No-Boil Vegan Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells In Red Sauce

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As far as casseroles go, the ones in the lasagne family are my favorites. These No-Boil Vegan Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells In Red Sauce are impressive to vegans and non-vegans, adults and children. It’s a great make-ahead dish to serve for special occasions or when you want that ace-in-the-hole, smell the house up good, family meal. If you are a two-person household, you will love the leftovers.

Oil-Free Vegan Cheeses

I especially love this dish because it’s oil-free, and doesn’t rely on store-bought, processed vegan cheese. The Tofu-Cashew Ricotta makes the incredible filling. The Garlic Shake 5 Minute Hempseed Parm sprinkled onto top gives extra flavor and adds to the presentation.

I’m Saucy

If you want to make this oil-free Red Sauce adapted from my mom’s recipe, I highly recommend it. Otherwise, you can use your favorite homemade sauce or a few jars of vegan store-bought sauce. If the jar you get has 4 cups, for this recipe you will use about 1 & 1/2 jars.

This recipe uses a fair amount of sauce, especially when preparing it No-Boil. This becomes delicious, concentrated and baked roast-y goodness. If you are preparing this by boiling the pasta shells first, you may want to decrease the sauce by a cup or two.

Pros and Cons of No-Boil

Pros

• You don’t have to boil the pasta
• Uses more sauce, makes lots of yummy concentrated red sauce
• One less pot to wash

Cons

• Longer bake time
• Uses more sauce
• When stuffing the shells, you need to find ones that are opened enough to stuff. You can usually find enough open shells from one box

Sometimes it makes sense to boil the pasta first

Sometimes I boil the shells first because the only ones left in the box are closed and I can’t stuff them without breaking them. Once I boil these shells, they become flexible enough to open and place the filling inside. I usually boil the shells for only about 5 minutes and let them finish cooking in the oven instead of boiling for the full amount of time.

Let’s Do This

First, preheat oven to 400° F.

Put 3 cups of Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce (Red Gravy) or red sauce of your choice into the bottom of your casserole dish.

Stuff shells with Green Cashew-Fu Ricotta (a.k.a tofu cashew ricotta) or vegan ricotta of your choice.

Gently place stuffed shells in rows in the casserole dish.

Cover shells with 3 cups sauce. Cover entire casserole dish with foil.

Place the foil-covered casserole dish into the heated oven and bake for 70 minutes.

Remove foil and turn oven up to 425° F and bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove casserole dish from oven and let sit for 10 minutes to firm up and cool.

Sprinkle with 5 Minute Garlic Shake Hempseed Parm and chiffonade basil and serve.

Make-ahead: Bake, let cool and cover and store in the fridge. Add 5 Minute Garlic Shake and basil after reheating to serve.

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Did you make these No-Boil Shells? How did it go? Please share in the comments section below.