Pulled Pork Stuffed Shells are stuffed with a pulled pork and cheese mixture and topped with a combination of pasta sauce and bbq sauce. It’s an Italian meal with lots of southern bbq flavor and it’s really easy to make.
HOW TO MAKE PULLED PORK STUFFED SHELLS
First you’ll cook some jumbo pasta shells according to package directions.
For the filling, you’ll start with 1 pound of pulled pork. You can use storebought (which you can find in the refrigerated section of the grocery store), a homemade pulled pork, or pulled pork from a bbq restaurant. It doesn’t matter whether it is a sauceless pulled pork or one with sauce.
The pulled pork gets mixed with some sliced green onions, 1 1/4 cups of ricotta cheese or cottage cheese, a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and a cup of shredded Colby Jack cheese plus seasonings.
You don’t have to use these 2 cheeses. Use what you have on hand. All mozzarella cheese works or Montery Jack or Pepper jack. Or you can use half mozzarella cheese, half cheddar cheese.
Once you have the filling ready, stuff the shells with it.
The sauce is a simple mixture of pasta sauce and bbq sauce. Use whichever store-bought bbq sauce you like. I recommend a Kansas City-style sauce that is tomato-based and tangy with some sweetness instead of a vinegar-based sauce.
I think adding 2/3 cup of bbq sauce to the pasta sauce is a good ratio, but you might want to start with 1/2 cup of bbq sauce and go from there.
Pour a little sauce in the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish. Arrange the shells in the baking dish and pour the rest of the sauce over the shells. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 to 20 minutes.
You can prep these shells ahead of time and refrigerate them until you are ready to bake them. Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. Can be frozen for up to 2 months. Freeze before baking.
Try These Othe Pulled Pork Recipes:
- BBQ Spaghetti Casserole
- Crock Pot Root Beer Pulled Pork
- Pulled Pork Burritos with Cheesy Sour Cream Sauce
Pulled Pork Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 box jumbo pasta shells
- 1 pound pulled pork
- 2 green onions,, sliced (set aside a few to sprinkle on top)
- 1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
- 1/2 teapsoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cups shredded Colby Jack or Mexican cheese
- 1 (24-ounce) jar pasta sauce
- 2/3 cup bbq sauce
Instructions
- Cook shells in salted water according to maufacturer's deirections. Drain.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a 9x13-inch pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together pulled pork, green onion, ricotta cheese, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, mozzarella cheese, and Colby Jack cheese.
- In a medium bowl, stir together pasta sauce and bbq sauce. Spread about 1/2 a cup in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Stuff shells with pulled pork mixture. Place in baking dish.
- Pour remaining sauce over shells. Sprinkle with reserved green onion.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.Uncover and bake another 15 to 20 minutes. Serve.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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