These stuffed shells are saucy, cheesy comfort food at its best! They're filled with a creamy, flavorful mix of fresh spinach, lemon zest, and ricotta cheese.
These stuffed shells are saucy, cheesy comfort food at its best. I love the contrast of the chewy pasta with the creamy ricotta filling, and marinara – store-bought or homemade – is the perfect tangy accent for both. After I eat one helping, I always find myself back in the kitchen, unable to resist the allure of seconds. These stuffed shells are just that good!
This stuffed shells recipe is easy to make (and make ahead!), and it’s great for serving a group. If you’re hosting a dinner party or get-together this season, it would be a fantastic dish to add to the menu. Comforting and classic, it’s guaranteed to be a hit.
Stuffed Shells Recipe Ingredients
To make this stuffed shells recipe, you’ll need 10-ish basic ingredients. I like to think of them in three parts:
- The shells – You’ll need jumbo pasta shells to make this recipe.
- Tomato sauce – Use your favorite store-bought brand (I like Rao’s), or make homemade marinara sauce instead. Both are great!
- And the ricotta filling – It’s a mix of ricotta cheese and steamed, chopped fresh spinach. I also stir in dried oregano, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, garlic, and grated pecorino cheese for depth of flavor.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Stuffed Shells
Stuffed shells are a fairly impressive dish – they’re flavorful, comforting, and ideal for entertaining – but they’re still really simple to make! Here’s how this recipe goes:
First thing’s first! Before you start mixing up the filling, you’ll need to steam the spinach. When it’s tender and vibrant green, remove it from the heat, place it in a strainer, and squeeze out the excess moisture. Roughly chop it. Then, you can stir it together with the ricotta, pecorino, garlic, lemon zest, oregano, and red pepper flakes to make the filling.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta. It should be just shy of al dente when you drain it. It’ll finish cooking in the oven.
Then, stuff the shells. The fun part! (And the messy part. 🙂 ) Use a small spoon to fill each shell with the cheese mixture. Divided evenly, the filling should be enough for 18-20 shells.
Next, bake. Spread 2 cups of marinara sauce at the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Nestle in the shells, cover the dish with foil, and bake for 20 minutes at 425°F.
Alternatively, if you want to make this recipe ahead of time, you can place the stuffed shells in the baking dish, cover it with foil, and place it in the fridge for up to 4 hours. When you’re ready to eat, just bake the shells and serve. For freezing instructions, see the notes in the recipe.
So creamy!
Stuffed Shells Serving Suggestions
Before serving, garnish the stuffed shells with more pecorino (or Parmesan) cheese and a sprinkle of fresh parsley. Serve them with extra marinara on the side. I like to spoon it over the shells as I eat so that I can get plenty of sauce in every bite.
Round out the meal with a green salad and good bread. I often serve these stuffed shells with my Homemade Caesar Salad, but my Arugula Salad, Beet Salad, or Simple Green Salad would also pair well with this recipe. And when it comes to bread, you really can’t go wrong! Stick with a crusty loaf, or make rosemary focaccia, garlic knots, or dinner rolls.
Enjoy!
More Favorite Pasta Recipes
If you love this stuffed shells recipe, try one of these comforting pastas next:
- Easy Baked Ziti
- Best Vegetarian Lasagna
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Butternut Squash Ravioli
- Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
- Homemade Mac and Cheese
- Tortellini Soup
- Or any of these 25 Easy Pasta Recipes!
Stuffed Shells
Equipment
- 9x13 Baking Dish (I love how pretty my Staub is)
Ingredients
- 18 to 20 jumbo pasta shells
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 5 ounces fresh spinach
- 2 cups ricotta cheese, 16 ounces
- ¼ cup grated pecorino cheese, plus more for sprinkling
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt, plus more for the pasta water
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups Marinara Sauce*, plus more for serving
- Chopped fresh parsley, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Place the spinach in a steamer basket and set over a pot with 1-inch of water. Bring the water to a simmer, cover, and let steam for 1 minute, until the spinach is wilted. Transfer to a strainer and squeeze out the excess water and chop the spinach.
- In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta shells for 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain and drizzle with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
- In a medium bowl, combine the spinach with the ricotta, pecorino, garlic, oregano, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, salt, and several grinds of pepper.
- Spread the marinara in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Stuff each shell with the filling and place in the dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Serve with more marinara on the side.
I used about twice as much lemon zest as the recipe calls for by accident, and it still turned out marvelous! My husband was begging for more, and making those happy sounds! I love when a recipe turns out alright, even if you make a small screw up!!
I’m so glad you both loved them!
Can I make these a day ahead of time. If so do i stuff & bake them or just stuff them & bake the next day. Also can you store in fridge & re-heat leftovers. Thank you.
Hi Cindy, here are the storage instructions in the post:
f you want to make this recipe ahead of time, you can place the stuffed shells in the baking dish, cover it with foil, and place it in the fridge for up to 4 hours. When you’re ready to eat, just bake the shells and serve. For freezing instructions, see the notes in the recipe.
Wow wow wow wow!
Made these tonight and they were outstanding! The lemon zest brightens the flavor so much. This is my new favorite recipe!
Hi Ashley, I’m so glad you loved them!
