Last evening I made gluten-free stuffed shells for the first time. This is one dish my husband has really missed. Probably about six months ago I saw some Tinkyada brand shells at the health food store and quickly picked up two boxes. I was excited to find them, especially since Tinkyada is the brand I always use and enjoy. However, the shells sat in my cabinet for months. I wanted to save them for something special, but what if they didn’t turn out well? Then I couldn’t find my old recipe which my husband loved so much.
Finally, I decided yesterday that I needed to do something with them. I usually make pizza from scratch on Friday nights, but I thought shells would be a nice change and a treat for everyone.
My old recipe used ricotta cheese, which I did not have on hand, and ground beef. I still couldn’t find that recipe so I decided to go with something different. This recipe is very simple, and I was surprised how quickly I put this dish together.
Before giving you the recipe, let me add a note about the shells. I cooked both boxes because some of the shells were broken, and I didn’t know how well the cooked shells would hold up. It turns out I could have gotten by with only one box, but if I were fixing this for company, I would probably want to cook some extra. The shells that were not broken held up well. I cooked them for 18 minutes, a little undercooked, since I was going to bake them. The shells seemed thick, which I guess is necessary to keep them from falling apart, and still slightly undercooked after baking. While they were good, I don’t think they are as good as wheat based shells, but I really can’t remember what those were like.
My recipe was a good basic recipe, but I missed the ricotta cheese. Maybe a better filling would make this dish a great one rather than a good one. My husband was surprised and grateful, and enjoyed his dinner very much.
Gluten-Free Sausage Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 box Tinkyada grand shells
- 1 pound bulk sausage
- 1/4 cup instant potato flakes (could use GF bread crumbs)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg
- Grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 large jar GF spaghetti sauce
Instructions
- Cook the pasta shells according to instructions on the package.
- Brown and drain the sausage, then add the potato flakes, Parmesan and egg.
- Spread a little of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
- Stuff the shells with the sausage mixture. (I used 15 shells.)
- Place the shells in the dish and top each one with some mozzarella cheese.
- Spoon the remaining spaghetti sauce over top.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Courses Main Dish
are these “giant” shells like the wheat kind. I have seen the small shells but not big ones.
Thanks
Bobbie
Bobbie, Yes, these are the really big shells. I can’t imagine trying to stuff the little ones. 🙂
Those look really beautiful linda!
Thanks for reviewing the pasta shells. I see them every so often, but worried they might not be good (i don’t know why, tinkyada has never steered me wrong yet!)
I haven’t seen ’em in a while, but now I’m on the look out ; your stuffed shells look too good to pass up!
If I wanted to eliminate the meat, would you have a suggestion on something else to “beef” it up a bit?