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These Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells are the perfect weeknight meal! Also great when served as an appetizer. Easy to make and only a few simple ingredients!
Featured with this recipe
- Ingredients in Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
- Making Food Fun
- Step by Step How to Make Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
- What Kind of Sauce Should I Use for Stuffed Shells?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Do Stuffed Shells Make a Good Freezer Meal?
- More Delicious Italian Recipes
- How to Make Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
- Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells Recipe
Don’t these chicken parmesan stuffed shells look amazing?! They taste even better! I made them the other night as kind of an experiment just to see how they would turn out. I had a box of large pasta shells and I didn’t really know what to do with them and this idea popped into my mind. We served the pasta bake with garlic bread and a side salad and we had a wonderful meal!
This dinner has all your nutrients right into one dish! It is filled with dairy, vegetables, meat, and fruit from the tomatoes. Chicken parmesan stuffed shells are a fun appetizer or dinner. Everyone loves shell pasta and the delicious flavor it adds to any meal. With all the ingredinets combined this dinner is a well-balanced meal that everyone is sure to love!
Ingredients in Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
For the stuffed shells:
- Large or jumbo pasta shells
- Breaded chicken strips
- Mozzarella cheese
- Spaghetti sauce
- Shredded Mozzarella/Parmesan cheese blend
- Fresh basil
For the Homemade Sauce:
- Olive oil
- Chopped onion
- DOP San Marzano tomatoes
- Salt
Making Food Fun
My kids LOVE the shells because, well, they are shells and my kids think they are actual seashells. Anytime you can capitalize on something they love, I am game. Seriously, if I want to get my kids to eat something, I just have to stuff it in one of these shells and it automatically becomes their favorite food.
I love the large shells for the kiddos because, unlike pasta noodles, they don’t get all over the place and they are easy for the little ones to spear with a fork. It is a win-win in my book! We are taking these shells and boosting them with delicious and easy ingredients that are taking this dinner to the next level!
Step by Step How to Make Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
Make this dinner even easier with these step-by-step instructions on making chicken parmesan stuffed shells the best meal yet! Get ready to add this shell pasta dinner to your weekly menu plan they are that good. Each bite is covered in cheese, and sauce, and held together with a savory pasta shell. The Italian combination is well worth the few steps in making this dinner recipe!
- Boil – First, assemble your ingredients. Boil the shells in a large pot according to the package instructions until they are al dente. Be careful not to overcook the shells, or they will be hard to fill and they won’t hold their shape.
- Cook – While the shells are cooking, cook the breaded chicken in the oven or air fryer until crispy and then slice. Cut the Mozzarella into cubes. Once the shells are done, let them cool or rinse with cold water to cool the pasta so it is easier to handle.
- Filling – Next, set up your filling station. Place the shells, chicken, and cheese in a separate large bowl. Then, prepare a 9×13 pan or casserole dish by spreading 1 cup of sauce over the bottom of the pan. Preheat the oven to 375.
- Assemble shells – Assemble the shells by taking one cooked shell and putting a piece of chicken and a piece of cheese inside. Then, spear a toothpick through all the layers to hold them together. Place in the casserole dish.
- Layer – Once all the shells are stuffed, pour the remaining sauce over the shells and sprinkle cheese over the top.
What Kind of Sauce Should I Use for Stuffed Shells?
Make this chicken parmesan stuffed shell recipe as simple or complex as you would like! Go easy and find a delicious canned sauce at the store, make a homemade sauce from scratch, or prepare a sauce using a can of tomatoes. Either of these options is well worth the time and money put into them!
- Canned marinara – If you are in a rush, you can always use a pre-made marinara sauce like Ragu or Prego. However, even if you start with a base like that you can easily doll it up with some additional spices like basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, to make it taste more like your own.
- Homemade sauce – If you have fresh tomatoes on hand, try our delicious Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes in this recipe.
- Canned tomatoes – My favorite tomato sauce to use for this recipe is a homemade sauce made with canned San Marzano tomatoes. You start by sautéing onions in olive oil. Then, you add the delicious canned tomatoes. Then, blend everything together and finish off with some salt and pepper. It is that easy!
“These are actually really fun to make! They are always a hit when I make them for dinner too! They look complicated to make, but they actually are very simple to throw together!”
-Amy
Frequently Asked Questions
Stuffed pasta shells are called Conchiglie. It means a pasta variety that is shaped like a conch shell. The smaller shell shape is called conchigliette and the largest is called conchiglioni.
Manicotti shells are long tube shells that can be stuffed and filled on the inside. Stuffed shells can hold the filling inside the shell area. Both use a creamy filling with cheese and other Italian ingredients that is stuffed into the pasta shells.
Stuffed shells originate from Sicilian culinary tradition. The meat sauce is made with veal mixed with tomato sauce and occasionally peas.
Do Stuffed Shells Make a Good Freezer Meal?
Yes, they do! To make this into a freezer meal recipe, prepare the shells all the way, but stop before baking. Then, cover with plastic wrap and then foil and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you are ready to enjoy this meal, defrost it in the fridge and then bake it as normal.
More Delicious Italian Recipes
Now that we’ve got your mind thinking about all the great sauce, cheese, and pasta combinations out there, check out these other great Italian recipes!
