How I Make The Best Saucy Cheesy Stuffed Shells
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Today we're making Stuffed Shells with Spinach and Ricotta in an easy tomato sauce. This is the perfect holiday dish!
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FOR THE SAUCE
1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic sliced
1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons (45g) tomato paste
1/2 cup (120ml) water
3 28-ounce can plum tomatoes hand crushed or blender pulsed
salt and pepper to taste
10 large basil leaves hand torn
FOR THE RICOTTA MIXTURE AND SHELLS
1 pound (454g) jumbo shells about 40 shells
1 1/2 pounds (680g) whole milk ricotta drained
3 cups (340g) shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup minced flat-leaf Italian parsley
1 pound (454g) baby spinach blanched, water squeezed out, and chopped
3/4 cup (68g) grated Pecorino Romano
2 large eggs beaten
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
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Billy Mark: @bluecrestproductions
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This is a great first course for Christmas. You can follow it up with this full Christmas meal we made on Patreon - Oven-roasted beef tenderloin, bacon goat cheese brussels sprouts, home fries, and snowball margarita drink: www.patreon.com/sipandfeast
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09:40 you could do that with cut washed saurkraut and or take the liquid for a teaspoon of it in your favorite dish like the tomato sauce
That Christmas meal gave me so many good ideas for my Christmas dinner menu! My husband is committed to making a crown roast (!!) using his smoker for the main entree, but I'm making everything else so I'm definitely pulling from your recipes for that. :)
What! No feast of the seven fishes! I guess that’s Christmas Eve😁. Merry Christmas!
Looks delicious Jim…Christmas I’m making manicotti 🎄🇮🇹
It's always a delight to see the lovely Tara! Give James our best and hope he feels better soon!
Thanks James and Tarra. Where I grew up my neighbor was a naturalized American from Sicily. He worked as a cook on ocean liners. The man made his own wine, And he forgot more cooking skills than most people will ever have.
Your recipe today reminded me of his cooking. He kept things simple. Use good products. Don't rush. Learn good skills.
Thank you again and God bless your family. Merry Christmas.
Yummmmmm. I’ve made stuffed shells before but didn’t use eggs in the filling. It makes total sense. Now I can’t wait to make this for our next pasta night. Our daughter is vegetarian and her family loves spinach in the filling. Tara is a beautiful taste tester and camera woman. Great job! Feel better James! Great video Sip and Feast Family!
No eggs…🤔
Great recipe for the holidays. You need to do a cook book James. Love all your recipes, thanks.
Thanks so much. We're working on a cookbook - it will be out mid 2025!
@@SipandFeastThat's exciting!
@@SipandFeast awesome
James, l like your style. I enjoy your videos, your thought process and of course, watching it all come together. In a sea of cooking channels, yours really rises to the top.
The recipe sounds delicious, and I plan on making it soon. I like the idea of making a big batch of the sauce and freezing it for later use. However, for me, the best part of today's video was the tip about placing parchment paper over the dish before the foil to prevent sticking - genius!
You can also use the Reynolds nonstick foil. The dull side of this foil is the foil that goes over the food.
You got me! I haven’t made shells in years and after watching your video I suddenly got a craving. My kids and their families are so happy I am making a baked pasta this year. My mom/grandma would be proud.
I was born on mulberry street. Yes, I’m Italian… lol… your recipes are all so familial. I grew up in Brooklyn/ Staten Island
Merry Christmas to you and Tara and your kids…
Suburbs of Philly chiming in here; this looks spectacular! I'm making this for Christmas. I don't eat meat, so for me this is perfect. And yes, I agree, if you're going to make stuffed shells, make stuffed shells. It's like when I sit down to make homemade pierogies, I don't make a dozen, I make dozens. Thanks to the both of you and the happiest of Holidays to you and your family.
When I make stuffed shells with marinara. I always make bechamel sauce and layer the two together. It adds that little extra something that is missing.
My husband told me yesterday he was craving stuffed shells... your recipe is similar to mine. I am using Roma tomatoes I canned from my garden last summer :) I add a couple of sweet Italian sausages to the stuffing, so Tara might like mine haha! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Your channel makes me happy!
