Lasagna Stuffed Pasta Shells

You know those dinners that taste amazing and like they take a ton of work, but that they really are so easy to put together and are a crowd-pleaser? This is one of those dishes. I like to keep dinners simple and delicious at our house, so if you’re looking for something that will take you about 40 minutes to prep and cook, lasagna stuffed shells are the way to go!

There is something about using shells instead of lasagna noodles that makes this seem fancier than just making lasagna. I was originally going to make 4 cheese stuffed shells, but the sausage just sounded so delicious to add to it. Now, you’re getting a 4 cheese lasagna stuffed shell!

The full recipe and ingredients list is at the end of this post, but I thought you might like a couple of in process kind of shots to help with any questions you may have. First, it is easiest if you get your pasta and sausage cooking and then prep everything else while they are cooking. Cook the shells according to the packaging (about 10 minutes in salted water) and then drain and let cool a bit so that they aren’t burning your fingers while you are stuffing them.

One of the things that makes this so easy is that I use a pre-made sauce. I used the Bertolli Tomato and Basil sauce, and I would think that any of their sauces would be good in this. If you wanted to bring out the cheesy taste, you could use their Four Cheese red sauce, or you could go with their Riserva Marinara sauce. Whichever one you choose, I am sure will taste amazing in this dish. The combination of the fresh ingredients and the pasta sauce makes for a combo that you can’t mess up. (There are a ton of other recipes that you can check out over on the Bertolli website too. It looks exactly like what I would think Tuscany would look like in food form.)

You’ll want to put a spoonful or two of the sauce and sausage combo into the bottom of the pan to get started. Then start stuffing the three cheese mixture into the shells (the fourth cheese is what we finish the dish with at the end.) I used two 9X9 pans, but you could use a full baking dish to fit all of the shells into at once. I wanted to do a little experiment with the two of them and see which one I liked better, or if there was even a noticeable difference. For the first pan, I only put the cheese into the shells. For the second pan, I mixed the sauce and meat mixture into the cheese mixture. I think they turned out about the same, so you can do it whichever way you want!

After all the shells are in the pan, cover with more of the sauce and meat mixture and then top it with freshly shredded mozzerella cheese. I always prefer to use the fresh stuff because it gives it a really nice melty texture and delicious taste that I think you miss with the pre-shredded cheese.

Cover with tinfoil and then pop it into the oven for 20 minutes. Take the foil off after the 20 minutes and continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted and bubbly. Let it sit for a little bit before serving and then enjoy!

I am sure that you will have people asking for seconds and thirds with this dish. It even makes great leftovers too!