Description
Jumbo stuffed shells filled with ground sweet Italian sausage, ricotta and parmesan cheese, fresh basil, garlic, and egg. Baked topped with a little marinara and plenty of mozzarella cheese until golden.
Ingredients
Scale
- 20–22 jumbo shells (12–14 ounce box)
- 24 ounces marinara
- 14–16 ounces ground sweet or hot Italian sausage (or ground beef)
- 2 cups (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 2–3 garlic cloves, minced
- 6–7 basil leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta shells al dense, strain, and rinse with cool water.
- Meanwhile, in a cast-iron skillet, cook sausage until fully cooked through and browned, about 5-7 minutes. Use the tip of a spatula to break the sausage into the smallest chunks possible. Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove pan from the heat.
- Transfer the sausage to a medium bowl with ricotta, basil. garlic, parmesan cheese, and egg. Stir until fully incorporated and creamy.
- Place 1 cup of marinara in the bottom of the same skillet. Fill each shell to the top with ricotta filling using a spoon. Arrange in the skillet as tightly as possible. I was able to fit about 22 shells in a 12 inch cast iron skillet.
- Top each shell with a heaping teaspoon of marinara. Layer the entire dish with about 1 cup of shredded mozzarella (more is OK too).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is fully melted and golden. You can finish with a quick broil to give the cheese a little sear if desired. Let cool 5 minutes, top with extra chopped basil and serve.
Notes
If making a larger quantity of shells, you can bake in a larger baking dish instead. You will need to scale the ricotta filling as it’s enough for roughly 20-22 shells.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: About 3 shells
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 1.9g
- Sodium: 864mg
- Fat: 21.6g
- Saturated Fat: 9.2g
- Carbohydrates: 32g
- Fiber: 1.4g
- Protein: 24.6g
- Cholesterol: 73mg
Keywords: stuffed shells with meat, beef stuffed shells, ricotta stuffed shells
