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You are here: Home / Recipes / Pasta / Italian Stuffed Shells With Ground Beef

Italian Stuffed Shells With Ground Beef

Jun 20, 2020 · 5 Comments

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Baked Italian Stuffed Shells With Ground Beef Pinterest Pin

Everyone loves this recipe for Italian stuffed shells with ground beef. It hits all the notes – there are Italian flavors in the ground beef, it’s very cheesy from the Parmesan and ricotta filling, and it’s so easy to make ahead. Any night can be a pasta night with this simple stuffed shells and meat dinner.

So grab your jumbo pasta shells and meet me in the kitchen to whip this up.

The 3 basic steps to making this stuffed shells recipe

  1. Boil the large pasta shells
  2. Brown the Italian seasoned ground beef and mix together the stuffed pasta filling
  3. Assemble and bake stuffed shells

Ingredients for Italian stuffed shells with beef

Ingredients for Italian stuffed shells with beef

An entire bag of large pasta shells, or jumbo pasta shells as they’re sometimes called, are the vessels that hold this Italian stuffed shells dish together. I’ve used HemisFares pasta and Barila to make this stuffed pasta shell dish – you can use any brand you like.

 

Half of the filling is made of a ground beef mixture sauteed on the stove with onion, red pepper, garlic, and Italian seasonings like dried parsley and oregano.

The ground beef filling combines with a creamy ricotta cheese filling with a little Parmesan cheese, pasta sauce, and mozzarella cheese.

If there’s no pasta sauce in the house, substitute the tomato sauce by adding a couple of teaspoons of Italian spices to a can of crushed tomatoes.

Steps to make Italian stuffed shells with ground beef filling

Step 1. Heat a large pot of water on the stove to medium-high and boil water with large pasta shells as directed until cooked al dente. This is a good time to start cooking the ground beef filling.

Do not overcook the pasta, though, since the stuffed pasta will finish cooking in the oven.

Once finished, drain pasta, then toss it in olive oil to prevent pasta from sticking while finishing the stuffing for the shells.

Love pasta? See these tips on how to cook refrigerated tortellini

Browning the beef filling

Step 2. Heat a large skillet on the stove to medium-high. Add olive oil and let it heat until the oil is hot and shiny.

cooking the stuffed shells filling with ground beef
A note on the vegetables used in this stuffed pasta shells dish – I love using onions and red peppers in recipes. They’re in so many of my dishes, especially Italian dishes. You can substitute other vegetables.

Add the ground beef, onion, red pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano.

Italian ground beef filling for shells

Brown beef and vegetable mixture for about 10 minutes, breaking down beef as it cooks and stirring regularly until beef is thoroughly cooked and onions are translucent.

ground beef on paper towel

Once done, remove from heat and strain on a plate lined with a paper towel to remove excess grease.

Step 3. Set out a medium-sized baking dish and set the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cover the bottom of the dish with 1 cup of pasta sauce.

ground beef with ricotta and sauce

Step 4. Mix together the filling for the stuffing.

In a large bowl, gently combine the cooked beef mixture, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of pasta sauce.

ricotta and ground beef filling for stuffed shells
Doesn’t that look beautiful? I love how it all comes together. The stuffed shells filling kind of looks more like a vodka sauce because it has that creaminess in it.

Add a little extra salt and pepper to the filling mixture if desired.

stuffed shells with ground beef and ricotta

Stuff shells with filling mixture and add them to a medium-sized baking dish.

stuffed shells with pasta sauce

Top with remaining pasta sauce.

Italian stuffed shells with mozzarella cheese

And finish with a layer of mozzarella cheese.

baked stuffed shells in a casserole dish

Step 5. Bake stuffed shells with ground beef filling for about 20 minutes until cheese is melted. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Cover with tin foil if waiting to serve longer to keep it warm.

Tasty filling ideas for stuffed shells

Jumbo pasta shells are one of my favorite Italian stuffed pasta types because they are big and strong enough to hold some tasty fillings. And since variations of recipes are so fun to experiment with, I wanted to share with you a few more ideas.

