Mexican Stuffed Shells make for a and hearty weeknight meal! This cheesy pasta casserole is packed with taco seasoned ground beef and topped with a fiesta of Mexican flavors!
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This recipe for Mexican Stuffed Shells is jumbo pasta shells loaded with taco meat, then slathered with cheese and baked for perfection. It’s a Mexican twist on classic stuffed shells, a hearty dinner you can top with all your favorite goodies, like sour cream, corn chips and your favorite taco sauce. It’s a hands down crowd pleaser!
If you like this recipe, be sure to try these Italian Stuffed Shells or our Crockpot Stuffed Shells Recipe.
Why this is so good
- Full of Mexican Flavors! Taco seasoned beef, topped in taco sauce and sour cream, with a bunch of delicious toppings.
- A Great Make Ahead Meal: You can prep this ahead of time and freeze, perfect recipe for meal prep.
- Perfect for a Crowd: This will please even the hungriest of bellies – a scrumptious pasta casserole!
Ingredients
- Pasta: Jumbo pasta shells, so you can stuff in a good amount of beef.
- Vegetable Oil: Or you can use canola.
- Veggies: Onion and jalapenos.
- Ground Beef: Lean ground beef works great as it isn’t too greasy.
- Cream Cheese
- Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
- Taco Seasoning: Or chili seasoning.
- Taco Sauce
- Cilantro: Fresh is best.
- Cheese: You can use a Mexican cheese blend or Colby Jack.
- Corn Chips: I like Fritos.
- Garnishes: Like sour cream and green onions.
How to make these Mexican Stuffed Shells
Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the full recipe
- Cook the pasta al dente and set aside. Then, in a large skillet, cook onions and jalapenos until fragrant and set aside.
- Then cook the ground beef in the skillet until brown and stir in the seasoning, cream cheese, shredded cheese and taco sauce. Stir well.
- Stuff the jumbo shells with the Mexican filling and place in a casserole dish, then pour in taco sauce.
- Bake the casserole for 20 mins, then top with crushed chips and cheese. Bake for another 15 mins.
- Garnish, serve and Enjoy!
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An easy weeknight meal
These Mexican Stuffed Shells are the perfect easy dinner that will satisfy everyone in your house! The meal makes a hearty serving for 6 people and is ready in about an hour, it’s great for any day of the week!
Toppings for these Stuffed Shells
These taco stuffed shells taste so good with traditional taco toppings, they’re delicious topped with:
- Shredded lettuce
- Diced tomatoes
- Olives
- Sour cream
- Taco Sauce
- Cilantro
- Avocado
- Sliced green onion
- Crushed tortilla chips
- Pico de gallo
Can you freeze Mexican Stuffed Shells?
These shells are a great freezer meal. Perfect for a make ahead feast. You can make a double batch and freeze one of the pans (as long as freezer safe), then you’ll you have a delicious meal for later that is already ready to go!
If you freeze a pan of these shells, make sure to cover the pan tightly with foil. Using a disposable aluminum pan is a good idea, so no problem with the dish cracking.
When you are ready to eat just bake the shells directly from the freezer at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes with the foil on top, then remove it for an additional 15 minutes of baking until the shells are hot throughout.
Top Tips
- You can use ground turkey or chicken instead of beef if you prefer. Whatever the case, go for lean as it’s less greasy.
- I used taco sauce. You can also use enchilada sauce or a spicy salsa for a different flavor take.
- These shells can be assembled up to 8 hours before you plan to bake them. Simply cover the pan and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to heat them up. You will have to increase the bake time accordingly.
- You can use your favorite kind of cheese for these stuffed shells. For more spice you can use a habanero cheese blend.
Other Mexican inspired recipes
- Hot Mexican Street Corn Dip
- Mexican Chicken Chowder Recipe
- Grilled Chicken Nachos
- Taco Pie
- Street Corn Pasta Salad
- Taco Mac and Cheese
- Baked Salsa Chicken
Have you tried this Mexican Stuffed Shells recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Mexican Stuffed Shells Recipe
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Ingredients
- 12 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
- 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper stem, ribs & seeds removed, finely chopped
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons taco or chili seasoning
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro divided
- 1 cup taco sauce divided
- 1½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese or Colby Jack
- 1 cup crushed corn chips such as Fritos
- Garnishes:
- Sour cream
- Chopped fresh cilantro
- Sliced scallions green onions
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F and spray a 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Cook pasta to al denté (per package directions), drain, and rinse with cool water. Lay the shells, open-side down, on a paper, to allow to dry while preparing the other ingredients.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, onion and diced jalapeno. Cook the onion and jalapeno, stirring occasionally, until translucent and fragrant, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a paper towel.
- Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook, breaking the beef apart, until lightly browned. If there is just a small amount of rendered fat in the pan, no need to drain.
- Add taco seasoning, cream cheese, salt, black pepper, ¼ cup taco sauce and ½ cup shredded cheese to the beef mixture and stir well.
- Cook 2-3 minutes, over medium-low heat, until mixture is hot and cheese has melted. Remove from heat.
- Pour ¼ cup taco sauce into the prepared casserole dish.
- Fill each pasta shell with 2 tablespoons beef/cheese mixture and place the shells into the prepared dish on top of the sauce.
- Pour the remaining ¾ cup taco sauce around and in-between the shells.
- Cover and bake 20 minutes.
- Remove the dish from the oven, uncover, and sprinkle with crushed corn chips. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese melts.
- Garnish with sour cream, chopped cilantro and sliced green onions.
- Enjoy!
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
Nutrition Information
I truly enjoy making the recipes you post, but I have a question. There are recipes that are posted that can be frozen, but that info is not with the recipe. Is there is way you could add that to your recipes print out page. I have to go in copy, paste and then print an additional page. We do a lot of camping and I try to freeze dishes to carry with us. Thanks so much in advance.
I will have to look into it!
Scrumptious.
Thank you!!
Can this recipe be frozen
Absolutely!!
When do I add the onion/ jalapeno mix back in?
Add them in step 5 with the other ingredients!
We LOVED it! Easy to make and really good
Thanks, Valerie!!
While I haven’t made this yet, I will for sure. Just a note on freezing shells. When freezing other types, I place them individually on a cookie sheet cookie, cover until frozen, then place the frozen shells in a container. I can heat as many as needed.