These were just o.k. Really needed something to boost the flavor. I followed the recipe but did add more cheese with the Ricotta, but that didn’t do it. It needed more spice in with the ricotta, I did grate 2 large garlic cloves, plus some chopped mushrooms and some onions, sauteed in olive oil. More garlic, oregano, and parsley in the filling would help. Not sure it’s worth doing again. Sorry.
The best stuffed shells I’ve ever had. The lemon is a great touch. The filling made enough for 20 shells, this fed 4 people. Definitely double the recipe or do 1.5 times if feeding 5-6 people. Although this recipe causes quite a few dirty dishes it’s very easy to make and the end result is absolutely delicious.
Hi Chelsea, I’m glad you enjoyed them!
i couldnt find the shells anywhere is there a way to use a different type of pasta to make this
Hi, I would just make lasagna instead, the ratios are in this recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/vegetarian-lasagna/
Made these last night without any adjustments to the recipe. It was the right amount of filling for 20 shells. They were quite good and I would make them again but not include the lemon zest. As much as I love lemon, personally I didn’t feel the lemon went well with this dish so that is why I took off one star.
Hi Catherine, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! We love the lemon here, but I think it would be great without as well.
This was wonderful! And so easy to play around with. I added finely ground walnuts and a little basil to the filling. The fam wolfed the entire pan. Thanks for sharing this!
Hi Megan, I’m so glad you loved the recipe! Those additions sound delicious.
Thank you for the delicious recipe! The shells were a fun change from lasagna or spaghetti.
This recipe is great since it’s so versatile.
I had some burger to use so I sautéed onion and garlic with Montreal seasoning.
Also I used 4% milk fat cottage cheese since I’m not a fan of ricotta and added ingredients as indicated plus an egg.
Then I stuffed the shells with a small spoon of meat, cheese mixture then sprinkled with fresh mozz and colby Jack cheese.
I agree with everyone the lemon was a delicious addition.
You can do some with me and some without meat. Or use half ricotta and half cottage cheese in the mixture, whatever you like. So many variations to try. This made so much for the two of us that I froze 2 9×9 pans to have another time,
Thanks again. 🙂
My husband does not like Ricotta cheese. What could I use as a substitute
Me neither, I’m going to use 4% fat cottage cheese. That’s what I use for lasagna, it should work,
Fantastic!
I think the lemon was my favorite part!
I added chopped mushrooms to the filling. I chopped them and did a quick saute to release their water. then added chopped spinach to quickly cook.
Yum!
Hi, I’m so glad you loved the recipe! Great idea to add mushrooms.
Made exactly as recipie stated and came out delicious
I’m so glad it was a hit!
This was absolutely delicious! I tried to make fresh mozzarella earlier in the day but it turned into ricotta, lol, so I searched the web on how to use a pound of ricotta and settled on your recipe. I only used about 2 ounces of spinach because 5 ounces sounded like a lot, but the recipe really does need 5 ounces. The lemon zest was a nice touch. I recommend cooking a few more shells than you need, in case any break or fall apart, or if you end up with extra ricotta. I also added about a cup of fresh shredded mozzarella broiled over the top. My entire family loved it, including my adult daughter who turns up her nose to any cooked veggies. She willingly ate more as leftovers for the next night!
Hi Angie, I’m so glad you loved them! Ha, we had ricotta when we attempted fresh mozzarella too 🙂
Can an egg be added to the ricotta stuffing?
Hi Carol, we’ve never tested this, but other readers have done it successfully!
Can I add mozzarella on top and put in oven?
Hi Diane, yep! You can.
Delicious and gorgeous!
Used 3 c homemade spaghetti sauce with meat ~ was in freezer for a quick meal later.
Diced about 1/4 onion, sautéed then added spinach until wilted and then added the two garlic cloves for 1 minute. Added fresh thyme leaves to mix. Made filling otherwise as instructed except only grated 1 additional garlic clove (we love garlic!).
Used small cookie scooper to fill shells ~ game changer! So easy!
Cooked for 30 min total. The robust sauce against the delicate creamy lemon filling is, well, very special.
?
Was going to make but couldn’t find any of the nutritional info :/
Hi JT, unfortunately we don’t calculate nutrition facts for our recipes. The best way to get an estimate is to use an online nutrition calculator like MyFitnessPal. Hope this helps!
These turned out delicious! I loved the lemon zest and the grated garlic. I broiled them for several minutes at the end to get more brown on top and cook them a bit more through.
I’m so glad you loved them!
Pretty good. I followed the recipe, but added more ricotta since I had more than 20 shells to fill. The major issue is the garlic. I grated 2 cloves and mixed in w/the filling, but the dish isn’t in the oven long enough to “cook” (it just heats through), so there is a strong, raw garlic taste, even though I added more ricotta. I thought about sautéing the garlic before adding to the filling and wish I had cuz now my kid won’t eat them and I have bad garlic breath! With that change, the dish could be a winner.
This was my exact complaint. I LOVE garlic, but that super raw garlic flavor is all I tasted Kinda sad about that. Because otherwise would have been great.
Thanks for the heads up! Will sauté some garlic first.
What a beautiful site! Love the photos and layout. I plan on making this for my son when he comes to visit next week.
I hope you enjoy them!