Bring Italy to your table with these vegan stuffed shells, filled with a tofu-based “ricotta” and topped with your favorite vegan cheese shreds. From the authors of The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, Toni Okamoto and Michelle Cehn:
“This dish is surprisingly easy to prepare and will make you feel like a top chef. It’s also a showstopper that never fails to wow our dinner party guests. The flavor of the sauce is carried throughout the dish, so a great marinara or arrabbiata sauce is crucial!
Friendly Suggestion: You will likely have several cooked pasta shells left over, and they can be enjoyed just as you would any other pasta. We love dressing them with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic powder, salt, red chili pepper flakes, and nutritional yeast.”
Recipe from The Friendly Vegan Cookbook: 100 Essential Recipes to Share with Vegans and Omnivores Alike by Toni Okamoto and Michelle Cehn ©2020, BenBella Books. Reprinted by permission.
The Friendly Vegan Cookbook is available wherever books are sold
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Vegan Stuffed Shells
Bring Italy to your table with these vegan stuffed shells, filled with a tofu-based ricotta and topped with your favorite vegan cheese shreds. This makes about 25+ shells.
Ingredients
- 12-ounce package jumbo pasta shells
- 16-ounce block firm (or extra-firm) tofu, pressed
- 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 5 medium cloves garlic
- ¼ cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- Salt to taste
- ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (optional)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- Juice of 1 medium lemon
- 1 cup packed spinach leaves
- 25- to 28-ounce jar flavorful marinara sauce, divided
- ½ cup vegan cheese shreds (optional)
- Fresh basil leaves, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook the jumbo pasta shells according to the pre-bake cooking directions on the package. Then drain, rinse with cold water to prevent sticking, and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the tofu, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, salt, black pepper, red chili pepper flakes (if using), nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. Pulse 15 times or until partially mixed. Add the spinach and pulse just a few more times until combined. The resulting texture should be ricotta-like. Do not over-pulse or your ricotta will turn green!
- Preheat the oven to 375º F. Pour half of the marinara sauce into a 9 × 13-inch baking dish, spreading to evenly coat the bottom of the dish.
- One by one, fill each cooked shell with a generous spoonful of the tofu ricotta filling and place in the prepared baking dish. Continue until the tofu mixture is gone and the baking dish is filled. Sprinkle the vegan cheese (if using) on top.
- Drizzle the remaining marinara sauce over the stuffed shells. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until the cheese (if using) is melted and the edges of the shells are lightly browned. Garnish with the basil leaves (if using). Serve immediately and enjoy hot.
More about The Friendly Vegan Cookbook
The founder of World of Vegan and the author of Plant-Based on a Budget have teamed up to create the ultimate kitchen resource for longtime vegans and the veggie-curious alike, with 100 foolproof, flavor-forward recipes.
Eating vegan doesn’t have to mean a lifetime of bland veggie burgers and boring salads—nor does it have to make every shared meal a source of stress. As all plant-based cooks know, when it comes time to please a crowd, the pressure is on. You want to serve delicious, memorable dishes, and you’re also well-aware that many will be skeptical of vegan food measuring up to their favorites.
Enter Michelle Cehn and Toni Okamoto, longtime friends and two of the most trusted figures in the online vegan community. Through their popular food blogs, videos, podcast, and cookbooks, the two have helped millions of people make living vegan easy, fun, and delicious. Michelle and Toni share 100 amazing recipes for satisfying meals, snacks, and treats, designed for both the veggie-curious and longtime vegans looking for a trusted recipe resource.
In The Friendly Vegan Cookbook: 100 Essential Recipes to Share with Vegans and Omnivores Alike, you’ll find rigorously tested, no-fail recipes including favorites such as:
Fettuccine Alfredo
Sushi
Pot Pie
Breakfast Burritos
Pop Tarts
Chocolate Mousse
Cinnamon Rolls
Mac ‘n’ Cheese
Corn Chowder
Chewy Brownies
Michelle and Toni also share their go-to kitchen tips to make meal plan- ning a breeze, helpful shopping lists, and directions for making your own staples—nut milks, dressings, pasta sauces, and breads. The Friendly Vegan Cookbook is filled with meals that will become your new favorites and go-to staples for when you have meat-eaters to impress. Because amazing food should be shared.
Michelle Cehn is the founder of the popular food and lifestyle website World of Vegan and a YouTube personality who has reached millions through her creative and relatable videos.
Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, and the author of Plant-Based on a Budget and The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook. Her work has been featured in the popular documentary What the Health, profiled by NBC News and Parade, and she’s a regular presence on local and national morning shows across the country.
See lots more delicious pasta recipes on this site.
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