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Jumbo shells stuffed with a creamy ricotta and spinach filling are flavorful and easy to make. They are wonderful baked in a marinara, vodka or Alfredo sauce depending on your taste or mood. They are a great dish to serve on special occasions or to company.

They freeze well making them a great freezer staple. They are versatile and can be served as a main or side dish.

Please see the recipe card below for exact amounts and directions.

Ingredient Round Up

  • Jumbo shells
  • Fat free ricotta cheese
  • Chopped spinach
  • Grated Romano cheese
  • Egg whites
  • Garlic powder
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Olive oil

Making the Stuffed Shells

  • Boil the shells in salted water with a small amount of olive olive added to the water to keep the shells from sticking to each other. If you are going to smother them in sauce, cook until very al dente as they will finish cooking in the oven. If you are going to bake them in a scant amount of sauce, then cook them a couple of minutes longer.
  • When the shells are cooked, drain them and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking. Shake off excess water and spread them on a cookie sheet until they are ready to be stuffed.

  • Place the ricotta cheese in a large mixing bowl.
  • I used frozen chopped spinach. Make sure it is completely thawed. Squeeze the spinach to remove as much water as possible. And the spinach to ricotta. Mix the spinach into the ricotta.
  • Add the Romano cheese, garlic powder and black pepper to the ricotta mixture and thoroughly mix it in. Taste the mixture. Add salt and additional garlic powder to the mixture if you think it is needed. You are not looking for a strong garlic flavor you want it to be there but understated.
  • Once you are happy with how the ricotta mixture tastes, add the egg whites and thoroughly incorporate them into the mixture.

  • Stuff each shell with the ricotta cheese mixture and place them on a cookie sheet that will fit into your freezer. Hold back the stuffed shells you are going to serve immediately and cover the cookie sheet with the extra stuffed shells with plastic wrap and place into the freezer. Once they are frozen, transfer them to a zip lock freezer bag and store for later use.

  • To prepare baked stuffed shells, put some sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Place the stuffed shells into the baking dish. Top each stuffed shell with a teaspoon of sauce and spread it over the top of each shell. Sprinkle some shredded fat free mozzarella over the shells. Cover with tin foil and bake. Note, marinara, Alfredo and vodka sauce all works well. For this meal, I used Alfredo sauce.

  • Remove the shells from the oven and plate.

Serving Ideas

  • Stuffed shells can be served as a main dish along with a side salad and a bread stick or piece of garlic bread.
  • A fewer number of shells can be served as a side dish along with chicken Parmesan, Italian sausage or meatballs.
  • Depending on your mood, you can switch the dish up by using a different sauce to bake them with.

WW – 2 pt per stuffed shell

Priano Alfredo sauce from Aldi’s is 2 pt per quarter cup. I baked seven stuffed shells with 2 tbsp of sauce on the bottom of the baking pan and another tsp of sauce spread over each shell. Both the hubby and I were satisfied with the results. Three shells were 5 pt plus an additional pt for the sauce – it was a nice lunch portion for me.

Stuffed Shells Florentine

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Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 36 stuffed shells
Calories: 61.1kcal

Equipment

  • cookie sheets
  • 4-5 qt pot
  • mixing bowl
  • colander

Ingredients  

Jumbo Shells

  • 1 box Barilla Jumbo Shells or your favorite brand
  • 1 tsp olive oil

Ricotta Cheese Mixture

  • 2 15 oz containers fat free ricotta cheese, I used Galbani
  • 1 c chopped spinach, well drained and packed into cup
  • ⅔ c romano cheese
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • pinch black pepper
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 egg whites OR 1 whole egg

Baking the Shells

  • 4-5 tbsp sauce - I used Alfredo sauce but marinara and vodka sauce will also work.
  • 1 oz Kraft fat free shredded mozzarella

Instructions

Jumbo Shells

  • Boil water in a 4-5 qt pot. When the water comes to a boil, add the olive oil to the water to keep the shells from sticking to each other. Also salt the water if you wish.
  • Add the shells to the boiling water. If you are going to smother the shells in sauce when they are baked, boil them for 9 min. If you will be using a scant amount of sauce, boil them for an additional 2 min.
  • When the shells are done, drain them into a colander. Rinse the shells with cold water to stop the cooking and to remove oil and salt from the cooking water.
  • Spread the shells out onto a cookie sheet until you are ready to stuff them.

Prepare the Ricotta Cheese Mixture

  • Add the 2 containers of ricotta into a large mixing bowl.
  • Add the well drained spinach and incorporate into the ricotta cheese.
  • Add the romano cheese, garlic powder and black pepper. and thoroughly incorporated into the ricotta. Taste the ricotta cheese mixture. Add more romano, salt and/or garlic powder if you think it is needed. You do not want the garlic powder to be overwhelming - you want it to be subtle and understated.
  • Once you are satisfied with the seasoning, add the egg whites to the mixture and thoroughly mix them into the ricotta cheese mixture.
  • Stuff each shell and place onto a cookie sheet. After all the shells are stuffed, remove the number you will need for a meal. Cover the remaining shells with plastic wrap and place the cookie sheet into the freezer. After the shells have frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag for later use.

Baking the Stuffed Shells

  • Preheat the oven to 350℉
  • Spread the sauce you will be using over the bottom of the baking dish. I used 2 tbsp of Priano Alfredo sauce. Place the stuffed shells into the baking dish. Top each shell with sauce depending on your taste. I spread a tsp of the Alfredo sauce on each shell. Sprinkle some shredded fat free mozzarella over the shells.
  • Cover the baking dish with tin foil and bake for 30 min at 350℉.
  • Remove from the oven and serve.

Notes

Nutritional information and WW pts are per stuffed shell.
You will need to calculate based on how many shells you eat and how much of what sauce you use.
For example, using the WW link provided, 3 shells were 5 pt.
2 tbsp of Priano Alfredo sauce was 1 pt.
2 tbsp of Kraft fat free shredded mozzarella was 0 pt.
So 3 stuffed shells for lunch was 6 pt total.

Nutrition

Serving: 1stuffed shell | Calories: 61.1kcal | Carbohydrates: 9.5g | Protein: 4.3g | Fat: 0.7g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Sodium: 60mg
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