These Sun Dried Tomato and Broccoli Unstuffed Shells skip the tedious stuffing and go straight for flavor!
You’re looking at comfort food at it’s finest.
My family loves a good pasta dish, but my kids can be a little picky about all the goodies I mix it up with. I’ve made delicious variations on stuffed shells many times, only to have them scrape out all the goodness before devouring the shell. I’d find myself picking the vegetables off their plate, but it still felt a little wasteful.
Eventually I decided it was time to go unstuffed. What is an unstuffed shell you may ask? It’s an easy recipe for stuffed shells that skips all the stuffing and just mixes the pasta with the sauce and veggies. You’re left with perfectly cooked giant pasta shells, creamy sauce, and tons of flavorful veggies that can be easily picked around by little hands or piled on by me.
There are three basic steps to this recipe. The broccoli cooks with the pasta, the veggies get sautéed together, and the sauce whisks up in just a few minutes. Mix it all together, top with cheese and breadcrumbs, and you have a fancy/delicious dinner that you didn’t have to stand around stuffing by hand.
This recipe for sun dried tomato and broccoli unstuffed shells can be easily customized! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Use a gluten-free pasta, gluten-free flour blend, and skip the breadcrumbs to make this gluten-free
- Swap the large shells for whatever shape you have on hand
- Add whatever leftover veggies you might have on hand such as cooked zucchini, spinach, or sweet potato cubes
- Add roasted chickpeas, diced cooked chicken, or peeled cooked shrimp for protein
- Swap the white sauce for your favorite pesto
If you make this recipe be sure to rate it, leave a comment, or tag #theliveinkitchen on Instagram!
Recipe
Sun Dried Tomato and Broccoli Unstuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 16 ounces large shell pasta
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 tablespoon oil from the sun dried tomato jar
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup sun dried tomato in oil, drained
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ cups milk
- ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup Italian or mozzarella cheese
- ¾ cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Chopped freshly parsley, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta 1-2 minutes less than called for in the package directions. Add the broccoli to the pasta water in the last two minutes of cooking. Drain and transfer back to the pot or a large bowl.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon oil from the sun dried tomato jar in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add the sun dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, stirring until the vinegar is cooked off and the tomatoes are hot, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the pasta and broccoli.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk in ½ cup Parmesan cheese. Cook, whisking, until thick, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the sauce to the bowl with the pasta and broccoli.
- Stir the pasta together with the sauce and vegetables. Spread out in the prepared pan and top with mozzarella cheese.
- In a small bowl, combine panko, ¼ cup grated Parmesan, and 1 tablespoon olive oil, stirring or mixing with clean fingers until fully combined. Sprinkle evenly over the mozzarella. Sprinkle to taste with salt and pepper.
- Bake 20-25 minutes or until the top is beginning to brown and the edges are bubbly. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
- Use a gluten-free pasta, gluten-free flour blend, and skip the breadcrumbs to make this gluten-free
- Swap the large shells for whatever shape you have on hand
- Add whatever leftover veggies you might have on hand such as cooked zucchini, spinach, or sweet potato cubes
- Add roasted chickpeas, diced cooked chicken, or peeled cooked shrimp for protein
- Swap the white sauce for your favorite pesto
Anna says
Looks amazing!!!
Lindsay Moe says
Thanks Anna!
Tim says
This sounds amazing! Planning it for this weekend.
For the sundried Tomatoes, are you using halved, julienned, or “chef’s choice”?
Lindsay Moe says
I always use julienned, but any would work, and you could always chop up larger ones if necessary.
BillC says
This is a delicious recipe. It took a little coordination, and an extra hand, once the béchamel was started to get it all together on a weeknight. We 1.5x the recipe as jumbo shells come in 12oz packages and I did not want a lingering open box left over. Using our largest Pyrex pan (11×17) and a little extra oven time did the trick. Our kids loved this, and it was a tasty leftover too. Thank you for this recipe.