Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with ricotta cheese, mozzarella and spinach topped with a turkey meat sauce. Here’s a great way to sneak spinach on your kids’ plate!
Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Meat Sauce
Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Meat SauceMore Italian pasta recipes you might enjoy are Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce, Spicy Sausage and Baby Spinach, Orecchiette Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Spinach Lasagna Rolls, and Brussels Sprouts Carbonara.
This recipe just got a makeover. Some of you may have seen this in the archives, or have even made this before, today I decided to give it a face-lift with new photos and address some issues some people had with not having enough stuffing for the shells.
These are very satisfying, three are more than enough to fill you up, or two with a salad on the side. A perfect dish if you have company as this makes a large amount, or you can bake half and freeze the rest for another night.
Thank you Julie Hamilton for sharing this recipe with Skinnytaste.
Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 27 9 oz Barilla Jumbo Shells ( or GF shells)
- 1 cup onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 lb 99% lean ground turkey
- 32 oz crushed tomatoes, I used Tuttorosso
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
- salt and pepper
- 2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
- 8 oz reduced fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 egg
- 16 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed well
- 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
Instructions
- Boil water and cook shells according to package directions, make sure to make them al dente.
- Meanwhile, saute onions and garlic in oil.
- Add turkey and salt and brown until cooked, breaking up in small pieces.
- Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil, then simmer on low, covered, about 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, spinach, mozzarella, and parmesan.
- Once shells are cooked and cool, fill each shell with (about 2 heaping tbsp) cheese mixture and place on a large baking dish, or two smaller dishes, covering the bottom of the dish with a little sauce.
- Top shells with half of the sauce, cover with foil and bake 40 minutes; uncover foil and bake 5 more minutes.
- Serve with additional sauce on top.
One of my favorite skinnytaste recipes now ! Surprisingly filling too..
Hi- These look great! I’m planning to make these for Christmas Eve and wanted to see if they can be made a day ahead? If so, should they be cooked a day ahead and then reheated the day of? Or can they be in the fridge for a day prepared and then cooked the day off? Thank you in advance!
I would prep and refrigerate and then bake the day of.
are all these recipes that i receive on email also in your books?
Wanting to purchase a book as prefer looking at a book versus looking at the computer.
Love all the recipes and that they are heathy.
Going to make this and have my son and his family over !! 🙂
Cheryl
No, the majority of the recipes online are not in the books. If you go to the cookbook tab on the skinnytaste.com there is an index that tells what recipes are in what books. 🙂
This is great to know, Gina, since I’m looking at buying a book or two after scouring your website!
Awesome
Love love love this thank you for sharing a skinny way to cook Italian food .Â
I often make this meat sauce and serve it over store bought stuffed shells or zoodles for a quick weeknight meal. My kids also love it mixed with ravioli in their thermos for school lunch. A quick, easy, tasty, healthy sauce!
Hi Gina…
Love love love your recipes. You make it really fun and easy to cook! I am going to make this for dinner tonight and was wondering if it would be ok to substitute veggie crumbles for the ground turkey?
Thanks again for making me a definite better cook!
Faith
I made these and there were a lot left over, so I froze the remaining. Since they were frozen after they were already baked, does anyone have recommendations on the best way to cook them from frozen?
Thanks!
I just thaw them in my fridge (take them out of the freezer that morning or night before) and then cook as directed. If they don’t thaw completely, I add more cooking time, starting them off covered in foil in oven (to prevent drying out or burning due to extra bake time).
Great dinner; thank you!
I love Gina and this recipe is a huge hit. However, the prep time is definitely way OFF!! It took me 45 minutes to prep this recipe, which is fine. I don’t understand how one can cook pasta shells, make a meat sauce, prepare the filling and stuff 27 shells and have the dish oven ready in ten minutes! If somebody knows a miracle worker who can, I’d love to meet them!
Prep time only includes the prep of the ingredients needed, the rest is under cook time 🙂
I’m very surprised that there is no mention of draining the turkey after cooking it. From not draining the turkey and using part-skim ricotta instead of fat free ricotta, I think the nutritional numbers given for the amount of fat (13g) in a 390 calorie serving is incorrect.
This was really delicious! Â It made enough for 3 meals for the two of us. Will be making this again! Â
I made these last night and they were amazing. Â And now we have lunches to take for a few days! Â Definitely making this again
What are the Freestyle points for this recipe?
Smart points have been updated to reflect the free style program.
Three shells is a “serving”? For an adult?
Would rather use fresh spinach- would that change the texture or consistency at all.?
I use fresh spinach in mine and thought it tasted better. I buy baby spinach so the leaves don’t need to be cut up, and I also remove most of the thick stems cutting them in halves or thirds. For a full box of shells, I use 2 bags of 8oz prewashed spinach
Do you have updated nutritional info for points plus? Great recipe!
If you’re looking to freeze these, would you freeze them cooked or uncooked and to cook for later?
I made these last night and they were amazing! both my husband and i loved them and were surprised at how filling a small portion was! I did however use beef instead of turkey, just because we don’t like the taste of ground poultry
Pingback: Spinach Stuffed Shells | The Pantry Portfolio
The serving size for the shells are 3… what is the serving size I need to measure for the meat sauce? I am making this recipe for a big get together soon but still want to be accountable for my WW Smart Points. I can’t wait to make this it, looks so good. I am doing an Italian themed dinner with tons of your recipes Gina :D.
I would divide the sauce equally between the amount of servings.
These are so so good! I used quite a bit more crushed tomatoes because my family likes lots of sauce. Then I added some baby bellas and some coriander to bulk up the sauce (because with the extra sauce, the turkey seemed to be less plentiful) and  it was fabulous. Enjoy!