You will be amazed at how easy and delicious these Cheesy Ricotta Stuffed Shells are to make! There’s no par-boiling of pasta involved. Instead, a ricotta filling is piped into uncooked pasta shells–right out of the box. The tomato sauce is super simple, and cooks the pasta shells to perfection. This is a perfect meatless meal, that has variation possibilities– like cooked ground meat. Either way, this recipe is going to be on our regular rotation. It’s genius!
I’ve always wanted to make Stuffed Pasta Shells. I’d read that they can be tricky and time consuming to stuff, so I procrastinated making them– until now!
Once again, America’s Test Kitchen has developed a genius method of stuffing uncooked pasta shells, and cooking them in a simple and easy homemade tomato sauce. The “trick” is that there’s water added to the tomato sauce. Once the dish is baked, the pasta shells are very sightly al dente (still firm, while bitten). The ricotta filling is cheesy and creamy and there’s plenty of melted fontina cheese, garnished with fresh basil.
The base ingredient for the tomato sauce is crushed tomatoes. I’ve discovered Pomi Brand Strained Tomatoes, and these work out great!
You need plenty of onion and, of course, minced garlic.
I buy basil plants at my local Trader Joe’s store. My plants love my kitchen window! I used to plant basil outside, but snails and critters would feast on them, so they are protected indoors. This seemed like a perfect recipe to use the basil leaves.
The most time consuming part of making this recipe is shredding the fontina and pecorino-romano cheese. This is for the filling, of course. To that, eggs, dried herbs, corn starch and chopped fresh basil are added.
I keep a supply of disposable piping bags on hand, since I like to decorate layer cakes. Of course, you can use a ziploc bag, and cut out a corner, as well.
Select 25 pasta shells that are intact (I really didn’t find any broken ones).
Pipe filling into each pasta shell about 3/4 full, and then used any leftover filling to “top them off”. That was easy!
Last, but not least, make the sauce. Olive oil, onion and garlic are the starters. Red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and sugar are added. Then the crushed or strained tomatoes and two cups of water. Yes, two cups! This is how the uncooked shells will be perfectly cooked.
To a baking dish, add one cup of sauce, and then evenly spread out the stuffed pasta shells.
Evenly pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the stuffed pasta shells, cover with foil and then bake for about 45 minutes. Yes, the pasta was boiling hot, so be careful!
Spread the fontina cheese all over, and return the casserole into the oven for about 15 minutes.
Oooh! Melted cheesy goodness! Now, the waiting begins– 25 minutes. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Since it’s just the two of us, I didn’t sprinkle the basil all over the pasta dish– since I know we’ll have leftovers. Why? Reheated basil tends to turn dark and ugly. Fresh basil is the key!
The aroma of this dish is so good! I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this!
TASTING NOTES: Even though I waited the 25 minutes for the pasta and cheese to “set”, my first bite was still very hot! The pasta shells were perfectly cooked– not mushy, not under cooked. The cheese filling was anything but bland! Yummy! The sauce was equally delicious– the bright flavor of tomato, a perfect balance of garlic. This is a really good meatless dinner, that was perfect accompanied with a fresh green salad. The leftovers were also delicious. I am going to try making a version that is similar to one I enjoy at a local Italian restaurant– cooked finely minced turkey, spinach and garlic, would be the filling. I have no doubt that this recipe would work with a meat filling as well.
Super Easy Cheesy Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 can tomato puree 28-ounce (I use Pomi brand strained tomatoes)
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
For the Filling:
- 10 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese 1¼ cups
- 4 ounces Fontina cheese (1 cup) shredded
- 2 ounces Pecorino-Romano Cheese 1 cup; grated
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
Shells:
- 25 jumbo pasta shells
- 8 ounces Fontina Cheese shredded; (2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Instructions
BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
- Shred the fontina on the large holes of a box grater. Be sure to use only open, unbroken shells. We developed this recipe using Barilla Jumbo Shells and were able to find at least 25 open shells in each 1-pound box we used. Pipe each shell only about three-quarters full on your first pass, and then divide the remaining filling evenly among the shells.
For the sauce:
- Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato puree, water, and sugar and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until flavors have melded, about 5 minutes. (Cooled sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
For the filling:
- Stir all ingredients in bowl until thoroughly combined. Transfer filling to pastry bag or large zipper-lock bag (if using zipper-lock bag, cut 1 inch off 1 corner of bag).
For the shells:
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place shells open side up on counter. Pipe filling into shells until each is about three-quarters full. Divide remaining filling evenly among shells.
- Spread 1 cup sauce over bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Transfer shells, open side up, to prepared dish. Pour remaining sauce evenly over shells to completely cover.
- Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and set on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until shells are tender and sauce is boiling rapidly, about 45 minutes. Remove dish from oven and discard foil; sprinkle fontina over top. Bake, uncovered, until fontina is lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Let shells cool for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with basil. Serve.
Notes
This looks awfully good! I was looking over the recipe, and I really don’t understand what you have listed under “shells.” Could you please clarify or is my brain just not functioning today? Thanks!
If you read the post, I have photos of the pasta shells! Thanks for asking.