This is a hit for football Sundays. For a thicker stuffing, drain ricotta overnight. Serve with ranch and blue cheese dressing for dipping.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup cayenne pepper sauce (such as Frank's® RedHot®)
- 1 (16 ounce) container whipped ricotta cheese
- cooking spray
- 1 (16 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
- 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Step 1
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground chicken in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease.
Step 2
Melt butter in the skillet with the cooked chicken. Stir cayenne pepper sauce into the chicken mixture and remove from heat.
Step 3
Squeeze as much moisture from the ricotta cheese using a cheese cloth or paper towels; put drained cheese in a large bowl. Add chicken mixture to the cheese and stir. Refrigerate until completely chilled, 3 to 4 hours.
Step 4
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Prepare a 13×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Step 5
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta shells in the boiling water until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 10 minutes; drain. Rinse with cold water until no longer hot; drain.
Step 6
Spoon chicken mixture into cooked pasta shells and arrange into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend over the stuffed shells; season with salt and pepper.
Step 7
Bake in preheated oven until the cheese is slightly melted and the stuffing is hot in the middle, 15 to 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
Nutrition Facts | |
---|---|
Servings Per Recipe 6 | |
Calories 698 | |
% Daily Value * | |
Total Fat29g | 37% |
Saturated Fat18g | 91% |
Cholesterol126mg | 42% |
Sodium1453mg | 63% |
Total Carbohydrate63g | 23% |
Dietary Fiber3g | 9% |
Total Sugars3g | |
Protein44g | |
Vitamin C28mg | 140% |
Calcium235mg | 18% |
Iron4mg | 20% |
Potassium459mg | 10% |
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient.If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.
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source by allrecipe
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- by: Lovestohost
- 11 years ago
I chose to prep these a day ahead of time for an easy Monday night dinner (I let them come to room temp on the counter while the oven preheated, and then baked them just a tad longer to heat through). These were easy to make, though I did have more shells than filling, so I’d rec boiling 1/2 a box of shells. Despite using regular “Frank’s (R)”, these were a bit too warm for Mr. LTH, but I found the heat to be quite mild. I wasn’t a big fan of the chicken chunks (but I don’t really love chicken, anyway), so I think I’d prefer them w/shredded chicken (BLSL). I agree w/the submitter that these would make a nice party appetizer! I was concerned about the lack of a sauce and that the shells would harden/turn rubbery, but I worried for naught! THANKS for the recipe!
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- by: NDOMMEL
- 10 years ago
What a great idea, melding shells with buffalo chicken. Made a few revisions to make the dish a bit healthier: used cottage cheese instead of ricotta and added frozen chopped spinach to have a vegetable involved. I didn’t squeeze the moisture out of the cottage cheese, just tossed it in. I did drain the spinach though. Rather then 3-4 hours I let the mixture sit over night, made the shells the next day for lunch. Used texans buffalo sauce and cut the butter in half. My husband says it’s a top 10. This is certainly a keeper and the cottage cheese substitution saves hundreds of calories. Avoids that “brick-like” feeling from very rich foods.
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- by: Dottie
- 10 years ago
Very good and easy. I actually made mine with left over turkey. I did not chill mine for 3 hours. Sprinkeled fresh blu cheese on top when serving and I like spicey foods so I also splashed with extra wing sauce. Served with salad with blu cheese dressing. This really would be a great addition to the buffet on game days. Will be making these again.
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- by: Glo
- 10 years ago
I would have never put these ingredients together, but it turned out pretty good. The cheese added the perfect touch. I followed the directions except that I seasoned my ground chicken while browning it. I also baked it for about 25 minutes to melt the cheese all the way. The family loved it. A little spicy but ranch helped and was flavorful. I served with broccoli and cheese.
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- by: Sherrie Achors Williams
- 10 years ago
REALLY GREAT IDEA!
Here is what I did:
Night before:
1. Poach chicken breast for shredding (1.5 pounds)
2. Mix about 20 oz of ricotta, whole bottle of Franks Red Hot and shredded chicken together
3. Wrap up put in fridgeNext Day After work:
1. Cooked ? box of jumbo shells (don?t overcook)
2. Stuffed the shells with the mixture and topped off with cheese
3. Cooked at 375 for 30 minutes (since mixture was on the cold side)Came out FANTASTIC!
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- by: Megan Lettington
- 9 years ago
I have made this a couple times, its a big hit. I love it. I’m the only one in my family that likes Ricotta cheese though. Since I didn’t make this just for myself. I had to substitute Ricotta with a package of cream cheese. Still very good. Hope to one day make it with ricotta. or I saw another comment saying they used cottage cheese. I’ll try that!
