Cheese Stuffed Shells
These stuffed shells take regular pasta, sauce, and cheese up a notch!
There are so many variations of pasta and cheese; a lot of them use the same ingredients but the method of preparation is different or the cheese used is different, which can really alter the outcome.
Stuffed shells are so different from good ol’ baked ziti or lasagna. The little pocket of cheese stuffed into each shell that bursts into your mouth is such a delicious treat! I’m more a dump everything into a pan and stir kind of girl, but every so often I’ll spend the extra time and make these individual shells. When I do, I always promise everyone I’m going to make them more often! The best part? Stuffed shells can be made in advance! They can be stored in the fridge for a few days or frozen raw or cooked.
When making this dish, I almost always make it in a 9×13 pan; it’s just easier that way. But if I’m having guests or I want to make that extra little effort, I’ll use a nice oven-to-table dish as pictured.
After I got married and started cooking, any time a recipe called for ricotta cheese I swapped it with cottage cheese because chalav Yisrael ricotta cheese was not available where I lived. Now that I can get ricotta easily, I’ve tried using it several times, but I still prefer cottage cheese in my lasagna and stuffed shells — but you can certainly use whichever you prefer!
Same goes for the pasta sauce. It’s overwhelming how many different sauces there are in the grocery store, but in my opinion they all taste the same! To me, it’s a matter of finding your favorite brand or just buying whatever is on sale.
I like to serve my stuffed shells with a good hearty salad — like this roasted cauliflower salad.
Cheesy Stuffed Jumbo Shells
Ingredients
- 1 box jumbo shells, cooked and drained according to package directions
- 1 jar marinara sauce
- 1 container cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix together cottage cheese and shredded cheese.
- Pour some marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 pan or oven-to-table casserole dish. Stuff a small amount of cheese into each shell and place in the pan.
- Pour remaining marinara sauce on top.
- Cover and bake for about 40 minutes. Uncover and broil for about 3 minutes to get the top crispy.
Notes
Recipe by Faigy Murray | https://mykitchenmystudio.com/cheese-stuffed-shells/
