Italian Sausage Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 12 ounces jumbo pasta shells
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
- 2 cloves garlic
- Hunt's diced tomatoes
- Hunt's tomato sauce
- 1 Tbsp italian seasoning
- 1 large egg
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 10 ounces frozen spinach
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley
- salt
- pepper
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook jumbo pasta shells (12 ounces) according to the instructions on the package. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.
Heat olive oil (1 Tbsp) in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the onion (1 medium) and cook until softened, a few minutes. Add sweet Italian sausage (1 pound) to the pan, breaking up the sausage into smaller bits. Cook sausage about 5 minutes, until cooked through, and no pink remains. Add the garlic (2 cloves) and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat.
In a bowl, combine Hunt's diced tomatoes and Hunt's tomato sauce and italian seasoning (1 Tbsp). Spread half of the diced tomatoes into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
In a large bowl, beat the egg (1 large) lightly. Mix in the ricotta cheese (16 ounces), chopped frozen spinach (10 ounces), 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese (1/2 cup), dried parsley (1 Tbsp), salt, pepper, and sausage mixture. Fill each cooked pasta shell with some of the ricotta, spinach, sausage mixture. Arrange the stuffed shells in the baking dish. Spread remaining diced tomatoes over the pasta and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (1 cup).
Heat oven to 375°F. Cover baking pan with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese (1/2 cup) and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.