Our family’s favorite sausage stuffed shells recipe has an incredibly flavorful filling made with sausage, ricotta, and spinach. It’s also surprisingly easy to make.
Everyone I’ve shared these with has loved them. The cheesy, sausage filling tucked inside each shell makes this recipe hard to resist. The first time I made them, I stepped away from the table for just a minute and came back to find that Adam had already eaten half the pan.
That’s when I knew this one was special. So many of our readers have fallen for these sausage and spinach stuffed shells, and I can’t wait for you to try them too.
Key Ingredients
- Pasta Shells: Use large dried pasta shells and cook them in boiling water until al dente before filling.
- Sausage: Italian bulk sausage is my go-to, but fresh sausage links with the casings removed work just as well. For extra kick, try using hot or spicy sausage. I do the same when making our minestrone soup with sausage, too!
- Tomatoes and Spinach: I use canned tomatoes and frozen spinach. Be sure to thaw the spinach and squeeze out any excess moisture before mixing it into the filling.
- Ricotta and Mozzarella: I like whole-milk ricotta and shredded mozzarella for the creamiest filling. Cottage cheese is a great substitute for ricotta. It’s actually what I use in our popular manicotti recipe.
- Marinara Sauce: You’ll bake the shells on a layer of marinara sauce. You can use homemade marinara, our easy pasta sauce, or your favorite store-bought pasta sauce.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Sausage Stuffed Shells
Tip 1: Make the filling while the pasta shells cook. While the pasta shells cook in boiling water, I make the easy sausage filling. I brown the sausage, then stir in garlic, tomatoes, and spinach. Then, for my favortie part. To make it creamy, I mix in the ricotta cheese.
Tip 2: Bake on a bed of marinara. I love how the shells turn a little golden and crisp on top as they bake. Placing them on top of the marinara sauce instead of covering them helps with this.
I stuff the ricotta sausage mixture into the shells, set them on a bed of marinara, sprinkle cheese over the top, and bake until the edges begin to brown and the cheese melts.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these with a crisp green salad tossed in a simple vinaigrette, or go classic with our Caesar or Italian chopped salad. Add slices of cheesy garlic bread, homemade focaccia, or a crusty baguette on the side for soaking up the sauce. For a little extra veggies, roasted vegetables like broccoli, zucchini, or asparagus are perfect.
More Stuffed Shells Recipes
Sausage Stuffed Shells
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
The sausage and ricotta filling for these shells holds up beautifully, making them just as perfect for a cozy dinner as they are for serving as finger food. You can use any type of sausage you prefer. If you’re using a leaner sausage, add a drizzle of oil to the pan before browning to keep the filling rich and flavorful.
When cooking the pasta, add a few extra shells to the pot, as some may tear during boiling. The filling in this recipe makes enough for about 16 filled shells.
You Will Need
20 jumbo dried pasta shells
1 pound fresh Italian pork sausage, casings removed (450g)
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, 1 ¼ cups
½ cup ricotta cheese (113g)
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (56g)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 cups marinara sauce (470ml)
Directions
1Prep: Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C). Set aside a 3-quart baking dish.
2Cook the shells: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta shells and cook according to the package directions until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.
3Make the filling: Meanwhile, heat a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned, about 10 minutes, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, and the spinach. Cook until heated through and the liquid has reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the ricotta cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
4Assemble: Spread about 1 cup of marinara sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Fill each shell with the sausage mixture and arrange them in the dish. Sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese.
5Bake: Bake until the tips of the shells begin to brown and the cheese has melted, about 25 minutes. Warm the remaining marinara sauce and serve it alongside the shells.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Leftover shells can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and about 3 months in the freezer.
- Sausage with casing: If you cannot find bulk sausage, buy sausage formed into links, and then remove the casings by cutting a slit down the sausage and pulling the casing away from the meat.
- Use fresh spinach: Cook 1 pound of fresh spinach until wilted, squeeze out excess moisture, and add to the filling.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Yum! delish! Will make often!
After accidentally buying two large bags of spinach I came across your recipe in a bid to use it up. I already had the pasta in, but swapped the Italian sausage for Lincolnshire ones I had in the fridge, along with some oregano and fresh rosemary. As my son has allergies, I used violife creamy and original grated as a dairy swap. It’s so phenom-a-nom-nom-nom that I make it in bulk and freeze portions for when I get the craving for it, thankyou for sharing the joy!
Wow! This tasted exactly as I had hoped it would…and my family is happy too! Thank you!
YUM! Will definitely be making these again.. Since we’re older and don’t eat a lot at a meal, I was able to get 2 meals out of the recipe – one for dinner, one for the freezer!
As soon as I saw this recipe I new I had to make it. I make stuffed shells all the time but never like this. I bet it would be good with an Alfredo sauce drizzled over the top with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
I used the bacon mushroom and swiss links from Costco and replaced the ricotta with goat cheese. I also replaced the mozzarella topping with Munster. Due to the links already being seasoned, I chose not to add salt and pepper. Everyone loved it and it came out fantastic. Thank you!
Love the subs! 🙂
Make this keto by using mini sweet peppers instead of shells– or I suppose you could do hot peppers if you like. Cut off the top. Slice the pepper open and take out the seeds with a sharp paring knife. If the peppers are big, you could cut them in half, but mostly, I’ve just used whole mini peppers. I took them to a picnic and they were all gone in moments.
