Name: Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Pasta
Ingredients: 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; 8oz (230g) of fresh spinach, chopped; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 3 cloves of garlic, crushed; 1 large egg; 30g (1oz) of parmesan cheese, grated; 270g (9.5oz) of ricotta; 20 jumbo pasta shells (approx 140g), uncooked; cooking oil spray

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Get ready to tantalize your taste buds with these irresistible Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells – they're absolutely scrumptious! Trust me, everyone will be begging for seconds of this mouthwatering dish.

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells presented in a turquoise cast iron pan, accompanied by a wooden spoon.

With its delicious flavours and simple ingredients, this is definitely a dish that will quickly become a family favourite and feature regularly on your meal plans.

Jump to:

The Slimming Eats Cookbook
Calories in Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells
Stuffed Giant Pasta Shells with Ricotta and Spinach
Ricotta and Spinach Filling
Making Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells
More Baked Pasta Recipes
Sides for Pasta
Recipe Card

The Slimming Eats Cookbook

This Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells recipe is also featured on page 218 of the Slimming Eats Cookbook in the blog favourites section.

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Calories in Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells

These yummy stuffed pasta shells serves 4 and is 327 calories per serving.

If you're looking for more recipes within the same calorie range, you'll find an abundance of options in my dedicated collection of 300+ calorie recipes.

If you're following a calorie-controlled diet or a healthy eating plan, it's important to calculate your daily calorie intake using a reliable calorie calculator. Please note that the calorie counts provided are estimates and can vary based on specific ingredients and serving sizes. Personalizing your calculations is essential to meet your individual needs. By using a calorie calculator, you can make informed choices and stay on track with your dietary goals.

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's all 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.

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells served on a white plate, accompanied by a fork

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 the FULL RECIPE INDEX where you will find over 900 delicious recipes with calories and you can search by meal type, ingredients, course, diet and more.

All recipes on Slimming Eats have estimated nutritional information for your convenience.

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

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Recipe Card

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells

Yield: SERVES 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

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 large 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:

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.
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.
Allow to cool slightly and then add to a blender and blend until smooth, set aside.

For the stuffed pasta shells:

Preheat oven to 180c/350f (gas mark 4)
Spray a frying pan over a medium-high heat with cooking oil spray.
Add the onion and garlic, season with salt and black pepper and fry for a few minutes until softened.
Reduce heat and add the spinach and stir until wilted.
Stir in the ricotta until all combined.
Remove from heat and quickly stir in the egg to avoid it scrambling.
Set the mixture aside.
Add the jumbo pasta shells to a saucepan of boiling hot water and simmer until al dente (approx 8-10 mins)
Drain and allow to cool slightly.
Spread the tomato sauce across the bottom of a shallow casserole dish or oven proof dish.
Fill the pasta shells with the ricotta and spinach mixture and arrange in the dish on top of the tomato sauce.
Sprinkle on top with the parmesan cheese.
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.
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.
Vegetarian Friendly - use vegetarian friendly Italian style hard cheese or cheddar instead of the parmesan
Suitable for Freezing ❄️

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Nutrition Information

Yield 4 Serving Size 1 SERVING
Amount Per Serving Calories 327Total Fat 12gSaturated Fat 6gTrans 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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