Here are a few variations on stuffed shells you can use to modify this stuffed shells recipe:

  • Stuffed shells with turkey sausage, pork sausage, or sous vide sausage
  • Italian stuffed shells with meat and spinach
  • Stuffing shells with ground chicken instead of ground beef
  • Going vegetarian by stuffing shells with spinach, roasted cherry tomatoes, or sauteed mushrooms
  • Using up leftovers like meatballs, diced sous vide chicken, meatloaf, or sous vide shrimp

What to do with leftover meat sauce

It’s definitely a gift when you have leftover meat sauce!

The ratio of stuffed shells with meat sauce will sometimes leave you with leftovers. It depends on the size of your baking dish and how many ingredient substitutions you make.

There are plenty of ways to use leftover meat sauce from baked pasta.

If you’re all pasta’d out for the week, you can freeze leftover meat sauce to thaw and use in pasta sauces or in dishes like this baked rigatoni with ground beef. The fillings are quite similar.

Italian Stuffed Shells Dish

Tips for meal prepping baked shells

This stuffed shells dish ranks high up there on the “easy to meal prep pasta dishes” list with mac and cheese, lasagna, and baked chicken Parmesan with vodka sauce.

To meal prep baked shells, assemble the ingredients in a freezer and oven safe baking dish.

Wrap the dish once with foil and then wrap 2-3 times with plastic wrap, or just vacuum seal it. See my Foodsaver 4400 review video to get a look at how a vacuum sealer works. I vacuum seal all the time for my sous vide recipes. 

baked pasta shells with tomato sauce

Helpful things to have on hand to make baked pasta

Here are some kitchen tools I can’t live without, particularly equipment used for making baked pasta dishes.

  • To chop veggies for baked pasta dishes, I save time by using a mandoline or food processor.
  • You’ll often see me use 8″ Shun chef’s knife and one of these bamboo cutting boards or my beautiful Acadia wood cutting board.
  • Pyrex glass mixing bowls with lids are great for mixing ingredients and easily storing them in the fridge.
  • For meal prep, I’ll use two oval-shaped 9” cast iron dishes or a 9″ glass dish to split the recipe in half.

Most important tips for making stuffed shells

  • Cook jumbo shells to al dente for baked pasta dishes like this one. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
  • Don’t forget to line the bottom of the baking dish with tomato sauce before adding the shells. This helps keep the shells from burning and sticking to the baking dish.
  • This recipe is a blank canvas – if you don’t like one of the filling ingredients or just want to change it up, you can try using different meats (ground chicken, sausage), making it half ground beef and half shrimp, or making it vegetarian (mushrooms, spinach).
  • If you have leftover meat sauce, use it in something creative or freeze it for later.

Are you a stuffed shells person, or a lasagna person?

Let me know when you make this. Leave a comment or find me on Instagram @sipbitego and show me your food.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel on YouTube for more delicious recipes.

Print

Italian Stuffed Shells with Ground beef [Sip Bite Go]

Everyone loves this recipe for Italian stuffed shells with ground beef. It hits all the notes - there are Italian flavors in the ground beef, it’s very cheesy from the Parmesan and ricotta filling, and it’s so easy to make ahead. Any night can be a pasta night with this simple stuffed shells and meat dinner. So grab your jumbo pasta shells and meet me in the kitchen to whip this up.

Course Dinner, Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Finish Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 856 kcal
Author Jenna Passaro

Ingredients

Large pasta shells

  • 10 oz pasta shells, large
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil

Italian seasoned ground beef

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lbs beef
  • 1/2 onion diced
  • 1/2 red pepper diced
  • 2 tsp garlic minced
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp parsley dried
  • 1/4 tsp oregano dried

Stuffed pasta filling

  • 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese grated
  • 3 cups pasta sauce (or add Italian spices to a can of crushedtomatoes), divided
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions

  1. Boil the large pasta shells. Heat a large pot of water on the stove to medium high and boil water with large pasta shells as directed until cooked al dente. This is a good time to start cooking the ground beef filling. Do not overcook the pasta, though, since the stuffed pasta will finish cooking in the oven. Once finished, drain pasta, then toss it in olive oil to prevent pasta from sticking while finishing the stuffing for the shells.

