Easy Stuffed Shells Recipe

This is an easy stuffed shells recipe that is filled with three different cheeses (cottage cheese, Mozzarella, and Parmesan) and topped with your favorite pasta sauce. 

 

I like to make recipes that taste delicious, that are easy to make, and that are family favorite recipes my kids will eat. This easy stuffed shells recipe is all of those combined.

My kids loved this stuffed shells recipe so much that they asked for seconds and even thirds! Since my kids love this dish, I think your family will love it too.

Recipe Tips:

A few things about this recipe is that you can use your favorite marinara, pasta or spaghetti sauce. Our family likes the Ragu Garden Combination. Having an already-made bottle of pasta sauce makes this recipe come together even faster. Plus, this Ragu pasta sauce has extra vegetables in it, and my kids don’t notice that they are eating more vegetables. 🙂  But whatever marinara, pasta sauce, or spaghetti sauce your family likes to eat, you can use it with this easy stuffed shells recipe.

When I was younger, my mother taught me how to make homemade marinara sauce from scratch. I also make this recipe often for my family. If you want a good marinara sauce recipe from scratch, then head over here for the recipe.

I make these stuffed shells with cottage cheese, but you can substitute the cottage cheese for ricotta.

 

Freezer Tips:

It’s always nice to be able to take a meal out of the freezer on busy days. With this quick and easy stuffed shells recipe, you can pull it out to cook on a day you need a fast dinner idea. And it will freeze well for up to 6 months.

When freezing recipes that use baking dishes, you’ll want to either use aluminum pans, or you can use this tip here to save money on aluminum pans.

You don’t want the stuffed shells to get freezer burn, so be sure to wrap it tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil. And don’t forget to label it with the date.

When you are ready to cook this meal, take it out of the freezer a few days before you want to use it, and place it in the refrigerator to thaw. Since the stuffed shells will be cold going into the oven, you want to add 10-20 minutes onto the baking time to make sure it’s cooked all the way to the center.

If you pull the freezer meal directly out of the freezer and put it into the oven, then it will need at least two hours to cook, since it’s not thawed.

 

How to Make Easy Stuffed Shells:

 

In a large pot of lightly salted water, boil the jumbo pasta shells for 8-10 minutes. Drain.

 

 

In a large bowl, mix the egg, cottage cheese, half of the mozzarella, half of the shredded Parmesan, half of the grated Parmesan, basil, salt and pepper until well combined.

 

Place half of the pasta sauce (about 1 1/2 cups) on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.

 

Stuff the cooked shells by placing a large spoonful of the cottage cheese mixture in them, and then place in baking dish on top of the pasta sauce. You’ll be able to fill about 25 jumbo shells.

 

 

In a bowl, mix the remaining pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese, and grated Parmesan cheese.

 

Spoon over the stuffed shells. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Then take off the aluminum foil and allow to bake for 5-10 more minutes until bubbly.

 

 

Print off this quick and easy stuffed shells recipe below:

 

 

Try These Other Recipes:

20 Easy Weeknight Dinners for the Family

 

 

Spaghetti Casserole

 

 

Slow Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs

 

 

Chicken Broccoli Potato Casserole

 

Crock Pot Shredded Beef Tacos

 

Oven Baked Beef Tacos

 

 

One Pan Garlic Parmesan Pasta

 

 

Baked Italian Sandwiches

 

 

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches

 

Cheesy Pizza Pasta Casserole Recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff