Meat and Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells
Stuffed shells has always been a dish that I’ve always wanted to make. I love that it is a versatile recipe since you can pretty much add whatever ingredients you desire. I had fun with the process of stuffing each shell with a creamy meaty cheese mixture. I had no idea going into this that I’d be making what would end up being one of my all time favorites. It was THAT good. The flavors leave you mmming your way throughout the entire meal!
Meat and Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells
- 12 medium pasta shells, cooked and drained
- 1lb ground beef sirloin
- 1 tsp fresh garlic minced
- 1/2 cup onions minced
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup grated romano cheese
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 cup fresh basil roughly chopped
- 1 cup of your favorite tomato sauce
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and cook the shells for 10 minutes. Drain the shells and set aside in cool water for the time being.
Pour a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a large pan and saute the onions and garlic. Add the beef sirloin and season with parsley,oregano, rosemary, and sage. Chop up the beef into tiny pieces as it is cooking.
Stir in your tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the ricotta, parmesan, romano and mozzarella cheeses into the beef mixture and stir all of the cheeses together
Finally add the fresh basil and stir once more
Spread some tomato sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish
Remove the pasta shell one at a time and fill them with the meat and cheese mixture using a teaspoon.
Place into the casserole dish. Depending on what size dish you’re using, you may need to layer the shells. Since I used a smaller casserole dish, I layered the shells into two layers.
I topped both layers with some tomato sauce and sprinkled leftover mozzarella cheese.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and melted!
Oh man, you’re killing me! Haven’t had stuffed shells in ages. Looks great!
+Jessie
Scrumdiddlyumptious. To the max.
I love stuffed shells and haven’t made them in SO LONG! They look great!
One of my favorite dishes!!! Mouth watering delicious!!!!!
Comfort food!!!
Looks amazing. I think this would be great to make and freeze to eat over the month. great idea!
I love to cook and I have to say it was a toss up between making cheese stuffed shells or meat stuffed shells. So I was browsing around and found this recipe.
So I decided to make this recipe and wow, what a lovely dish!!
I’m happy you ended up making this meal! I love that you can pretty much add whatever ingredients you want in the shells
Jessie, the recipe sounds great!
Oh my goodness…So many searches that I did today. So many want me to use cottage cheese and no meat. I read the recipe, sounded like exactly what I was looking for. Stuffed shells w/ meat. I love CHEESE, hubby needs meat. I use recipes for ‘basic guidelines’. I SHOULD have followed yours to the tee! You have the right amount of gr meat for my husband. I used 1/2 lb. This recipe is GREAT!!! I love that you added the pix for it. I didn’t have basil, but I used ‘Italian Seasoning’. This turned out great and we both love it. (of course hubby said that I need to use more meat next time! My goof-up. LOL).. I just found it and you have the perfect stuffed shell recipe. Just emailed it to my daughter and daughter-in-law.