This easy stuffed shells with meat and ricotta recipe is warm and comforting after a long day. Prep the meat-stuffed shells the day before, then just pop the dish in the oven after work.
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While always cozy and delicious, baked pasta recipes often get reserved for the weekend because they usually call for longer cook times and require a bit more prep time than the average weeknight dinner. However, you’ll find that our recipe for stuffed shells with meat and ricotta is not one of those dishes.
Unlike other cheesy baked pasta recipes, the prep for these stuffed shells with meat sauce is split over two days: On day one, you cook the pasta, prepare the filling and assemble the casserole before chilling it overnight in the refrigerator; on day two, you simply preheat the oven, pop in the dish and devour the meat-stuffed shells once they’re hot, golden and bubbly. It’s the perfect comforting pasta recipe that will brighten up even the Monday-est of Mondays.
Ingredients for Stuffed Shells with Meat
- Jumbo pasta shells: You’ll want to grab a box of the jumbo shells for this recipe, since they’re perfect for filling with all the cheesy, meaty goodness. Save your medium shells for this stovetop beef and shells recipe.
- Ground beef: This dish is one of many recipes that use 1 pound ground beef. The beefy boost makes it taste like your mom’s best lasagna recipe, while also making the dish more filling than stuffed pasta recipes without meat, like this spinach stuffed shells recipe.
- Ricotta: Ricotta is the perfect filling for pasta shells. This type of cheese doesn’t melt fully when heated, so it gives the filling some body and prevents the filling from oozing out of the shells as they bake in the oven.
- Italian cheese blend: In comparison to ricotta, a combination of shredded Italian cheese and grated Parmesan cheese melts like a dream and lends these stuffed shells with meat sauce plenty of cheesy flavor. We opted for packaged shredded cheese, but you could also grate your own cheese if you prefer.
- Egg: The egg acts as a binding ingredient in the filling. Without the egg, the meat and cheese filling will be more prone to leaking out of the shells as they bake.
- Pesto: This herbaceous green sauce is our secret ingredient that infuses the filling without having to resort to a long list of fresh or dried herbs and spices. You can choose store-bought pesto or make homemade pesto if you have the time and ingredients.
- Spaghetti sauce: This stuffed shells with meat and ricotta recipe keeps things simple, opting for your favorite jarred pasta sauce rather than making homemade pasta sauce.
- Onion: The aromatic adds flavor and depth to this easy stuffed shells with meat recipe.
Directions
Step 1: Boil the pasta
Cook the pasta shells according to the package directions for al dente.