Mexican Stuffed Shells
A delicious fusion of spicy Mexican flavors with Italian pasta. These Mexican Stuffed Shells make a perfect weeknight meal.
My family would be happy to eat pasta several nights a week, but I get bored with the same old thing. So when I stumbled upon this Mexican/Italian fusion recipe at The Way to His Heart I knew my family would love it. Maeghan adapted the recipe from A Pinch of This & That.
Instead of using a taco seasoning packet, I substituted similar spices and used ground chicken sausage instead of ground beef.
You could easily make this ahead of time and just pop it in the oven when you get home from a busy day. It’s also a great recipe for feeding a crowd.
It’s become one of my daughter’s favorite recipes to feed her family.
Enjoy!
Mexican Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground chicken sausage
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- dash cayenne powder
- 1 cup water
- 4 oz. cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
- 14-16 jumbo pasta shells
- 1.5 cup mild salsa
- 1 cup enchilada sauce
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 cup monterey jack cheese
- Diced green onions, olives and sour cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. In a frying pan cook ground sausage. Stir in spices and water and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes until the water cooks off. Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside to cool.
- 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"x13" baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place shells in 9"x13" pan open side up. Cover shells with enchilada sauce and sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, bake uncovered 10-15 minutes until cheese starts to brown.
- Serve with green onions, black olives, sour cream and/or more salsa.
More Stuffed Shell recipes I’d like to try:
Pasta Carbonara, Barbara Bakes
Pasta Puttanesca, Barbara Bakes
Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells, How Sweet It Is
Sausage & Spinach Stuffed Shells, Cooking on the Side
Pizza Stuffed Shells, Spend with Pennies
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This will be a nice change from turkey dinner and all the leftovers that followed. And I bet it freezes well too. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Barbara, what a great way to stuff a shell. I love the idea of Mexican. I can’t tell you how happy, I am, you shared a savory recipe on Bake with Bizzy.
These look good, but I’m heading over to the butternut squash recipe…
I am obsessed with winter squash right now!
Barbara! What a great combination of flavors! I love mexican and I love pasta so why not combine the two? the spices in this are irresistible- gonna have to make this SOON!
Happy Wednesday!
oh yum! this is right up my alley, i love this recipe!
Sounds delicious! My family would love this.
Fantastic recipe! Usually when I think of noodles, I think of Italian meals. Mexican is usually my meal of choice, so I can’t wait to try this recipe soon!
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Christi
Great way to change it up from the Thankgiving meals. Nice post!
I absolutely love this idea—thank you for sharing!
This look lipsmacking and perfect for everyday!
After weeks of Fall flavors, plus Thanksgiving dinner, bright, spicy Mexican is just what the doctored ordered, and in fact we had Mexican last night. I only wish THIS dish was on the menu! I crave pasta, and love all the goodies stuffed into those shells! I’m definitely making these soon!
BTW…the orange pate de fruits didn’t work in the cranberry cookies, they melted out and burnt so it’s off to buy orange jelly slices! I should have just followed your recipe and bought them in the first place 🙂
Clever combination! kinda like an enchilada, but much more original. GREG
Nice meal to make after Thanksgiving! I will bookmark this recipe for the Superbowl weekend ! Thanks for sharing!
🙂
These flavors would be perfect now after a Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks for the inspiration Barbara!
Those stuffed shells look absolutely marvellous, what a fun dinner!
*kisses* HH
p.s. do stop by and enter my giveaway daaahling, there are two opportunities to win!
This is my idea of good pasta!
Southwest pasta shells?! Now your talking my language:)
une assiette bien parfumée
Je te souhaite un bon mardi, ici les gelées matinales sont arrivées
Valérie.
great mix of two of our fav foods, perfect for make ahead meals. thanks for sharing!