I found this recipe last year and can’t believe I haven’t blogged about it yet. I’m always on the lookout for something that involves pasta (Alan can eat pasta 4 nights a week). When I saw this recipe my eyes lit up! Could it be that I had found something that involves pasta but yet ventures into a new cuisine. A break away from Italian and an entry into Mexican? I knew that Alan liked tacos so the flavors would be OK so I set out to try it. I was a little nervous when I was making this, I have to admit. Stuffed shells with taco seasoned beef? Taco seasoned beef with cream cheese (which we WILL NOT let Alan know is in here)?
My biggest worry was what if he liked it and I didn’t? What if I found a recipe that he enjoyed and would request and I couldn’t stomach? We already had enough of those! All of these worries were gone as we both took our first bites. The tastes are refreshingly new with the shells and how it’s prepared but still known enough to be considered a comfort food. It doesn’t take that long to prepare and is definitely a nice change up when winter foods start to get a little mundane.
Mexican Stuffed Shells
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package low-sodium taco seasoning ( or better yet use this Taco Seasoning!)
4 oz. cream cheese
14-16 jumbo pasta shells
1.5 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup monterey jack cheese
3 green onions
Sour cream
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a frying pan cook ground beef; add taco seasoning and prepare according to package directions. Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside and cool completely. While ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain. Set shells out individually on cutting board/baking sheet so that they don’t stick together.
Pour salsa on bottom of 9×13 baking dish. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place shells in 9×13 pan open side up. Cover shells with taco sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, add shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 more minutes, with the foil removed. Top with any condiments you’d like (green onions, black olives, etc.) Serve with sour cream and/or more salsa.
Adapted from: A Pinch of This & That
This looks so good. I love stuffed shells, and I love Mexican food. This looks like a good way to combine the two!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing. (I am SO hungry now…)
This is such a good idea! My husband would flip over this one. Thanks for sharing it with us.
This sounds amazing
My DH sent this from google + … guess he wants me to try it
Looks and sounds devine!!
They’re funny, aren’t they?
Hope you both enjoy it!
This is a great idea and one that my family would love too.
We loved this recipe. So glad you posted it. Stuff shells are hard to photograph, yours is really great!
Made these last night using a mild salsa and a medium taco sauce: very tasty! The black olives and green onions are a must. After you top with the cheese, do you cover it with foil again for the remaining bake time, or not?
Made these last night using a mild salsa and a medium taco sauce: very tasty! The black olives and green onions are a must. After you top with the cheese, do you cover it with foil again for the remaining bake time, or not?
I’m so glad you liked it! I leave it uncovered for the remaining time to allow the cheese to get a nice, golden brown.
Hi, these look great! I’m gonna make them tonight. I didn’t see when you used the monterey jack cheese? Is that in the beginning with the turkey mixture and cream cheese or at the end with the cheddar? Thanks!
You use the Monterey Jack and Cheddar blend to top the shells at the end. Enjoy!
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made these the other day for football and they were DELICIOUS! everyone absolutely loved them and they went FAST! THANKS FOR THE AWESOME RECIPE!!!
I went to the store last night to buy the ingredients for this recipe. It calls for 1 cup taco sauce. I couldn’t find taco sauce… can you tell me what brand you use so I can look specifically for that? Thanks!
It’s right in the section with all of the tortilla’s, taco dinners, etc. Old El Paso, Taco Bell and several others have taco sauce. It’s not to be confused with salsa or enchilada sauce.
Thank you…I will look harder. I found every other kind of sauce except for “taco sauce” hahaha
ahh that looks so good! i just love how cheesy it is!!
I’ve made these for years, and the only additions that I make are to use chive and onion cream cheese and put corn chips on top of the cheese to give that extra crunch.
I’ve also made these for quite a while. We call them taco turtles, because they look like turtles to little kids (I served them upside down for some fun). Every time I make them, I try something different; so we’ve made many different variations. Yummy every time!
I made this over the weekend, and while there wasn’t much left, I sent it on the truck with hubby and it is fantastic as leftovers too! Going in the rotation!
Just made these for dinner! They are so good!
Making these for dinner tonight! These look DELICIOUS!
Made them and there are a hit. We called them italican!
what would be a good substitute for the cream cheese….my husband hates the stuff but would love them other wise…any suggestions?:)
I’m not really sure because you’re using it in place of Ricotta to give the shells their own spin. The cream cheese melts so nicely in this meal, unlike a Ricotta or Cottage Cheese. My husband absolutely hates cream cheese and doesn’t even know it’s in this meal. He just thinks it’s a white cheese like mozzarella, so it may be worth a shot. As long as he doesn’t see the package!
