Mom saved this recipe for special holiday times either for Easter, Christmas, or even for a family house wedding party, and considered these her specialty back in the 1950s.
These jumbo pasta shells are perfect for entertaining and for any occasion, they are simple to make with a few basic ingredients.
Through the years we have added spinach in the ricotta or even made them stuffed with meatballs and sausage from noncheese lovers, so the stuffing can be very versatile and adapted.
If you're a cheese lover then you are going to love these stuffed shells because they are loaded with ricotta, Pecorino Romano, and melted mozzarella for that homerun cheese lover all in one pan.
We love all kinds of baked pasta and you may also like to try Mom's Baked Lasagna recipe, it's a family favorite also.
Scroll down to the bottom for this fantastic version of Mom's recipe for baked stuffed shells.
Easy Recipe
Baked stuffed shells are an easy wonderful pasta dish to serve.
Even though mom made them for just a special occasion they really are perfect to make ahead of time and freeze for any weeknight meal.
Check out below and read through the tricks and easy assortment of fillings you can choose from to make all different kinds of stuffed shells.
Just fill them, place them on parchment paper with no tomato sauce, freeze and then put them in freezer containers for another time, super simple and ready for you anytime.
I try to make at least 36 at a time for unexpected guests or when I need to make a birthday dinner, they're right there ready to be baked.
Frozen shells can be baked still frozen just add the tomato sauce and cheese and last around 6 months in the freezer.
Ingredients You Will Need to Make This Recipe
Scroll down to the recipe card for exact measurements and print them off
- Jumbo Pasta Shells
- extra large eggs
- ricotta cheese
- Pecorino Romano Cheese grated
- minced fresh garlic
- fresh chopped parsley and basil
- extra large eggs
- Italian Tomato Meat Sauce
- salt, pepper
- see optional side dish suggestions for serving below:
- Serving suggestions: garlic bread and antipasto
Tips:
- make the filling while the pasta is cooking
- never rinse pasta the sauce won't stick to the pasta
- always add salt to the water when boiling the pasta
- only use fresh herbs not dried
- you can use low-fat ricotta but will require and extra egg being it's much more watery
- for a little heat add some red pepper flakes when serviing
- add more grated cheese on top and serve with garlic bread to dip in the delicious sauce
Other Fillings To Try
- mushrooms cooked added to the ricotta 8 ounces
- spinach cooked and water squeezed out added to the ricotta 10 ounces
- mashed meatballs and sausage instead of ricotta cheese topping with mozzarella
- for an American Mexican version make a taco seasoned beef and top with cheddar cheese using salsa instead of tomato sauce
- For a Southwestern version used black beans, corn, and taco meat with cheddar cheese using salsa instead of tomato sauce
- sliced pepper hot or sweet, mushrooms and Italian sausage chopped fresh tomatoes also using the ricotta filling first then topped with meat
- add shredded zucchini or shredded eggplant, mixed with mashed meatballs and mozzarella for a filling
- for seafood filled add shrimp to the ricotta filling and use an Alfredo Sauce or Scampi sauce, instead of tomato sauce
- for pizza stuffed shells used chopped pepperoni, Italian sausage adding tomato sauce to the filling and mozzarella then topped with pizza sauce and more cheese
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Other Recipes To Try
Grandma's Spaghetti and Meatballs
Pasta Fazool
Authentic Fettucine Alfredo not the American version
Homemade Orecchiette Pasta
A Few Tips and Suggestions
If you're a pasta lover you will love Mom's Italian Stuffed Baked Shells, they're easy to make and will impress your family and friends.
Stuffing shells is not only easy, but they're also so versatile in fillings, so don't forget to check my American suggestions above if you missed reading them.
Adapt the recipe to however you like your filling with more or fewer ingredients, there is no such thing as too much cheese right?
One last tip, you can use a good grade store-bought sauce and disposable pan for a quicker meal and easy cleanup.
Mom's Italian Baked Stuffed Shells
Yield: 36
Prep time: 25 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 45 Min
These are jumbo pasta shells with ricotta cheese filling in each one. Then baked topped with homemade Italian tomato sauce and lots of
melted mozzarella cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 boxes of Jumbo Shell Pasta (around 36) cooked al dente to package instructions
- Filling:
- 3 extra-large eggs
- 2 - 15 ounce containers of Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella and (2 cups for the top for baking)
- 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano grated cheese
- 2 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian basil
- 4 tablespoon freshly chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
- salt and pepper to taste ( I usually add around 1 teaspoon each)
- 4 - CupsHomemade Traditional Sunday Meat Sauce (or use your favorite store-bought)
Instructions
- Bring an 8 to an 11-quart pot of water to a boil adding 2 teaspoons of salt.
- Add the shells, cook al dente to package instructions.
- Drain do not rinse.
- In the meantime mix all the ingredients for just the filling and set aside.
- Cool shells long enough to handle them or wear gently life each one with a large spoon then open to fill.
- Fill each shell with ricotta filling.
- In a large deep baking casserole dish, add some tomato sauce to cover the bottom of the dish,
- Place the filled shells on the sauce, add more sauce to the top of each shell.
- Cover the tops of the shells generously with whole milk mozzarella (the 2 cups of more remaining in the ingredients section).
- Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven until the cheese is just melted around 20 minutes.
- Serve with garlic bread and antipasto if desired.
Calories
175.68Fat (grams)
2.33Sat. Fat (grams)
1.23Carbs (grams)
22.22Fiber (grams)
0.25Net carbs
11.97Sugar (grams)
0.64Protein (grams)
2.57Sodium (milligrams)
71.09Cholesterol (grams)
25.82Pin for later
More Recipes To Try
Seafood and Crab Lemon Scampi Pasta
15 Favorite Easy Pasta Recipes
Disclosure: This recipe was originally shared in 2009. It was edited and re-published in 2021.