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Best Three Cheese Stuffed Shells Recipe
You really can’t go wrong with a good lasagna. Rich red spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning and lots of cheese all layered between pasta noodles… It’s heavenly! But when I feel like something EXTRA cheesy, I make these stuffed shells! They are similar to your classic lasagna, but with a triple dose of cheese and stuffed inside a jumbo pasta shell.
This Italian cheese stuffed shells is all things delicious.
What you need to make Stuffed Pasta Shells:
This delicious cheese stuffed shells recipe comes together quickly and easily. You can’t go wrong with baking stuffed shells with all the
Before you bake the shells, add more red sauce on top and extra cheese. You can never have enough cheese! After about 40 minutes in the oven, you will have an incredible Italian dinner that is sure to be a big hit! I like to serve these with a nice salad and garlic bread, and they make a beautiful presentation for guests too!
- Jumbo Pasta Shells
- Ricotta Cheese
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese
- Basil
- Italian Seasoning
- Egg
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Spaghetti Sauce
How to Make Cheese Stuffed Shells:
And this recipe really couldn’t be any simpler to make: Boil the pasta shells until just shy of al dente (I did 9 minutes). Mix together all the yummy cheeses along with some seasoning, fresh basil for color and extra flavor, and an egg to bind it all together. Then spread your favorite red sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, stuff your shells with the cheese mixture, and add them to the dish. I usually take a shortcut and use a good pasta sauce from the grocery store, but feel free to use your favorite homemade recipe too! I have a spaghetti sauce recipe with Italian sausage that is out of this world!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta shells according to package directions for al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.
- In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella, parmesan, basil, Italian seasoning, egg, salt and pepper. Spread 3/4 of the spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking dish.
- Spoon the cheese mixture into the pasta shells and place in the baking dish. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce over shells and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5-10 minutes more.
What to Serve with Shell Pasta:
Stuffed shells taste great with bread warm from the oven. Serve them with buttery garlic bread or parmesan breadsticks. A crisp green salad with a zesty homemade vinaigrette is always welcome with any cheesy Italian dish like this.
More Delicious and Comforting Pasta Meals:
- Creamy Garlic Shrimp Alfredo Pasta
- Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo Pasta
- Cheesy Chicken, Bacon and Broccoli Ranch Pasta
- Easy Pasta Carbonara Recipe
- Creamy Pork Carnitas Pasta
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Three Cheese Stuffed Shells Recipe
Ingredients
- 20 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
- 15 ounce container ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 Tablespoons chopped basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 – 26 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta shells according to package directions for al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.
- In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella, parmesan, basil, Italian seasoning, egg, salt and pepper. Spread 3/4 of the spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking dish.
- Spoon the cheese mixture into the pasta shells and place in the baking dish. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce over shells and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5-10 minutes more.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Great meal. Made enough to freeze for another meal.
Love these. I always do Italian Meatballs with these. I just layer it. Sauce,Stuffed shells, meatballs, & then more sauce. Top with shredded mozarella. Bake. EXCELLANT!!!!
This is such a great idea!!!!!!!!
Doing it now lol
I added spinach and it was delicious! Great vegetarian meal that my toddler loves. Even my meat loving husband loves this meal.
I add hamburger in the spaghetti sauce and it’s perfectly Devine!
These are so good. I make them with some spinach mixed in with the ricotta mixture to add more veggie goodness in them. Whole family loves this one! Thank for sharing.
Two words: Yee. Um. (Or is that hyphenated?) I had to use manicotti because I couldn’t find the large pasta shells (and heck if I was going to more than one store), but my family loved these. There are three of us total (one aged six), I made a dozen, and they’re gone (the kid ate the same amount I did, despite declaring during the preparation process that the cheese mix looked “icky”). Unfortunately, my husband won’t stop calling it lasagna, which for some reason is cheesing me off . . . Thanks for this recipe!
I make these every so often. On occasion I add ground Beef and sausage(finely ground) to the cheese mix.. It is usually 25% meat to 75% cheese. It is a more substantial meal that the men in my family really like..
Amazing! I made it for my house and it’s delicious. Thank you!!
This recipe is lacking MEAT, you must add ground beef for this to be a REAL dinner meal.
rid the egg, cut the ricotta by half, add ground beef and this will be superb.
Don’t get rid of the egg; it helps to bind the rest of the ingredients together, and if you remove it, the recipe will flop.
(And really, no meat means a dish isn’t a dinner meal? Wow.)
I’m adding meat to the sauce and leaving the rest of the recipe as-is.
This has got me craving pasta. I’ve got all the ingredients on hand except the ricotta. Gonna use goats cheese instead and add sausages. Thanks for the idea
How did this go?
I was thinking of subbing ricotta for cream cheese and adding ground turkey or sausage
I had pinned a cheesy chicken stuffed shell recipe and bought everything to make it. Then it just didn’t look as appetizing to me, so I didn’t make it and I was stuck with a container of ricotta cheese. I was trying to figure out what I could use it for so it doesn’t go to waste. I’m so glad I found this because it calls for ricotta cheese. I’ll post a comment after I make it. Thanks!
I made these the other night and they were DELICIOUS! We had some left overs because I made WAY too much, and those were eaten the next day! Sooooo tasty and easy! 🙂
Pasta stuffed with cheese … it doesn’t get much better than that! I love the photos too!
Love stuffed shells! The more cheese the better!
I adore stuffed shells, it is the perfect family-centered meal!
I think that the recipe is great except for the basil being mixed in with the ricotta cheese. Typically, fresh herbs are not cooked as the tend to turn an unappetizing dark green/black when heat is put to them. As you can tell from the picture of the finished product, the basil pieces in the cheese mixture are no where near as bright as the ones sprinkled on top after the dish was served. This advice goes for any fresh herb such as parsley and cilantro. The brighter your herbs the better the presentation will be!
I totally agree with you on the Basil
But does it change the taste?
Great recipe! My family loved it and we’re a household of 8! My one daughter didn’t care for it but my boys ate it all up. I probably didn’t have to make the whole larger box of shells as a handful was left over and I ran out of filling. I forgot to add the egg and I ran out of mozzarella cheese and topped it with monterrey jack cheese, but it still turned out phenomenal. I also forgot to add spinach but I cut it up and added it on top once I plated it. I used prego meat traditional sauce. I served it with a garden salad. Next time (and there will be a next time) I’ll add meatballs to the dinner. Just the frozen ones. Pop them in the oven and I’ll be good to go. Thank you so much for this recipe, super easy, and super cheap!