Stuffed Shells With Spinach | Diethood

These are my scrumptious, tacky stuffed shells with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes! This recipe is vegetarian, freezer-friendly, and an ideal straightforward weeknight dinner for the entire household.

Close up of a spoon lifting a stuffed shell from a baking dish filled with stuffed shells with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes

Stuffed shells are the most effective consolation meals dinner, and these ones are SO straightforward to make! Baked till browned and bubbly, my stuffed shells with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes are good for weeknight dinners. I at all times known as these “stuffed shells Florentine”, after rooster Florentine, since they’re loaded with spinach and topped with cheese. I make the filling from scratch, and it’s very a lot a type of recipes that you could adapt with further substances from the fridge.

Tacky Stuffed Shells With Spinach, At a Look

Sufficient to feed a small military. The recipe makes lots of filling, sufficient to stuff about 20 jumbo shells. It’s sufficient to feed a household (with leftovers!), and it makes this an awesome potluck dish, too.
Sneaky veggies. Like my spinach lasagna, baked stuffed shells smothered in cheese are a simple technique to embody greens in our weekly pasta evening. The shells are filled with spinach, garlic, meaty mushrooms, and juicy tomatoes on a mattress of savory marinara sauce.
Simple to make. These stuffed shells with spinach are prepared in beneath an hour. Boil the pasta shells when you put together the filling, then stuff the shells and bake. I additionally embody make-ahead instructions so you may freeze your stuffed shells for a future last-minute dinner.

Baked cheesy stuffed shells with spinach in a baking dish.

Collect Your Elements

Jumbo Pasta Shells – Additionally known as conchiglioni in Italian. This may be your favourite model. Barilla, Ronzoni, and DeLallo all make jumbo shells, or you should utilize a retailer model, like Walmart or Goal.
Butter – For sautéeing the mushrooms. I a lot desire butter over oil when cooking mushrooms, as they have an inclination to absorb no matter they’re sautéed in. Butter provides taste!
Mushrooms – Any variety. Brown and white mushrooms, Child Bellas, oyster mushrooms, or shiitakes are good choices.
Garlic – Freshly minced, or you should utilize ½ teaspoon of garlic powder rather than every clove. Finely diced yellow onion would additionally work on this recipe.
Canned Tomatoes – Canned diced tomatoes, drained. Attempt fire-roasted tomatoes for a smokier taste.
Child Spinach – I like to make use of recent spinach. For those who’re utilizing frozen spinach, be sure you thaw it absolutely and drain the surplus liquid. You may as well use chopped Swiss chard or kale.
Herbs – Italian seasoning and dried basil. Be happy to swap dried basil for recent; on this case, you’ll want about 3 occasions as a lot recent.
Marinara Sauce – Select your most well-liked jar of marinara sauce or tomato sauce. When you have a selfmade recipe, that can work, too!
Mozzarella Cheese – Freshly shredded mozzarella is finest. One other melty cheese, like provolone or cheddar, additionally works properly. You may as well use a tender cheese, like Italian ricotta.

Fast Variations

Extra veggies. Add diced onions, bell peppers, carrots, celery, shredded cabbage, or some other greens you could have within the crisper drawer.
Make it meaty. For a meatier model of this recipe, substitute the marinara sauce (and even the canned tomatoes) with a meat sauce, like ragu or Bolognese.

Recipe Ideas

Substitute the mushrooms. For those who dislike mushrooms, you may depart them out or substitute floor meat, corresponding to beef, rooster, or pork. An alternative choice is use cooked, shredded rotisserie rooster.
Thaw frozen spinach first. For those who’re utilizing frozen spinach as an alternative of recent, it’s tremendous necessary to thaw it fully and squeeze out any extra liquid earlier than you add it to the filling. If the spinach is watery, your shells can be soggy.
Use freshly shredded cheese. For those who’ve ever questioned why pre-shredded, packaged cheese doesn’t soften as easily as freshly shredded cheese, it’s as a result of it has a waxy coating that stops it. Shred the mozzarella recent from the block for the most effective outcomes.
Don’t overcook the pasta. I recommend leaving your jumbo shells barely undercooked to start out, since they’ll end cooking within the oven. Overcooking makes the shells fragile and mushy.
For extra flavorful pasta shells, add 2-3 tablespoons of desk salt to the water earlier than you boil your pasta. Salted water is the important thing to well-seasoned pasta.

