These big pasta shells are loaded with garlic, thyme, mushrooms, spinach, and ricotta and are delicious and simple. The ideal meal for a weeknight!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 24 lumaconi pasta shells
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (8 ounce) package button mushrooms, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 (10 ounce) bag baby spinach
- 2 teaspoons ground thyme
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce
- ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta shells in boiling water, occasionally stirring, until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir mushrooms and garlic in hot oil until mushrooms are soft, about 7 minutes. Stir spinach and thyme into mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir mixture until spinach wilts. Remove the skillet from heat and drain any excess liquid. Transfer drained mixture to a large bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Mix ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese with spinach mixture. Season again with salt and pepper and stuff into pasta shells.
- Arrange stuffed shells into a 9×11-inch baking dish. Pour pasta sauce over shells. Top with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and shells are hot, about 30 minutes.
- If you add a lamb and pork mixture, get a nice sear on it and add it to the spinach and mushroom, without ricotta. You can also add some goat cheese.
- If desired, add more cheese or any kind of meat — I find a lamb and pork mixture works well.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 434 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 51 g |
| Cholesterol | 22 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 19 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 835 mg |
| Sugars | 14 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
As a suggestion, if you don’t have the giant shells, you could cook a box of lasagna noodles, spread them with the filling, roll them up, and place them in your baking dish. The filling sounds delish. Will print and try soon. The jarred sauce might need a little work. Taste test first.
This was a wonderful improvement on my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-(thoroughbred German-American)-pants! large Half of a large box of jumbo (stuffed and sauce-covered) shells filled my glass 9″×12″ baking dish. They are DEE-LISH!
I followed the recipe, except I used Italian spices instead of Thyme. I did not use any meat. I used a jar of pasta sauce, but in the future, I would make a homemade sauce.
My brother hates spinach and mushrooms, so I worked just with the cheese and the recipe still worked perfectly!
I recommend that peppers are precooked
Only modification I made was added hot Italian sausage and it was freaking amazing.
The recipe is very easy to follow. I doubled the mushrooms though, and used chopped frozen spinach – just thaw it, drain it, and add it to the mushrooms after they’re mostly cooked, and let the spinach get hot. I did sub a goodly pinch of dried rosemary leaves plus basil and oregano to taste, rather than the thyme. Turned out scrumptious. Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe. I’ve made this dish many times over the past few yrs. I like to add a little fresh basil, Some cinnamon, and crushed red pepper flakes to the filling.
very good. made exact. enjoyed for several days.
This is great, very good change from fish and Mac & cheese for Lent
The filling base is fantastic but I learned that Thyme is not my thing. I’ll omit that altogether next time but overall a delicious and easy dish.
This is an excellent dish – easy to make and very very tasty
I added Italian Sausage. Was excellent!
I loved this recipe. I substituted the garlic cloves with puree, and instead of using thyme, I used oregano. I’ll definitely be cooking this one again.
My family enjoyed this ….it was my first time making stuffed pasta and I’m glad I started with this recipe.
Made this but used meat in my sauce. Added Italian sausage and ground chuck mix to tomato sauce. I also added 1/2 cup of meat to ricotta mix… Awesome modifications to make a hearty Sunday dinner!
Awesome taste! Can substitute ricotta cheese for 2 % cottage cheese and then drain the cottage cheese…excellent flavour. We like substituting nutmeg for the thyme.
I really enjoyed this recipe. It was quick and easy to make. I replaced the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese and it was delicious. We will certainly make it again.
This was good with a couple of modifications. I questioned the use of thyme so I added a small amount to the filling in a separate container and tasted it. Didn’t seem to work for me so I used basil instead and it made the dish great. I did add some extra cheese but followed everything else as written.
With the spices we added an easy 5 stars. Added fresh garlic and onion–I sauteed them for a minute and then added the carrot, mushies and spinach. Everyone loved it. Thanks!
I made this recipe without the mushrooms and used fresh made alfredo sauce instead of traditional tomato sauce. It turned out great! My daughter (6) got a kick out of helping me fill the giant shells.