Stuffed Shells
Recipe Courtesy of Love and Lemons
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 spinach and ricotta stuffed shells are such a comforting, flavorful dinner! To get ahead, you can stuff the shells and place them in the baking dish with the marinara up to 4 hours in advance. Cover with foil and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. Then, just bake and eat!
Ingredients
- 18 to 20 jumbo pasta shells
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 5 ounces spinach
- 2 cups (16 ounces) ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese, more for sprinkling
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt, more for the pasta water
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups Marinara Sauce*, plus more for serving
- chopped 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 9×13 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.
