Taco Stuffed Shells Recipe with Salsa and Melted Cheese

Can’t decide between making Italian or Mexican food this Saturday? Good news: You don’t have to choose. This taco stuffed shells recipe blends both cuisines beautifully. Mexican flavor in a classically Italian format. Rest assured, this dish is a winner.

What’s a taco stuffed shell?

Picture jumbo pasta shells, stuffed with Mexican-seasoned ground beef and topped with taco sauce and cheese. It’s something like a smothered burrito that relies on hearty pasta in lieu of a tortilla.

Note that if you’re a purist, the name of this recipe isn’t quite right. According to britannica.com, it’s not a taco without a tortilla. But we can let that slide, yes?

When to make taco stuffed shells

I like this as a weekend recipe. There’s some prep involved and it does take time to cook — so it’s not something you’ll pull together quickly.

But if you have an hour to make dinner and a hungry crowd craving something meaty, cheesy, and spicy, you can’t go wrong with taco stuffed shells.

What to serve with taco stuffed shells

One reason to love this dish is that it stands on its own. You don’t really need a side dish. A green salad would be a nice complementary bit — but then the shells are filling and satisfying enough to make the salad seem terribly uninteresting.

What you could do is serve the shells with a toppings bar. Set out small dishes of black olives, crushed tortilla chips, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and sour cream. Encourage your guests to make this dish their own by adding whatever toppings they want.

Ingredients for taco stuffed shells

Here’s your grocery list for making these shells:

1. 1 lb. ground beef. Go lean if you can.
2. 1 package taco seasoning or 2 tablespoons if you buy a jar of seasoning.
3. 4 oz. cream cheese, which is usually half a block. Feel free to use light cream cheese.
4. 1 cup of salsa. Choose your heat level.
5. 1 cup of taco sauce. Again, choose your heat level.
6. 1 cup of Mexican blend cheese or ½ cup shredded cheddar and ½ cup shredded Monterey jack.
7. 3 green onions.
8. Optionally, black olives, chopped tomatoes, crushed tortilla chips, shredded lettuce, etc. to use as toppings.

How to make taco stuffed shells

Let’s walk through the prep steps. Start by heating your oven to 350°F or 177°. You’ll also want to:

• Fill up a pot of water to cook the pasta shells. Put it over a high flame and add a few shakes of salt.
• Set out a 9×13 baking dish and a colander for draining the pasta.
• Grab a skillet to cook your ground beef.
• Have aluminum foil on hand, along with some olive oil.
• If you’re going to drain the meat after it’s cooked, set a glass jar in the sink.

1. Cook the beef

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Cook while stirring and breaking the meat up into small chunks with a wooden spoon.

Once the meat is fully browned, drain it. You can skip this step if you want to, but I wouldn’t. This recipe is very rich, so there’s no need for extra fat in the meat. I like to cover the pan with a lid and then tip it over a glass jar in the sink. You may need to adjust the lid position a bit, but the fat should drain out.

If you’re clumsy, place the glass jar in a large metal bowl. That way, if the lid slips, your meat will go in the bowl and not down the drain.

After draining the meat, add your taco seasoning. If you have instructions on the seasoning, follow those. If not, add 1/3 cup water to the meat with the seasoning. Stir to combine. Bring the water to a simmer. Stir occasionally while the liquid evaporates.

2. Add the cream cheese

Once the liquid has evaporated, add the cream cheese to the meat. It melts faster if you cut it into chunks first. Lower the heat slightly and let the cheese melt, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and set the meat aside.

3. Boil the shells

The recipe goes a little faster if you can pop the shells into the boiling water while you’re cooking the meat. Give them a stir occasionally so they don’t stick together.

Boil the shells according to package instructions. You can leave them slightly undercooked if you don’t like soggy noodles — since they’ll bake under foil in a later step. Also they’re easier to stuff when they’re stiffer.

Once they’re ready, drain them, rinse, and toss with a bit of olive oil.

4. Stuff the shells

Arrange the meat, baking dish, and drained pasta on a work surface so you can stuff the shells efficiently. Pour 1 cup of salsa into the baking dish.

Using a tablespoon, stuff each shell with the ground beef mixture. Place each shell into the baking dish.

When you’re done stuffing, pour 1 cup of taco sauce over the shells. Cover the dish with foil and pop it in the oven. Let it bake for 30 minutes.

5. Add cheese

At the 30-minute mark, remove the dish from the oven and take off the foil. The sauce should be bubbling. Sprinkle 1 cup of grated cheese over the top — a mix of cheddar and Monterey jack works best.

Put the dish back in the oven without the foil and cook long enough for the cheese to melt. While the cheese is melting, wash, trim, and chop green onions.

Remove the dish from the oven, sprinkle the shells with green onions, and enjoy.

More taco inspiration

If you love this mashup of tacos and Italian, try these:

• Taco stuffed manicotti
• Taco lasagna rollups
• Taco pizza
• Taco tater tot bake
• Taco French bread pizza
• Cheesy taco pasta