Taste the filling for seasoning before adding the eggs. Golden advice. Recipe looks great. Always learning from you guys!
I do that with food and with baked goods! If anything is left for cooking/baking, I am lucky. LOL
Congratulations on hitting 1 MILLION !!!
I tend to go a little heavy on the sauce, because leftovers in the fridge absorb the sauce, especially pasta. I agree, you can never make too much sauce.
Always better to have too much, rather than not enough.
Thank you two! Hand full of great tip in here. A college friend taught me to make lasagna, could start a restaurant with it. He was from New York City, his name was Don, yes a Don from NYC. It was his grandmother's recipe from Rome. He said if you don't make two gallons of sauce at a time, don't bother.
Fantastic! Thank you, Jim & Tara💕 I hope James feels better soon 🙏
This looks soooo good! I like that you add so much flavor to the filling. So many don't, and that really is what makes a good lasagna or shells stand apart! I will be making this for our Christmas Eve potluck! Thanks❤
You read my mind!
I've been researching spinach stuffed shells recipes for the last week.
Love your content and meeting your family.
Smashing those tomatoes by hand is very therapeutic!
Thanks, I made this for our Xmas family lunch. The sauce was delicious. I had extra sauce, so I used it for another dish. The shells with red sauce and green filling and parsley were very festive. Great channel. ❤
Wow, the wife and I were JUST thinking about making stuffed shells!
I was trying to figure out what to make from my friends for a get together meal just before the holidays. This is it perfect thank you.
Also, I LOVE making stuffed shells…put on some calm Christmas music & just enjoy the process! Yes, I’m an odd Italian American! Lol
Its the ultimate “you’re loved” dish 🪽🐚🍝🥫🍅
Just tried this tonight, just like all your recipes it was easy, quick and delicious! Love this channel.
Freezes beautifully.
Happy Holidays to you, Jim, Tara, Sammy, & James.
Looks really rich and delicious, I prefer the one with extra sauce and cheese on top. Also thanks for the advice on the shells, they are hard to find if you want a larger size. Not only does Tara look lovely today, she gave the recipe a you’ve “”gotta try making this” (9 1/2), so another great recipe Jim. Sorry James is sick, healing energy being sent his way. Thank you Jim and Tara, always appreciated!💕👍
Thanks, Jim and Tara! Was actually planning to make stuffed shells this weekend, so I’ll use your recipe❤
let us know how they turn out!
Ive often made shells like this BUT with a side dish of sausage and peppers... no wonder I never felt anything missing, excellent video as usual
Saw this in Instagram, glad to see the vid. Looks good for Friday dinner
Merry Christmas, thank you for all you do......
Our go to for Christmas Eve dinner, right after a huge antipasto! 🎄🇮🇹 Pizzelles for dessert! Merry Christmas to you & the family ☃️🎅
I thought Feast of the Seven Fishes was the traditional Italian Christmas meal.
Antipasto, stuffed Shells and Pizelles sound delicious too, and a lot easier and less time consuming.
I agree with Tara. I always miss the flavor of meat in Marinara sauce even though I don't eat meat. I do love the idea of spinach in ricotta as well as the other cheeses and spices as the shell stuffing. I hope the garlic is very prominent a taste in the sauce and the stuffing because that is what makes great Italian food for me. You do use a generous amount of it. Thank you for this great recipe and detailed instructions, Jim. - Marilyn
I love the way you made the stuffed shells..it was perfect the way it was
Looks delicious! I think I’ll add a touch of nutmeg to my stuffing😋
I've always made my shells like you did there with no meat but now that you mentioned it, I might try some bite size pieces of Italian hot or sweet sausage in the sauce next time. That sounds really good. Thanks for the recipe. I like your addition of spinach to the filling too!
We love stuffed shells. I typically accompany them with a bowl of sauce with meatballs and spicy sausage. Merry Christmas to your family.
I wonder if you could get that Umami meaty flavour without the meat by adding some grilled mushrooms. I might experiment with this! Love this simple recipe. Merry Christmas from Canada
This would be good for Christmas Eve dinner.
