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Jumbo pasta shells get stuffed to the absolute brim with creamy vegan ricotta and spinach, baked with marinara and garnished while hot with melting shards of vegan Parmesan. It's no mystery why this vegan stuffed shell recipe have become a family favorite for tons of my recipe testers who have picky kids.
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Classic stuffed shells usually involve ricotta cheese, so I figured this would be the perfect place to use some of the super easy almond ricotta from my blog, just doctored up with some fun additions. My readers swear that once those jumbo shells get packed with homemade plant-based ricotta and baked under marinara, most people legit cannot tell the difference.
Pasta shells actually come in 3 sizes: conchigliette (tiny, for soups or pasta fagioli), conchiglie (medium, for pasta salads), and the jumbo ones we want here, which can fit a small stadium's worth about a ¼ cup of filling in each. Make sure you grab the big bad boys.
You will want to serve your shells with some vegan garlic bread because you NEED something to mop up all that extra marinara. For dessert you've got 2 elite options: vegan tiramisu if you're going for light and coffee-kissed, or vegan zeppole if you want pillowy fried dough dusted in powdered sugar so you can pretend you are at the NYC feast of San Gennaro, buying them off of some guy wearing an undershirt who looks like he's built out of fried dough.
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🥰 Why you'll adore this vegan stuffed shells recipe
✊ Vegan AF: That's right, mommy. Don't be shocked. Like all of my vegan Italian recipes, this one is cruelty-free from the ricotta to the parmesan on top and it's even been tested on animals (I shared more than a couple with my rescue doggos while doing the recipe development).
⏱️ Weeknight-Friendly Magic: This might look like the ultimate comfort food that took 3 hours and a dramatic cooking montage, but it's actually just boil, mix, stuff, and bake.
🛒 Normal-Human Ingredients: No weird ingredients that send you on a 3-hour spiritual journey through 6 different stores, and the parmesan and ricotta can be made from scratch following my recipes.
✅ Tested Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, over 1,000 home cooks tested this recipe in real kitchens with real lives and real distractions and it still came out amazing every single time.
🤫 Learn the secrets for perfect vegan Italian meals
This guide to my most popular plant-based Italian recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🐚 Vegan Stuffed Pasta Shells Ingredients
Jumbo Pasta Shells
No jumbo shells at your store? Manicotti tubes are your next best friend or you can wrap lasagna noodles around the filling like a little pasta sleeping bag.
But if you are gluten-free, Tinkyada makes some rice based stuffable shells, so rejoice!
Vegan Ricotta
I have a homemade vegan ricotta recipe and it's absurdly good so you should make it. Nut free? Swap it for the tofu ricotta filling from my vegan lasagna recipe and you're golden.
Spinach
For cooked recipes like this one and my vegan Italian wedding soup, I'm typically a mature bunched fresh spinach fan. The stuff does't break down into total mush.
But if it's what you have available to you triple washed baby spinach is a perfectly respectable. Frozen works too, just make sure you squeeze every last drop of water out of it before using it or the filling's gonna be a soggy ol' slop-fest.
Marinara Sauce
My quick vegan marinara recipe is hella reliable and I'm gonna need you to at least consider it. But any store-bought marinara sauce you already have is completely fine because we're making stuffed shells, not auditioning for a cooking competition judged by your hyper-snobby coworker who always brags about spending time in Naples on vacation.
Vegan Parmesan
My homemade vegan parmesan recipe has a secret (ok, well, the secret is cocoa butter) and it's stupidly easy to make. Buying yours instead for the easy way? Violife's parmesan is genuinely one of the best ones out there, methinks.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯 Variations
Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Pesto
Pesto shells are the sleeper hit of the pasta world and if you love herby flavor, you will fall in love for realsies. Ditch the marinara and bake these babies in a blanket of pistachio pesto, spinach pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto, or walnut pesto.
Sausage & Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Crumble some vegan Italian sausage or vegan pepperoni into the ricotta filling before stuffing the shells and just trust the process on this one. If you love meaty stuff, I'm rooting for you, so long as the meat isn't made from animals.
Red Wine Bolognese Shells
Swap the marinara for my vegan bolognese sauce and suddenly these shells are giving full Sunday dinner at a fancy Italian grandmother's house. Swap it in 1 for 1 wherever the recipe calls for marinara and prepare for a jolly good time.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖 How to make vegan stuffed shells
Okay, so, you have family gatherings scheduled and you wanna make the most stupidly satisfying pasta dish in the gosh darn galaxy? Follow these step-by-step instructions with photos and hot tips below. Or if you're already in the zone and just need the recipe card, it's waiting for you at the bottom of the page.
Step One
For Whom the Shells Toll:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then drop in the jumbo shells and cook according to the package instructions until al dente.
Drain and briefly rinse with cool water to stop the cooking, then arrange the shells on a tray, with enough space between them so they don't stick together.
