Stuffed Shells

This stuffed shells recipe uses only 5 ingredients and is incredibly easy to make. This simple dinner will have your guest begging for seconds!

Okay, so I owe you some vacation photos. I can explain.

I fell asleep.

Seriously.

I was really tired.

Here's the deal, I was feeling really good for a couple of days so I wanted to take advantage of that. So I did some spring cleaning (yah, its fall, whatevs!), then went outside and spent the better part of 2 days gardening. I trimmed bushes and cleaned up the yard. This would be no big whoop de do, except I had just had the flu shot in one arm, a tetanus shot and blood drawn from the other. So needless to say I've now crashed and burned. My arms feel like dead weight, and my back is freaking killing me. But the house is spotless and the yard is looking much beter. I figure when hubs is out-of-town for work I have to be in overdrive anyway so I just took it a wee bit too far. He got home tonight so my goal for tomorrow is to...work from bed...nap...work...nap...watch reality shows...nap. I make dang good plans don't I!

So today I have a wonderful Sunday Supper recipe for you. This was a cool challenge. The theme is "dishes in 5 ingredients or less". You know I love me some spice, and fancy sugars and sauces, so this was going out on a limb for me. I figured since I was going out on a limb I may as well scoot all the way to the edge of the branch. There are lots of recipes that are easy to do in under 5, but I wanted to do something that would be challenging. So I chose stuffed pasta. Yes, I am a lunatic. That was determined long ago.

I had to tweak my recipe a bit. I left out the egg, which frankly worried me. I was concerned the mixture wouldn't bind together properly. I had to find a way to get the taste up to par so I used store-bought sauce. It was the only way to get the sauce to have enough flavour without going over 5 ingredients. I used Classico Sauce which was pricey but pretty darn good. A little watery for my taste, but overall a good sauce. We're not huge ricotta fans so while I did use it, I also added oodles of mozzarella to it. So if you are on a diet please don't make this. You'll just come back here and gripe about the 5 pounds you gained after eating this. Then you'll want me to feel bad, and I'll be all "dude I freaking warned ya", then you'll be all mad and demanding I buy you new pants cuz you busted your zipper open. Then I'll be all "dude, maybe it was the 4 cookies you ate after dinner that pushed the zipper over the edge". Then you'll get offended and walk off in a huff. So let's just avoid all that drama and be clear...THIS IS NOT DIET FOOD! M'kay.

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5 from 6 votes

Easy Stuffed Shells Pasta Recipe

An easy 5 ingredient recipe for stuffed shells. Extremely cheesy so wear your stretchy pants!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 8

Author Kim Beaulieu

Ingredients

• 1 box of Jumbo Shell Pasta
• 2 cans of Pasta Sauce I used Classico Roasted Garlic and Onion
• 1 tub of Ricotta Cheese
• 5 cups of Mozzarella Cheese shredded and divided (you can use less, I'm nuts)
• ½ pound of ground beef cooked

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil for noodles.
• Brown your ground beef in a pan over medium heat.
• Rinse and drain ground beef. Place back in pan and add sauce. Simmer.
• In a bowl, combine your ricotta and your 3 cups of your mozzarella. Stir until well combined. Set aside.
• Once your water is boiling, add salt to the water, then shells. Cook for less time than the directions on package. You want them a little hard. I cooked mine for 5 minutes but the box called for 8-9 minutes. It's okay since you're placing them in the oven after, so they will soften up more.
• Rinse the pasta, (this is something I normally never do but with this recipe I find it helps to make the noodles more workable, and if you use cool water the noodles can be handled right away) and set aside.
• Now preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Take a 9 x 13 pan and spray it with non stick spray.
• Spoon in a nice layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan.
• Now start stuffing your shells. You want to hold it on one hand and use a spoon to transfer the cheese mixture into them. Fill them up, cheese is one of life's little pleasures. Lay them all face up in the pan until the pan is full.
• Now sprinkle the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella over top.
• Place in the preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Serve with a big old cheesy smile!

Told you it was cheesy. Feel free to dial back the cheese if you like fitting into your jeans. If you only own stretchy pants, have at it. Add more cheese if you like. You only live once. (ya, don't listen to me folks! I am in no way qualified to give health or diet advice!)

