Stuffed Shells are the epitome of comfort food, and the fact that they can be made ahead of time makes them that much better. They’re surprisingly easy too!
Ben and I sank our teeth into one of our favorite dinners tonight – Stuffed Shells! Stuffed Shells are the epitome of comfort food, and the fact that they can be made ahead of time makes them that much better. They’re surprisingly easy too!
Start by adding a box of jumbo shells to a large pot of salted, boiling water. You’ll need 25 shells.
Stir the shells often as they tend to stick to the bottom of the pot more than regular pasta. They also like to snuggle up all into each other, so separate with a fork if you find any frisky couples. Reserve 1/3 cup cooking water, then drain the shells and return to the pot.
Meanwhile, brown 1lb lean ground beef in a pot next door. Tip: I use a potato masher to get my ground beef uniformly crumbled. Works every time!
After draining the beef, return it to the pot and add in parmesan cheese, an egg, seasonings,
mozzarella cheese and the reserved pasta cooking water. Stir everything up until it’s well combined.
Next, turn your attention to the marinara sauce. Per usual, I used Gino’s.
Layer about 1/3 cup sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 baking pan.
Next, take a shell and spoon in enough ground beef mixture to fill about 3/4 of the way full.
Line it up in the baking dish.
Repeat with the remaining ground beef filling and shells. I got a total of 24 shells.
Top the shells with the remaining marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese. At this point, you could cover the dish with foil, place it in the refrigerator and bake a day later, or cover and bake immediately for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Scoop onto plates then serve! I hope you love these delectable Stuffed Shells that are make ahead too! Enjoy!
Stuffed Shells
Ingredients:
1 box jumbo shells (you’ll need ~25 shells)
1 lb lean ground beef
garlic salt, pepper, onion powder, Italian seasoning to taste
1/3 cup reserved pasta cooking water
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
16 oz marinara sauce
Directions:
- Cook shells according to package direction. Reserve 1/3 cup pasta cooking water, drain the rest and set aside.
- Cook ground beef until no longer pink, drain and return to the pot. Stir in seasonings, reserved pasta cooking water, parmesan cheese, egg and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with a thin layer of marinara sauce. Spoon the beef mixture into the cooked shells until full, then lay into the dish. Spoon remaining marinara sauce over the stuffed shells, and top with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. (If you are making ahead of time, cover dish with foil at this point and refrigerate.)
- Bake, loosely covered in foil, in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted. Remove foil and broil for a few minutes until the cheese is golden brown.
its very easy to make sauce, you want to simmer for 1 hour so it don’t taste like ketchup LOL but notfull home meal with can/jar sauce
Help!! I am unable to get to the actual recipe to PRINT! I found Make Ahead Stuffed Shells on your blog…but cannot find the recipe for it. When I click on link for recipe…it takes me to your home page to search for it. When I type it in…it takes me right back to the search page. Thank you!!
Just added it for you, Mary! Sorry about that – this is a super old recipe that was still using my old recipe formatting software, which I no longer use!
Hi! I love your site and it’s my go to place for recipes! We tried the stuffed shell recipe a few weeks ago and LOVED it but now the link to the recipe isn’t working. Can you help?
Sorry about that, Natalie! That’s a super old recipe whose format hasn’t been switched over to the new one, it appears. At any rate, here’s the recipe for ya. :)
Ingredients:
1 box jumbo shells (you’ll need ~25 shells)
1 lb lean ground beef
garlic salt, pepper, onion powder, Italian seasoning to taste
1/3 cup reserved pasta cooking water
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
16 oz marinara sauce
Directions:
1. Cook shells according to package direction. Reserve 1/3 cup pasta cooking water, drain the rest and set aside.
2. Cook ground beef until no longer pink, drain and return to the pot. Stir in seasonings, reserved pasta cooking water, parmesan cheese, egg and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
3. Cover the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with a thin layer of marinara sauce. Spoon the beef mixture into the cooked shells until full, then lay into the dish. Spoon remaining marinara sauce over the stuffed shells, and top with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. (If you are making ahead of time, cover dish with foil at this point and refrigerate.)
4. Bake, loosely covered in foil, in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted. Remove foil and broil for a few minutes until the cheese is golden brown.
Can I get the recipe for the make ahead stuff shells with the ingredient’s?
I am going to try your recipe, it looks very interesting. I use a small cookie scoop for my shells and a 4 cheese shredded product. I find the scoop to be slightly more uniform.
Just tried these tonight and they are so yummy! And easy! Served with a side of garlic toast, perfect! Thanks for a great din-din!
[…] make: I love hands on food. Anything that involves assembly, I’m all over it. So, when I saw these heavenly things on Iowa Girl Eats last Friday, I knew that I had to make them. Stat. I had never seen (noticed) […]
I am in full support of a Gino’s sauce giveaway. :) However, I am curious where you buy it – I am going to be in the Des Moines area next weekend and feel I need to try it out. Thank you!
You can buy it at HyVee or Dahls!
Yep. Have been eating only 85% to 90% LINDT Dark Chocolate, it only takes a little (2 squares?) to satisfy, and *bonus* the taste of the cheaper chocolates: Hershey, KitKat, even Dove, now gives me a Yak-fest. Yay.
I gave up pop starting Jan 2nd and have not looked back! Way to go!!
Seriously laughed so hard at that card everyone came running to see what was so funny.
Yes, please to the Gino’s giveaway!!!
Your SFJ update is really interesting–reason enough for me to want to try it. I definitely need to be more accountable when it comes to sugar consumption. Limiting it to the weekends just to “reset” myself might be a good place to start. I do notice that the less I eat sugar, the less I crave it.
Friday night dinner. Right there. Can’t wait! Thanks :)
Yes, please do a Gino’s giveaway for us non-locals! Or, do you know if they have it in the Quad-Cities? We have grandparents there. Hmmmmmm….
I love that you use a potato masher for browning hamburger! I do the same thing and my husband makes fun of me all the time for it! But I think it works perfectly and its way cheaper than buying the $12 thing from Pampered Chef that does the same thing!
Just found your blog! Looking forward to trying out some of these recipes!
I am definitely trying this recipe. Making it early is a dream come true! It takes off some of the cooking pressure! I always get so nervous that what I’m trying is not going to work out.
I loved reading about your SFJ. I totally identify with how you felt after eating sugar. I normally avoid sugar, but splurged when I went out for Valentine’s Day, and I have felt so sleepy and sluggish since. It is so hard to stay sugar free sometimes, but the alternative is far worse.