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- by: Shell
- 9 years ago
As we live an hour from Buffalo on the PA border, I love the idea of another Buffalo chicken recipe. I am not a fan on ground chicken, but it wasn’t awful. Shredded boneless, skinless breast will be a good alternative for next time. The filling made enough for the entire box of shells and I used the Frank’s buttery wing sauce as it’s closer to actual “wing flavoring”. I was concerned the shells would be crunchy without sauce coverage, so I brushed a touch of the sauce of the edges of each shell. I see in other reviews it wasn’t necessary, but we like spicier food, so the additional sauce was welcome! I used Mozzarella as I was out of the Monterey Jack; I suppose any cheese would suffice depending on your preference. Overall, a good recipe to make again.
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- by: Jsfnita
- 9 years ago
I followed the recipe but I found this to be too spicy, even with ranch and blue cheese for dips. I will making again using 1/2 cup instead of a whole one of Frank’s red hot sauce. Some veggies or beans could help bring it out. I’m thinking of just adding a can of drained and mashed northern beans to the mix, a little bit of bread crumbs green onion and those on top to garnish with parsley as well.
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- by: Sunshine
- 9 years ago
I used sharp cheddar cheese, because that’s all I had, 3/4 cup of Frank’s Wing Sauce and about 1/4 stick of butter. Also, I did not chill the ricotta mixture in the fridge at all, and I oiled the baking dish, because I think cooking spray is gross. My husband and I both LOVED these; the flavor was amazing. There was not enough filling for the entire 12 oz. package of shells. Next time, I will double the chicken and add spinach. If you are prone to heartburn, take a pill before eating these.
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- by: PPK
- 9 years ago
Considering I messed up & didn’t have the ingredients I thought I did this still came out pretty good. Having senior moments didn’t ruin it. I used shredded chicken, 1/2 tsp hot sauce (next time we’ll try 3/4 tsp hot sauce) with 8 oz can tomato sauce), cottage cheese & lasagna noodles. All things considered I don’t think it really changed much from the original flavor of things.
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- by: Bookchick
- 8 years ago
This was good. I used cottage cheese because of the price difference. I didn’t let it chill very long. and it was fine. One thing, it would be good to remember the butter. I forgot the butter, and it was way too hot. Even my husband who likes spicy and buffalo flavor stuff was sweating from the heat. Otherwise it was really good.
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- by: Mistyf7182
- 8 years ago
I made mine a little easier.I added already cooked 9oz perdue carved chicken breast(chopped it up)and 1 can of 5 oz chicken chopped it up.I also added 2 tblspn of whipped cream cheese to my ricotta,1 16 oz bag of Italian mix cheeseand redhot wings sauce.I then used hand blender to mix it,stuffed my shells&topped it with 2 hand fulls of Italian blend cheese and drizzled redhot sauce lightly over it:)
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- by: Cookdap Member
- 8 years ago
My entire family loved this dish! Based on some other reviews I used shredded chicken. I seasoned two large chicken breasts with Roast Sticky Chicken-Rotisserie Style seasoning from this site. Covered & cooked stovetop slowly. Yeilded about 1 1/2 lbs chicken. Sauteed some onion and celery to add to chicken mix. Used a 12oz bottle of hot sauce. Made enough to feed 5 and have leftovers. This was so good!!! Thanks!!!
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- by: Apothecaryrx
- 8 years ago
The buffalo chicken stuffed shells were different and delicious. Kids and hubby like them. I double the meat and ricotta cheese and 3/4 of them I added Frank’s Hot Sauce and the other 1/4 added some zucchini split lengthwise, boiling , then cubing them into ricotta mixture. I cut down on calories and did not add the butter. I did not find filling to be dry at all and cheese, chicken and hot sauce mixed well without the butter.
We will make this again -
- by: Vanessa Hess
- 8 years ago
My boyfriend loves this recipe. I catch him going back to the fridge all night to squirrel away “bites” (one while shell). My daughter and I thought the recipe was just ok. The second time I made it I incorporated tiny tiny broccoli florets into the mix for more flavor and texture diversity and added drizzles of homemade ranch on top of the shells along with the cheese prior to baking. Just before serving, I added more drizzles of homemade ranch along with extra dashes of hot sauce and some chives and parsley. Really brightened up the flavor and made it taste more fresh. I’ll continue making this since it’s a hit for the boyfriend.
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- by: Michelle Finley Baker
- 8 years ago
This was ok. Not that flavorful. A good idea in theory but needs “more”. I did boil chicken breasts, shredded them, and then mixed them in with the buffalo sauce and ricotta. I also put some of the shredded cheese, like 1/2 cup in the buffalo mix. I then put cheese on top and brushed The filled shells with light blue cheese dressing. Still fairly bland. It’s missing the creaminess of the buffalo chicken dip or something. I’d either add some cream cheese, ranch seasoning, or SOMETHING else into this that goes in buffalo chicken dip to make it flavorful and more creamy.