Like Maeghan has said he wont notice at all that the cream cheese is in with the meat. It just makes the meat slightly creamier, the taco seasoning will hide the flavor for the most part.
My husband doesn’t like cream cheese either …. or does he? I didn’t tell him it was in the dish and he didn’t notice. He LOVED this meal!
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Made these for dinner and they were awesome! Even my 2 year old loved them and she hates cheese! Thanks for the recipe
I made this last night and my family loved it. My husband had three helpings (not standard for him). Easy to make and definitely will stay in my recipe box.
I made these last night for my boyfriend. He absolutely loved them and had to stop himself from finishing all fifteen of them. This is a very tasty and easy meal to make. Great idea, thank you so much!
Just made these for dinner.. they are AMAZING! We added a can of corn and a can of black beans and kept everything else the same… ran out of shells so next time we’ll double those! Easy and delicious!
Did you add the corn and black beans to the meat?
Great idea! I’m definitely making this dinner SOON! The picture is making me really hungry, too. Haha
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This was really good! I added jalapenos and red pepper flakes to give it a little kick, Very filling!!
I made these today and loved them! Thanks so much, this really hit the spot!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
My daughter made these for us yesterday evening! They were absolutely delicious on a cold week night. Can’t wait for leftovers tonight! Thank you! This will definitely become a family fave!
Made these tonight and they were WONDERFUL! couldn’t find the low sodium seasoning and it came out way to salty…..but otherwise….yummy yummy yummy!
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Hi, this looks soooo appetizing!!! I was wondering what kind of salsa to use?? Pace, homemade salsa, etc?? What kind did you use? Thank you
You can use any salsa that you like. Home made or store bought. Mild, medium, or hot. Whichever you’re accustomed to.
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Also good if you cook burger, chilli powder, cream cheese and pinto beans in frying pan then stuff shells with that. We love Mexican stuffed shells at our house
These looked good so I made them. I found them labor intensive and not worth the effort.
As far as taste – they are OK but nothing special. I kept wishing I had made either an Italian dish or Nachos….but not this.
Conclusion – Nacho chips / tortillas are better for Mexican. Pasta is better for Italian. I will keep these things in their respective categories from now on.
Sorry you didn’t care from them. You can’t win them all and everyone’s taste buds are different!
We made these recently because the picture looks so tasty! They were great! Easy and a nice change from our normal tacos or enchiladas! The leftovers also were good, which is a plus. We will make them again! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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any tips on possibly making a freezer meal out of these? My husband loves them and thought it would be a good idea but I’m new to doing freezer meals and I’m not too sure how it would freeze.
You can freeze one of two ways. You can prepare it all the way and instead of baking just freeze it. Usually, when I freeze meals like this I buy those tinfoil pans with the covers.
I also will freeze half of the filling (since I make a few batches together) in a Ziploc bag and then whenever I’m ready I can take it out and stuff the shells and go from there.
Hope this helps! One of these days, I’m going to have a few posts on freezing. I do it often and when i had my daughter it was a blessing! I think these very shells were actually from a freezer batch!
I’m thinking you would do it just like lasagna. Line your baking dish with foil, fill with the recipe and freeze. Once it’s completely frozen, take it out of the baking dish and wrap in plastic wrap or put in a zippy bag (works well with the 8×8 pans). Put it back in the freezer until ready to use.
Transfer back into the baking dish to thaw. Bake as directed in the recipe.
We had these tonight and they were amazing. The only thing I changed was to use homemade taco seasoning and enchilada sauce. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so glad you liked it! I’m glad you commented on the homemade taco seasoning because it made me look at the post and see that I never included the link to my own taco seasoning! Homemade is definitely the way to go!
what is taco sauce? this looks really good
You can find taco sauce in the Mexican section of your grocery store. It is similar to enchilada sauce.
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Heyy you could try Ricotta cheese instead of cream too !
thanks for sharing!
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Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I know my whole family is going to love it!
So gotta try this.
I can’t wait to try this!
I make a version of this adding refried beans to the meat mixture, cheddar cheese instead of cream cheese & I add a little enchilada sauce. You can imagine the versatility of this recipe. Kids hate refried beans and they go undetected here! You could also spread on lasagna noodles & roll up. Make this, you won’t be disappointed!!!
I am not a real big fan of Mexican food but I did try this tonight and thought it was really good. It’s a great way too use up that left over taco meat too!
