Meatball Stuffed Shells Recipe
%2BcopyA.jpg "Meatball Stuffed Shells - easy weeknight pasta casserole! Fill pasta shells with frozen meatballs and top with sauce and cheese. Ready to eat in under 30 minutes!! Everyone LOVED this easy pasta casserole recipe! Can freeze for later too!")
I was cleaning out my freezer and found a package of frozen meatballs. I was brainstorming on what to make with them and thought what about Meatball Stuffed Shells? I decided to give it a shot. Guess what? They turned out great! We added a salad and some garlic bread for a delicious Italian feast.
I like cheese in my stuffed shells, so I adapted my usual stuffed shell recipe to add meatballs. These were delicious! I didn’t thaw the meatballs before baking. I just let them bake along with the pasta. It worked great and saved some time.
This makes a lot. We ate this for dinner and lunch the next few days. Next time I would make the whole recipe and freeze half of it.
Meatball Stuffed Shells
ingredients:
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24 jumbo pasta shells
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24 frozen meatballs
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1 (15-oz) container cottage cheese (can use ricotta)
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2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
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1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
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2 Tbsp dried parsley
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1 egg
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1 (24-26oz) jar spaghetti sauce
instructions:
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Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
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Cook jumbo pasta shells according to package. Drain and cool.
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Combine cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, dried parsley and 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
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Stuff pasta shells with cheese mixture and one meatballs per shell. Place shells in prepared baking dish. Top with spaghetti sauce and remaining mozzarella cheese. (Can freeze at this point)
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until bubbly.
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Delish… my meatballs were to big.. I cut them in half.
I take it the temperature would be the same if you bake it after freezing a portion thawed or unthawed.
I always baked thawed at the temperature listed above
Ok, I am not very good at stuffing shells. LOL. I thought this was going to be very simple, but it turns out the shells don't like to cooperate with me. I did cook them al dente so they weren't too soft, but stuffing these suckers had me cursing. LOL
With that said, the recipe is actually very yummy. I really like this dish, and if I can figure out an easier way to stuff the shells, I would definitely make this again. Served it with a green Italian salad, and garlic bread.
If you were to freeze it before cooking, would you want to defrost or bake frozen? Thanks! My kids love this. I finally froze a batch but now I am unsure how to cook.
You can do either – if you bake it frozen, cover it and bake it about 15 minutes to thaw it in the oven. Remove the foil and bake it an additional 25-30 minutes.
Just made this and it was fantastic! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
What size are the meatballs? Thx.
I used 1/2 oz meatballs
Made this tonight! Another winner!
Bake uncovered, right? Looks delicious. Thanks.
yes – I baked it uncovered.
Make ahead, when you get home from Christmas shopping, just pop in the oven! This looks soooo good, can't wait to try it ! Happy Thanksgiving!
I like it.