Great detailed instructions! Thank you. ❤
Merry Christmas to you and your family Jim. 🎄
You can find those mini silicone spoons at the Dollar Tree. 😊
Thanks for all the great recipes and tutorials James and family. Merry Christmas 🎄 to you!! 🇺🇸🎅🏻
Love this vegitarian friendly quicker recipe! Plz do one with butternut squash/ricott filling😋and a glaze of pesto on top
You kids are so cute, and yummm stuffed shells! ❤❤Happy Holidays
Excellent - thank you for all these great videos.
Love this vegetarian recipe! I am always trying to get my family to eat more veggies so o add onion, garlic, eggplant, mushrooms, and zucchini & crookneck to the sauce. For us vegetarians, the added vegetables help to round out the meal. So good Jim!
So excited for this recipe!!! Im a fan of stuffed shells. I also want to give you a High Five for your Salisbury steak recipe...it is The Best... I've me made it several times... 😋
Yum. Thank you. I needed a great idea for my Christmas Eve dinner party and most of these people are not into the 7 fishes or anchovies spaghetti which I love. You cook exactly like my Italian grandmother did.
Merry Christmas you guys! Thanks for all the recipes and I hope James recovers soon 🤞🏼
This looks amazing and I hope James feels better tho I enjoy Tara being a taste taster❤
Looks delicious! I also love lumiconi shells too! I would love to see your version of those!😋 Merry Christmas to your beautiful family!🎄
Always great stuff!! Get better Jame’s!
Made this tonight, it was a hit. Thanks.
TEAM CRISPY! What a fun recipe. Thanks again!
I’m with Tara I like my stuffed shells with a meat sauce or a Sunday sauce but appreciate the quickness and vegetarian option. Happy holidays
What is a Sunday sauce?
My sauce has beef short ribs, usually four, fresh basil, dried porcini mushrooms and one chopped apple. I use Michael of Brooklyn’s jarred sauce. Yes, jarred. I cut it with red wine. The beef ribs and porcinis add a deeper flavor, the sweet apple cuts the acid of the tomato. Brown sugar will do the same if you don’t have an apple.
Love stuffed shells. I do have to agree with Tara on the meat flavor. Either pork or beef. Thanks again for the great videos. Merry Christmas to the family!
For me, it's lamb. Yeah, it's more expensive, but it's oh so delicious!
I'd just add additional sauce over the drier ones. I have extra sauce when I make lasagna and a big ladle goes right on top 😄 Hope James is feeling better. I use these shells to make what is called an "Italian Salad stuffed Shells". It's romaine, cucumber, tomato, chicken, basil, salami and Italian dressing. Mix up and stuff the shells. It is so fussy getting that salad in those shells, I hate making it but friends and family insist on them 😄
Wish I had a dish of those right now. 🙂
awesome recipe! Made this last night and everyone devoured it in under an hour haha!
My family complains that I spend too much time cooking my sauce. I was taught to cook my sauce 8 hours, and to go faster would be an insult to my ancestors.
Depends on the sauce.
Five to six hours has always produced a winning sauce for me. Have never served it that people werent impressed.
@@queenbee3647 our ancestors!!🤣🤣🤣
Sunday Gravy takes time and effort.
Low n slow, made with time n love!
Jim and Tara when I was younger my dad and I turned a Mexican drunken chicken recipe into a stuffed shells recipe with meat balls with black olives stuffed in the middle of the meat balls cover with mozzarella and sauce
Used eggs to bring cheese mix together and made ground beef put into the mix and stuffed a lot of shells, but they ner ladted long enough to freeze.
Yes, on the meat sauce!!!
Can’t wait. Thanks
Looks delish Chef!!!
Great teacher! Thanks
Saw this on IG yesterday...looks delicious! That's very similar to my recipe except that I use a higher ratio of spinach to cheese, I add a bit of fresh basil with the other greens, I add a bit of nutmeg to the filling spice mixture and I use manicotti instead of shells because they're easier to cut without the filling spilling all over your plate. I also use jarred marinara sauce (I like Mezzetta) because I'm too lazy to make my own 😆
Boy does that look good. i just ordered 12 boxes of shells on amazon.
I like using my cookie scoop to fill the shells, you can just wiggle right inside, works great!
It looks delicious.
