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close up of meatball stuffed shells in a white round baking dish
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Mini Meatball and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

When a mini meatball and a bed of creamy ricotta cheese gets tucked inside a jumbo pasta shell, you have an easy one pan meal for a group or party! Announce you're having these meatball and ricotta stuffed shells for dinner and they'll come running through the door! A great use for leftover Italian meatballs!
Course Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings 8
Author Lori Murphy

Equipment

Ingredients

For the meatball filling

For the cheese filling

For the sauce

Garnish & Topping

Instructions

For the sauce - Make a batch of my homemade Italian red sauce using the instructions below and allow to cool. You can do this a day or two ahead as well and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the stuffed shells.

  • Place tomatoes in a blender with their juices and pulse until desired consistency reached.
    28 oz can whole peeled Italian tomatoes
  • Heat olive oil in a 4qt. saucepan (or larger if doubling) over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent and rich in color, about 5 minutes. Briefly add garlic for 30 seconds until you smell it.
    2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 medium onion, 2 cloves garlic
  • Add red wine here, if desired. Cook for at least two minutes until wine is incorporated. See note below.
    ½ cup red wine
  • Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomato paste. Swirl around until softened and combined with onions about 2 minutes. Add spices ending with sugar and quickly combine because you don’t want the sugar to burn but to caramelize just a bit.
    3 oz tomato paste, 2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon sugar, crushed red pepper
  • Quickly add pureed tomatoes and simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes. Check the seasoning after 30 minutes or so. Add more salt/pepper, water as needed or a little more sugar if the tomatoes are more on the acidic side.
    water
  • Taste and adjust for seasoning.
  • The sauce will thicken which is what you want. You are looking for a rich, red, sauce.

For the meatballs - make my Italian meatballs recipe using the proportions listed above

  • Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil.
  • In a large bowl and using your hands, blend the meats together until mixed well. You don't want to see big clumps of either meat but a nice uniform mixture.
    1 pound total of ground pork and beef combined
  • One at a time, crack the eggs into the side of the bowl and beat them lightly with a fork. Of course, you can beat them in a separate small bowl and then add them but I'm all about saving some dishes. 😀
    1 egg
  • Add the salt, pepper, oregano, both breadcrumbs, Parmesan, parsley and spices. Mix well into the meat along with the eggs.
    4 Tablespoons breadcrumbs, 4 T grated parmesan, 1/2 T fresh parsley, 1/2 tsp oregano, nutmeg
  • Add the warm water and mix gently with both hands making sure to incorporate all the water. It will feel like it won't mix together but it will eventually!
    1/4 cup warm water
  • Shape into 1” balls using either your hands or a small-sized scoop. The mix will be very wet. As you go along and your hands start to get a little sticky, rinse your hands with warm water but don't dry them and go back to making your meatballs.
    meatballs being scooped by cookie scoop on baking sheet
  • One at a time, line up meatballs on your baking sheet being careful not to overcrowd.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned, switching the pans in the oven halfway through to cook them evenly.
  • Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

For the ricotta filling

  • In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, whisking to make sure the eggs are completely mixed in.
    30 oz whole milk ricotta, 6-8 oz goat cheese, 2 egg, 3 T fresh parsley, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 2 cups parmesan cheese, 1 lemon

Assemble the shells

  • Preheat the oven to 350˚.
  • Bring a large 8 qt. stockpot of water to boil. Add enough kosher salt to season the water (I like a couple of small handfuls). Carefully, add in the pasta and cook about 2 minutes less than stated on the package. Stir occasionally while cooking.
    Drain in a colander and set aside. If you're doing this ahead, you can add some oil to the noodles after cooking to keep them loose and not sticking to one another.
    1 box/bag jumbo pasta shells
  • Place 1-2 ladles worth of red sauce at the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan.
    white baking dish with red sauce and meatballs, sauce and jumbo shells
  • Place the ricotta cheese filling into a large plastic bag with a zippered seal. Cut a small piece of the corner and pipe about 2 T of filling into each shell. Start conservatively as you can add more. You want enough cheese to "nestle" a meatball in there and fill the shell.
    Place the shell in the sauce and repeat with the remaining shells lining them up across the pan.
    hands filling stuffed shells with ricotta cheese blend.
  • Take a cooled meatball and add to the center of each shell.
    white baking dish of stuffed shells with meatballs and ricotta
  • Ladle over more sauce over the stuffed shells and sprinkle on freshly grated parmesan or tear over some fresh mozzarella if you like things on the cheesy side.
    fresh grated parmesan or mozzarella
    white baking dish filled with stuffed meatball shells with ricotta and topped with red sauce
  • Bake for 40-45 minutes until the sauce is bubbling in the center of the pan and the cheese (if you added it) is lightly golden. Tear over some fresh basil leaves before serving.
    fresh basil

Notes

Storage, reheating and freezer tips
Storage. Store any leftovers in a resealable, airtight container for up to 4 days.
Reheating. Reheat leftover in an oven set to 350˚ or in the microwave for 30 second increments until desired temperature is reached.
Freezer
Before baking: Cover with plastic wrap first and then a double layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost and top with layer of cheese, if desired, before baking.
After baking: Freeze for up to 3 months covered in plastic wrap and then a double layer of aluminum foil for up to 3 months. Defrost before baking or reheating.
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