I pretty much love pasta in any shape or form, and these Stuffed Pasta Shells with Meat are pretty much no exception. They’re pretty much like little pockets of deconstructed lasagna deliciousness – what could possibly be wrong with that? They don’t require near as much prep time a a lasagna however, and they are every bit as good. Make sure you use a good quality tomato sauce (homemade if possible), it makes all the difference in how these turn out. I’m a huge fan of Mutti products, their tomato sauces and purees are the best, in my opinion. There’s a link a little further down if you want to check out some other things they make.
I have made these a thousand times (ok, almost) and each time to some seriously rave reviews. If this is your kind of food (and I think it should be), I highly encourage you to try this recipe. It’s easy and they truly are ridiculously delicious. Scroll down and watch the video of me making them and you can see for yourself how simple this recipe is to make.
These Stuffed Shells take about 30 minutes to prep and stuff, and they bake in the oven for another 1/2 more, so you can have this dinner ready to serve up in about an hour. The recipe makes enough for 4 – 6 people and you might have some filling left over. It freezes super well, or toss it with some pasta the next day for a delicious lunch.
here are a couple other super easy, super hearty dinner ideas:
here’s a video showing how to make these Stuffed Pasta Shells:
Cheesy, Beefy Stuffed Shells

- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Serving: 4 - 6 servings
Nutrition facts (per portion)
- Calories: 582
- Carbohydrate Content: 54.6g
- Cholesterol Content: 130mg
- Fat Content: 20.7g
- Fiber Content: 2.9g
- Protein Content: 45.1g
- Saturated Fat Content: 8.6g
- Serving Size: 6
- Sodium Content: 1067mg
- Sugar Content: 3.4g
Ingredients
- jumbo pasta shells - 1/2 pound (250 g)
- olive oil - 2 tbsp
- onion - 1 small, finely chopped
- salt and pepper - use very generously
- garlic cloves - 3, minced
- ground beef - 1 pound (500 g)
- italian herbs - 2 tbsp
- spaghetti sauce - 2 cups
- ricotta - 2 cups (or cottage cheese)
- mozzarella - 1 cup, shredded (plus more for topping)
- parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup, grated (plus more for topping)
- egg - 1 large, beaten
how to
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
- Cook the pasta in boiling water for about 1 minute less than the package suggests. Drain and run cool water over the shells. (to keep the shells from sticking together, I added about 1 tbsp olive oil to the water, and stirred them gently often.)
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, generously add salt and pepper and sauté until softened - about 4 - 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
- Add the beef and cook until browned, breaking it up as it cooks. When the beef is almost cooked through, sprinkle the Italian herbs over it and stir in about 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce, then remove from heat.
- In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan and egg - mix together well, then mix into the beef mixture.
- Grease a 9" x13" baking dish and spread the remaining sauce evenly in the bottom. Spoon the filling carefully into each shell and arrange them on the sauce, then sprinkle with additional mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
- Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until heated through.
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This is a great recipe. It was a hit in my home.
That makes me so happy. Thanks for saying!
Your recipe states 1/2pnd shells.250g…one box is 340g. I’m not sure how many shells to use.
Hi Kelly – It’s pretty flexible, it depends on the size of your pan, and how full you want to make the shells. You can just cook the whole box if you want, you might not use them all, or you can cram them in a bit more and use all of them – I just used a 1/2 pound bag that I had and that’s what worked for me. Let me know how it turns out!
This recipe perfectly fills 28 shells. I always cook 30 in case a couple rip
Do I double the whole recipe if I’m making more then just 4 to 6 servings
You can double it if you want, it’s easier to double than to try to figure out exactly how much you want . . .
I was wondering what I could use besides ricotta or cottage cheese? I don’t like cream cheese either. I would love to try this recipe and wondered if I could omit that cheese or use more mozzarella cheese. Thank you.
Hmmmmmm. Yeah, I think maybe you should just stick with mozzarella. Maybe find a ball of fresh mozzarella and use that instead as it’s a bit wetter and will help hold things together. 🙂
I often use tofu in place of the ricotta. Still need to use the mozzarella though.
There also is vegan ricotta
Can you make without the ricotta?
Can you make these a day in advance and then cook the next day? Or best to cook same day?
You can make these the day before or even freeze them.I’ve made this omitting the pasta sauce and used Alfredo sauce instead. Fabulous!! Usually I make one pan of each.
Made this yesterday evening for dinner. My hubby helped me. We followed the recipe exactly. It had to much sauce or something. Went to stuff shells and it kept running out of shells. We kept trying but it was so messy. Baked it, and even though it was messy and looked messy it TASTED FABULOUS!! Will make again but wish we could figure out what we did wrong. We had leftovers today for lunches and have more for tomorrow. Thanks for a great tasting recipe.
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I havent made it in years!Forgot how to make it. Thank you! 🙂
This looks so good and easy!
Do you drain the grease?
I was so glad to find your recipe. I love pasta and wanted to do stuffed shells for dinner. But the “all cheese” filling normally used for the stuffing is much too rich. This recipe was just was I was looking for. I used my home made marinara and added a little cream cheese to the meat mixture to make it, well, more creamy.. But other than that I stuck to your recipe and it was delish!
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First time on your site. This looks like a nice easy meal. I’ll fix it for my son in law. I look forward to more from you
Awesome! I hope it works out for you. 😉
I made something similar to this but used taco seasoning in the meat and put cheese over the top it was really good wish I still had the recipe for it I had found it on facebook and I lost it
What do you consider “Italian seasoning”? I don’t keep pre-mixed spices on hand, but I have all the staples. (I’m assuming oregano, garlic powder, basil, something like that…) Or are you talking about the Italian dressing packet?
The blend I use has basil, oregano, rosemary, crushed red pepper and marjoram. I actually got it in Italy a while ago and just keep adding things to it, it’s delicious. 🙂
Looks very good. I see you are from Copenhagen Denmark. My husbands relatives (Petersen) are from Denmark. Do you know of any web sites where I could get Danish recipes? He is very proud of his Danish heritage.
Hi Sue. I am actually American, I just happen to live in Copenhagen. 🙂 Here is a good site for Danish food – it’s all in Danish, but if you open it up in Chrome, it should translate for you: https://www.findeopskrifter.dk/
This was a great recipe! My husband liked it and he is not usually fond of richer foods, proving that this was just right (not as intense as a lasagna, per se). I did use about a teaspoon less of the Italian seasoning, and I substituted turkey meat for the beef. I drained it before adding the spaghetti sauce and it came out wonderful! If you like sauce, dribble some over the top too before you bake. Otherwise it may be a tad too dry. Definitely a keeper!
Hey Sarah! Thanks so much for commenting. I’m glad you liked it. ?