Stuffed Shells with Ricotta
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Feb 23, 2025 
These stuffed shells with ricotta filling, sitting in a layer of marinara sauce and baked under a layer of bubbly, golden mozzarella cheese is one of my ultimate comfort foods. I find it makes the perfect back to school dinner (which also freezes really well, right in the baking dish!) and the kids even like to get involved helping me stuff the shells. Even better, I’ve also included Crockpot instructions if you’d rather not turn on the oven!
Creamy, cheesy, and savory I’ve found that even picky eaters love my creamy ricotta filled stuffed shells (unlike my seafood stuffed shells recipe which I love, but is more suited to grown-ups — I know my audience!) They may not be very elegant, but with Marinara sauce (homemade or jarred) the classic Italian-American flavors also provide the perfect excuse to serve garlic bread on the side.
Sharina – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my new comfort food! These ricotta stuffed shells are so comfy and incredibly delicious. Such a keeper!
Table of contents
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Using a mixture of cheeses – I’m not being shy with the cheese in this recipe; we’re using ricotta to bring a serious amount of creaminess, Parmesan for a bit of sophisticated depth, and plenty of mozzarella as it melts really well in the oven and will create a wonderfully cheesy pull when it is time to serve.
Adaptable to my schedule – I’ve been making these ricotta stuffed shells (as well as my meat stuffed shells variation) for so long I’ve figured out how to make them work for any situation. Below I’ve included boil and no-boil methods for the noodles, I’ve linked to a homemade Marinara sauce that is utterly delicious with this but I know this also works with store-bought, and I’ve discovered it freezes really well in the dish so I can make two when I have time so that dinner is already sorted when I don’t. Also, I’ve figured out how to make them in the slow cooker — Crockpot instructions are also included below!
Key Ingredients and Tips
- Jumbo pasta shells – You need to get jumbo shells so you can fill them properly with the ricotta filling.
- Marinara sauce – I usually make this with homemade sauce. I know I’m biased, but my Homemade Marinara Sauce is delicious! For this recipe I find I get the rest results when I blitz it in a food processor or bullet blender to make it completely smooth. But, I do also make these stuffed shells with store-bought sauce. You’ll need a 24-oz jar. Rao is a particular brand favorite!
- Ricotta cheese – Kinda an essential for ricotta stuffed shells! Choose a good quality one as cheaper brands tend to be a bit watery, which is what we don’t want in the filling.
- Parmesan cheese – I find that adding Parmesan along with the ricotta inside the shells adds a bit of extra savory cheesiness. If you need these stuffed shells to be vegetarian, make sure you’re using a vegetarian-friendly Parmesan version.
- Mozzarella cheese – I usually get pre-shredded cheese to top this baked pasta as it is just easy and melts well!
- Egg – I find adding an egg to the filling is essential to both help stop the ricotta running out of the shells as they bake, and I find it makes the ricotta pleasantly light once it is baked.
- Italian parsley – Also known as flat leaf parsley, I find this chops into fillings much better than the curly variety.
- Fresh rosemary – I love the aromatic flavor this adds to the filling. In a pinch, you can use dried rosemary.
- Nutmeg – While they don’t taste ‘nutmegy’, nutmeg is an essential seasoning to lift Italian-style white sauces and pasta bakes. It adds the same complexity to the ricotta filling.
- Crushed red pepper – I like adding red pepper flakes for a bit of warmth. But, if you’re super sensitive to spice you can leave them out.
How To Make Stuffed Shells
Find the full recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and storage tips in the printable form at the bottom of the post!
Get prepared – First, I lightly oil or spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and set it aside. I then preheat the oven to 350°F.
Par-boil the shells – Next, I bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and partially cook the pasta shells for 4–6 minutes. I then strain the shells and lay them out in the prepared pan. (See the no-boil instructions in the notes.)
Make the filling – To make the filling, in a medium bowl I mix the ricotta, Parmesan, egg, parsley, rosemary, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper together until combined.
Fill the shells – Using a small spoon I fill each shell with 1–2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture.
Add the sauce – Then, I spoon the sauce over and around the shells.
Add the cheese – Finally, I top them with grated mozzarella cheese.
Bake – To bake, then I cover the pan tightly with foil and bake until the shells are tender and the cheese has melted, which usually takes about 25 minutes. Finally, I remove the foil for the last 3–5 minutes of baking if I want the cheese to get bubbly and golden. If I want to make the topping a little crispier, I do this step under the broiler instead.
Recipe Variations
- Make them in the slow cooker: To make Crockpot Stuffed Shells, you do need to boil or soak the pasta as directed. Then stuff the shells, place them in a large slow cooker, and cover them with marinara and cheese. Set the slow cooker on low, and cook for 5-7 hours.
- Add some spinach! I sometimes turn these into spinach ricotta stuffed shells by adding chopped spinach to the ricotta mixture. You can also use frozen spinach as well as you’ve thawed it and drained it as well as you can to stop the mixture becoming watery.
- Use vodka sauce – As an alternative to Marinara, vodka sauce would work really well with the flavors of the ricotta filling.
- Add some meat for extra protein. I sometimes cook ground Italian sausage, ground beef, or even ground turkey and add it to the cheese mixture. If you want you could also mix it into the tomato sauce.
