Sausage stuffed shells
Jumbo pasta shells filled with sausage and three cheeses and baked in marinara, the kind of dinner that fills the whole apartment with a good smell.
- 85 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 6
- About $2.91 a serving
- 840 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 12 oz jumbo pasta shells, 1 box
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
- ½ cup grated parmesan, divided
- 1 jar marinara sauce, 24 oz
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, for the pasta water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 840 calories, 41 g protein, 58 g carbs and 49 g fat, and costs about $2.91 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No ricotta cheese? Cottage cheese works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of water with the salt.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cook the shells 2 minutes less than the package says, stirring gently now and then. them, with the oil, and spread them on a plate to cool.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Cook the whole box. A few always tear, and you can tuck those in as filler.Cook the sausage in a large over medium-high for 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it into small , until no pink is left. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 8 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Stir the ricotta, egg, 1 cup mozzarella, half the parmesan, the Italian seasoning and pepper in a bowl, then stir in the sausage.
Spread 1 cup marinara over the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Fill each shell with a heaping spoonful of filling and set it open side up in the dish, snug against the others.
Dolly’s tip: Hold the shell open with one hand and push the filling in with a spoon. Messy is fine.Spoon the rest of the marinara over the shells and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
Cover with foil and 25 minutes, then uncover and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until bubbling and in spots.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 38 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Let them 5 minutes, then serve 4 or 5 shells each. Unbaked, the covered dish freezes for up to 3 months.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 5 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Baked ziti with sausage
75 min
Slow cooker pork ragu
500 min
Chicken stuffed shells
75 min
Baked ziti
65 min
High-protein dinners ›Cozy comfort food ›What to make with parmesan and shredded mozzarella ›What to make with eggs and parmesan ›What to make with parmesan and ricotta cheese ›