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These Creamy White Wine Mushroom Stuffed Shells are the perfect baked pasta for cozy November and December nights with family and friends. Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells, creamy buttery béchamel sauce, and golden caramelized mushrooms all come together in this vegetable-focused pasta dish. It’s rich, cheesy, full of wonderful flavors, and so delicious! Top the stuffed shells with fresh thyme before serving for an extra pop of color. This is a great make-ahead dish for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, and all the upcoming holiday dinner parties.
I say this every year, but in terms of the Thanksgiving menu, I think it’s nice to have a vegetarian main course option that’s just as exciting (if not more so) than the turkey. There are so many people who either don’t eat turkey or just don’t love it enough to get super excited about it on Thanksgiving.
For those people out there (and I know there are a lot of them), provide something extra delicious!
For many years I’d do a yummy vegetable-focused lasagna. But this year, I’ve got something new and delicious…stuffed shells!
I based this recipe on my aunt Katie’s white lasagna that I’ve loved since I was a kid. Her béchamel sauce was the secret, she made A LOT of it so the lasagna was never dry.
These shells are basically her lasagna, but in the form of stuffed shells, and with the addition of a bit of wine (which she would love).
The details – make the béchamel
Start with the mushrooms. Just cook them up in a bit of butter and add lots of thyme. Then pull them out of the skillet and start making my Aunt Katie’s béchamel.
It’s butter, garlic, basil, and oregano mixed together with flour. You’ll then add milk and a good amount of wine. As the sauce thickens the wine will cook out. Stir in the cheese and season up the sauce with salt and pepper.
Assemble
Now that the sauce is made, the rest is easy. Boil-off the shells, then mix the ricotta cheese with thawed spinach.
Grab a baking dish and spoon some of the béchamel into the bottom. Start stuffing the shells with the ricotta, then place them into the dish. Pour over the remaining béchamel, sprinkle on some cheese, and then finish with the mushrooms. Cover and bake until that cheese is bubbling up and golden…
It’s going to smell delish.
Perfect dinner to entertain with over the next couple of months. You can prepare the dish in advance, keep it fully assembled in the fridge, and then bake before serving. Love dishes like this for holiday entertaining…they make life so easy!
Hoping these stuffed shells are the perfect start to your week! My tip? Test out the recipe this week and then perfect to your liking for Thanksgiving!
Looking for other easy holiday dinners?? Here are my favorites:
Stuffed Spaghetti Squash 4 Cheese Pesto Lasagna
Crispy Prosciutto Cheesy White Lasagna
One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake
Lastly, if you make these Creamy White Wine Mushroom Stuffed Shells, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Creamy White Wine Mushroom Stuffed Shells
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 693 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter
- 3 cups shiitake or cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 pound jumbo pasta shells
- 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded provolone
- 2 (10 ounce packages) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium pot. Add the mushrooms. Cook undisturbed for 5 minutes or until golden. Add the thyme, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook 4-5 minutes, until fragrant. Remove the mushrooms from the skillet. 3. To the skillet, add the reaming 6 tablespoons butter, the garlic, basil, oregano, and cook 30 seconds or until fragrant. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Add the wine, then the milk. Bring to a boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is smooth. Set the cheese sauce aside.4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat and boil the pasta until al dente according to package directions.5. In a bowl combine the ricotta, provolone, and spinach. 6. Spread 1/3 of the cheese sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Working with one pasta shell at a time, spoon 1 tablespoon of the ricotta mix into each shell, placing the filled shell into the baking dish as you go. Sprinkle over 1/2 cup mozzarella, pour the remaining cheese sauce over top. Top with a 1/4 cup of parmesan and then the mushrooms. Cover and bake 25 minutes or until the top has bubbled up. Remove the foil and bake another 15-20 minutes. Serve with fresh thyme.
This was delicious and my family loved it! But we made too much and ended up freezing half (prepped to the last step but not cooked) to eat another night. How long would you cook it straight from the freezer? Same temperature?
Hey Stephanie,
Awesome!! Thanks so much for giving this dish a try and your comment, I love to hear it was a hit! 😊 Yes, I would keep the oven temp the same and then bake for 60 minutes. I hope this helps! xT
This was delicious. We didn’t have basil so just added parsley at end. Grocery didn’t have large pasta shells so I used manicotti. Otherwise pretty much followed ya Tieghan!
Will be looking to make again very soon and possibly go a plant based tofu ricotta, plant milk etc style.
Thanks for another delicious dinner!
Hey Resa,
Wonderful! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe and sharing your comment, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! xx
I loved this recipe! An easy crowd pleaser! I had one vegan in my group and just made an easy vegan filling with tofu/cashew/ nutritional yeast and then the mushroom and spinach!
Hey Sonya,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was tasty and thanks a lot for trying it out! xT
Made this tonight and it was amazing! Will definitely be making this one again! Tieghan’s recipes are always superb!
Hey Melinda,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and your comment, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
This dish was amazing!! The whole family loved it! Thank you for sharing <3 the wine sauce was so good. And I didn’t mind having a glass while I made it lol
Hey Marissa,
Happy Monday!!⛄️ Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! xT
OMG, decadent! Love this! A few comments.. I used fresh herbs instead of dried. Also, be careful NOT to use 1 or 2 percent milk. It will curdle with the wine. I had to toss it all and start over. The next time I used 1/2 1/2 cause that is what I had. I would double the amount of mushrooms next time. I put it under the broil to brown it at the end. I used about 25 jumbo shells and lots leftover. DELICIOUS!
Hey Kathy,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
Another fantastic half baked harvest recipe!!!! So easy and SO delicious. 10/10 my entire loved it:)
Entire family* loved it!
Hey Julia,
Happy Sunday!!❄️ I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for trying it out and sharing your feedback! xx
Quick question… do you think I could substitute pesto instead of spinach? Or would that clash with the sauce?? I have never made a bad recipe from you and am looking forward to making this one, just hoping to pack a bigger flavour punch with pesto. S
Hi there,
So sorry, I think the pesto would clash with the other flavors in this dish, but you can totally omit the spinach:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
I think pesto would be great! The recipe does call for: basil, garlic, Parm, all thing already in pesto. And some pestos are also made with kale or spinach. And there is such thing as pesto Alfredo sauce. I say go for it. Cooking is an experiment! See how it tastes and let us know!