Our Ricotta Stuffed Shells make for an easy vegetarian dinner or side dish. Serve with our garlic bread or garlic toast. We also share how to freeze stuffed shells so you can make them whenever you want!

Who doesn’t love stuffed shells? You can make these stuffed shells with meat by adding ground beef or sausage. Our family has always made stuffed shells with spinach, but our favorite is ricotta stuffed shells. They freeze really well and can be made a day before you need them as well.

How to make stuffed shells

First, cook the shells according to package directions.

Then you’ll need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

While the shells are cooking you can start to combine the cheese filling.

In a large bowl combine the ricotta cheese, some of the mozzarella, parsley, garlic, and pepper.

Once the shells are cooked stuff them with the ricotta cheese mixture. Pour some of the sauce into the bottom of a casserole dish.

Arrange the stuffed pasta shells as desired in the casserole dish and then cover with sauce and remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35-40 minutes, when the cheese is melty and bubbly you’ll know it’s done.

Let the baked stuffed shells sit for 5 minutes before handling as they will be very hot.

When the shells are done we like to garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Can you freeze stuffed shells?

Yes you can and freezing stuffed shells is really simple with our easy how to:

Place the stuffed pasta shells onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Freeze the shells 1-2 hours, until the shells are frozen solid.
Once the shells are frozen you can place into a freezer safe container or bag.
Here we are using our reusable silicone stasher bags which work really well.
When you want to make the shells just take them out of the freezer and place into the refrigerator that morning and they’ll be ready to bake for dinner.

what to serve with stuffed shells:

tips for the best ricotta stuffed shells

Use quality cheese, we always go for whole milk ricotta so the recipe doesn’t get too watery.
For the mozzarella, we buy a brick and shred it yourself to make sure that it will melt beautifully. Storebought shredded cheese has anti-caking agents and can prevent it from getting that beautiful cheese pull.
We like using homemade sauce or our favorite storebought sauce to cut down on time.
When stuffing the shells you can use a spoon or even use a pastry bag to pipe it right into the pasta.