Cheesy Taco Stuffed Shells made with jumbo pasta shells, salsa, cheese and taco meat are the perfect EASY weeknight meal that you can prepare ahead of time too!
I love using either my Guapo’s Famous Fresh Pico de Gallo in this recipe or incredibly easy, store bought jarred salsa. You can also swap out the salsa in this recipe in a 1 to 1 ratio with my favorite Homemade QUICK Enchilada Sauce to make them taco stuffed shells with enchilada sauce.
If you’re looking for alternate to the shredded cheese or to mix things up a little you can absolutely make the taco stuffed shells with velveeta or nacho cheese as well. Even better you could just double the shredded cheddar cheese and have the ultimate cheesy taco stuffed shells.
Or if you want something a bit different you can also make my Mexican Stuffed Peppers with all the taco flavors but none of the pasta!
LOOKING FOR MORE GREAT CHEESY PASTA DISHES? LOOK NO FURTHER:
- Cheesy Taco Pasta
- Bacon Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper
- Pepperoni Pizza Hamburger Helper
- Philly Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Bake
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Lasagna Roll Ups
Thinking of some other stuffed shells ideas?
- Pepperoni Pizza stuffed shells with marinara sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella.
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells with the Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pinwheels filling and baked with alfredo sauce.
- Philly Cheesesteak stuffed shells with the Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes filling but with double the cheese!
- Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells with chicken nuggets, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Tools Used in the making of these Taco Stuffed Shells:
Jumbo Pasta Shells: Make sure you buy these and not the large ones. Also, husbands may inadvertently think “large” is the right size…not saying mine did that! 😉
Jarred Salsa: Cuts the prep time down to just a couple of minutes and the flavors are still outstanding.
Taco Seasoning: I’ve use my homemade taco seasoning recipe if you’d prefer not to use a packet. This is the packet I’d recommend if not using homemade.
Recipe
Taco Stuffed Shells
- Yield: 6 servings
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Course: Main Course
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Author: Sabrina Snyder
Ingredients
- 12 ounces jumbo pasta shells
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups jarred salsa divided
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese divided
Instructions
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cook the pasta shells in a pot according to the directions on the box and drain.
Add the ground beef to the pot and brown well.
- Drain the fat.
- Add the taco seasoning and water, stir and cook until water is gone.
- Stir in 1 cup salsa and ¾ cup cheese.
- Scoop into the jumbo pasta shells and top with the remaining salsa and cheese.
Bake in a covered pan for 15 minutes.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 6 servings, Amount per serving: 497 calories, Calories: 497g, Carbohydrates: 47g, Protein: 26g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 644mg, Potassium: 534mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 515g, Vitamin C: 1.2g, Calcium: 181g, Iron: 2.6g
All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert.
Can’t wait to try! Looks yummie.
I added corn and kidney beans and it turne out really good