I always use fresh spinach..a whole bag because it cooks down. And I use Jimmy Dean regular pork sausage. So yummy!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Been wanting to try this recipe but thought it might be too tedious. Surprise!! Took much less time than I thought. So tasty! I used mild Italian sausage meat from our butcher. Definitely a repeat.
i want your recipe. thanks so much
Oh my! This dish was so delicious! My husband and mom loved it!! This will definitely will be on our dinner rotation😊 I did follow recipe exactly but this is a dish that can easily be customized to fit your tastes.
I made these when I found the recipe thinking they sounded good. Told my husband that I would end up making our granddaughter that lives with us a grilled cheese, cause she wouldn’t eat eat. Imagine my Surprise 🙂 she loved them and requests that I make the recipe often. Thank You for a wonderful recipe that included vegetables that I have never got her to eat before!!
We love these and I’ve made them many times but I want to make them ahead and freeze them. Could these be frozen before baking?
Hi Sally, Yes, you can freeze the shells before baking.
This was so easy to make and so good! Love how there was very little prep required. New favorite!
Super easy and yummy! I make this but add 1/8 tsp of cinnamon and it really just turns it up a notch! I also add marinara to the bottom of the pain! Yum!
This is my 3rd time making this in less than 2 weeks. I’m addicted and this recipe is why. The only thing I did differently was add about 2-3 oz of shredded Parmesan cheese to the recipe. I love these stuffed shells and they will NOT disappoint.
Pasta shells are hard to find here, I finally found some and may need to buy them in bulk before they disappear because the family loved this.
Not sure where you live. I’m in Connecticut. I have been lucky and am finding the shells at Walmart. They aren’t in a box though. They are in plastic bags. Which threw me off. Cuz my mind was skipping right over the bags. Not used to seeing them packaged that way.
Excellent! We’re not big fans of ricotta so I used cream cheese. Delicious.
This was fantastic! Even my picky highschooler ate multuple shells, spinach and all. Followed the recipe almost exactly, I just used breakfast pork sausage instead and it was so easy!
I cant find plain pork sausage in my area. Should I use sweet italian sausage please?
Yes, that would work nicely.
I’m not a fan of ricotta cheese what cheese can I substitute that with?
Try cottage cheese instead.
We love the stuff shells but mom can’t keep them from breaking up. After trying she just doesn’t what she can. Is there a way to stuff them without breaking? Please show me by pictures. I want to make them right for a friend. Want them to like shells. Please help.
Miriam
Hi there, you can try undercooking the shells by a minute or two so that they are more sturdy and easy to handle.
Sounds great. Do you serve this alone or with a marinara sauce?
You can do either! Here’s a link to our marinara sauce recipe.
Wonderful recipe that adapts well to vegetarian. Substitute Morningstar Farms sausage patties crumbled for the meat. sausage. I love onions and added some. Used the fresh spinach option.
This recipe is a keeper! A great make-ahead dish and not too heavy.
absolutely DELICIOUS! this recipe was nice & easy (even for a lazy cook such as myself). used both sweet and hot sausage to shake it up a bit. thanks for sharing!
I made these a few months ago, they were so good I did them 2 days in a row, my question is – can you make these ahead of time and freeze and if so at what point do you stop, before or after baking ?
Hi Patricia, I have just updated the recipe with the answer to your question (sorry it was not there to begin with). Here’s what I have added:
The filling can be made in advance and should last in your refrigerator up to 3 days and in your freezer for about 3 months. We recommend using freezer-safe glass containers, or double layers of freezer bags to store the filling. To thaw, leave it overnight in the refrigerator. Baked shells freeze well. Let them cool completely on a rack before freezing, and then wrap it well with foil (we use two layers). Defrost the frozen shells overnight in the refrigerator and then bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until heated through. Filled and unbaked shells can be made up to 1 day in advance. Cover the unbaked stuffed shells with foil then bake the next day in a 350 degree F oven.
What is the reserved 1/4 cup of pasta water for? It’s never referred to again in the recipe.
I have them filled and ready to bake tomorrow. I plan on keeping them covered, then removing the foil to brown slightly.
Hi Nancy, Sorry about that. This was a mistake, you do not need to reserve the water.
If I use fresh spinach, do you use it as is or do I need to blanch it and dry it? If I do blanch it, will I need more than what the recipe calls for? Also, would it be best to coverit with foil?
Hi Rebecca, You can use fresh spinach. You will need about 1 pound of spinach leaves. Cook them until wilted and then squeeze out excess moisture before adding to the filling.
Do you cook the shells all you way? Why put the shells in ice water?
This stops them from overcooking and makes them a little easier to fill. You could also just rinse under cool water after cooking.
I make this all the time. My family loves it.
I love these recipe!the creamy flavor of all the ingredients combined tops it off my family loves it and I do to hands down a 5 star meal???????????
What is a good replacement for the ricotta?
I use goat cheese. Delicious!
My family doesn’t like any kind of creamy cheese,so I use Mozzarella cheese.
This is an older comment but I use CREAM CHEESE! I’ve made these a dozen times.
Cottage cheese is a poplar substitute for ricotta cheese.
love these! Making them for the second time tonite! I give it 5 stars!
My husband and I made this for supper tonight. It was delicious!
Do you not drain the sausage before adding the other ingredients?
If you notice a ridiculous amount of excess fat, it wouldn’t hurt to drain it. Otherwise, we just continue on with the recipe.