Just look at all that cheesy taco-y goodness in a jumbo pasta shell!. Mexican stuffed shells are going to be your favorite dish to make for Taco night!
I was very tired today and really wanted to come home and take a nap. Instead, I ended up cooking and made three things. A frozen key lime pie, banana bread muffins, and this dish for Mexican stuffed shells. I am home alone this weekend and decided to make these Mexican stuffed shells since there was cheese on top and cream cheese in the middle. Boy let me tell you something, these Mexican Shells did not disappoint. I used lean ground beef and low-fat cream cheese to keep these a tad on the lighter side. For garnish used some tomatoes and parsley. One of the best pasta dishes I’ve made in a long time. Will definitely make this dish again.
Recipe adapted from Like Mother Like Daughter
PrintMexican Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (93% lean)
- 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 TBS taco seasoning
- 4 oz fat free cream cheese
- 24 jumbo pasta shells
- 10 oz enchilada sauce
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup reduced fat colby jack cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Boil your pasta shells for about 10 minutes until cooked al dente. Rinse shells when done cooking.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Meanwhile, cook up your ground beef and onions over medium high heat until cooked thoroughly.
- Drain the excess grease from the pan.
- Add in taco seasoning and stir to mix.
- Add in cream cheese and cook over medium heat until cheese is mixed in and melty throughout. Set aside.
- Combine your enchilada sauce and salsa in a small bowl.
- Pour about half of your enchilada sauce salsa mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 pan and spread around.
- Fill each jumbo shell with a heaping 1 TBS of meat mixture and place into pan with sauce.
- Repeat until all shells or meat mixture is gone.
- Pour the remaining enchilada sauce salsa mixture over the tops of the shells.
- Wrap pan in aluminum foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and top with cheeses.
- Return to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes
Points Plus: 9
Freestyle SmartPoints: 8 (3 jumbo shells per serving)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 323
- Sugar: 3.5
- Fat: 11.21g
- Saturated Fat: 4.8
- Carbohydrates: 32.27g
- Fiber: 2.4g
- Protein: 23.36g
I am not affiliated with WW formerly known as Weight Watchers in any way. I am just a member who likes to create WW recipes and share them with everyone. Freestyle is the name of the current program of WW and smart points are calculated for the recipes. Some blogs list them as freestyle smart points and some list them as smart points. There is no difference between the 2.
Kathy Erickson says
I made this recipe last night and it received rave reviews by the eaters here! I used a mix of extra lean ground beef and turkey for the meat to lower the points a bit. I may have overstuffed the shells a bit, so I got only 19 stuffed shells. Still plenty for leftovers! Thanks for this yummy recipe!
★★★★★
Tammra L Pearce says
Delicious! Substituted ground turkey. Really good!
★★★★★
Jenna says
When you freeze food don’t you just cook it all the way through and store it in the freezer?
Melissa says
I’m looking for dishes I can fix partially and then freeze. Do you think (or have tried) to freeze this before baking?
Sue says
Made this tonight, family loved it. I added diced tomatoes, green onion then the cheese and baked it for the 15 minutes more. Then once done topped it with fresh cilantro. Of course the non- weight watchers in my household had to add their staple of sour cream. So good would definitely make again.
★★★★★
ROBIN says
The oven temperature was too low. After 30 minutes I raised the heat to 385 for 15 minutes before topping with the cheese.
Megan says
How did you get this to come out to 323 calories a serving? I logged in all the ingredients to myfitnesspal and it’s more like 423 calories per serving.
Linda says
It doesn’t say how many shells you get in a serving for 9 pts. I’m assuming 2-3??