How to Make Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound large or jumbo pasta shells cooked according to package directions
- 8-10 breaded chicken strips cooked (I like the packaged, frozen parmesan-crusted chicken strips)
- 1 pound mozzarella cheese in a block
- 1 quart spaghetti sauce see below for our favorite sauce recipe
- shredded Mozzarella/Parmesan cheese blend to taste
- fresh basil chopped, to taste
For Homemade Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion very finely chopped
- 800 grams whole, peeled DOP San Marzano Tomatoes
- 3 teaspoons salt or to taste, you want to keep salting until the acid taste of the tomatoes is balanced out
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375-degrees. Cut chicken strips into 1 ½ inch pieces (4-5 pieces per strip). You want it to be about the same size as the shells.Cut cheese into strips (as if you were cutting them to serve with crackers) to your desired thickness.
- Spread about ½ cup of spaghetti sauce over the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.
- Place the cheese on top of a chicken piece and stuff inside the shell, putting in a toothpick to hold it together if needed). Place the prepared stuffed shells in the baking dish.
- Cover evenly with remaining spaghetti sauce. Top with shredded Mozzarella/Parmesan blend.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until sauce is hot and bubbly. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. Top with fresh basil and serve.
For the Sauce
- Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add onion and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can throw the sauce in a blender instead.)
- Add salt, to taste. Allow to simmer on low, stirring occasionally until ready to serve.
Notes
- This makes a great freezer meal! Prepare the shells all the way, but stop before baking. Then, cover with plastic wrap and then foil and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you are ready to enjoy this meal, defrost it in the fridge and then bake it as normal.
- Make meatball stuffed shells by replacing the chicken with fully cooked meatballs.
- Use toothpicks if needed to keep the shells together.
This might be a silly question, but does the chicken need to be cooked beforehand or can it go in the shell raw and it just cooks in the oven?
It definitely needs to be cooked first. If it is the pre-cooked frozen chicken tenders it will probably be ok, I would just thaw them first so it is easier to slice
This should probably be in the recipe. I was wondering the same thing and glad I found the answer in the comments!
Made this and the whole family loved it. Would definitely make it again.
The first time I tried them, I put a tiny dab of ricotta in the shell too. I used chicken nuggets ( couldn’t find park coated strips) They were good, but the breading on the chicken became a sorta soggy mess. You use them frozen right out of the pkg, right?
Maybe I’ll try with another brand.
Love the recepie, i am going to try it tonight, only part were i am confused is , the store bought parmesan chicken, i have breaded chicken in my freezer, so i fry them first and then stuff in the shell or, just thaw and stuff and bake? Please if you can clarify ..
Thanks
You will definitely want them cooked first! That way it will crisp up how it is supposed to!
You should recommend cooking them 1st I am making them tomorrow for Super Bowl and wasn’t going to cook them… Thank goodness for these comments
This is easy to make and extremely delicious!
I made these for dinner last night and they were awesome. We will definitely have these again. Next time I will try them with a hamburger, onion, celery, and mozzarella and parmessan cheese. Thanks for the recipe!!!!
such a great idea! Do you ever cook ahead and freeze?
I haven’t but that should work fine with these!
I made this last night and the family loved it! Do you have the nutritional info?
Thanks, we don’t have the nutrition info but there are a lot of sites that you can plug the ingredients into to find out.
In cooking instruction #6, “…glass backing dish.” should be “…glass baking dish.” 😀
Haha, nice catch, thank you! We will get that fixed.
Thinking of making this for New Year’s Day. How many servings does this recipe make? Thanks.
It makes 6-9 servings depending on how hungry people are. If it is your main course I would say plan on 6-ish servings
Trying these this week!
Made these tonight, they were a hit.
We had some Mozzarella cheese sticks that we needed to use up (bought BIG bag at Sams, then 2/3 of the way thru the bag my boys got bored with them and wanted something new) so we used the rest of the bag in place of the chunks in the recipe before they expired!
I’m confused about the cutting part? Could you choose to not cut, but rather trim down the chicken to the size of the shell and then just stuff it in? Do you cut lengthwise or into chunks? Extra step pics would have been a little more helpful.. Thank you, I’m gonna give them a try anyways!!
I put pieces of chicken in that were the size of the shell. I just kind of estimated the size of the shell and cut it based on that. They were about 1″x2″ pieces
Making these tomorrow for a christmas lunch at work.
This looks super easy and hope is tastes as nice as it looks!
Let us know how your co-workers like them! 😀
I made these tonight and they were amazing!! I have a husband who is more of a picky eater than any child and even he loved it. I didn’t have a block of mozzarella cheese but I had extra shredded cheese so I put a small handful in the shell before putting the chicken inside. It still came out great! …just another option for anyone out there who might not have a chunk of cheese. 🙂
Thank you for a great and easy recipe! This will definitely be a repeat recipe.
Made these for dinner and they were great! I’m actually going to be making them for a Christmas party this upcoming weekend! Thanks!
Made these tonight for dinner. They were delicious!!!!!
I’m so glad you liked them! Thank you for your comment!
This looks delicious! I’m a little confused though. The name of the recipe is Chicken Parmesan Shells but it doesn’t call for any Parmesan cheese…only mozzarella. Am I missing something here?
Thanks for the catch– I will clarify in the post
Well if you noticed the type of chicken stripes that she used they are parmesan crusted so technically parmesan was used
“Parmigiana” is the dish, and is not indicative of Parmesan cheese, as many think! Parmigiana traditionally uses mozzarella. It was shorted and the slang “parm” started being used which many people assumed was short for Parmesan – hence all the recipes for chicken “Parmesan” that actually use mozzarella!
These look and sound delicious. Will try them next week.