Have you ever wondered how to make stuffed shells? It is so easy and delicious! My favorite part about this meal is that it freezes well. You know I love me some freezer meals!!
There are so many reasons to love this Stuffed Shells Freezer Meal recipe! It is so versatile…if you like meat, use meat sauce…if not, just use marinara. You can use your own homemade sauce or use your favorite store bought sauce. It’s great to make ahead of time so you can just throw it in the oven later.
How to Make Stuffed Shells
First, prepare a 9×13 pan by lightly spraying it with non-stick cooking spray. Add about half the jar of prepared sauce and 2 T. of water to the bottom of the pan. Stir around until the bottom of the pan is coated.
Next, cook the shell pasta as direct on the package.
While the shells are cooking, in a large bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, basil, and parsley. Mix well. I love to use fresh herbs, but if you don’t have them on hand, dried will work just fine.
Drain the shell pasta and run under cool water until you are able to handle them.
Once cooled, take the shells, one at a time, and fill with the cheese mixture. About 1 1/2 T. of the mixture in each shell should do it…be careful not to overfill.
Place each shell seam side down in the prepared 9×13 pan.
When the pan is full and all shells have been filled, pour the remaining sauce over the shells and top with mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes or until it gets nice and bubbly and slightly browned on top. You can garnish with a little extra parsley if you have it, just to make it pretty.
Doesn’t this look so delicious? I can’t wait to dig in…oh wait, I just did!
Freezer Directions:
Don’t you just love a good freezer recipe? I know I do, this Stuffed Shells Freezer Meal is the perfect meal to make ahead and have on hand for those busy nights! It’s best to use a disposable aluminum pan when you are planning on freezing this recipe.
Prepare the stuffed shells as directed above, but do not bake. Simply cover with aluminum foil and label the top and place in the freezer.
When you are ready to enjoy this delicious meal, bake uncovered at 350˚ for 45 minutes or until it gets nice and bubbly and slightly browned on top.
Such an easy, crowd pleasing recipe! Hope you enjoy!
Below is a printable recipe card for your convenience.
Ingredients
- 1/2 box of jumbo shell pasta about 20 shells
- 25 oz jar marinara sauce
- 2 tbsp water
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp fresh basil (dried will work too)
- 2 tsp fresh parsley (dried will work too)
- 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Prepare a 9x13 pan by lightly spraying with non-stick spray. Add about half the jar of prepared sauce and 2 T. of water to the bottom of the pan. Stir around until the bottom of the pan is coated.
- Cook the shell pasta as directed on the package.
- In a large bowl combined the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, basil, parsley. Mix well.
- Drain the shell pasta and run under cool water. Once cooled, fill each shell with cheese mixture. Place each shell seam side down in the prepared 9x13 pan.
- Pour remaining sauce over the shells and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned.
Recipe Notes
Freezer Directions: Use an aluminum pan and follow the instructions above, but do not bake. Cover with foil and place in freezer. When ready to enjoy, bake uncovered at 350˚ for 45 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is golden brown.
–> See all of my freezer meals here.
This looks really good… and easy!
Question: How long can it be kept in the freezer before freezer burn sets in?
I wouldn’t keep them in the freezer for longer than 3 months!
Love how easy this is!!! And it looks delicious. Must throw some into our freezer! 🙂
Do we need to thaw it out first before baking?
I like to pull it out the night before or morning before so it is faster to cook.
That makes a lot of sense…. having a heck of a time trying to get my cheese to melt/bubble and look appetizing going straight from freezer to oven. Been an hour and no bubbly goodness yet….and this is after bumping temp to 375 after 45 mins then again to 400 at the hour mark. Poo.
Sometimes I even put the broiler on for a couple minutes so I can get the cheese to bubble!
I made these a little over a week ago, froze them and had them for dinner last night. They were delicious! I’m normally not a big fan of stuffed shells, but my husband and I enjoyed these. I’ll be making them again.
This is not something my husband would like, however I think they look amazing – since they make so many, I don’t want to re-heat the entire pan. Is there a way to individually package them/re-heat them so I can have them for multiple lunches/dinners? Thanks!
Yes, I like to package them smaller for lunches using a bread pan. It’s a great lunch or a small dinner.
So it’s been an hour and the pan is still cold to the touch on top. What am I doing wrong here?
Did you thaw it out the night before in your fridge? When it goes from freezer to oven, it has to heat the pan first then the food. It takes a lot longer than when it is already thawed a little bit.
Added 1/2 a package of frozen chopped broccoli (thawed). My kids ate it right up!
I add 2 boxes of (thawed, well-drained) frozen spinach and ground Italian sausage to mine. YUM!!!
I am making this recipe for a dinner party tomorrow and was wondering could I prep tonight, and just top it with sauce and cheese tomorrow before baking it? I will already have the sauce on bottom of pan and shells stuffed.
Yes you totally can do that! 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful dinner party!
Question:
I rarely use aluminum in our home and wondered why you preferred not using glass 9×13 pans in the freezer?
Does it have to do with the freezer to hot oven (cracking issue) or is it something else I am not aware of? I’ve never really “freezer” cooked except to reheat batch cooked items on the stove top/microwave.
Can you freeze left overs?
I made this and took it out of the freezer last night to thaw in the fridge. Its been in the oven now for an hour and still ice cold. What went wrong? I let it thaw for almost 24 hours first.
If I put sausage into the sauce, will that reheat ok?
Yes that will reheat just fine!
I made this tonight, only I made my own sauce with hamburger meat. it came out really good!
I hope this helps with cooking the meal after it was frozen. I usually put a meal that was put in the fridge to thaw in the oven while it is preheating. I have found that this helps with further thawing of the meal. I have found that by doing this, you can now cook meal as planned. Just keep an eye on it since all ovens are different. Hope it helps.
This works great with metal pans, but I think it would crack a glass pan as ovens default to a very high heat when preheating. I freeze my shells without any sauce on a sheet pan and keep in a zip loc in the freezer, and only pull out how many I need each time, and I frequently use glass pans simply because they look nicer on the table.
I also a tiny bit of fresh nutmeg to these (it adds a subtle flavor thats really nice) and also add frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry) – it makes them extra pretty and adds some nutrition.
Can you make this the night before and bake the next day?
Yes you totally can!
Another source suggests freezing the shells individually on a cookie sheet on parchment paper to prevent sticking, bagging them and placing back into freezer. Then when ready to cook place in a casserole dish and add sauce and cheese. This may help with the thawing process, as there is not as much to thaw.