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- by: Molly
- 7 years ago
12.26.16 ~ I made these for my bosses’ birthday lunch carry-in. I had a package of ground chicken in the freezer that I’ve been wanting to use up. This was a good choice. Easy to make and easy to serve. I had a lot more filling than what I needed, so I just froze it. I whipped up a batch with the leftovers and made a quick meal for our son and DIL. I liked it, but I would have enjoyed it more with shredded chicken over the ground chicken. Everyone else really enjoyed it as made.
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- by: Fussili Frank
- 7 years ago
This became an instant favorite. Per someone else’s suggestion I added spinach so I can say its healthy. Also, for me at least, stuffing the shells was a pain, so in the future I just mixed the chicken with al dente rigatoni before topping with cheese and made more of a buffalo chicken baked ziti.
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- by: Ashley
- 7 years ago
This was delicious! I made it almost exactly as the recipe called but made a few minor changes. As the meat cooked, I seasoned it with adobo, garlic powder, and onion powder. I couldn?t find ?whipped? ricotta so I used regular (with no draining) and only used 1/2 cup of the Franks because I am not huge on spicy food. And I only used about 1/2-3/4 of the cheddar Monterey Jack blend. My boyfriend loves spicy food so I made it more for him, but even I loved it – and even he felt the ?kick? was strong enough for his liking. I only used 12oz of pasta shells and there was still not enough filling for all the pasta shells, so I tossed the rest, but it still made an entire 13×9 dish full of shells. We have enough for leftovers tomorrow. Great, delicious recipe.
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- by: Jackied
- 7 years ago
I was looking for something different to make my husband for dinner that he would like. I struck gold ! This is a REALLY good rib sticking dinner ! I made carrots and heated up a roll for the sides and it worked the magic ! I covered it with aluminum foil so it wouldn?t dry out. That worked too. Very moist and very tasty. I stuffed them a LOT ! Next time, I?ll cook them 5 more minutes and put ? again as much ground chicken in the mixture.
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- by: MY4KIDS
- 5 years ago
I made this last night as directed except that I used shredded chicken breast instead of ground chicken since I don’t like ground meat. Everything else was the same. I was very excited to have this for dinner because I love anything Buffalo chicken. I was kind of disappointed because I felt that I was eating buffalo chicken dip with a fork straight from an appetizer dish. It was too rich as a dinner item. The flavor was very good but my husband, who is also an “anything Buffalo chicken” kinda guy, also thought it was too rich as a meal. He suggested to try it again using some ziti pasta and cook it like a baked ziti and add some mozzarella in addition to the other cheeses. I will definitely use the ingredient combination again except that I will try the ziti instead of stuffing shells.
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- by: Elizabeth Erbst
- 5 years ago
My husband likes it which counts for a lot! He is a meat and potatoes guy. This has a really nice kick to it that you can tame down with ranch if you need to. We had salad and garlic bread for the sides. I used cottage cheese in place of ricotta since ricotta upsets my stomach. Will definitely make again.
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- by: Idontcooknogood
- 4 years ago
I did it a little differently. I made WAY TOO MUCH buffalo chicken dip… I mean soooooo much. I?ll post the recipe for it because it?s delicious… but I was drowning in it and needed to find something to do with it all. I found this recipe, mixed the buffalo chicken dip with the ricotta and followed the rest according to the recipe. Was pretty good!!!
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- by: Tina
- 4 years ago
LOVE the concept and most of the ingredients however I found it to be spicy but bland. Second time I made it I made a few changes. While cooking ground beef saut?ed 1 small onion, Chopped two stalks of celery, instead of ricotta used cream cheese, cooked and added about 6 pieces of crumbled bacon, topped with 1/2 c ranch, 1/4 c pepper jack cheese and Parmesan.
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- by: Maur
- 4 years ago
We enjoyed this. My only changes were the addition of 2 scallions sliced, 2 ribs of diced celery, and about 4-5 baby carrots grated. I mixed that in w the chicken/ricotta just before stuffing the shells (so after it sat in fridge to set.) As a test, I put a few tiny crumbles of bleu cheese on top of some of the shells. Came out great. If you love bleu cheese, you could even mix a little bit in with the ricotta. I just didn’t want to overpower it.
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- by: DREGINEK
- 3 years ago
I was looking for a different spin on stuffed shells and found this. One cup of hot sauce is way too much; I halved it. Also took the advice of a fellow reviewer and added celery and onions (good call!)! But this was very difficult- even messy to eat! I think this would be better as a casserole dish than a stuffed shell but was fun trying. Thanks anyways.
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