All the flavor of a hot and bubbly lasagna stuffed inside pasta shells and baked to melty, saucy perfection. Switch up dinner time with this fun twist on a classic.
Lasagna makes me swoon. I have a feeling I'm not the only one.
Lasagna makes your heart go pitter-patter too, doesn't it?
Welp, this recipe takes all that wonky love I have for those cheesy layers of meat and goodness and mixes it all up and serves it in cute little pasta shells. Can you get on board with this?
I sure can... and I did. Like 3 different times in the past week. #leftoversareglorious
To get started, you'll brown 1.25 pounds of ground turkey with some onion and seasonings. You can use ground beef or Italian sausage or turkey italian sausage if you'd like. Actually you'll probably want to start cooking the pasta shells at this point too, but I don't have a picture of that.
We're keeping things super simple for this recipe and are using jarred pasta sauce. And YOU GUYS! Have you tried this sauce by Mezzetta? I've been buying their sauces for the past 6 months or so and I am absolutely in love. I started buying them when I did Whole 30 because they don't have added sugar but I haven't stopped. They are so flavorful and great for quick meals. My mom came to visit over the summer and I got her hooked too. Totally not sponsored, just thought I'd share.
You'll stir in ½ of the jar of sauce, 2 cups of ricotta cheese, and some parmesan cheese into the meat.
Heeello creamy deliciousness!
This next step is totally optional, but I think it's the easiest way to fill the shells. I fill a gallon sized ziplock bag with about ½ of the meat mixture and turn it into pastry bag to fill the shells with.
It might just be the cake decorator in me, but I think it's so much easier than trying to use a spoon to fill them.
As you fill the shells you can nestle them into the pan pretty snuggly. I usually have enough filling to fill an entire 9x13" pan and maybe a few extra that I bake in a small dish.
Spread the remaining pasta sauce across the tops of the shells and top with grated mozzarella.
Cover that bad boy up with some foil and let it bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cheese is really melted and bubbly. It's kind of like a treasure hunt figuring out where to take the first scoop. I always want to make sure I'm getting a whole shell but sometimes it's a little tricky to figure out where they are under all that cheese!
Good luck. 
📖 Recipe
Stuffed Lasagna Shells
Ingredients
- 16 ounce box jumbo pasta shells
- 1.25 pounds ground turkey
- ½ medium onion
- 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 jar favorite pasta sauce
- 1 pint ricotta cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese grated
- 2 cup mozzarella cheese grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook pasta shells according to package directions, drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet, brown turkey with onion until turkey is cooked through and onion is tender. Stir in salt, italian seasoning and garlic powder and cook for 1 minute. Stir in ½ of the sauce, ricotta cheese, and parmesan cheese.
- Fill a gallon sized ziplock bag with half of the meat mixture and snip a corner off of the bag. Squeeze the filling into the pasta shells, arranging them in a 9x13" baking dish as you. Refill bag when needed and continue until all the filling is used.
- Pour remaining sauce over the stuffed shells and top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Nutrition Facts
Andi @ The Weary Chef says
This is so gorgeous! Looks so good! And I like the idea of filling the shells. Awesome!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I'm practically always in the mood for a dish like this, yummmmmy!!
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious says
Yes, yes and 20,000 more yes's 🙂
Maris (In Good Taste) says
Love the "pastry bag" tips!