Make family dinner a breeze with these Taco Stuffed Shells. A savory fusion between Mexican and Italian food, this recipe is flavorful, fun, and easy to prep ahead. Best of all kids and adults both love eating tacos a new way!

Mexican stuffed shells in a baking dish being scooped by a spoon with a few shells missing from the pan.

Table of Contents

Why We Love Mexican Inspired Stuffed Shells

All The Flavors You Love Of Basic Tacos – If you love tacos and burritos, you’ll love these ground beef Mexican stuffed shells on your table for dinner. It’s a Mexican twist to a normal pasta night.
Fusion Recipes That Is Fun For Kids – While you won’t find these taco stuffed shells next to more classic Mexican food, this fusion-style recipe is a lot of fun for kids and adults.
Easy To Prep And Freeze Ahead – You can freeze these shells easily in individual portions for meal prep. Prep a whole pan the night you want to bake it, or freeze a pan ahead of time for an easier Taco Tuesday dinner.

I also have a more classic stuffed shells recipe, Italian ground beef stuffed shells. This can be handy to meal prep at the same time if you are meal prepping the freezer or just want to prep a freezer dinner for next week at the same time. A pan of either of these shell recipes is also great for when you need to bring a meal for a meal train when someone had a baby, is sick, or needs extra support.

Ingredients For Mexican Stuffed Shells

Ingredients for taco stuffed shells in bowls with text lables.

Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.

jumbo pasta shells about half of a 12 ounce box
olive oil
minced garlic
ground beef I used 80/20
salt
salsa you can use your favorite jarred salsa or homemade, you’ll need about 2 cups
frozen corn frozen, canned or cut fresh from the cob
taco seasoning
cheddar cheese

How To Make Mexican Stuffed Shells

Prepping The Shell Pasta

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Layer about a cup of salsa over the bottom of a 9×13 pan evenly.
Place a large pot of water on the stovetop. Add salt generously to the water and turn the stove to high to bring the pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta shells in the water for about 8 – 9 minutes, cooking them just under al dente. (Usually if you cook the shells according to package directions they will say 8-9 minutes.) The shells should be a little flexible but not floppy. Drain the shells in a colander and set to the side to cool.

Cooking The Meat Filling

In a large skillet add the olive oil over medium high heat. Add minced garlic to the oil and cook for a minute or two until fragrant.
Place the ground beef in the skillet. Break up the ground beef with a wooden spatula and sprinkle with salt. Stir the meat as needed, cooking it until it is no longer pink. Drain any excess grease from the meat.

Cooked ground beef in a frying pan with corn, salsa and taco spice in bowls on the counter nearby.

Add the frozen corn, taco seasoning, ¼ cup of salsa to the meat. Stir until warm all the way through and the taco seasoning is dissolved.

A frying pan filled with ground beef and corn with cooked pasta shells and cheddar cheese on the counter nearby.

Place ½ cup of shredded cheddar cheese in the meat mixture and stir until just melted. Removed the meat from the heat.

Filling The Pasta Shells And Baking

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Fill the cooked shells with the beef mixture and cheese evenly between the shells. Place the shells in the pan on top of the salsa in rows.

Taco shells lined up in a casserole dish stuffed with taco meat and corn with cheese and salsa in bowls nearby.

Spread the rest of the salsa in dollops on top of each of the stuffed shells with a spoon evenly. Top generously with the rest of the cheddar cheese on top, then cover with aluminum foil and bake.

Taco stuffed shells being covered with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake the entire baking dish for 20-25 minutes or until hot and the cheese is gooey. Then serve with sour cream and more salsa, then enjoy!

Taco stuffed shells lined up in a casserole dish with melted cheese on top.

Variation Ideas For Mexican Stuffed Pasta Shells

Try A Different Meat – Ground turkey or ground chicken can easily be swapped for the ground beef. You can also use chicken breast, or a precooked chicken.

For pork I typically prefer more of a shredded pork (you can use leftover carnitas) or half and half pork and ground beef or turkey ground turkey so it doesn’t become too oily. Chorizo can also be used, but again I prefer using it half and half with ground beef or

Swap The Salsa – You can use your favorite salsa but don’t be afraid to get a little creative with it. Use a hotter or fire roasted salsa you love, try a green salsa, or even use canned tomatoes with green chilies like Rotel. The tomatoes in this recipe can be really flexiable, but you will want to have at least 15 ounces of tomatoes in sauce form. Enchilada sauce can also be used instead of salsa.

Experiment With Sauce Toppings – Any toppings you would use for tacos are fair game to top these stuffed shells. Try sour cream, your favorite hot sauce or taco sauce, or a lime crema sauce to add more flavor.

Add Vegetable Toppings – Tacos can carry a lot of vegetables on top of the meat and these taco stuffed shells can to. Try diced onions, pico de gallo or diced tomatoes, olives, green onions, sliced radishes, diced bell pepper, pickled purple onions. Lettuce or fresh cilantro can be generously piled on top as a garnish at the table for a little extra crunch. Black beans or kidney beans can also be added to the meat filling if you like.

Top With A Little Fruit – You read that right, we don’t typically think of fruit on top of tacos. Avocado is technically a fruit and is delicious cubed on top of these shells, or as guacamole. You can also squeeze a little lime juice over top of the meat and over the whole dish.

If we’re getting really technical, tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable depending on who you are talking to, ha!

Try Different Types Of Cheese – We used basic cheddar cheese but Monterey jack cheese, or a Mexican blend of shredded cheese both work. Make sure to bake the dish long enough that the cheese is melted all the way through. You can sprinkle queso fresco over top of the entire dish but I recommend mixing a cheese that is a little more melty into the shells themselves. You can also layer some queso inside the shells.

Three Mexican stuffed shells on a plate with salsa and one shell with a bite missing.

How Do I Keep The Pasta Shells From Sticking Together Or Breaking?

Add a generous amount of salt to the pasta water can help keep pasta from becoming too sticky along with flavoring the salt.

Boiling the pasta so it is just soft but not floppy (al dente) will help the shells to keep from breaking. The shells will absorb moisture from the salsa and meat when baking. The shells shouldn’t be crunchy, but having a little bit of give when you bite can be important.

Rinsing the shells with cold water after cooking can help to stop the cooking process and remove the starch which will help the noodles keep from sticking to each other. In most warm pasta dishes rinsing the pasta is not necessary as the starch on the pasta will help the sauce cling to the pasta. In this dish if you rinse shells, it can help the pasta noodles from being sticky and breaking.

How Far In Advance Can I Prep Taco Stuffed Shells?

You can prep taco stuffed shells up to 24 hours in advance for the dish to taste it’s best. Then cover the casserole dish with foil and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake and enjoy.

How Long Will Taco Stuffed Shells Last?

Expect taco stuffed shells will last for about three days if stored in a covered airtight container in the refrigerator.

Do Taco Stuffed Shells Freeze?

Yes you can freeze taco stuffed shells before or after baking the pan. The ground beef will need to be cooked but you can prep the pan and freeze for an easy weeknight meal. Expect a full pan from frozen will take longer to cook, I’d expect 30-40 minutes, and it’s best to cover in foil when baking.

Individual shells can be frozen in portions in a freezer safe container for individual dinners. I like to add a spoonful more of salsa on top when I reheat individual shells from frozen just to help keep them from drying out. These will bake a little faster from frozen, I’d start checking them after 20 minutes. You can also microwave them from frozen though they taste best when baked.