How to Make Versatile Stuffed Shells for Dinner

This delicious recipe can easily be adapted to suit your dietary needs, as well as to help clean out your freezer and crisper drawer. For my family, I chose ground turkey, squash and mushrooms, cottage cheese and greens (grown in my cold frame) for the ingredient lineup. But, you could easily use ground wild game (like venison or elk) in this dish. The recipe used as a basis for the stuffed shells is from the online creator Olivia Haas; find her version on her Substack.

Stuffed Shells Ingredients

This list shows how I took Olivia’s recipe and modified it to suit our Alpha Gal-safe diet. I’ve also substituted cottage cheese for ricotta, to bump up the protein in the dish.

For the Pasta Sauce

• Olive oil (about 1 TBSP)
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 TSP minced garlic
• 1 lb ground turkey
• Salt & pepper – to taste
• Italian seasonings – I used oregano, fennel and thyme
• 2 TBSP tomato paste
• 1/2 cup organic chicken broth
• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Filling for Stuffed Shells

• 1/2 box jumbo pasta shells
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 2 cups chopped greens – I used a mixture of spinach, kale and Chijimisai greens
• 1-1/2 cup chopped mushrooms, yellow squash and zucchini
• 1- to 1-1/2 cups cottage cheese (use what you’ve got!)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (for topping)
• 2 TBSP chopped basil

Making the Shells

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Set out a 9×13 pan or equivalent-size casserole.

First, I cooked the shells according to an “Al Dente” finish on the package directions. As the water boiled and shells cooked, I set about making the sauce. Here are the steps that I used (very similar to Olivia’s method):

Warm the olive oil in a saucepan. Saute the onion until soft, and add in the garlic. Next, brown the ground turkey and season with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings to taste. When the turkey has cooked, add in the tomato paste and cook and stir. Then, pour in the chicken broth (I used Better Than Bouillon and water). Add the can of crushed tomatoes and parmesan, and bring the sauce mixture to a boil, before covering and turning the heat down to a simmer. Stir the sauce occasionally and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

As the sauce simmers, cook up your veg in a clean saucepan and a little olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.

Next, combine the cooked vegetables, cottage cheese, parmesan and eggs in a bowl. This makes your shell stuffing.

When the pasta shells are done cooking, rinse with cold water in a colander and drizzle with a little olive oil (to prevent them sticking together). In a 9×13 pan, spoon down half of the tomato sauce. Next, nestle the cooked and filled shells (I used a large soup spoon to add the filling to each) on top of the sauce. Then, cover with the remainder of the sauce and top with the shredded Monterey Jack cheese.

Pop your pan in the oven, uncovered, and bake until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese starts to brown (about 25 to 30 minutes). I served our shells with a slice of crusty sourdough bread. Delicious!

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  About Jackie Richardson

  Jackie Baird Richardson is an interior designer, editor at The WON and avid junker. Watch for her design tips and occasional crafting ideas, bringing the outdoors indoors. View all posts by Jackie Richardson →