Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells | Slimming Eats Recipe (2024)

Mar 9, 2018 · 26 Comments

Everyone will love these Yummy Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells - mouthwatering delicious!!!

Stuffed Giant Pasta Shells with Ricotta and Spinach

I was walking around Costco last week doing the usual monthly top of things we usually grab, when a tub of Ricotta caught my eye and an instant craving for Ricotta and Spinach pasta took over.

There was already a bag of spinach in the cart, something I buy weekly as it's so handy for adding some quick speed foods to dinner whether it be pasta, curry or even breakfast, so all I needed was the pasta shells.

Jumbo Pasta Shells are perfect for stuffing with yummy fillings for amazing pasta dishes, they are large and less fiddly than the usual cannelloni tubes, although if you can't get large pasta shells, feel free to substitute with a similar pasta that can be stuffed.

Ricotta and Spinach Filling

As with any spinach dish, garlic is a must, they are just two ingredients that pair together amazingly well. I also add some onion, because well onion is delicious in whatever you are making.

It's perfect in sweet dishes as well as savoury. Have you tried some ricotta, drizzled with warmed honey and fresh fruit? HEAVENLY!!

This Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells serves 4 people but I only use 3 servings of ricotta, so that we can also get in a serving of Parmesan for the top of the bake. A pasta bake dish, just needs some kind of melty cheese don't you think? and well Parmesan really packs the flavour too.

Making Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells

You need to make sure you parboil the pasta until al dente before stuffing, and then it can be placed on top of that yummy tomato based sauce and sprinkled with the parmesan cheese before being baked in the oven.

For the sauce that the pasta shells sit on. I use passata, stock, onion and garlic with a little pinch of mixed herbs, simmered for about 20 minutes before adding to my Nutri Ninja Blender to blend the sauce until smooth. Any blender will do the trick, even an immersion blender if that'sall you have.

I bake this Ricotta and Spinach Pasta Shells in my Le Creuset Shallow Casserole Dish, it's just the right size for arranging all the filled pasta shells and I can cover it with the lid for the first bake part, before removing to finish off. It looks super pretty too, served up in the middle of the table for everyone to dig into with a yummy side salad.

More Baked Pasta Recipes

Love baked Pasta dishes like this Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells? Check out some of my other pasta bakes:

• Roasted Butternut Squash Zucchini Pasta Bake
• Sloppy Joe Pasta Bake
• Pulled Pork Pasta Bake
• Mexican Pasta Bake
• Sausage and Bean Pasta Bake
• Best Ever Bolognese Pasta Bake
• Chicken Bacon and Tomato Pasta Bake
• Chicken and Sweetcorn Lasagne
• Yummy Beef Lasagne
• Spicy Mexican Chicken Lasagne

or if you would like more recipe ideas - head on over to theFULL RECIPE INDEXwhere you will find over 900 delicious recipes all with estimated caloriesand you can search by ingredients, course, diet and more..

Sides for Pasta

There is already quite a bit of veggies s in the sauce as well as that iron-rich spinach.

I tend to go for a simple salad of baby greens, carrot, red onion and tomatoes with a light vinaigrette dressing.

• Grilled, roasted, sauteed or steam vegetables is another great option, like:
• Zucchini (courgette)
• Asparagus
• Artichokes
• Green Beans
• Peppers

LET'S CONNECT!!

Recipe Card

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells - Slimming Friendly

Yield: SERVES 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

See Also

16 Best Vegan Casserole Recipes [Easy Plant-Based Bakes]

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Everyone will love these Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells – mouthwatering delicious and Slimming Friendly

Ingredients

• 8oz (230g) of fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 egg
• 30g (1oz) of parmesan cheese, grated
• 270g (9.5oz) of ricotta
• 20 jumbo pasta shells (approx 140g), uncooked
• cooking oil spray

for the tomato sauce:

• 1 cup (240g of passata
• 1 cup (240ml) of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• pinch of mixed herbs
• cooking oil spray

Instructions

For the tomato sauce:

1. Spray a frying pan over a medium-high heat with cooking oil spray, add the onion and fry for a couple of minutes until softened.
2. Add the garlic, passata, stock and pinch of mixed herbs, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 15-20mins, until it reduces down.
3. Allow to cool slightly and then add to a blender and blend untilsmooth, set aside.

!!@For the stuffed pasta shells:

1. Preheat oven to 180c/350f (gas mark 4)
2. Spray a frying pan over a medium-high heat with cooking oil spray.
3. Add the onion and garlic, season with salt and black pepper and fry for a few minutes until softened.
4. Reduce heat and add the spinach and stir until wilted.
5. Stir in the ricotta until all combined.
6. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the egg to avoid it scrambling.
7. Set the mixture aside.
8. Add the jumbo pasta shells to a saucepan of boiling hot water and simmer until al dente (approx 8-10 mins)
9. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
10. Spread the tomato sauce across the bottom of a shallow casserole dish or oven proof dish.
11. Fill the pasta shells with the ricotta and spinach mixture and arrange in the dish on top of the tomato sauce.
12. Sprinkle on top with the parmesan cheese.
13. Place in the oven covered and bake for 20 mins, then remove cover (or lid) and bake for an additional 10 minutes. If you prefer a more golden topping, you can finish off under the grill for a couple of minutes.
14. Serve and enjoy!!

Notes

Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:

• Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
• WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.

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Nutrition Information

Yield 4Serving Size 1 serving
Amount Per ServingCalories 327Total Fat 12.5gSaturated Fat 6.7gTrans Fat 0gCholesterol 77mgSodium 265mgCarbohydrates 32.4gFiber 4gSugar 6.6gProtein 19.2g

Nutritional information is an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information.

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