Easy Instant Pot Stuffed Shells With Spinach And Cheese

Jumbo stuffed shells with spinach and cheese filling, layered with sauce, cheese, and baked. Everything made fresh under 20 minutes (cooking time is only 7 minutes and 7 ingredients) using the Instant Pot. Have your favorite pasta meal to the dinner table, faster than waiting time in the restaurant. With this recipe, no more burnt error problem when making the pasta in the Instant Pot. You won’t go back to the traditional way of making the stuffed shells after you see how fast it is to make in instant pot! Recipe includes stepwise pictures, detailed instructions and tips.

This recipe is a super hit with my family and friends. It is delicious – cheesy meal, looks & tastes just like the restaurant food.  These stuffed shells have great flavor! And most importantly , this recipe needs no sautéing, you only pressure cook the pasta , stuff the shells and bake , EASY THREE STEPS. It is a kids friendly cooking recipe !

Involve kids in your holiday meal preparation , it is so much exciting to watch them learn kitchen skills, and more fun for mommies is to make them clean up all their mess, ha ha!

• My Kids learnt how to use fresh garden grown vegetable / greens in their daily food – in this recipe they were excited to see how they used spinach from our home garden, and I made them tear the spinach into tiny pieces using their hands ,
• Learnt to measure small quantities of ingredients – They counted 12 number of pasta shells , and I helped them measure other few ingredients using a kitchen scale,
• Mix / stir ingredients – I gave them a bowl , and asked them to add all the ingredient’s on the list to prepare the filling and to mix them together,
• They stuffed each shell with the filling they prepared  using their hands. And learnt about the baking temperature needed to bake these shells.

Why This Recipe?

• Most of the time while cooking the pasta , problem we get is burnt error with the filling – sauce getting burnt on the bottom, as a result we get frustrated, and stop cooking pasta in instant pot. But with this recipe, I only pressure cooking the pasta with water and salt , so there is no burnt error problem at all. And finished it off baking for few minutes in baking mode , and turns out perfectly done like restaurant quality food.
• Can avoid wastage of pre cooked pasta shells – when you fill the precooked pasta shells , most of the shells are closed tightly and you just cannot stuff the filling in them , and tend to use only the wide open once . In this recipe , it is not the case , because you pressure cook them first , and later stuffing it with the filling , you can stuff enough filling to the shells.
• The outcome is amazing,  you will get separate stuffed shells , easy to eat and looks gourmet.
• Perfect for gathering / potlucks , easy to serve in individual shells .

Why To Use Instant Pot For Making This Pasta?

• Most importantly it SAVES TIME ! cooking / boiling this jumbo shells in traditional way will take 12 to 15 minutes to cook the pasta in hot boiling water. But when pressure cooking the pasta in instant pot, it only takes 3 minutes to cook the pasta to AL-DENTE ( cooked to be firm to the bite).
• No sautéing needed for the spinach , just mix and bake. It gets cooked to perfect consistency when baked.
• Baking the stuffed shells in regular oven , needs pre – heating the oven, then needs additional 20 minutes or more to bake the shells until cheese is bubbly. But using instant pot , it takes only four minutes to bake and melt the cheese bubbly ( no preheating needed) .
• Overall cooking time using instant pot is only 7 minutes.

How To Double The Recipe ?

• I used 3.25 OZ of pasta ( approximately 11 to 12 jumbo shells) , which serves two to three persons. When increasing the quantity / doubling the recipe – pressure cooking time will remain the same three minutes. Fill the water , until the pasta is covered and increase the salt accordingly. Add oil one to two teaspoons in the water to avoid the pasta from sticking the to each other,
• Then Fill all the cooked shells with the filling,
• Still the baking time remains the same – four minutes for EVERY batch , I was able to arrange evenly and bake all 12 shells in one batch. My pan size was 8 inch baking pan and I used Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8 Quart for baking. With more shells to bake, you can stack two same size baking pans one on top of the other or bake in batches , depending upon your instant pot – baking pan size. I prefer to arrange it evenly and not not overlap the shells while baking (shells may fall and mix with other shells filling).

How To Bake In The Regular Convection Oven?

Preheat the oven to 350 F , Take a glass baking dish and spread the pasta sauce evenly in the bottom. Place the prepared stuffed shells over the sauce in the baking pan, bake for 20 minutes, or until the mozzarella is lightly golden on the edges and the shells are heated through.

