Taco pasta shells. Pasta with a Mexican Twist!

Easy and delicious Mexican taco shells!

My family loved these taco pasta shells. Everyone actually ate them. No one complained. Everyone finished what was on their plate AND had seconds.

I absolutely hate the question, "What's for dinner?"    A little planning goes a long way!

One of the things I do to try to make mealtime easier is to brown double the ground beef that I need. Then make two ground beef-based meals within a couple of days. If you've never done this before, try it! It does make dinner time just a little easier and a little quicker. Plus, you've planned two meals for the week!  Here is one of my favorite meals that come together quickly if you have ground been ready to go.

Ingredients for Mexican pasta shells

Large pasta shells
28 oz can of plain tomato sauce (not spaghetti or any type of Italian sauce)
12 oz jar of salsa
1 ½ lbs ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
2 cups mozzarella cheese (or your favorite combination with mozzarella in it)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook ground beef in a large frying pan and add about ½ cup of water and taco seasoning. Simmer until most of the water is gone. Set aside and let cool a bit.

In a blender, mix/blend  ½ jar of salsa and tomato sauce. My family won’t eat chunks! If you like spicy Mexican food, you can just use more salsa. Set aside.  If your family is fine with more texture in the sauce, there is no need to put this mixture in the blender.  Just make sure to combine and mix well.

Boil jumbo shells about 2 minutes less than cooking instructions on the package
Drain and rinse shells with cold water.

Spray 9 x 13 casserole dish with nonstick spray
Pour enough tomato/salsa sauce to thinly cover the bottom of the casserole dish.

Take a shell and stuff it with the ground beef/taco spice mixture.  I just use a spoon. Honestly, I find these shells much easier to fill than the pasta tubes.

Add some cheese on top of the ground beef mixture in each shell.  Reserve some cheese to sprinkle on top at the end.

Place the shells into the casserole dish
Once all shells are assembled and in a casserole dish, drizzle on the balance of salsa sauce.

Sprinkle the leftover cheese on top.

Sprinkle on any remaining cheese.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Remove foil and finish baking for another 5 minutes.

ENJOY!!

If you like noodle casseroles, here are two other family favorites on this blog!

Ham and Swiss Cheese Casserole

Easy Chicken and Noodles Casserole

Here is the taco pasta shells printable recipe

Taco pasta shells

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

A delicious but easy Mexican taco dish.

• Author: Susan Moncrieff | Momcrieff
• Category: main
• Cuisine: Mexican pasta

Ingredients

Large pasta shells
28 oz can of plain tomato sauce (not spaghetti or any type of Italian sauce)
12 oz jar of salsa
1 ½ lbs ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
2 cups mozzarella cheese (or your favorite combination with mozzarella in it)

Instructions

1. Cook ground beef and add about ½ cup of water and taco seasoning. Simmer until most of the water is gone. Set aside and let cool a bit.
2. In blender, mix/blend ½ jar of salsa and tomato sauce. My family won't eat chunks! If you like spicy Mexican food, you can just use all salsa. Set aside.
3. Boil jumbo shells about 2 minutes less than cooking instructions on the package
4. Drain and rinse shells with cold water.
5. Preheat oven to 350.
6. Spray 9 x 13 casserole dish with nonstick spray
7. Pour enough tomato/salsa sauce to thinly cover the bottom of the casserole dish
8. Take a shell and stuff it with the ground beef/taco spice mixture.
9. Add some cheese on top of the ground beef mixture.
10. Place the shells into the casserole dish

11.  Once all shells are assembled and in a casserole dish, drizzle on the balance of salsa sauce.

12.  Sprinkle on any remaining cheese.

13.  Cover with foil and bake in oven for about 25 minutes.

14.  Remove foil and finish baking for another 5 minutes.

 

15.  ENJOY!!

Notes

A delicious recipe when you just feel like Mexican and pasta together in one meal.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did! I still can't get over that there were only three shells left at the end of the meal. You know everyone is enjoying their food when you get that quiet lull in the conversation. Love it when that happens!!

Love easy to make one-dish meals?

Try this Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole.