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★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
These healthy stuffed shells are going to rock your world! They're stuffed with spinach, a yummy blend of cheeses, then lightened up with ground turkey.
Healthy Yet Delicious!
If you like healthy food but you still like things to taste good... this dinner recipe is for you, baby!
Jumbo shells are stuffed with a blend of beef, ground turkey, vitamin-rich spinach and Italian cheeses then baked in your favorite red tomato sauce. (I love Rao's marinara!)
Freezer-friendly
These stuffed shells can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen for an easy and hearty meal for a family or a small crowd.
Enough to Share
This recipe makes a lot of shells! So this is a great dish to make and share with new neighbors, friends and family.
If you don't want to make such a large batch, you can cut the recipe in half. Use the slider in the recipe card below to adjust the number of servings.
Make it a Meal
Serve these stuffed shells with my summer panzanella salad, fluffy dinner rolls and Italian mascarpone and ricotta cheesecake for dessert!
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You don't need a long list of ingredients to make this yummy and healthy dinner!
Here's everything you need:
- Ground turkey and ground beef. I use a half and half blend but you could use all ground beef or all ground turkey if you prefer.
- Jumbo pasta shells. Cooked and drained.
- Onion. Yellow or white, your choice. White are more mild in flavor.
- Spinach. You can use fresh or frozen spinach. If using frozen, thaw first and squeeze excess liquid.
- Ricotta cheese. Low fat or full fat—your choice. More fat means more flavor, lighter is healthier. Swap in cottage cheese for extra protein.
- Parmesan Romano cheese blend. This blend adds great flavor, but you can use any Italian cheeses you like—Asiago is delicious too!
- Italian seasoning. Classic Italian herbs are marjoram, basil, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Add salt, pepper, parsley, or garlic powder if you like.
- Tomato sauce. I love Rao's marinara, but it’s pricey—use your favorite tomato-based spaghetti sauce to suit your taste and budget.
Don't love tomato sauce? Try using white Afredo sauce instead! - Mozzarella cheese. Shredded Mozzarella or a blend of Italian cheeses that includes mozzarella works too.
- Fresh parsley. Add fresh parsley as garnish for color and flavor.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This recipe is pretty easy to prep, just follow the steps.
- Sauté ground beef and ground turkey.
- Add onions.
- Season meat.
- Add cheeses to a large bowl.
- Blend cheeses together.
- Add spinach and cooked meat.
- Stuff shells with spinach, cheese and meat mixture.
- Add stuffed shells to pan and cover with sauce.
- Sprinkle with cheese and bake.
Watch this quick video that shows how to prepare and cook these stuffed shells:
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Most people eat 3-4 stuffed shells. This recipe makes about 35 shells and feeds around 8 people, so a large family or a small crowd.
Yes. Stuffed shells are freezer friendly. They are pretty easy to prep but do take a little time so I usually make the full recipe and split it into two dishes. One to bake and eat and one to save for later or share with a friend of neighbor. Once frozen, they make an easy heat-and-eat weeknight dinner.
Stuffing shells just takes a little time and some practice to find your grove. Here are some tips:
Make sure to stir your jumbo noodles while cooking, otherwise they can stick together and rip when you try to pull them apart.
Don't overcook your shells. Drain immediately after they're done cooking. Cooked properly, they hold their shape better and are easier to stuff.
After you drain the shells, don't let them sit too long. They'll dry up and start to stick together. I cover mine with a wet paper towel if I need more time to mix up the stuffing.
Use your fingers to stuff the shells with the spinach-cheese-meat mixture if a spoon isn't working well.
No matter how you season it or cook it, ground turkey is not going to taste like ground beef. I tried. So my compromise here is to lighten up this dish by using half lean ground beef and half ground turkey.
To me, the ground beef infuses flavor into this dish while the ground turkey adds that meaty texture but cuts the grease in half.
You can opt to use all turkey or all beef, but a half and half blend is my personal favorite way to make these stuffed shells healthier without sacrificing flavor.
★ More Ground Turkey Recipes ★
For more delicious dinner ideas, browse all my easy dinner recipes!
Love spinach? Check out my hot spinach artichoke dip and my spinach dip pinwheels!
These healthy stuffed shells were featured on Menu Plan Monday and have been pinned more than 15,000 times with lots of rave reviews! I hope you enjoy them too!
Healthy Stuffed Shells with Ground Turkey and Spinach
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 oz jumbo shells
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ onion diced
- 10 oz frozen spinach
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 9 oz Parmesan Romano cheese blend
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 48 oz marinara sauce
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella
- fresh parsley for garnish
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Boil jumbo shells according to package. Drain and set aside covering with a wet paper towel to keep from drying.
- Brown ground meat in a skillet together over medium heat with diced onion. Cook until no pink meat remains. Drain any excess fat.
- Thaw spinach in a colander under warm water. Press to remove excess water.
