Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells are loaded with a filling of 3 cheeses, spinach and basil, then topped with a fresh Marinara sauce and melty mozzarella cheese. It makes a great lunch or dinner with a simple green salad.
This is a solid make-ahead vegetarian recipe with bold colors and flavors that has a good shortcut if you need it.
My friend Cath made a stuffed pasta shells recipe recently and tempted me to give it a whirl.
I checked out half a dozen similar recipes which were all – er – similar. I ended up blending recipes from Food and Wine, Serious Eats, Eating Well and Fork Knife Spoon including any tips the authors had to share.
What to expect
The recipe has 5 steps:
- Cook the pasta shells
- Make the Marinara sauce (or take a shortcut and buy one)
- Make the spinach-cheese filling
- Stuff the shells
- Assemble and bake
As you can see, the recipe takes a little bit of time. Using a store-bought tomato sauce will cut the time down considerably.
On the plus side, this is a great recipe for making a day or two ahead of time. Bake it when needed. Or freeze it to have a great meal at a later time.
The stuffed pasta shells are delicious with a tasty filling, sauce and melty cheese. I also love the bold red and green colors. Hey, maybe a good dish for the vegetarians at the Christmas dinner table?
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
Pasta shells: Use large pasta shells or jumbo pasta shells.
Cheeses: We are using three kinds of cheese in the filling – ricotta cheese, goat cheese and Parmesan. Plus, mozzarella as a topping. Try to get the best ricotta you can – creamier, less grainy.
Spinach: I use frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry. You can also use fresh baby spinach – instructions are in the recipe card.
Canned tomatoes: I prefer San Marzano whole tomatoes, but other kinds will be fine too. See shortcuts below.
Variations:
- Vary the proportion of the cheeses e.g. more goat cheese, less ricotta, more Parmesan, etc. If you don’t like or have goat cheese, use all ricotta.
- Vary the heat/spice in the sauce. Add red pepper flakes or a seeded, chopped jalapeno pepper.
- Vary the seasoning with fresh herbs like basil and thyme or with a dried Italian seasoning blend.
- Instead of a plain Marinara tomato sauce, you can use a meat sauce. or a vegetarian bolognese made with plant-based meat.
Step by step instructions
Serve this pasta dish with the remaining marinara sauce on the side.
Shortcut
- You can save time by using a great store-bought Marinara sauce like White Linen from Costco. The total time will be reduced to about 45 minutes and most of that is baking time.
Make Ahead
In the recipe notes below, you will find instructions for:
- Prep ahead
- Freezing uncooked stuffed shells
- Freezing baked stuffed shells
- Reheating
What to serve with stuffed pasta shells
Serve the spinach ricotta shells with a nice warm crusty bread, cheddar biscuits, garlic bread, or a side salad like this winter salad.
For dessert, how about a simple 10-minute no-bake berry crumble or easy berry compote on cake?
Recipe FAQs
Here is a recipe for homemade ricotta from Smitten Kitchen that comes well recommended with minimal hands-on time
The main reason the filling has excess moisture is because the spinach was not drained well enough. Also, if your container of ricotta has liquid at the top, you’ll want to drain that off as well.
Most of the time, you will just see them called shells in the grocery store. But, they do have an official pasta name. Small pasta shells are called conchigliette and the largest shell shape is called conchiglioni.
More pasta dishes
- pasta with tomato and spinach (20 minutes)
- mushroom spinach pasta
- spaghetti carbonara without cream
- orzo pasta with spinach (15 minutes)
Or check out all our delicious pasta and rice recipes.
If you like this recipe, please leave a 5 star rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟with a comment in the recipe card below. Thanks so much!
Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 14 large pasta shells. I make 18-20 in case some break (if using jumbo shells, make less)
Marinara Sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3-4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 can (28 ounce) San Marzano whole tomatoes preferably (or other kind)
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Filling for pasta shells
- 1 cup combination ricotta and goat cheese (I use 3/4 cup/190 g ricotta, 1/4 cup/61 g goat cheese)
- 6 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, packed
- 5 ounce frozen chopped spinach, Note 2 (you need 1/4 cup/45 grams well drained cooked spinach)
- 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (adds great flavor!)