Love making these with a bolognese. So good.
That sounds delicious!
Mutti spicy arrabbiata pasta sauce is SO AMAZING!
Will make this w bell peppers instead of pasta, w meatballs or sausage on the side.
Nonna Pia makes great stuffed shells. So does Nonna Gina Petti
I feel Tara. A lot of work invested without meat. Both plates look absolutely amazing. But as a meat lover, I’ll probably love a bit of extra beefy umami to it. Anyway, a very delicious recipe 🙏
I love watching your videos your recipes always look mouth watering. Those shells look yummy. I need to have a written recipe to follow. You could make a mushroom filing too. I’m a mushroom fan. God bless you, Jim, Tara, Sammy and James Merry Christmas and all the best for 2025.
Looks good my guy.
Meat sauce for me. I don't necessarily need meat in the shell with the ricotta & spinach, but i want ground beef in the tomato sauce.
Brilliant!!!
Thank you
I'm making some for New Year's Eve. Now hold on to your bootstraps.I'm gonna include two flavors of goat cheese and perhaps a dollop of sour cream! And I'm NOT going to crisp up the pasta. And I'll be low on the sauce. For me. it's all about a warm, mushy, shell filled with RICH cheesy inside. OH I might put in some cream cheese too!!! I know crazy! And I'm 100% Italian...born there but the older I get the more I want to mix it up a bit. For me it's more about the soft, warm, mushy glob of the shell...The TEXTURE...as far as the inside, I can be a little more experimental with the various cheeses! But yours looked delicious. God every time I watch your channel, I'm back on the North Shore of Long Island where I grew up. East Setauket. Between Stony Brook and Port Jefferson. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and be sure to have a safe and fun and Happy New Year!
Thank you.
A problem I often have with tomato sauces and foil is that the foil breaks down to the acid in the sauce. Not sure its toxic but it looks bad and I wouldn't want to eat it. The parchment paper between seems like a good idea. Better than plastic wrap- more toxins.
You always have great ideas. Thank you.
one of your best Christmas dinner here we come..PS always adding a little sugar to sauce..
Nah, don’t do that. Add a carrot instead to remove the acidity and to slightly sweeten
I like them better when I add some sauteed mushrooms and a little Italian sausage. I also think sauteed spinach with garlic adds a better flavor to the dish than boiled spinach. (Kinda bland). And, if you want the crispy with extra sauce, just have some sauce ready on the side. When you take them out of the oven, right before serving, add the extra sauce.
Making this
My ma’s sauce takes 3 days lol. 1 day to make and 2 days to rest in the fridge…and if there’s no room it goes out in the garage. In Buffalo your garage is basically a second fridge in the winter 😂
Yummy
Get well soon, James! 🤧
Maybe rough chop some thick-cut bacon and use, I don't know, half bacon grease and half olive oil to cook the garlic and tomato paste when you're starting the sauce?
I would much prefer it with a meat filling although I would worry about texture changes. Perhaps use a fattier ground meat (mix of beef and pork/sausage) so that it binds easier. Or just have meat in the sauce as opposed to the filling.
Yummy 😋
Yum!!!
Looks delicious! Early in the video you mentioned making ahead and freezing. How far would you recommend taking the recipe before freezing? Would you assemble, wrap, then freeze or bake fully before freezing?
You can either freeze after assembling, or freeze after baking. The results will be very similar.
Excellent looking recipe! I’ll take your advice and make more than I need. Should I stuff the shells, then freeze? Or should I stuff, bake and then freeze?
You can do either way and get very similar results. Do what works best for you.
Looks delicious, but I agree with Tara: adding some meat flavoring to the sauce would definitely take this dish over the top 10+/10 🍝
nice!
This stuffing would be good as manicotti too
Going to a Christmas party next week. And they are having spaghetti. And they need side dishes so I think I’m gonna make this for a side dish.
Pasta as a side dish to pasta…??
@ I know lol! But I’m out of ideas….
@@BonnieGronsAloha. How about a big side of caprese?
@@adamyoung480 that’s sounds good, thanks for the idea
I might try this on christmas. Last time tried to do the mushrooms and failed, they tasted awful... But maybe this one turns out better, looks way easier.