its big shells loaded with meat, spinach, and cheese. It resembles “spaghetti that behaves itself” in certain ways.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach – thawed, drained and squeezed dry
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ lemon, juiced
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cups spaghetti sauce
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add shells and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse in cold water.
- Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain and crumble. In a large bowl, combine cooked sausage, spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, garlic, lemon juice and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt, pepper and oregano.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Stuff pasta shells with the sausage and cheese mixture and place in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the pasta is heated through and the cheese is melted.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 461 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 52 g |
| Cholesterol | 69 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 741 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Very yummy, but too much lemon. Quarter lemon should be fine. I also used a pound of sausage but still would have preferred more meat.
This is a great recipe my family loved this.
It was easy & delicious. I’ve made the stuffed shells a couple of times & loved them. I was a little lazy tonight, so I mixed everything & put shells in it. I added onions & mushrooms, topped with cheese & baked.
I did substitute broccoli cut up small for the spinach. Everyone loved it!
This is sooooo delicious. Fairly easy to make, and the whole family loved it. I used fresh spinach (steamed) instead of canned, but everything else was the same. Thank you for this recipe!
Easy to prepare, I used uncooked oven ready cannelloni noodles as it’s just easier. Was short on spinach so I diced up some red pepper as well. Drizzled olive oil over stuffed noodles prior to pouring sauce & cheese on top. They didn’t stick together as much as I previously tried.
Made with ground turkey instead of sausage. Great dish.
I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but I followed the previous comments on adding extra sauce and covering it while it baked. I half baked the shells, to the point of them able to be stuffed. However, covering it didn’t really help the cheese melt. It’s in the oven for 20min, but I turned the oven up a tad and left it uncovered for an additional 15min. It worked, but dried out some of the shells. Although, it’s still very tasty!
Yes this is a bit time consuming. Yes It requires many “steps”. BUT it is so worth it. Followed recipe exactly except used pork meatballs instead of sausage – what I had – . This is SO good. It makes an even dozen which is perfect for one dinner and one lunch for our family. Thanks for a great recipe. We loved it.
I used a whole pound of sausage( just to use it up) and left the other ingredients as listed. I also put some sauce in the bottom of the pan as suggested by another reviewer. It turned out delicious and I will be making it again.
It was a smash hit and all the talk. I made it for two funerals (not the best place to be the hot topic, but…). I didn’t do the lemon juice, fore went the salt and pepper and garlic and cut it die. To
I liked it but it wasn’t a hit with the family
Very easy and tasty and enjoyed it Unfortunately none of the kids liked it.
You only need a single 10oz box of shells. I used the whole container of ricotta cheese and spicy Italian sausage. Best shells I’ve had.
I substituted chicken for the sausage, and alfredo for the pasta sauce. it came out so good. 10/10 my family loved it.
Fantastic, will be making this regularly!
I made this and really enjoyed it! I made it as the recipe read for the most part. I doubled the filling as recommended in previous reviews. I also used fresh spinach instead of frozen and just wilted it in the residual heat from the cooked sausage. I would add extra sauce next time as I felt the top got a little dry, so some extra sauce would easily fix that.
tastes great! my only issue was that it called for 16 oz of the giant shells, I only had 12, but yet I barely had enough to fill all my shells… I thought I was going to have to make them extra full to use it all and I ended up having to scrape from earlier filled shells to make it work. this made it a little more frustating to make, but it all worked out in the end! I also substituted chicken instead of the sausage, used canned spinach, and added some Parmesan on top when I dished up. Ultimately, great recipe!
Loved it! I used plain greek yogurt instead of ricotta because I don’t like the ‘grittiness’ of ricotta and fresh sautéed spinach instead of frozen boxed. Took about 10 minutes longer to warm through and melt the cheese.
I always find something fun to do in the kitchen with my granddaughters…this was a great success! We did add store bought sauce
When I made this I only cooked my shells until they were half way done. This left them firmer and much easier to stuff, didn’t have one of them tear on me. They finished up cooking in the oven.