Smoked Stuffed Pasta Shells
Flavors Used:
We’ve seen stuffed pasta shell recipes making a recent resurgence, and thought we would put a Dan-Good spin on them! We stuffed ours with seasoned Italian sausage, ricotta, and a lot of Dan-Good flavor! From there, we threw them on the smoker to finish for a unique, smokey, cheesy pasta that everyone should try.
So, the first step to making stuffed shells is cooking them al dente. This will allow you to work with them a little more aggressively without them breaking or without overcooking them once they are stuffed. For this, cook the noodles until they are still a bit firm and crisp.
Next, you want to make your filling. Let your ricotta cheese sit out at room temperature for a bit. Cook up about half a lb of Italian sausage and season with Dan-O’s. Add it to your cheese mixture with some minced parsley and get to stuffing!
Finally, you have the smoking portion. These shells really don’t take long to smoke, only about 20-30 minutes. Make sure you have clear smoke and that it’s not billowing, or your dish will be overly smoky. You can make this recipe without a smoker or even on a grill, by the way, but what fun is that?!
Ingredients
- Half a box of jumbo pasta shells
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- ½ lb ground Italian sausage
- 1 cup Mozzerella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- Handful of parsley (minced)
- Spicy Dan-O’s Seasoning
- Jar of pasta sauce
Preparation Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees.
- Boil a large pot of water. While your water heats up, cook your ground Italian sausage in a pan over medium heat until fully cooked. Drain grease from sausage once cooked.
- Add some salt to your water and drop the noodles in. Cook until al dente and still somewhat tender. Strain noodles and run under cold water to prevent from any further cooking.
- In a mixing bowl, add your ricotta, parmesan cheese, parsley, sausage, and several pops or shakes of Dan-O’s Seasoning. Mix everything together.
- Stuff shells individually until all are done and place in 9 x 11 pan (or larger). Pour sauce over shells in the pan and sprinkle over some mozzarella cheese. Place shells in smoker at 250 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
- Carefully remove from smoker and allow to rest for 5 minutes before eating. Enjoy!
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