Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Shells Recipe

These cheese and spinach stuffed shells were good! The girls protested the spinach a bit, but ate them up. It’s funny because they would each happily eat spinach alone as a side dish. I don’t really like cooked spinach so liked it this way.

I started with this recipe from Karen Cooks. I used half a small onion instead of shallots and stuffed more shells than she allows for. But her count of 15 was about perfect for an 8×8 dish. I just froze the extra (about a dozen). Maybe my shells were smaller.

We each ate 2-3 shells with a Caesar salad and some sliced carrots on the side so this was more than enough to feed 6 by my count. I predict the leftovers will be delicious and if I didn’t have a lunch appointment tomorrow would be looking forward to them! I’ve been getting good lunches at home lately, between the Chicken Curry in Coconut Milk I made the other night and half a leftover burrito from lunch in Berkeley on Sunday.

Print Recipe

Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Shells

Ingredients

• a box of large shells but you may have too many
• 1 10- oz box of frozen spinach
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 a small onion diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 cups grated Mozzarella divided
• 1 26- oz can of tomato sauce I like the Hunts brand when it goes on sale

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the shells according to the lesser time on the directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. If you overcook them, they’ll fall apart as you’re stuffing them. Believe me. 😉
• Meanwhile, thaw the spinach. Heat the oil in a skillet and cook the onion until soft, a few minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute or two. Squeeze the spinach to remove the excess moisture and add to the pan and stir to mix up, then turn the heat off and let it cool.
• In a small bowl, mix the Ricotta, 1 cup of the Mozzarella, and the Parmesan along with the eggs. When the spinach mix has cooled off a bit, stir it into the cheeses.
• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Pour half the sauce into an 8×8 pan. Use a large spoon to fill each shell with the cheese and spinach mixture. Lay them in the pan as you go. If you have extras, you can freeze for another day, as I did. Pour the rest of the sauce over the shells when you’re done, then top with the leftover Mozzarella. Bake uncovered for half an hour or so.