Topping
- 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- HEAT OVEN to 375F/190C.
- BOIL PASTA SHELLS: Place pasta shells in boiling salted water and cook 2 minutes less than instructions say on package for al dente. Don't overcook as they will finish cooking in the oven. Drain, add a few drops of oil to prevent them sticking and set aside.
- MAKE MARINARA SAUCE: While pasta is boiling, in a medium saucepan, heat olive oil to medium. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Wash hands well. Remove 1-2 tomatoes at a time from can, squish over saucepan until well broken up, then add to saucepan. Repeat with all tomatoes. Add juice from can. Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir, bring to boil, then lower to medium heat and cook uncovered for 20-30 minutes until thickened to the consistency you like. For shortcut, see Note 1.
- MAKE FILLING: Microwave frozen spinach, covered, for 2 minutes (or rinse under water to thaw). Drain well in a mesh sieve and squeeze excess water out (press down with back of spoon)and then with paper towels. You should have about 1/4 cup/45 grams (but a bit more or less is fine). Add spinach and all other filling ingredients to a food processor. Process for 1 minute until well blended. (Alternatively, chop basil finely and mix all ingredients together by hand).
- STUFF SHELLS: Add about 1/2 cup/118 ml of the homemade Marinara sauce to bottom of a 7 x 11 or 9 x 9 glass pyrex or oven proof baking dish. Stuff shells with cheese-spinach mixture. TIP: I find it easier to put filling in a plastic bag, cut off the tip of the bag at the bottom of one side, then pipe filling into pasta shells. Arrange shells in baking dish, stuffed side up.
- FINISH AND BAKE: Add about 1 cup/237 ml Marinara sauce evenly over stuffed shells. Sprinkle Mozzarella and extra Parmesan on top if desired. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes or until bubbling and starting to brown. Serve immediately with extra Marinara sauce on the side if you like.
Recipe Notes
- Shortcut for Marinara sauce: Feel free to use 1 1/2 – 2 cups of a good store-bought Marinara sauce. A great one is White Linen Marinara Sauce found at Costco. Rao’s is another good sauce. This will save about 1/2 hour of cooking time for this recipe.
- To use fresh spinach instead: Wilt it in the microwave for a minute, chop it, then squeeze it dry in paper towels.
- Variations:
- Vary the proportion of the cheeses e.g. more goat cheese, less ricotta, more Parmesan, etc. If you don’t like or have goat cheese, use all ricotta.
- Vary the heat/spice in the sauce. Kick it up with more red pepper flakes or a seeded, chopped jalapeno pepper.
- Add other fresh herbs like basil and thyme or a dried Italian seasoning blend.
- Instead of a plain Marinara tomato sauce, you can use a meat sauce. or a vegetarian bolognese made with plant based meat.
- To make ahead
- Prep ahead 2-3 days: Make complete dish (but don’t bake it). Cover well with plastic wrap or foil. Refrigerate. When read to serve, bake 30 minutes covered, and 10 minutes uncovered.
- Freezing uncooked stuffed shells: Cover baking dish with stuff shells well. Freeze for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen, but add more time. Alternatively, freeze stuff shells without the sauce and cheese. Lay them on a baking sheet, flash freeze, then pile them into a freezer bag. Bake frozen with sauce and cheese.
- Freezing baked stuffed shell: Cool, place in airtight container, freeze for up to 1 month.
- Reheating: Heat oven to 375°F (190°C). Bake stuff shells with sauce and cheese, covered with foil, for 30-40 minutes if not frozen and about 1 hour if frozen.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
My friend Rosensuggests adding a little tomato sauce to the cheese mixture to give it a little more moisture if you don’t want to use an egg. Looks delicious and am making it for dinner tonight !!
There is no egg in the recipe, but your friend’s suggestion may be good. Let me know how they turn out – hope you enjoy them!