Step Two
Ricotta Feeling, That Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night:
Place the vegan ricotta cheese in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped spinach, chopped parsley, oregano, lemon zest, crushed red pepper flakes, minced onion, and minced garlic until well combined for the best flavor.
Step Three
Stone Cold Steve Saucetin:
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread a portion of the marinara sauce evenly across the bottom of the baking dish.
Step Four
Barilla Monkeys:
Use a spoon to fill each cooked shell with the spinach and tofu ricotta mixture. Arrange the filled shells in the baking dish in a single layer with the openings facing upward.
Step Five
Bake to the Future:
Spoon the remaining marinara sauce evenly around the shells. Lightly drizzle the olive oil over the filled shells.
Step Six
Roastebusters:
Place the dish in the oven and bake at 375°F (190°C) until the sauce is bubbling and the shells are heated through, about 25 minutes.
Step Seven
Parmageddon:
Remove the dish from the oven and garnish with grated vegan parmesan, basil leaves, and chopped fresh parsley.
💡Serving Ideas
You've already got a whole dish of the best vegan stuffed shells that will most definitely be a blockbuster hit, so let's not spiral and cook 12 more things just to prove a point.
Vegan eggplant parm or vegan chicken parm fit right in with all that baked, saucy feast, and you can serve those with some kind of obligatory pasta recipes (vegan pesto pasta or vegan carbonara, perhaps)? You can tell I am the son of a dad whose food pyramid is 90% carbs, right?
👉 Top tips
- Cook the Shells Just Until Al Dente: Jumbo shells keep cooking in the oven, so boiling them until they're fully soft is a fast track to floppy, torn pasta. Pull them from the water when they're just tender and still kinda hold their shape.
- Give the Shells Some Personal Space: As soon as they're drained, spread the cooked shells out on a tray instead of leaving them piled in the colander where they will likely start sticking to each other mighty quickly.
- Don't Drown the Shells in Sauce: It's tempting to bury everything in marinara, but stuffed shells bake better when the sauce sits mostly around them instead of smothering the tops. Too much sauce can make the pasta soggy and hide the filling instead of the shells being a more cheese-forward affair.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
The shells were likely cooked too long. Keep them al dente so they stay firm enough to hold the filling without tearing.
❄️ Refrigerating leftovers
Transfer the cooled stuffed shells to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
🧊 Freezing the dish
Place the shells in a freezer-safe container with a tight lid and freeze for up to 3 months. For best results, keep them arranged in a single layer with sauce surrounding them so they stay moist.
🌙 Thawing frozen stuffed shells
Move the airtight container to the refrigerator and allow the shells to thaw overnight. This slow thaw keeps the pasta texture from becoming mushy.
🔥 Stovetop reheating
Place the shells in a skillet with a splash of marinara or water and warm them over medium-low heat. Cover the pan and heat gently until the shells are warmed through.
⚡️ Oven reheating
Reheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Place your shells in an oven-safe dish and spoon a little remaining pasta sauce over the top because nobody wants dry pasta, that's just mean & disrespectful. Cover it with foil like you're tucking them in for a cozy nap, then bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until everything's hot and bubbly.
✌️You'll love these vegan pasta recipes too:
Learn to make plant-based red sauce masterpieces in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vegan Stuffed Shells Recipe
Equipment
- baking dish
- Microplane (optional)
Ingredients
- 8 oz jumbo pasta shells
- 1 teaspoon salt for boiling the shells
- 2 ½ cups vegan ricotta cheese
- 3 packed cups spinach chopped
- ½ cup parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup onion minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 cups marinara sauce
To Garnish:
- Vegan parmesan cheese grated
- Basil leaves
- Chopped parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add salt, then add the jumbo shells. Cook according to the package directions until al dente and still firm enough to hold their shape without splitting or cracking. Drain and rinse briefly with cool water to stop the cooking. Arrange the shells on a tray with enough space between them so they do not stick together.
- Place the vegan ricotta in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped spinach, chopped parsley, oregano, lemon zest, crushed red pepper flakes, minced onion, and garlic.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread a portion of the marinara sauce across the bottom of a baking dish to create an even layer.
- Fill each cooked shell with the ricotta and spinach mixture using a spoon. Arrange the filled shells in the baking dish in a single layer with the open sides facing upward.
- Spoon the remaining marinara sauce evenly around the shells. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the filled shells.
- Transfer the dish to the oven and bake at 375°F (190°C) until the sauce is bubbling and the shells are heated through, 25 minutes.
- Remove the dish from the oven and garnish with grated vegan parmesan, basil leaves, and chopped parsley.
Notes
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Kimbi from San Diego says
This is a beautiful and delectable dish. Alot easier to make than it looks!
Gearhart says
Using the Cinnamon Snail Ricotta Cheese with spinach and that touch of lemon zest and marinara sauce done gluten free : fantastic!