Vegan Stuffed Shells (GF Option)
Vegan stuffed shells are a classic Italian comfort food. The pillowy cashew ricotta filling tastes nearly identical to the real thing so no one will even know it's dairy free. Gluten free option below.
Ingredients
- 8-10 oz jumbo shells see notes below
- olive oil
- 5 oz roughly chopped fresh or frozen spinach see notes
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt start with ½ teaspoon if using anything else
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 25.5 oz jar pasta sauce about 3 cups
Cashew Ricotta
- 2 cups raw cashews
- ½ cup filtered water
- 1 tablesoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- diamond crystal kosher salt to taste
Serving
- fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Cook pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions (it will continue to cook in the oven).
- Make vegan ricotta. Place cashews, water, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, nutritional yeast, and kosher salt in a high-powered blender with a tamper or a food processor. Blend, scraping down the sides as needed. If using a blender, use the tamper to push the ingredients into the blade. Add to a medium bowl.
- Cook spinach. Cook the spinach in a little olive oil over medium heat until wilted and reduced in size. Add it to the bowl with the vegan ricotta along with dried basil, dried parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and black pepper. Mix together until well combined.
- Assemble. Add 1 ½-2 cups of pasta sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Stuff about 1 tablespoon of the ricotta cheese mixture into each shell and nestle it into the tomato sauce until you've used up all your ricotta and shells. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the top of the shells.
- Bake. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes.
- Garnish and serve. Carefully remove the foil, top with fresh basil, and serve immediately.
Notes
I used organic jumbo shells and for the amount of ricotta, mine made about 18 shells. Yours could make less depending on the size of the shells, but it's ideal to cook more than you need in case some break.
See blog post for step-by-step photos, helpful tips, storage, and recipe FAQs.