These vegetarian stuffed shells filled with a medley of fall squashes are baked in a creamy alfredo sauce and couldn’t be easier to prep.
This recipe is brought to you by McCormick
This Is Fall Comfort Food at Its Finest
With a few varieties of squash on hand, and several boxes of pasta shells in the pantry, I found myself fancying comfort food with a cheesy, veggie twist that took some super simple minimal chopping, a little sauté, and some stuffing for baking and boom! Dinner was on its way.
Most stuffed shell recipes typically call for a marinara sauce, but with these lighter fall squashes a thick tomato sauce just sounded a bit too domineering a flavor to me. Since I had some leftover cream from a peach cobbler Smudge had made the weekend before, I poured it into a skillet and cooked it until it had reduced and thickened to create a super simple sauce, no flour or butter required.
For flavor, I do what I do for all my cream-based lasagna sauces and added McCormick’s ground nutmeg, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper along with a generous handful of ground Parmesan cheese. The nutmeg gives the cream sauce just a hint of earthiness that is so good with the thyme-flavored squashes and ricotta cheese.
I dare you to not lick the leftovers straight from the bowl.
Enjoy!
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Large pasta shells — Us a gluten-free variety, if needed. Since there’s no flour-based roux in the cream sauce, this is an easy recipe to keep GF.
- Squash — I originally made this recipe in that gray period between summer and fall when tender squashes like zucchini and yellow squash are still in season, so I used both of those plus a butternut squash. You can use all butternut squash when fall kicks into high gear!
- Aromatics — Garlic and onion are the flavor foundation of the cream sauce.
- McCormick Thyme Leaves — When going for a quick sauté I’ll often use dried over fresh simply because dried herbs impart more flavor in smaller amounts. To spread the thyme love even more, be sure to crush the dried thyme between your fingers as you sprinkle over the squash and onions. Oh the aroma is deee-vine.
- Ricotta cheese — Whole or reduced fat both work equally well.
- Shredded mozzarella — You could also use provolone. Skip the soft balls of fresh mozz for this recipe, which contain too much moisture and will make for watery stuffed shells.
- Parmesan — I like mine finely ground and get it in my grocery store deli (no canned green stuff for me, thanks).
- Egg — Binds the cheese and the squash like a heavenly, cheesy glue.
- Heavy cream — Makes for the richest, thickest sauce. If you want to replace some (not all!) of the cream with whole milk, you’ll likely need to add a cornstarch slurry of 1 tablespoon milk + 1 tablespoon cornstarch to help thicken the sauce.
How to Make Squash Stuffed Shells with Cream Sauce
- Cook the pasta. When boiling the shells before stuffing, be sure to generously salt the water once it’s come to a boil (to avoid pitting your pan) and undercook them just a bit so they’re still firm enough to stand up to stuffing and won’t fall apart as you do.
- Sauté the squash. Stuffed shells are typically all about the cheesy centers, and because I didn’t want my squash to compete — but instead to complement — I made sure to cut all of my veggies into a small dice, not only so they’d all have a similar bite, but so they’d cook at the same rate too.
- Make the cream sauce. Wipe out your now-empty skillet, and add the cream, salt, garlic, and nutmeg. The sauce needs to bubble gently over medium heat until it reduces by half (this will take a good 10 minutes!).
- Finish the filling. Mix the cooled squash with the egg and three kinds of cheese.
- Assemble and bake. Half of the cream goes on the bottom, half on top of the butternut squash stuffed shells. I also added some shredded mozz to the top before baking but next time I might skip it and use just grated Parmesan instead to show off the shell shapes instead.
Heidi’s Tip: To prevent the shells from drying out, cover the pan with foil (sprayed first with non-stick spray to prevent the cheese from clinging to it!) for the first 30 minutes of baking. Remove the foil for the final 10 minutes to give the cheese and cream sauce time to brown.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells Recipe
PrintIngredients
- 20-24 large shell pasta noodles
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup diced butternut squash *
- 1 cup diced yellow squash *
- 1 cup diced zucchini *
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic , divided
- 2 teaspoons McCormick Thyme leaves
- 1 ½ teaspoons McCormick sea salt , divided
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground McCormick black pepper
- 3 cups ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese , divided, plus more for garnishing
- 1 egg
- 3 cups whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon McCormick Ground Nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Boil the pasta. Cook the pasta shells in generously salted water according to the package directions for 7-8 minutes or just until al denté. Drain the noodles and set aside.
- Sauté the squash. While the pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium with the olive oil. Add the minced squashes, onion, and 1 minced or pressed clove of garlic. Season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and pepper. Crush the thyme leaves between your fingers and sprinkle over the squash mixture, stir, and cook for 5 minutes or until the squashes are just barely becoming tender. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl to cool.
- Make the cream sauce. Wipe out the skillet, add the cream, the remaining garlic clove (peel and smash it with the side of a heavy knife), nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon of the salt and bring to a low boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the cream has reduced by half. Stir in ½ cup of the Parmesan cheese and taste for seasoning.
- Make the filling. Once the squash mixture has cooled, stir in the ricotta cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella, and ½ cup of the parmesan cheese to the mixing bowl. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and stir it into the cheese and squash mixture until combined.
- Assemble. Cover the bottom of a 9×12-inch baking dish with 1 cup of the cream mixture. Fill the pasta shells with a generous scoop of the ricotta and squash mixture and place the shells in rows until all are filled. Drizzle the rest of the cream mixture over the shells and top with the rest of the mozzarella.
- Bake. Cover with foil (spray with cooking spray so the cheese doesn’t stick!) and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes or until the cheese begins to brown. Serve with more Parmesan cheese and chopped flat leaf parsley if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Side Dish Suggestions
More Fall Pastas You’ll Love
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This post is in partnership with McCormick. As always, thank you for reading and for supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. All opinions are always my own.
phyllis
Labor Day is this coming weekend and this recipe says FALL, so I will definitely make it. FYI: I freeze bell pepper strips for a stir fry. Peach slices highlight my cold drinking water as well as my white wine. I try not to waste too much food but sometimes it is a battle. Thank you so much for this recipe!!!!!!!!phy
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
Sounds like a great plan, it is SO GOOD! Enjoy!
diane loffredo
Do you think this could be frozen, and if so, before it is baked or after? Thanks.
Rachel
I made this for dinner with friends. I was concerned that it was going to taste flat and one dimensional. I was wrong. I made it the night before so it was ready to go into the oven when I got home. I swapped out the zucchini for 8 oz of fresh spinach. I also left out the nutmeg as I find it overpowering. I would say the mozz is necessary. Definitely not light but great as a fall dinner.
Laura | Tutti Dolci
In love with this fall take on stuffed shells!
Hương
We all love stuffed shells over here and this looks really great!
Pawan Kashyap
Hi, Heidi, this all looks very nice and amazing. I want to taste it now, so I am trying it in my home.
Kristine O'Daly
Heidi, this looks great! One question – Since cream typically is sold in pints, will the recipe work if I use 1 pint of cream and sub in 1% or 2% millk for the remaining cup of liquid? Thanks much!!
Hi Kristine, the cream may not reduce quite as much if you don’t use the full fat cream. If it doesn’t, in a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon cold milk with 1 tablespoon cornstarch to form a slurry and then whisk into the cream sauce and let it cook for a few minutes to thicken. You could also use tapioca powder, arrowroot or Wondra.