Meat and Cheese Stuffed Shells
Updated: Jan 15
These stuffed shells are saucy, cheesy, and a delicious dinner for you and your family. When you look up recipes for stuffed jumbo pasta shells, you see a lot of "cheese" stuffed shells but where's the meat?!
I decided, why not make it with ground beef? Don't worry, there will be cheese included. Lots of it! ;)
What are stuffed shells?
These jumbo-sized pasta shells are very similar to the Italian-American dish, "manicotti." The only difference is, well, the shape of the pasta. The pasta used in manicotti is large pasta tubes while the stuffed shells are, large pasta shells.
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I don't think there's a specific way to eat your pasta. It's truly up to you. When it comes to the stuffed pasta shells, you can stuff them with whatever you like. Your choice of cheese, any kind of meat, your favorite vegetables, you name it! The important thing is that you're being creative and you enjoy it in the end!
Alright, I'll stop rambling about pasta. Let's get started with the list of ingredients you need for this recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 Box Jumbo Pasta Shells
- 2 tbsp Cooking Oil
- 1 Onion
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 1 pound of Ground Beef
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 16 oz Container of Ricotta Cheese
- 2 Eggs
- Mozzarella cheese
- 1 Jar Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce (or your choice of pasta sauce)
You want to start by boiling water and cook the jumbo pasta shells according to the box. Don't forget to sprinkle some salt and drizzle some oil in the water! Once your pasta is done, drain it and set it aside to let it cool COMPLETELY! You will be using your hands to assemble the dish and you don't want to burn yourself!
While your pasta is cooking, we will make the beefy sauce. Start by dicing your onion as well as your garlic cloves.
Heat up about a tablespoon of cooking oil at high heat and when heated, add your onion. Once your onion is translucent, add your garlic. Fry until your onion and garlic start turning a brownish color.
Add your ground beef. Season the ground beef with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. Mix until your ground beef is well separated and fully combined with the seasonings and the onion and garlic. Cover your pot and let the meat be fully cooked.
Once your meat is fully cooked, you can add your crushed red pepper flakes, about 1 to 2 teaspoons. This seasoning is completely optional. I like to add it to give my pasta a hint of spice. Set your meat aside and let it cool before assembling the jumbo pasta shells.
Once your meat is cooled, add it to a large mixing bowl. Add the entire 16 oz container of ricotta cheese. You can use more or less, depending on how cheesy you want it.
In a separate bowl, whisk 2 eggs. Add those whisked eggs to the same mixing bowl that your meat and cheese are in. Mix until WELL combined. Make sure your ricotta cheese has no clumps.
Add your mozzarella cheese to the mix. Now, this is where it gets fun! You can add no cheese, a little bit, or a whole lot! It's totally up to you. Personally, I like to add 1 to 2 handfuls. Mix until everything is combined nicely.
Your mix should look like this when all ingredients are combined.
Get your oven-safe baking pan and layer the bottom with the tomato and basil sauce. I'd say about half a cup.
Now assemble your yummy dish! Take your pasta shells, fill them with the meat and cheese mixture, and then set them open-side down on the sauce-layered pan.
Once you've layered your pan with all your filled shells, if you have extra meat and cheese filling, you can add the extra in between the shells for more flavor!
Take your pasta sauce and drizzle some overtop of the shells. You can add more or less depending on how saucy you want your pasta to be.
And of course, top it off with more mozzarella cheese! This is a must! :) Cover the dish with foil and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 to 20 minutes. Once it is nicely baked, take the foil off and let your dish broil for about 5 minutes, or until a nice crisp form on the cheesy top.
Ingredients
1 Box Jumbo Pasta Shells
2 tbsp Cooking Oil, divided
1 Onion
4 Garlic Cloves
1 Ib Ground Beef
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
16 oz Ricotta Cheese
2 Eggs
Mozzarella Cheese
1 Jar Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce
Instructions
Start by boiling water and cook the jumbo shells according to the box. Sprinkle a bit of salt and oil in the water.
Once your pasta is done, drain it and set it aside to let it cool COMPLETELY! You will be using your hands to assemble the dish and you don't want to burn yourself!
While your pasta is cooking, we will make the beefy sauce. Start by dicing your onion as well as your garlic cloves.
Heat up a tablespoon of oil at high heat and when heated, add your onion. After translucent, add your garlic.
Once brownish in color, add your ground beef. Season with salt and pepper. Cover your beef and mix every couple of minutes until fully cooked.
Once fully cooked, you can add the red pepper flakes if you want a spice to your pasta. Move your beef from the heat and let it sit to cool.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, add your cooled meat. Add the entire 16 oz container of ricotta.
Add 2 whisked eggs to the bowl and mix until well combined. Make sure your ricotta cheese has no clumps.
Add a handful of mozzarella cheese to the bowl. You can add more or less. Mix until combined.
Take your pasta sauce and layer the bottom on an oven-safe baking pan.
Take your pasta shells, fill them with the meat and cheese mixture, and then set them open-side down on the sauce-layered pan.
Once you’ve used all the shells, add the extra meat and cheese filling (if any) on top of and in between the shells.
Drizzle some of the pasta sauce onto the top of the shells. The amount is up to you. If you like saucy pasta, add about a cup of sauce. If you want less, add less.
Drizzle more mozzarella cheese on top of the shells for extra cheesiness. Again, add more or less depending on how much you want!
Cover your dish with foil and put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until nicely baked to your liking. Once it's nicely baked, take the foil off and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Let the cheese form a nice crisp.
Serve with parmesan cheese and some yummy garlic toast and enjoy!
It's Hayati
Don't forget to smile, it's Sunnah! :)