Happy Monday, friends! I’m honestly so pumped about this meal prep, it looks, smells, and tastes SO GOOD. As it’s starting to get cooler out (hello low 70’s!), cozy foods are the best. And this one is so cozy – stuffed shells with spinach, cheese, chicken, and roasted garlic. YUM!
You don’t have to use the roasted garlic, but I highly recommend it. It’s so tasty, and honestly so easy. It also freezes well, so when you make some, make a bunch and pop it in the freezer for future you. Also, you can use any kind of jarred pasta sauce you’d like! I used a blush sauce which is so good, but use whatever you’d like.
Here’s the recipe:
Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
for the filling
- 1 C chicken breast, cooked and shredded
- 15oz ricotta
- 2/3 C shredded mozzarella
- 6oz frozen spinach, thawed
- 1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
- 1 head of garlic, roasted
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp paprika
- zest of 1 lemon
for assembly
- 6 oz jumbo shells
- 1 jar pasta sauce, your favorite kind
- 1/2 C shredded mozzarella
How to do it
- roast the garlic: preheat the oven to 400*. cut the top of the head of garlic off, exposing the tops of the clovers. coat in oil, wrap in tin foil, then roast on a baking sheet in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until soft, squishy, and fragrant. you can skip this step and just use a couple of cloves of minced garlic, but it’s worth the extra time! once this step is done, continue to step 2
- if cooking immediately after assembly, preheat oven to 350*
- cook the pasta: cook the shells according to the package directions, but pull them out of the water 3-4 minutes early. they’ll continue to cook in the oven later. rinse with cold water and set aside. while this cooks, make the filling
- make the filling: place the thawed, frozen spinach in a clean dishtowel and squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. place into a large bowl
- add the chicken, cheeses, garlic, green onions, spices, and lemon zest to the spinach. mix until well combined, then taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- assemble: place about 1/4 C of pasta sauce into the bottom of a 13″x9″ pan. using a large spoon, carefully fill each of the pasta shells with a couple of tablespoons of the filling and place into the prepared pan. continue until all of the shells and filling have been used
- top the filled shells with additional pasta sauce and the remaining shredded mozzarella
- if baking immediately, place into preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly. if not baking immediately, cover tightly and place in the fridge for a day, or in the freezer for longer. increase the baking time if cooking from cold or frozen
- enjoy!