I made this recipe several months ago and completely forgot about sharing it with you. Not because it was unmemorable – quite the opposite – but recipes and photos occasionally get lost in the bunch if I’m not careful. The photos on my computer are a bit out of control (or so says my husband). I’m trying to work up the courage to tell Eric that I’ve filled up yet another hard drive, but that is another story.
This stuffed shell pasta is inspired by Terry Walters, author of Clean Food and Clean Start cookbooks. There’s a recipe for basic stuffed shells in her Clean Food cookbook, so I played around with it by adding more veggies and fresh herbs. The outcome is a tasty tofu “ricotta-like” cheese that can be added to stuffed shells, spread on lasagna, or even turned into eggplant rollatini if you are so inclined. Of course, it doesn’t taste exactly like ricotta cheese (not that I even remember what it tastes like!), but it sure is a tasty dairy-free alternative.
Speaking of eggplant rollatini, here’s a photo when I made it last summer – served on a bed of julienned carrot and zucchini “pasta” with a sprinkle of almond parmesan cheese. A lovely summer meal. Edit: I’ve added the directions for prepping the eggplant in the comments section.
I haven’t been able to find any gluten-free dairy-free jumbo shells yet, but I’m sure they exist. If you know of any brands, please give them a shout-out in the comments! For those of you looking for a soy alternative, maybe give nut-cheese a try instead. I have a cheese recipe in my lasagna recipe that could probably be used for stuffed shells also.
As for the tofu, you can crumble it by hand or you can use a food processor. I’ve made it both ways and I can’t decide which I prefer. Crumbling by hand is a bit messy, but it saves cleaning the processor while using the processor is a bit quicker and results in a creamier texture. It’s really up to you how you make it.
Jumbo Stuffed Shells
Yield
6 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Adapted from: Clean Food by Terry Walters
Ingredients
For the pasta
- 3.5 cups pasta sauce
- 340 grams jumbo pasta shells (I used 30 shells or 2/3 of the box – but make extra as some break)
For the Tofu Ricotta
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, minced
- 1/2 cup packed fresh parsley, minced
- 1 (14oz) package extra-firm or firm tofu, pressed
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3/4-1 tsp fine grain sea salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions
- Rinse block of tofu and wrap with paper towels followed by 2-3 tea towels. Place it on a cutting board or plate and add several heavy cookbooks on top. Press tofu for about 20-25 minutes to drain out the water. Alternatively, you can use a tofu press.
- Grease a very large casserole dish. I used about 30 shells, but you’ll need to cook more than that as some shells will break during the cooking process. Cook shells in a pot of boiling water until al dente, about 8-11 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Drain shells and set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. For the tofu ricotta: In a large skillet, sauté the garlic and onion in the oil for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the chopped celery, basil, and parsley and sauté for another 5 minutes or so. Feel free to throw in some spinach for extra greens.
- For the tofu, you can either crumble it into the skillet with your hands or you can give it a whirl in the food processor and then stir it into the skillet. If you use the processor, the texture will be very creamy like ricotta cheese and if you crumble it with your hands it will be more chunky/crumbly. It’s up to you how you want to make it. I usually opt to crumble it by hand so I don’t dirty the processor. Stir in the nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, lemon, and cayenne all to taste. Over medium heat, cook for about 8-10 minutes or until most of the water cooks off.
- Spoon about 1 cup of marinara sauce into the casserole dish and spread around. Add about 2 tbsp of tofu ricotta into each stuffed shell and place shells on top of marinara sauce. Cover shells with the remaining 2-2.5 cups marinara sauce and any leftover tofu ricotta. You can add vegan cheese on top, but I don’t bother. Cover dish with tin foil and poke several air holes. Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes or until heated throughout. Serve with a basic green salad and garlic bread, if desired.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)Vida Vegan Con Giveaway Winner!
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Traci I will shoot you an email today to get things rolling. Thanks again to Grace for her generous ticket donation and to everyone for participating. I really appreciate all of your lovely comments by the way.
If you are still thinking about attending the conference (and I think you should!!), there are still tickets for sale.
This looks delicious. Thank you for the wonderful recipes you post.
Great receipe and love the photo’s. I always struggle to come up with a pasta shell receipe
although one I do like is to combine the ricotta with butternut squash and some toasted pine nuts and mixed herbs really finish it off. Thanks for your inspiration.