  2. Brown the Italian seasoned ground beef. Heat a large skillet on the stove to medium-high. Add olive oil and let it heat until the oil is hot and shiny. Add the ground beef, onion, red pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano. Brown beef and vegetable mixture for about 10 minutes, breaking down beef as it cooks and stirring regularly until beef is thoroughly cooked and onions are translucent. Once done, remove from heat and strain on a plate lined with paper towel to remove excess grease.

  3. Set out a medium sized baking dish and set the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover the bottom of the dish with 1 cup pasta sauce.

  4. Mix together the stuffed pasta filling. In a large bowl, gently combine the cooked beef mixture, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of pasta sauce. Add a little extra salt and pepper to the filling mixture if desired. Stuff shells with filling mixture and add them to a medium sized baking dish. Top with remaining pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese.

  5. Bake stuffed shells with ground beef filling for about 20 minutes until the cheese is melted. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Cover with tin foil if waiting to serve longer to keep it warm.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

● Cook jumbo shells to al dente for baked pasta dishes like this one. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
● Don’t forget to line the bottom of the baking dish with tomato sauce before adding the shells. This helps keep the shells from burning and sticking to the baking dish.
● This recipe is a blank canvas - if you don’t like one of the filling ingredients or just want to change it up, you can try using different meats (ground chicken, sausage), making it half ground beef and half shrimp, or making it vegetarian (mushrooms, spinach).
● If you have leftover meat sauce, use it in something creative or freeze it for later.

Nutrition Facts
Italian Stuffed Shells with Ground beef [Sip Bite Go]
Amount Per Serving
Calories 856 Calories from Fat 396
% Daily Value*
Fat 44g68%
Saturated Fat 19g119%
Cholesterol 140mg47%
Sodium 1395mg61%
Potassium 1231mg35%
Carbohydrates 69g23%
Fiber 6g25%
Sugar 11g12%
Protein 46g92%
Vitamin A 1786IU36%
Vitamin C 33mg40%
Calcium 356mg36%
Iron 6mg33%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Related

Main Dish Recipes, Pasta, Recipes Beef, crushed tomatoes, garlic, mozzarella cheese, onion, oregano, Parmesan cheese, Parsley, pasta, pasta sauce, Red pepper, ricotta cheese

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Colleen says

    June 21, 2020 at 11:33 am

    Shells are such a fun pasta shape, and this is a delicious weeknight meal. I love how cheesy they are!5 stars

    Reply
  2. Andrea Metlika says

    June 21, 2020 at 11:52 am

    This is a perfect Italian meal that my entire family will love.5 stars

    Reply
  3. Laura says

    June 21, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    Great recipe, I always love a good pasta recipe5 stars

    Reply
  4. Marlynn says

    June 21, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    This is such a satisfying, comforting pasta dish and I love how versatile it is!5 stars

    Reply
  5. Lilly says

    June 22, 2020 at 11:01 am

    This recipe came together so perfectly! My husband loved it! Thank you!

    Reply

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jenna passaro food blogger

I want to help you cook up your wildest dreams — in and out of the kitchen!

   

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Years ago, I ditched a predictable career path with very few vacation days to pursue a life of fun, food and travel.

Along the way, I moved to Portland, launched this blog, wrote a cookbook, and started a family.

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Now my days are filled with recipe testing, creativity, family time, and chatting with foodie friends on my podcast.

Here at Sip Bite Go, you’ll learn my favorite restaurant style recipes. Get my secrets to making pizza at home and feel like a true home chef with my sous vide recipes.

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