Serving Suggestions
For me, some sort of bread to go alongside any baked pasta dish is essential. Try my garlic bread, cheesy garlic pull apart bread, or my homemade crazy bread recipe.
To balance things out I’d also add a salad. My wedge salad, pepper salad, and wilted lettuce recipe all go really well.
Storage Notes
You can store leftovers in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for 3 to 5 days. They can be re-heated in either the oven or the microwave.
I’ve also found that this dish freezes really well! I usually make a double or triple batch. Then I wrap the pans and put them in the freezer (unbaked) for another night. When you are ready to use them, you can thaw and bake each dish for 25-30 minutes, or place the frozen dish in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can assemble the shells, sit them in the sauce and add the cheese before covering them tightly and chilling until you’re ready to bake. Since the pasta and filling will be cold, you may need to add a little extra baking time. I’d do this the morning, or even the night you plan to bake them but realistically if you have family staying for a long weekend they’ll last unbaked for up to 3 days.
If you’re using good quality ricotta I usually don’t need to, but if your ricotta looks particularly wet, draining it first won’t hurt and will make sure you don’t end up with a loose, soggy filling!
I usually find that about 1–2 tablespoons of filling per jumbo shell is enough to generously fill them without causing them to split or massively overflow in the oven.
Boiling the pasta is the quickest method to ensure the pasta, filling, and sauce come out perfectly. However, if your oven takes a bit of time to preheat, you can soak the pasta in very hot tap water, instead of boiling it. Fill a bowl with hot salted tap water and let the pasta soak for 20-25 minutes while the oven preheats and you make the cheese filling. Then drain the pasta shells before filling.
Some old lasagna and baked pasta recipes suggest you can skip boiling (or soaking) the pasta altogether, by adding 1 cup of water to the baking dish with dried pasta. I don’t recommend trying this with stuffed shells. The water will cause the filling to leak out and turn runny before it is fully absorbed.
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More Comforting Pasta Recipes
Ricotta Stuffed Shells Recipe
Ingredients
- 20 jumbo pasta shells (half of a 12-ounce box)
- 3 cups homemade marinara, or 24-ounce jar
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- 2/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Lightly oil or spray a 9 X 13 inch baking pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Partially cook the pasta shells in water, 4-6 minutes. Strain the shells and lay in the pan. (See no-boil instructions in notes.)
- Mix the ricotta, parmesan, egg, parsley, rosemary, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper together in a medium bowl. Fill each shell with 1-2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture.
- Spoon the sauce on and around the shells. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Bake until bubbly and golden, about 25 minutes. If you want the cheesy top golden, take the foil off the last 3-5 minutes.
Where did the chicken Parmesan stuffed shell recipe go??
Hi Kim,
Sorry about that! We are taking some recipes down to revamp and repost. In the meantime, here is that recipe:
Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
servings: 6
Ingredients:
US Customary – Metric
3 cups homemade marinara or store-bought
24 jumbo dried pasta shells
2 cups chopped cooked chicken, use up leftovers
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 large egg
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Pour the marinara in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Place a large pot of salted water over high heat and bring to a boil.
Once the water is boiling, drop the pasta shells into the water and cook for 6-7 minutes, until almost cooked through. Drain the pasta.
Meanwhile, place the ricotta, parmesan cheese, egg, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, and crushed red pepper in a bowl. Mix well. Then stir in the chopped chicken.
Spoon the ricotta mixture into the shells. One at a time, dip the top (open side) of each jumbo shell in melted butter, then roll the top in panko bread crumbs. Place the shells panko-side-up in the baking dish.
Bake for 20 minutes in the center of the oven. (If the bread crumbs aren’t turning brown by the 15 minute mark, turn the boiling on high for the last 3-5 minutes.) Remove the baking dish from the oven. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over each shell. Then bake (at 400) for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Serve warm.
serving: 1serving, calories: 601kcal, carbohydrates: 41g, protein: 33g, fat: 33g, saturated fat: 18g, cholesterol: 141mg, sodium: 1449mg, potassium: 697mg, fiber: 3g, sugar: 7g, vitamin a: 1510iu, vitamin c: 9.3mg, calcium: 491mg, iron: 3.4mg
What a delicious and comforting meal! It was a hit with everyone in my house, thank you for sharing!
This is my new comfort food! These ricotta stuffed shells are so comfy and incredibly delicious. Such a keeper!
The ultimate comfort food. Thank you for making this so easy to prepare, my whole family loved it!
Hi! Newbie here – when you say boil (or soak) boil meaning cook the pasta shells all the way? The soak part had me a bit confused since soaking in my mind wouldn’t be cooking the shells. Thanks!
Hi June!
A long soak in hot water gives dried pasta a jump-start when you plan to bake it in sauce… Or you can partially boil it, so it is still firm, but halfway cooked. The pasta doesn’t have to be cooked all the way before baking, since it will soak up the liquid in the sauce and continue to cook fully as it bakes. Does that help?
ABSOLUTELY DELICIIOUS!!! I made Vodka Sauce instead of Marinara with this recipe and it was terrific.
This was easy, very easy but more importantly it’s really good. My husband, who grew up in Baltimore, said it tasted just like what you get in little Italy.
Cheesy stuffed shells are the best!!! All that gooey cheese. Such a great dinner idea too.
Delicious and easy! Love the fresh rosemary!
So cheesy! I love it.
This was delicious! Thank you!