This Cheesy Stuffed Shells with Meat recipe is simple and delicious and ready in under an hour. Jumbo pasta shells are stuffed with seasoned ground beef, then covered with parmesan cheese, pasta sauce, and mozzarella. Serve with this Lebanese fattoush salad.
Your picky kids will love these cheesy jumbo stuffed shells. Prepare the recipe as is, or make it your own by adding your own touches.
This stuffed shells with meat recipe always reminds me of my mom. Although not a traditional Assyrian recipe, this was a recipe that mom came up with.
Unlike lasagna and other pasta recipes that might be a little daunting to prepare, this recipe is actually fun to make and so easy! Simply boil the shells and stuff with seasoned ground beef then cover with tomato sauce and cheese.
Make the recipe even simpler by substituting the made from scratch tomato sauce with store-bought spaghetti sauce.
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This is a unique pasta recipe and a very comforting dish.
- It makes enough to feed a crowd!
- Stuffed shells reheat well too.
🛒 What Goes Into This Recipe
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Filling: To make this recipe even healthier, substitute ground turkey for the ground beef in the filling.
- Herbs: I'm not sure why mom chose to use mint instead of oregano or basil, but the mint works in this recipe and is a nice change. However, you can substitute basil or oregano if you don't have mint on hand.
- Cheese: Although mom used parmesan cheese, she never added mozzarella. But pasta is so much better when it's cheesy, so go ahead, add the extra cheese!
- Pasta: Look for "jumbo shells" so that they're large enough to stuff with the meat mixture.
🍝 How to Make Stuffed Shells with Meat
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F
Step 1: Fill a 6-quart Dutch oven ¾ full of water. Add olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt and bring the water to a boil.
Step 2: Add shells and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water.
Step 3: Meanwhile, brown the meat in a medium-sized pan. Add the onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and paprika. Cook a few more minutes and set aside to cool.
Pro Tip: If using higher fat ground beef, drain the extra fat from the pan.
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Prepare Sauce (or use store-bought)
Step 4: Mix the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer the sauce while you stuff the shells.
Stuff Shells
Step 5: Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Stuff each shell with approximately 1 tablespoon of filling and arrange in the prepared baking dish.
Step 6: Pour the sauce over the stuffed shells, then sprinkle with mint and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the shells, cover with foil, and seal.
Step 7: Bake the meat-stuffed shells for 30 minutes.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
This dish is filing on its own but a nice salad completes this delicious meal. If you're serving a hungry bunch, garlic bread is also a great addition!
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
Since stuffed shells already contain carbs and protein, a great side option would be a green salad. A Middle Eastern salad in particular goes great with this recipe. A salad adds fiber to the meal, making it a little healthier.
Yes, stuffed shells can be frozen after being baked. Make sure the stuffed shells are cooled completely first, then wrap the pan tightly with a few layers of heavy-duty foil. Freeze for up to three months.
If possible defrost frozen shells overnight in the refrigerator, then bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
To keep the shells from drying out, you may want to add about a half a cup of sauce over the pasta before reheating.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Be sure to drain the cooked shells completely before filling them with the meat filling.
- In mom's original recipe, the ground beef was seasoned with allspice and curry. I've left it out in this recipe, but if you would like to try the original recipe, add 1 teaspoon of allspice and ½ teaspoon of curry to the filling.
- Mix the ground beef with ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, or even cream cheese for a creamier pasta dish.
🥣 Related Recipes
📖 Recipe
Cheesy Stuffed Shells with Meat
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon salt (divided)
- 1 12 ounce package of jumbo shells
- 1¼ lbs. ground beef (lean)
- 1 small onion (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon paprika
- nonstick cooking spray
- 1½ teaspoon dried mint
- 3 tablespoon parmesan cheese
Sauce
- 6 ounce canned tomato paste
- 2½ cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon citric acid
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
- Fill a 6-quart Dutch oven ¾ full of water. Add olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt and bring the water to a boil.
- Add shells and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water.
- Meanwhile, brown the meat in a medium-sized pan. Add the onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and paprika. Cook a few more minutes and set aside to cool.
- Note: If using higher fat ground beef, drain the extra fat from the pan.
Sauce
- Mix the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer the sauce while you stuff the shells.
Stuff the Shells
- Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Stuff each shell with approximately 1 tablespoon of filling and arrange in the prepared baking dish.
- Pour the sauce over the stuffed shells, then sprinkle with mint and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the shells, cover with foil, and seal.
- Bake the meat-stuffed shells for 30 minutes.
- Serve the stuffed shells with salad and garlic bread.
Notes
- Be sure to drain the cooked shells completely before filling them with the meat filling.
- In mom's original recipe, the ground beef was seasoned with allspice and curry. I've left it out in this recipe, but if you would like to try the original recipe, add 1 teaspoon of allspice and ½ teaspoon of curry to the filling.
- Mix the ground beef with ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, or even cream cheese for a creamier pasta dish.
- For a quicker version of this recipe, use jarred pasta sauce instead of making your own sauce.
Kelly Methey says
This is a really good recipe that can be made as is or changed up when you feel the need. My husband loves pasta and this fits the bill for him!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, I appreciate the input and review. 😘
Nancy Vazquez says
This is a great recipe which can easily be adapted to several cultures simply by changing up the spices and cheese variety. This recipe provides a very useful way to use up odds and ends of cheese as well by incorporating them in this recipe.