We love the flavor of baked, stuffed shells, but sometimes prepping the ricotta-spinach mixture and meticulously filling each pasta shell gets tedious. This recipe is for those nights you want tender pasta, creamy ricotta filling, and tangy marinara without all that effort. For an extra flavorful filling, we add lemon zest and red pepper flakes to our ricotta-spinach mixture and top everything off with a generous helping of fresh herbs.
Easy Unstuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 lb frozen spinach or kale, defrosted
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 cups marinara sauce, divided
- 5 oz jumbo pasta shells, about 18 shells
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley or basil
Directions
1) Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add shells and cook for about 9 minutes, until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2) Transfer spinach or kale to a fine mesh sieve or colander and press out as much liquid as possible. Transfer spinach to a large bowl and stir in 1 cup ricotta cheese, ½ tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tsp salt, and ½ tsp ground black pepper until well combined.
3) Spray a Suvie pan with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup marinara sauce in the pan. Arrange 8 oz jumbo shells in the pan, opening-side up. Pour remaining marinara over the shells. Dollop spinach mixture over the marinara sauce and then spread into an even layer. Place pan in the bottom zone of Suvie, input settings and cook now or schedule.
Suvie Cook Settings
Bottom Zone: Roast at 375°F for 40 minutes
Top Zone: None
4) Remove pan from Suvie and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Divide between plates and top with Parmesan cheese and herbs just before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information per serving (4 servings per recipe): Calories 360, Total Fat 17g, Total Carbohydrates 36g, Total Sodium 560mg, Total Protein 17g.
This recipie needs alot of work/updates. If you simply follow the directions as written above you will end up with a sauce and semi-cooked shells that are still hard.
Hi Steve, sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. We’ve increased the cook time based on your feedback. Thanks.
Not edible. I saw the previous comment and the adjustment in time, so I decided to cook for 45 minutes. Half of the shells are burnt and hard.
Hi Karie, sorry this didn’t work for you. 60 minutes should have softened the pasta, but sounds like the temp was too high. I’m going to take this one back to the drawing board. We may need to call for cooked shells instead.