Oh my goodness, I just stumbled across your blog and everything looks mouthwateringly scrumptious.
Looks pretty! I am a sucker for stuffed shells and this post reminds me that I haven’t made them in forever! I love tofu ricotta cheese, when I make it I usually find an excuse to put it on everything until it’s gone :)
Angela,
I have always loved your blog. I do have a question though… why do you take so very many photos of the same foods in every post? For example, this post has 4 pictures of the same dish… each showing basically the same texture. I am not being critical, I am asking honestly because I am starting a blog myself. Do you find that this adds to your blog? What is the purpose?
There is no real reason I suppose other than the fact that I adore photography (and can get carried away at times!!). Usually I try to change up my photos more than this (and I agree they are very similar), but for this particular shoot it was after sunset and I was rushed so they ended up looking the same. Did I need the 4 photos in this post? Probably not, but oh well. :)
looks very very tasty. i must try this recipe for me and my partner as we are healthy freaks, i like the pictures and ingredients used in the recipe.
I once made a recipe similar to this for my husband. I didn’t tell him the “ricotta” was actually tofu, and he couldn’t even tell! :-)
Hello Angela!
I’ve been following your web-site for a while! It’s amazing! Delicious recipes, great photos, and it’s just fun to read all info you’ve got here:) Thank you!
I cooked jumbo shells the other day! Yummy!!! Me and my husband loved it!
All the best to you,
Elena
Hey Elena, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know. :)
These look great! I have only made nut cheeses before, so I am super excited to try a homemade tofu kind.
These do look delicious! I was wondering of the assembled meal can be frozen? Will the tofu’s texture change? I’m currently on maternity leave and going back to work soon. I’m trying to stuff my freezer with ready made meals for when I do the daycare-work-daycare-home dance!
That is a great question and I’m sorry I don’t have the answer! Maybe you could test drive a couple for your first batch and see how they thaw? That way you’ll know if you make them again. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
Oh man, stomach growling, and mouth drooling! Can’t wait to try this. I love the tofu cheese! I made lasagna with it several months ago and added spinach and other veggies, it turned out super delicious. Can’t wait to try this one out!
I’ve been wanting to try stuffed shells and this looks like a winning recipe!
Hi, Just found your blog and love the recipes and suggestions. Aubergines are a personal favorite of mine too. Have you ever heard of a dish called sabih? aubergines with a tahini ssauce and zhoug drizzle. zhoug is basically parsley,coriander,olive oil and green chillies.it is served with flat bread or on it’s own, really good.
I rarely make stuffed shells because it’s the one type of pasta that I can never find in anything other than just “white pasta.” There’s never any selection, and trust me- I’ve looked at stores all over the place where I live!
These look beautiful- but I have to say- I’m reallllly drooling over the photo of the eggplant rollatini. Oh my yum.
This looks great! I am motivated to get in the kitchen now!
Oh my gosh these look delicious! :)
I made this tonight, the lazy way. I just made rotini and then layered, marinara, rotini and tofu mixture and put it in the oven. It made a LOT and it was so good. Thank you so much.
Love love loved this recipe!!! It was amazing and it’s really satisfied our ( my girlfriend and I) craving for Italian food. We’re newly vegan and your recipes are regularly saving our butts from headed to the closest restraunt serving a cream covered slab of meat. Thank you so much. My girlfriend says your book needs to come out ASAP!! Lol. We will definitely be the first to buy a copy.
So happy to hear that Ahkilah, thanks for trying!
Mmmm, these were amazing! I made them tonight for supper. My husband (ever the carnivore) asked what I was stuffing them with. I simply said “If I tell you, you won’t eat it.” I didn’t tell him, he ate it. His verdict was “Out of all the vegan things you’ve made, I like this the best.” That’s a huge compliment coming from him! It was only after that I told him about the tofu. :)
Made these last night for a dinner party full of vegan-friendly (ish) carnivores, not telling anyone they were vegan.They were a HUGE success, none of my friends could believe they were so good (and cheese-less!).
Only edit I made was to use a hand mixer on the tofu filling prior to stuffing the shells–it gave the mixture a lovely fluffy texture that was lacking even with running the tofu through a food processor prior.
So glad to hear that Christine! Thanks for letting me know :)