Here is a very easy, very flavourful recipe using the wonderful taste of taco meat and pasta. I love those jumbo pasta shells because the only thing stopping you from filling them with any variety of fillings is your imagination.  Not much imagination on my part because well… it’s taco meat…. what doesn’t that taste good in lol?  We love pretty much all types of “Mexican” food and this is just another one of those go to recipes!

Sandie

Here are the ingredients I used to make them.  The only thing I added on later was some sour cream and green onions on top.  Sour cream just seems to finish off anything with taco meat in it wonderfully.

I cooked the pasta shells according to the package directions and browned my ground beef. (I browned mine in the microwave on high heat until it was cooked through and the juices ran clear, about 8 minutes)

I put the shells in cold water while I finished preparing the filling to make them easier to handle for stuffing.

I added the taco seasoning, 1 1/2 cups of salsa and 1 cup of grated cheese to the ground beef…. and mixed it until it was thoroughly combined.

Then I set the shells, pasta and prepared baking pan up assembly line style to make stuffing the shells go even faster.

I filled as many shells as I had filling for, placing them in the prepared pan(s) as I went. I separated mine into 2 pans because even with Chris and Dillon being healthy eaters, I didn’t think they would eat that many in one sitting lol!

I sprinkled them with the remaining grated cheese…..

And then spooned the rest of the salsa on top of each shell.

I covered the baking pans with aluminum foil that I sprayed with cooking spray (so the melted cheese doesn’t stick to it during cooking) and baked them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until they were heated through and the cheese was melted.

And to serve, I placed the shells on the plates and then spooned some sour cream into a sandwich bag, clipped off one corner and drizzled it over top of the shells before sprinkling them with chopped green onions.

And that’s it…. some delicious Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells for dinner!

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Recipe

Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells

Preparation Time: 25 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes  Servings: 4 – 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 jar salsa
• 2 cups grated Tex Mex grated cheese
• 24 jumbo pasta shells, cooked according to package directions
• Optional: 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup chopped green onion

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease baking pan(s).
2. Cook shells according to package directions. Drain and let stand in cold water to make handling the shells for stuffing easier.
3. Brown ground beef in microwave on high heat until fully cooked and juices run clear, about 8 minutes.  Drain.
4. Add 1 1/2 cups salsa, taco seasoning and 1 cup grated cheese to ground beef and mix well.
5. Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon of filling into each shell and place in prepared pan.
6. Sprinkle remaining cheese over each shell and then spoon remaining salsa over shells evenly.
7. Cover with lightly greased aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
8. Optional: Drizzle with sour cream and top with chopped green onions once shells are moved to plates.