- In a large bowl, mix together Parmesan cheese blend, ricotta cheese, spinach, meat, onions and spices including salt and pepper.
- Take meat and cheese mixture and gently stuff into shells. Line a large baking pan or two smaller baking pans (freeze one!) with shells.
- Cover shells with marinara sauce. Top with slices of fresh mozzarella. Bake at 375˚F for about 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce it bubbling in the center. Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.
Video
Notes
- To reheat from frozen, thaw first or cover with foil and add approximately 10 minutes to the bake time.
- You can use marinara sauce, pasta sauce, or tomato sauce. Your choice. I prefer the flavor of Marinara.
Kerry says
Super easy & absolutely delicious! Thank you!
Krystle says
I'm not a fan of red sauce. Anyone ever tried this with Alfredo sauce instead?
Alyssa says
I LOVED them!!! Made with 2 pounds of ground turkey and really enjoyed it. Making it again tonight! 🙂
Angela G. says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!!
Cassondra says
I ended up with a couple of loaf pan sized aluminum pans of leftovers, one I froze and one I was looking to reheat this weekend sometime. If you don’t mind, how long do you reheat from fridge temp - the original 25 minutes at 375, or less time/lower temp than that? It’s covered with foil already, but I think it would come out much better reheated in the oven rather than microwaving it
Angela G. says
I would cover it with foil and reheat it at a higher temperature since you’re just trying to warm it up and not cook it. I would try 10 minutes at 4:25. Then check and see if the sauce is bubbling. If it’s not yet then give it a little longer.
CD says
Can you use bagged spinach instead of frozen?
Angela G. says
Yes, you can!
Nicole says
How much bagged spinach would you use instead of frozen spinach?
Angela G. says
Hi Nicole, you can use the same amount in ounces fresh or frozen.
4HMomOC says
Loved it! Easy, delicious and so happy I had extra to freeze!
Gwen Little says
I made these today for dinner! 😋 I used parm chz, mex triple chz & mozz chz. Next time I was suggested to use Gouda 😋
Angela G. says
Sounds yummy! Changing up the cheese is a great way to give this dish a new spin. Thanks for sharing!
Winfield says
Made this last night - big hit! It made two large 9 x 13 pans. The only addendum I made was using more mozzarella on top. Tasted even better the next day! Will absolutely make again! I even sent it to a few friends. Thanks for the recipe!
Angela G. says
Thanks for the review! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for sharing it with friends!
Kelsey says
Whats the serving size ? I saw it said 962 calories per serving, how many shells are in each serving ?
Angela G. says
Thanks for asking, Kelsey. I reset the serving size to 3 shells, which is a pretty hearty serving since they are stuffed and topped with sauce and cheese as well. You can see the updated calorie count and nutrition information now. Sorry about that. The Facts were auto generated recently as a new feature I added to my recipes but I had not input the appropriate serving size.
Kelsey says
@Angela G., thank you so much ! I can’t wait to make this
Angela G. says
You're so welcome! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Shawna says
How long does this stay good if I freeze it?
Angela G. says
Hi Shawna, generally you can freeze this for 2-3 months before it might start to loose quality due to freezer burn. If you can store it in an air tight container, that’s best.
LaToya says
Hello,
Is this to be frozen with the sauce and cheese on top?
Angela G. says
Yes, it can be frozen with sauce and cheese on top, just be sure to cover it with foil when you're ready to cook it so the cheese doesn't burn. Thanks for asking! 🙂
Esmeralda says
Hi! Was wondering what is the nutrition facts for this recipe? Calories and stuff like that. Thanks!
Angela G. says
Hi Esmeralda, Thanks for stopping by! You can find nutrition facts for any recipe using this site: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Crista says
Super easy to make and love that I can have extra to freeze since I’m making meals to freeze right now while on maternity leave. Never thought I could make stuffed shells until this!
Cindy says
It doesn’t say in the recipe where the Italian seasoning goes. Does it go in the meat or tomato sauce?
Angela G. says
Hi Cindy, The seasoning goes in when you mix the meat with the cheese in step 4. Thanks for asking! Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Kylie Rivera says
Angela,
I really would love to try this recipe tonight for dinner! However, I was wondering if you used both ground turkey AND ground beef or is the recipe supposed to have only one or the other? Thanks!
Angela Gast says
Hi Kylie,
I like to use half ground beef and half ground turkey but you can use all beef or all turkey. It's totally up to you. I like the added flavor that the ground beef brings but not the fat. So that's why I use half turkey, to reduce the fat, but half beef to kick up the flavor. If you want a more healthy meal, you could go all turkey. Or if you don't care about fat content as much and are really looking for a richer flavor, you could go all beef. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for asking!
Kim says
So is this calling for 2lbs of meat total?
Thank you!
Angela G. says
Yes, 2lbs of meat total. Thanks for asking!