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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 recipe took awhile to make, as with all shells recipes I feel like! It’s a tedious process but well worth it! Everyone in my family loved this recipe.
Hey Autumn,
I love to hear that you liked this recipe, thanks a lot for giving it a try! xTieghan
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! It was husband, 6 and 1 year old approved.
My only adjustments were that I only used 1 package of spinach and I subbed 1 cup Havarti + 1 cup provalone cheese to the filling, added some Havarti to the sauce. I also roasted a head of garlic and added that to the sauce.
My only alterations for making it next time would be to only do 1.5 cups of wine. It was a very prominent wine flavor, which I do enjoy but I wanted the roasted garlic to be a bit stronger next time. It was also more liquidy than what I care for but I thinking 1/2 cup difference would make it perfect for my personal preference.
Great and inspiring recipe!
Hey Kaitlyn,
Happy Sunday! Thanks for giving the recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Thanks for sharing what worked well for you! xTieghan
My tester batch is wonderful. My veg family will love it! If I assemble today can I heat it tomorrow? Will it hold up well? Thoughts ?
Hi Lisa,
You bet, that will work well for you. I hope you love the recipe! Happy Thanksgiving! xTieghan
This was really good, really cheesy and the perfect comfort food meal on a cold night. I did top with extra parmesan, some crushed red pepper flakes, and a sprinkle of salt to add a little more flavor. It’s also a fun meal to make.
Hey Emily,
Thanks so very much for giving this recipe a go, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Happy Thanksgiving! xTieghan
Hello! I really enjoyed the sauce for this recipe! Next time I’ll add 4-5 cloves of garlic & 1/8 tsp of red pepper flakes in the stuffing, it needed a bit more flavor.
One item for note, Texas is having a jumbo shell shortage. I made lasagna rolls instead, turned out beautifully! So if you happen to be standing deflated in the grocery store, let your heart be merry and make lasagna roll ups!
Thanks for trying the recipe Lillian! Let me know if I can help in anyway for next time! xTieghan
I cracked up at your “standing deflated” comment and hot tip! Totally appreciated.
I made the stuffed shells, so rich and delish. I made in 2 pans do we could try before Thanksgiving and then bake a pan on Thanksgiving. Another great recipe.
Hi Susan,
Thanks so very much for giving this recipe a go, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Happy Thanksgiving! xTieghan
Hi There! Just put this recipe together, and I’m very excited to try it tomorrow at our Friendsgiving. I had enough to make a small extra tray that I want to freeze and eat at a later time. Any idea on how long to bake from frozen state, and what temp? Thank you so much!
Hey Erica,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try. I would keep the same baking temp just increase your baking time to 60 minutes. I hope it’s delish! xTieghan
I’m commenting while this dish is in the oven..
The recipe (the way it’s posted right now)has lots of flaws as noted prior. You don’t specify pot for the sauce which probably should be due to the amount of stirring needed to obtain smoothness.
When putting the second layer of mozzarella over the stuffed shells ,where do we have a second helping noted?
Also your pictures show fresh thyme when cooking yet your recipe states dry thyme. Please explain…
Hey Karrie, you need a medium pot for the sauce. I have fixed the recipe to include the second layer of mozzarella. The recipe does use dry thyme, but I garnished with fresh thyme. So sorry if that was unclear in the recipe. Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy Holidays! xtieghan
I just want to say for anyone needing to make something vegetarian for Thanksgiving, Tiegan’s recipes are the absolute best. I am a vegetarian with multiple vegetarian cookbooks yet her veg recipes are better than most of the stuff I make out of those books. I have not made this yet, but I am going to do so on Thanksgiving! Also any of her skillet lasagnas are amazing, pasta bakes, as well as her vegetable tortellini soup (https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/tortellini-vegetable-soup/) which I made for my whole family last Thanksgiving and the veggie and meat eaters alike loved it.
To the person who said it felt flavorless – ingredient quality makes a huge difference. When I get cheaper or non-organic cheeses, a recipe I have made many times goes from amazing to flat. Go all out with fresh and high-quality ingredients and I believe it could transform any recipe 🙂
Thank you so much for your super kind message Meghan! I really appreciate you following along and trying so many recipes! xTieghan
Tieghan, thank you for the recipe. I am planning to prepare it today, but want to separate into two dinners. Will it freeze well?
Hey Shannon,
You bet, just freeze before baking. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Made this yesterday and it was delicious!!! LOTS of flavor.
Hey Alicia,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for giving it a try! Have a great week! xTieghan
Made this yesterday and it turned out great! Definitely very filling! Can’t wait to make it again!
Hey Diana,
Happy Sunday! Love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for trying it out! xTieghan
Was so excited to make this. For some reason it had absolutely no flavor. Could use some Italian sausage or something to give it a kick. The cheeses, the pasta, and the spinach all provided no sort of flavor. Covered it in red pepper flakes to make up for it but still didn’t really have any punch. I LOVE HBH though. Will continue to make your recipes but wish this one had a lot more flavor!
Also a couple suggestions: clarify pot or skillet in the first two steps. also clarify how much mozzarella in the sauce and how much to put on top of the shells.
Hey there,
So sorry you did not enjoy the recipe, thanks for giving it a try. xTieghan
Hi!
I love your recipes, but I notice you include alcohol (wine, beer, hazelnut liquor, etc) in many of them. We don’t consume alcohol at all in our home-but I’d love to make those dishes!. Could you please always suggest an alternative to the alcohol in your recipes, that would really help! Thank you!
Hey there,
For white wine you can use chicken broth and for red wine you can use beef broth. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Do you have COVID? Not trying to be snarky but if all the cheese plus tons of red pepper flakes had no flavor, it seems like there must be something else going on.
This is so rude. You specified “not trying to be snarky” but that is exactly how you have come across. There is a difference between constructive criticism and plain rudeness. No one deserves to be talked to like this, maybe reconsider your comments before hiding behind your keyboard to ruin other people’s days.
This was great! I did use the white wine variation which was a bit too strong of a flavor even after cooking down the sauce for a while. Next time I would half and half the wine and broth. Pulse maybe even add a bullion cube in for extra flavor. I would also add a bit more garlic to bump up that flavor. Overall it was a hit and I would certainly make again.
Hey Sarah,
Happy Friday!! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks for giving it a try! Have a great weekend. xTieghan
I agree with this review 100%. Ours was far too wine-y and there needed to be double garlic and other seasonings.
However, it’s an easy dish to make on the fly and will be trying to make it again with half wine and half broth.
This is sinfully delicious, thank you!
Hey Josee,
Happy Friday!! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks for giving it a try! Have a great weekend. xTieghan
Love this!
Thanks so much Nicki!