Stuffed shells are a dinnertime classic, and I’ve taken my version to the next level with this super easy Sausage Stuffed Shells recipe! A rich Italian sausage sauce is spiked with red pepper and lemon before being spooned into tender shells with a creamy filling, and baked under a thick blanket of golden, bubbling cheese! What could be better?!
Looking for more easy pasta recipes? You HAVE to try my Tuscan Sausage Pasta, Best Easy Lasagna, Creamy Red Pepper Pasta, Creamy Garlic Shrimp Pasta and my go-to Easy Cheese Tortellini Pasta!
Why This Recipe Works
It really delivers on flavor: As well as the delicious flavor of Italian sausage, you’re enhancing your favorite jar of marinara sauce with onion, garlic and crushed red pepper for the ultimate sausage sauce for these stuffed shells.
It’s inspired by a classic Italian sausage sauce: The additions of grated lemon zest and a splash of milk to tenderize the sausage often found in classic sauces makes these meat stuffed shells just that little bit more special.
You can adapt them to suit what you have to hand: The sauce will work just as well with ground beef, and you can use creme fraiche, mascarpone or ricotta alongside the sauce inside the shells, so you don’t have to open a new pot of dairy just to make this!
Ingredients
- Olive oil: To fry off the onion, sausage and aromatics.
- Brown or white onion: Chopped, for depth of flavor.
- Salt: To balance the nice savory flavors in this baked pasta dish.
- Italian sausage: Choose a plain one or something flavored with herbs.
- Crushed garlic: For an extra layer of flavor.
- Crushed red pepper flakes: To add a touch of warmth.
- Marinara sauce: To make a rich tomato sauce.
- Cracked black pepper: To taste.
- Milk: To make the sauce richer and the sausage more tender.
- Lemon zest: This adds a lovely brightness and lifts the tomato sauce.
- Giant pasta shells: Perfect for stuffing!
- Creme fraiche: To add creaminess without being too rich. If you can’t find it mascarpone or ricotta would be a good substitute here.
- Shredded mozzarella: For a nice cheesy top!
- Shredded basil: To finish.
Here’s How To Make It
Step by Step Instructions
- Cook the onion: Heat the oil over a medium high heat in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Once it is shimmering, add the onion with a generous pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft and slightly golden. (photo 1)
- Cook the sausage: Add the sausage, breaking it up with the back of your spoon. Cook until browned. (photos 2-3)
- Add the aromatics: Stir in the crushed garlic and red pepper flakes, cooking for a further few minutes until the garlic is aromatic. (photo 4)
- Simmer the sauce: Stir in the marinara sauce, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium low, season well with black pepper, and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. (photos 5-6)
- Finish the sauce: Stir in the milk and the lemon zest, and simmer for a further 10 minutes. (photos 7-8)
- Cook the pasta: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F and cook the pasta shells as per the packets instructions in a pan of boiling, salted water. You want them to be just tender, but still with a good amount of bite. Drain and set aside. (not pictured)
- Season: Check to see if you want to add any more salt or pepper to the sauce before assembling the shells. (not pictured)
- Stuff the shells: Spoon a generous amount of the sauce into the bottom of a large oven dish or shallow casserole. Then, to assemble the shells, spoon a little creme fraiche or ricotta into each one, topping up with sauce, then nestling join side up in the pan. (photos 9-10)
- Add the cheese: Spoon over any remaining sauce, and scatter over the shredded cheese. (photo 11)
- Bake: Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling, and the cheese is melty and golden. (not pictured)
- Rest before serving: Rest for 5 minutes before sprinkling over the shredded basil and serving. (photo 12)
Expert Tips
- Use the right sauce. If you live outside the US and a good jarred marinara sauce is not available, substitute a standard 680ml bottle of passata instead.
- Cook extra shells. Some are guaranteed to tear or stick to the bottom of the pan so cook a few extra if there is some left in the pack to make sure you have enough to stuff.
- Make it ahead. You can assemble the pasta up to the night before you want to serve it, baking it right from the refrigerator, just adding an extra 5 minutes of baking time. You can also make the sauce up to 3 days in advance, or store it in the freezer for up to 3 months – it also works as a regular pasta sauce!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Choose a nice fat shape like ziti or rigatoni, and layer the creme fraiche with the pasta in the pan before topping with the cheese.
A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach stirred into the sauce would be great if you’ve got a bag that needs using up.
More Easy Sausage Recipes To Try
- Easy Creamy Tuscan Sausage Pasta Recipe
- Easy Baked Ziti with Ricotta and Sausage
- Simple Chicken and Sausage Pasta
- Easy Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta
- Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Sausage and Vegetables
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion - chopped
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1 ½ tsp crushed garlic
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 24 oz marinara sauce
- cracked black pepper
- ½ cup milk
- 1 lemon - zest only
- 8 oz giant pasta shells - approx. 28
- 1 cup creme fraiche - or mascarpone or ricotta cheese
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup shredded basil
Instructions
- Heat the oil over a medium high heat in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Once it is shimmering, add the onion with a generous pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft and slightly golden.
- Add the sausage, breaking it up with the back of your spoon. Cook until browned.Stir in the crushed garlic and red pepper flakes, cooking for a further few minutes until the garlic is aromatic.
- Stir in the marinara sauce, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium low, season well with black pepper, and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the milk and the lemon zest, and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F and cook the pasta shells as per the packets instructions in a pan of boiling, salted water. You want them to be just tender, but still with a good amount of bite. Drain and set aside.
- Check to see if you want to add any more salt or pepper to the sauce before assembling the shells.
- Spoon a generous amount of the sauce into the bottom of a large oven dish or shallow casserole. Then, to assemble the shells, spoon a little creme fraiche into each one, topping up with sauce, then nestling join side up in the pan.
- Spoon over any remaining sauce, and scatter over the shredded cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling, and the cheese is melty and golden.
- Rest for 5 minutes before sprinkling over the shredded basil and serving.
I am not a vegetarian by any means, but this looks AMAZING! However, my neighbor is a vegetarian and I really would LOVE to do something nice for her by making her dinner. So I was wondering if this is a freezer friendly meal? I mean could I make a huge batch for her dinner and then have some leftovers for her to freeze??
Hi Shana! I haven’t frozen them myself but I think it would work great! You could probably do it a couple of ways. 1) you could make the whole dish (doubled even if you wanted a lot) and then she can simply freeze the leftovers. Or you could leave half of it disassembled and she could freeze the filling separate from noodles and cook the noodles fresh. 🙂
My house has made this several times! It was even requested by my mother to be her birthday dinner. It is SO good and such an easy dinner.
DELICIOUS and eAsy
Thanks, Jamie!
My Boyfriend and i really loved this! we followed the recipe exactly. This OBVIOUSLY ISN’T a low calorie meal, but do you have an estimated calorie count?
Hi Jessica! Super excited to hear that you two enjoyed this recipe! As far as the nutritional information goes… I recommend using MyFitnessPal. They have a great online (and free!) tool where you can input any recipe URL into and it will generate what you are looking for!
DELISH!
I’ve made this recipe many, many times now. Sometimes I add chicken or crushed res pepper flakes, but it is delicious just the way you wrote it. Thank you,thank you
I love adding red pepper flakes to this one, too!!