Cheesy Taco Stuffed Shells – take your Taco Tuesday up a notch by making these cheesy, delicious taco stuffed shells. They are filled with ground beef, cream cheese, taco sauce, and seasonings. All covered in cheese!
Taco Stuffed Shells Recipe
This is another recipe where I’ve seen a lot of variations going around the internet. Unlike my Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken recipe, I was actually willing to try some of the others I’ve seen out there. And… once again, still stuck with mine. I found some others to be too dry or too much of one particular ingredient. We love spicy food in my house, but you have to be careful on this one. You’ll be surprised to know that I use the “mild” version of things. Because there are so many different elements in this that have varying levels of spicy flavor, you have to be careful that your end result isn’t burning the taste buds out of your mouth. We learned that lesson the hard way!
Ingredients for Stuffed Taco Shells
- Jumbo Pasta Shells – You’ll want to stick with the jumbo style so that you have room to fill them.
- Ground Beef – I like to use lean ground beef for this recipe, but you can use as low as 80/20 ground beef. If you use a fattier version, you’ll want to drain the grease.
- Reduced Fat Cream Cheese – full fat cream cheese works as well, but I don’t recommend using the fat free version. It does not melt the same and has a different melted texture.
- Taco Seasoning – I use homemade, but store bought works well too.
- Green Chiles – You can use freshly roasted, canned, or jarred here.
- Salsa – Homemade or store bought works well, but keep in mind that the spice from the green chile and taco sauce will be added here.
- Taco Sauce – I use mild to keep the spice level from getting too high
- Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese – Full fat works well, but do not use fat free. Fat free versions do not melt the same. For the best melting result, grate your own from a block.
How to Make Taco Stuffed Shells
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Cook the jumbo pasta shells to al dente according to package instructions.
- Drain and set aside to cool.
- In a large skillet brown the ground beef.
- Once the ground beef is fully cooked, add the taco seasoning and green chile, mix to combine.
- Add ½ cup of water and the cream cheese. Continue to stir until the cream cheese has melted and it is fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
- Pour salsa in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish.
- Stuff the shells with the meat mixture and place in the casserole dish open side up.
- Continue until all shells are stuffed and casserole dish is full.
- Pour the taco sauce over the top of the shells being sure that each shell has a little taco sauce on top.
- Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes. Top with any toppings you desire!
What to Serve with Taco Stuffed Shells with Cream Cheese
I sometimes serve this up with some Spanish Rice, but usually just serve it alone. It’s so filling by itself that you normally don’t need anything to go with it.
Toppings for Cheesy Taco Shells
- Sour Cream
- Pico de Gallo
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Chile con Queso
Tips for making Stuffed Taco Shells
A little trick I use to judge how many shells to cook is to lay them out in your 9×13 casserole with extra room around each and then use that many.
How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat Taco Pasta Shells
Leftover Taco Pasta Shells can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days or the freezer for up to 6 months. To reheat, I recommend placing them in an oven safe container and heating through at 300°F.
Cheesy Taco Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 12 oz Jumbo Pasta Shells
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 8 oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese
- 1/4 cup Taco Seasoning
- 1/2 cup green chiles
- 1 1/2 cups Salsa I use my homemade salsa
- 1 bottle Taco Sauce I use mild
- 1 cup reduced fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Cook the jumbo pasta shells to al dente according to package instructions.
- Drain and set aside to cool.
- In a large skillet brown the ground beef.
- Once the ground beef is fully cooked, add the taco seasoning and green chile, mix to combine.
- Add 1/2 cup of water and the cream cheese. Continue to stir until the cream cheese has melted and it is fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
- Pour salsa in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish.
- Stuff the shells with the meat mixture and place in the casserole dish open side up.
- Continue until all shells are stuffed and casserole dish is full.
- Pour the taco sauce over the top of the shells being sure that each shell has a little taco sauce on top.
- Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes. Top with any toppings you desire!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