Angela Michels
I made these tonight… so good!!!! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
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Made these tonight, everyone enjoyed them!! And I have 3 picky kids! Thanks!
Cant wait to make this
Just a question that is probably very silly…but what is taco sauce? I think this is great and have almost all ingredients but that one… any suggestions?
Taco Sauce can be found by tacos, enchilada sauce, etc. There are a few recipes online to make your own, also.
I recently made this and they are amazing!!! Just looking at the picture makes me hungry. Thanks for sharing!
We had taco bell packets. Tried some with fire, mild, and verde. Winner was verde sauce. Enjoyed this. Thanks.
Found this recipe via Pinterest and made these shells last night. Followed tips from your commenters and added 1 cup frozen corn and 1 can low sodium black beans (drained). Also used a mix of turkey and beef (1.5 lbs total). This made a enough to stuff 36 shells. I prepped half for freezer and baked the other off for dinner.
My husband is a picky and light eater, but he ate FOUR servings of this. Unheard of! He just couldn’t get enough. And my four-year-old who cries when we have tacos ate this willingly with only a minor complaint about spice. I loved it, too. Great family-friendly recipe.
Oh, and for the sauce I used 2 cups of salsa with one 8 oz can of tomato sauce + 2 tsp homemade taco seasoning & pureed it all with my immersion blender.
That is a great substitution! I’m so glad your family enjoyed the meal. What’s best is there is plenty leftover!
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I too found this recipe on Pintrest. These were just awesome! Made just as directed and turned out perfect. Thank You for the recipe Maeghan!
I would love to make this as i LOVE LOVE pasta and mexican!! but I am recently a vegetarian.. do you have any suggestions for alternatives to the taco meat!?!
You can use tofu crumbles…I use it in my spaghetti sometimes and no one can tell the difference…
These look really yummy and easy to make. Can’t wait to give them a try….
Sounds great! I only wish you had the nutritional information posted…
Found on Pinterest, really wasn’t feeling another “taco night” so tried this instead with a big side salad. Loved & the BF loved too! Only differences: The filling turned out 20 shells for me, and I only used half a 2c bag of shredded “Mexican Mix” cheese, and about of 1c of Med. Salsa. Its just the two of us, so next time I’ll probably freeze 1/2 the recipe prior to baking, and It’ll still be enough for dinner and lunch leftovers. A little labor intensive but hey.. 10$ an it made 2 dinners and 2 lunches for 2 people…awesome!! Thanks for sharing this!!!
I’m going to make these tomorrow, any ideas for sides???
This is such a hearty meal we skip sides. I wouldn’t want anything more than a salad!
Made these last night they are sooooo yummy!!!
I also found you on Pintrest (yay Pintrest) I cannot wait to try this. I would also add the corn and maybe some black beans or refried beans. Looks so yummy. I am always looking for a recipe for ground beef that is not tacos or meatloaf for my husband. And I could easily use ground turkey which I prefer. Thank you!
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Just made these!! Delicious!!
Also came here via Pinterest! These were delicious! I actually can’t wait to make the filling again and use it as enchilada sauce. I’m from Austin, Texas where this is more like the Tex-Mex sauce I’m used to rather than the canned stuff.
going to try look good
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Thank you so much for this recipe!! We la la loved it! My boyfriend went in for seconds and couldn’t stop saying mmmm!! He also listed it as top 3 things that I have cooked lol!! I sprinkled it with a little parm at the end and also had green salsa for a topping which was a a hit!
I also found on pinterest!! Love!! And you definately don’t need sides!! This is so filling and delish!
Thanks to Pinterest we found this and had them for dinner tonight…and now the thanks go to you for sharing such a tasty, but quick and easy recipe! LOVED IT! Can’t wait to try some of the variations with corn, beans, etc.
What is the difference in taco sauce and salsa?
You can find taco sauce in the Mexican section of your grocery store. It is similar to enchilada sauce and not chunky like salsa.
These were awesome…
I wrote this recipe in the spring of1996 for Woman’s Day Magazine. I can’t remember if it was in the March, April or May issue, but it is there. Someone added in the cream cheese–but still awesome to see it circulating again and so many people enjoying it.
This was easy & yummy!!! I didn’t hv shells so I cooked lasagna noodles n rolled the meat stuffing inside … it made 10 total. The meat stuffing was somewhat dry… I didn’t hv taco sauce so I used enchilada sauce (1/2 can on top). This will def be repeated!!! Thanks for recipe!!!
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Made these… all gone! Amazing!
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