Stuffed shells are one of the best pasta dishes around – giant pasta shells packed with filling and swimming in tomato sauce. And these goats cheese stuffed shells are the best I’ve tried.

I need to give Recipetineats a shout out first. Her stuffed shells recipe with no precooking is what got me into making the dish more often – no one wants to faff around with hot, slippery pasta shells! This way of baking them in the oven without precooking (just like with my The Ultimate Beef Lasagne) makes the recipe more straightforward and cooks them just right.

My stuffing – a mix of mascarpone, goats cheese and chives – is really tasty and works well with my simple tomato sauce. I’ve added mushrooms in too (no precooking necessary there either!) because goats cheese and mushrooms work incredibly well. The result is a divine cheesy pasta you won’t want to stop eating!

The Ingredients

The tomato sauce

For the tomato sauce, you simply need olive oil, red onion, celery, garlic, passata, chicken stock and mixed herbs. You want the sauce to be pretty watery initially – it will get sucked up by the pasta shells making them really tasty and the sauce the perfect consistency. Feel free to use a chicken stock cube and water rather than chicken stock.

The stuffing

The cheesy filling is made with goats cheese, mascarpone, chives and egg. The egg binds everything together. Make sure you use a soft goats cheese (spreadable ones work perfectly).

Extras

The pasta shells are called conchiglione and you can find them at most big supermarkets or online. We also use mushrooms and garlic powder for an extra burst of flavour. Chestnut mushrooms are best.

The baked pasta shells are topped with melty mozzarella. You could switch with cheddar if you like, but mild mozzarella works nicely with the flavours here.

Top Tips

Making the sauce Make the sauce and simmer it for 20 minutes. If you wanted to, you could make the sauce in advance and refrigerate or even freeze. Make sure you reheat thoroughly before compiling the dish.
Stuffing the shells I use a teaspoon to stuff the pasta shells. The consistency of the stuffing makes them easy to do with this utensil. Don’t worry about being too neat – they’re going to taste amazing no matter what they look like!
Baking the shells Cover the dish with tin foil for the first hour – this will make the pasta steam and cook evenly. Take the foil off for the last 15 minutes to allow the cheese to turn golden brown.

Goats Cheese Stuffed Shells

Pasta shells stuffed with goats cheese and chives, in a rich tomato sauce with mushrooms and topped with melty mozzarella.

Harriet Young

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 25

Total Time 1 40

Serving Size People

Ingredients

For the sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion
3 cloves garlic
680 grams passata
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs

For the mushrooms

100 grams chestnut mushrooms
1 teaspoon garlic powder

For the stuffing

300 grams soft goats cheese
250 grams mascarpone
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped chives

Other ingredients

250 grams conchiglione
150 grams grated mozzarella

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Finely chop the celery.
Put the onion and celery in the saucepan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Tip in the passata, chicken stock and mixed herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the stuffing. In a bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, goats cheese, chives and egg until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Slice the mushrooms. Place them over the base of a large ovenproof baking dish. Sprinkle the garlic powder over the top.
Pour the hot sauce over the mushrooms.
Stuff the pasta shells with your filling one by one using a teaspoon. Put the shells stuffing side up in the sauce, trying to make sure they are submerged as much as possible.
Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top. Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven for an hour. Remove the foil and cook for another 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately.

More recipes using goats cheese:

Goats Cheese Stuffed Shells

The Ingredients

Top Tips