Cheesy Stuffed Shells with Sausage
These cheesy stuffed shells are packed with gooey cheese and smothered in a flavorful meat sauce. This is the ultimate easy comfort meal that isn't just your classic spaghetti.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 484kcal
Equipment
- 9x13 baking dish
Ingredients
- 1 12-ounce box jumbo pasta shells
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound ground pork
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 23.5-ounce jar tomato basil pasta sauce
- 1 24-ounce tub small curd cottage cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided (226g)
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cook the jumbo shells in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente, then drain.
- Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring now and then, until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook about 1 minute, just until fragrant.
- Add the ground pork, season with salt and pepper, and cook, breaking it up, until browned with no pink left. Stir in the pasta sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.
- In a bowl, stir together the cottage cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella and the rosemary.
- Spread about half of the meat sauce in a 9x13 baking dish. Fill each shell with the cheese mixture and lay them in rows on top of the sauce.
- Spoon the rest of the meat sauce over the shells and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes
- I use ground pork with a little salt and pepper, but pork sausage works great here too! Just skip the salt and pepper if you use sausage, since it's already seasoned.
- A 12-ounce box has more shells than you'll need, which is a good thing, since a few always tear while they cook. I filled about 24 to cover a 9x13 dish.
- I bake them covered with foil for the first 25 minutes so the shells stay soft, then uncover them for the last 10 so the mozzarella melts and gets a little golden on top!
- Aim for just al dente when cooking your noodles — you want them to still have a bite. The pasta will absorb liquid in the oven and continue to soften.
- Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Reheat in the microwave or the oven until hot and melty.
- If your shells are tearing a lot when you try to fill them, you may have overcooked them. Shock the noodles in cold water to firm up the starch and stop the cooking process, and cook them a minute or two less next time.