Pastas are usually fairly quick dinners that take about 30 minutes to an hour. However, sometimes we just want to come home from work and have our dinner ready to be served on a plate and into our bellies! I used my slow cooker to create a stuffed pasta recipe using a red sauce base with jumbo pasta shells. I stuffed them with a ricotta and mozzarella filling and I let them cook for about 6 hours while I went about my day until it was time for dinner. I topped the cooked shells with Parmesan cheese and parsley when I was ready to serve them!
Save some marinara sauce on the side to drizzle on top of the pasta when it's ready to be served and eaten. This helps add a more liquid texture to the thickened sauce in the slow cooker.
This is a perfect entree for the whole family to enjoy and the flavors are not too heavy, so it makes for a delicious and light dinner!
Many of you depend on the slow cooker a lot because you are just too busy to cook or would rather have a pot do all the work, and there is no shame in that! Although I don't use mine as often, I love when I do because all it takes is 10 minutes to prep my dinner in the mornings and it's ready to go by the evening. You all have asked for some more slow cooker recipes so I have been experimenting with it a lot more, and I think you guys are going to love this dish!
I layered the stuffed shells on top of each other and laid them in a bath of marinara sauce to cook to perfection. The spinach and ricotta filling slightly oozes out of the shells and gives the sauce even more flavor while they cook for about 6 hours. Before I served the pasta, I drizzled over some heated marinara sauce and sprinkled some shredded Parmesan on top!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Serves: 4 People
Cook Time: 6 hours
Total Time: 6 hours, and 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 Box Jumbo Pasta Shells
1 cup Chopped Frozen Spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess juice
12 oz. Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. Basil
1 tsp. Oregano
2 24 oz. Jars of Marinara Sauce, whichever you prefer
Fresh Parsley, chopped for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat the slow cooker on low. On the bottom of the pot, pour one jar of Marinara sauce so the shells don't stick to it when cooking.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, oregano, and basil. Mix the ingredients until evenly combined.
Stuff each of the pasta shells with about 1/2 Tbsp. of the ricotta filling.
Begin laying about half of the filled pasta shells on the bed of pasta sauce.
Once half are in the slow cooker, spoon 1 cup of marinara sauce over the first layer. Add the rest of the shells on top of the first layer and cover them in a cup of marinara sauce as well.
Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours, until shells are soft and cooked.
Before serving, pour the rest of the sauce over the cooked shells and garnish with cheese and parsley.
Enjoy!
Comments