A huge thanks to Amber from Mama's Blissful Bites for hosting the event this week. Amber guest posted for me while I was on my "vacation of doom" so feel free to stop by and see her Energy Balls. Her Energy Balls were fabulous. She did a great job hosting this special 5 ingredient Sunday Supper. Thanks for all your hard work Amber. I adore you!

Also a big thanks to Isabel of Family Foodie who runs the Sunday Supper group. If you would like to join or get more information please contact Isabel. You will love her. This lady is doing great things, bringing families back to the table is such a great movement. I am proud to be part of such an amazing group of bloggers.

Please be sure to stop by and check out the Sunday Supper crew. These folks rock it out every single week. Now get your cutie patootie, stretchy pant wearing butts over to these other blogs and say hello! We've got an amazing collection of Dishes in 5 Ingredients or Less for you today:

Breakfast, Starters, Butters and Jams:

• Pa Jun or Korean Scallion Pancakes – Kimchi Mom
• Homemade Instant Oatmeal – Home Cooking Memories
• GlutenFree Apricot Bacon Onion and Cheese Spread or Dip – Cooking Underwriter
• Caprese Bites – My Catholic Kitchen
• So Simple Pizza Puffs – Hip Foodie Mom
• Toast Topper #11: Allspice Peach Butter – What Smells So Good?
• Strawberry Balsamic Jam – The Messy Baker Blog

Main Dishes:

• Fresh Basil and Tomato Pasta – I Run For Wine
• Gulasch – Galactosemia in PDX
• Spaghetti with Kale and Sausage – Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
• Shrimp Stuffed Potatoes – Juanita’s Cocina
• Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches – Supper for a Steal
• Sun Dried Tomato and Sausage Pasta – Small Wallet Big Appetite
• Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce – Vintage Kitchen Notes
• Chipotle Honey Lime Pork Tenderloin – Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Crockpot Chicken Tacos – The Hand That Rocks The Ladle
• Roasted Shrimp With Chili-Lime Sauce – Magnolia Days
• Peanut Butter Noodles – In the Kitchen with Audrey
• Soy, Orange Juice and Red Wine Marinated Flank – That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Beef Tenderloin with Stilton Pecan Butter – Noshing With The Nolands
• Pesto, Tomato & Feta Pizza – Momma’s Meals
• Quick Black Bean Burritos – Diabetic Foodie
• Lumachine with Fresh Parmesan and Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce – Mama’s Blissful Bites
• Potato Kugel – From Fast Food to Fresh Food
• Garlic Butter Fried Rice – My Trials in the Kitchen
• Goat Cheese Alfredo – Family Foodie
• Roasted Moroccan Rack of Lamb – Maroc Mama
• Baked Sweet Potato with Maple-Jalapeno – Comfy Cuisine
• Freezable Bacon Egg and Cheese Sandwiches – Big Bear’s Wife
• Grilled Polenta Cakes – Lovely Pantry

Desserts:

• Nutella Ice Cream – Shockingly Delicious
• Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Mint M&M’s – The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• Grilled Mango Parfait with Greek Yogurt & Silvered Almonds – Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• Honey Macaroons – Pippis In the Kitchen Again
• Strawberry Frozen Yogurt – Damn Delicious
• Homemade Caramel Sauce – Chocolate Moosey
• Easy Chocolate Chilli Fudge – Soni’s Food for Thought
• White-Chocolate Raspberry Puff Pastry Doughnuts – The Weekend Gourmet
• Easy No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars – In The Kitchen With KP
• Broccoli and Feta Frittata – Kwistin’s Favorites
• Chocolate-Caramel Ice Cream – Basic N Delicious
• Pumpkin and Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake – Baker Street
• Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn – Mom’s Test Kitchen

Beverages:

• Five Most Food Friendly Wines – ENOFYLZ Wine Blog

More Great Pasta Recipes:

• Roasted Red Pepper Pasta from Cravings of a Lunatic
• Pizza Pasta from Cravings of a Lunatic
• Easy Cheesy Pasta Bake with Sausage and Peppers from Cravings of a Lunatic
• Cobb Pasta Salad from Spend with Pennies
• Eggplant Caponata Pasta from Simply Recipes

Craving more pasta? Check out these recipes:

Brown Butter Garlic Parmesan Pasta 

One Pot Pasta with Sausage, Peppers, and Apples

Roasted Red Pepper and Italian Sausage Pasta

Penne with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Thanks for visiting today!

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Toodles! xx