Storing And Reheating Instructions 

Refrigerate any leftover in an air tight box (preferably a glass container), stay good for 3 to 5 days in the fridge. While reheating , place the shells on a plate , add some pasta sauce on the top (optional), and drizzle olive oil before microwaving to prevent the pasta from getting dry. Microwave for 10 to 15 seconds or until warm.

How To Prepare For A Gathering And Save Time?

Pressure cook the pasta , and cool the shells to room temperature, then stuff the prepared filling inside the cooked shells with sauce and cheese on top ( see the recipe and picture below). Arrange them evenly in a tray and cover them using the lid or with foil / clear wrap and refrigerate them overnight . The next day , remove the tray from the fridge 15 to 30 minutes before baking , then bake in batches and serve.  Spread some pasta sauce in the bottom of the tray , arrange the baked shells on top and serve ( as shown in the picture below).

Other Pasta Recipe ,

• Instant Pot Spaghetti And Soy Protein Meatballs
• Cheesecake Factory Spicy Chipotle Pasta

Check out the link for more Instant Pot Recipe, Some I have listed below,

• CPK Dakota Smashed Pea & Barley Soup Instant Pot
• Creamy Buffalo Chicken Pizza Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Plantain | Vazhakkai Curry
• Easy Instant Pot Pav Bhaji
• Instant Pot Drumstick | Moringa Vegetable Curry
• Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe
• Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup Instant Pot

Step By Step Pictures Of How To Cook And Bake The Stuffed Jumbo Shells 

Ingredients required – Wash and Finely Chop Fresh Spinach , cream cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese , pasta sauce, Italian seasoning, water, salt, and jumbo pasta shells.

Prepare the filling – In a bowl , add finely chopped spinach , cream cheese , Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and mix well using your hands or with a ladle , set aside.

Pressure Cook

I used Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8 Quart for cooking. Place the inner vessel into the Instant Pot, add ONE QUART of water ( or add water until all the pasta is covered with water). Then add ONE teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon olive oil ( to prevent pasta from sticking to each other) to the water, and mix well using a ladle. Arrange jumbo shell pasta in the water ( see picture below). Close the LID of the Instant Pot .

Press the PRESSURE COOK mode on HIGH power, and Set CUSTOM settings, TIMER to THREE minutes. SEAL the Pressure Valve ( this model Instant Pot automatically seals). Switch off the KEEP WARM MODE ( light should not be on in the keep warm mode). Now press START. After the pressure cooking is done. Press CANCEL . Then do QPR (quick pressure release) by moving quick release switch from SEAL TO VENT.

Fill The Cooked Shells With Filling

After the steam is released, open the lid of the Instant Pot. Remove the shells with a tongs and place the cooked shells in a plate ( discard the cooked pasta water). Take the prepare spinach – cheese filling , use a tablespoon or hand and scoop a tablespoon of filling and place it into each shell. Fill all the shells with spinach filling. Now add 1 tablespoon of pasta sauce and add to the top of the filling on all the shells. Finally top the sauce layer with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of shredded mozzarella cheese .

Take a baking safe pan , that fits your instant pot, ( my pan size is – 8 inch, and I arranged all shells in one batch), add / spread the remaining pasta sauce to the bottom of the pan ( as shown in the picture below). Arrange all the stuffed shells on top of the sauce evenly ( do not overlap). Take a foil and cover the baking pan ( to prevent the pasta from getting dry and water getting into the pan).

Bake The Stuffed Shells

I used Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8 Qtrs for baking. Press BAKE Mode on the instant pot, CUSTOM SETTING to FOUR MINUTES on HIGH power. Make sure the VENT IS SEALED. Pour 180 ML or 1 cup of water in the inner pot, place the TRIVET ( water level should be below the trivet level). Place the baking pan on the trivet, and close the lid of the instant pot, and press START. Bake for FOUR minutes, and once down , QUICK REALEASE the vent.

Open the lid and remove the baking pan, shells are baked now ( stuffing inside with cheese would have melted as shown in the picture below). Use tongs to remove shells and arrange in the tray .

Remove the trivet , and discard the remaining water from the inner pot. Serve the pasta hot with some bread.