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Prep. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Prepare dinner the pasta shells. Prepare dinner the jumbo shells in boiling water for 8 minutes, or till al dente. DO NOT overcook as a result of they’ll tear and disintegrate.
Sauté. In a big skillet, soften 1/2 tablespoon butter over medium-high warmth. Add sliced mushrooms and cook dinner for five minutes. Stir in garlic; add remaining butter, and proceed to cook dinner for 1 minute.
Make the filling. Add in drained tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and basil; carry to a simmer.
Stir within the spinach. Since we’re utilizing lots of spinach, it would be best to cook dinner it in batches. As quickly as one batch is cooked down, add the following (I break it up into 3 batches). Take away from warmth. Style for seasonings and regulate accordingly.
Stuff the shells. Drain shells and rinse with chilly water; pat dry with paper towels. Unfold 1 cup of marinara sauce on the underside of a 9×13 baking dish. Stuff every shell with the spinach combination and organize over the marinara sauce within the baking dish.
Prime with cheese and bake. Sprinkle the stuffed shells with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or till bubbly. Take away from oven, garnish with parsley, and serve.

The right way to freeze stuffed shells:

Put together all the pieces as much as the purpose of baking. DO NOT bake.
Let cool and canopy tightly with plastic wrap and once more with foil. Freeze for as much as 3 months.
When able to bake, take away foil and plastic cowl; bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or till bubbly and barely browned on prime.

Dietary information is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values could differ in keeping with the substances and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed information.

The right way to Make Stuffed Shells

Comply with the steps beneath to arrange tacky spinach stuffed shells with mushrooms and tomatoes. First, you’ll fill the pasta shells, then you definitely’ll bake them beneath a blanket of mozzarella cheese.

Overhead view of tomato sauce with spinach and mushrooms in a skillet. — Make the spinach filling.

Pasta shells stuffed with spinach mushroom sauce in a baking dish. — Make the spinach filling.

Prepare dinner the pasta shells. First, boil the pasta shells in keeping with the bundle instructions, simply wanting al dente. The shells are simpler to stuff, they usually’ll proceed to cook dinner whereas they bake.
Sauté the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms with butter over medium-high warmth. After a couple of minutes, stir within the garlic and a little bit extra butter.
Make the filling. Add the drained canned tomatoes to the skillet with the mushrooms. Then, add the seasonings. Deliver the pan to a simmer, and stir within the spinach in batches. As quickly as one batch cooks down, add the following.
Put together the shells. Drain after which rinse the pasta shells with chilly water, and pat them dry with paper towels.
Assemble. Unfold about 1 cup of marinara sauce into the underside of a 9×13-inch baking dish. Then, fill the shells with the spinach combination and place them on prime of the marinara sauce. Lastly, sprinkle over a layer of shredded mozzarella.
Bake. Bake the stuffed shells at 350ºF for 20-25 minutes. When the cheese is bubbly, take the shells out of the oven and garnish with recent parsley for serving.

Make It Forward

These stuffed shells freeze properly, making them an exquisite dinner to arrange upfront. To prep these shells for freezing:

Whenever you’re able to bake, take away the foil and plastic wrap. Bake the stuffed shells from frozen at 350ºF for 45 to 50 minutes, or till bubbly and barely browned on prime.
Put together and assemble the stuffed shells within the baking dish, however DO NOT bake.
Enable the dish to chill fully. Afterward, cowl the shells tightly with plastic wrap, then with foil. Freeze for as much as 3 months.

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

Refrigerate. The baked stuffed shells will be saved hermetic within the fridge for as much as 4 days.
Reheat. Heat up leftovers within the microwave, or you may reheat the shells within the oven.