Vegan Spinach & Cream Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells - Crock-Pot Recipe

A simple weeknight recipe for spinach and cream cheese stuffed pasta shells. Quick and easy to prepare with a few ingredients.

Pasta Shells

Let me start by saying my son Cooper gave this a score of 9/10. Get in!

It all began when Crock-Pot asked me if I could come up with an easy weeknight meal in a crockpot that wasn't a soup or a stew.

I'd been thinking about a recipe I made years ago. 

A vegetarian Conchiglioni Al Forno, which is a stuffed pasta recipe. I've been thinking about trying it again for a while but making a vegan version, so when Crock-Pot challenged me I knew just what to make.

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related - Slow Cooker Vegan Irish Stew

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Vegan Spinach & Cream Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells

Easy Pasta Bake

This is a super easy pasta bake. 

The pasta shells don't need to be cooked before being added to this bake. They are giant pasta shells so you might think they would need to be cooked for a few minutes to soften them, but no. Straight in.

The filling is a mixture of vegan cream cheese (we like Violife original creamy), spinach, vegan parmesan (Violife again) and seasoning.

The sauce is simple too. It's basically some pimped up passata.

I wouldn't use passata straight out of a carton or jar, as it can be bitter.

The pasta is filled, lies on a bed of sauce and then topped with more sauce, grated vegan mozzarella and vegan parmesan.

If you are choosing a vegan mozzarella, choose one that is coconut based. They are much nicer and they melt beautifully.

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Related - Slow Cooker Vegan Sausage Birra

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Easy Way to Prepare Spinach

Before you add spinach to many dishes including this stuffed pasta bake, it needs to be wilted, but don't get a pan out and cook it into submission. Follow my tips for easy wilted spinach.

1. Place the spinach in a colander in the sink and rinse.
2. Slowly pour a kettle full of boiling water over the spinach.
3. Refresh with cold water.
4. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as you can, then pat dry on kitchen paper and chop.
5. That's it, it's ready to add to dishes.

Of course you can add spinach straight into salads, sandwiches, soups and stews without wilting it, but for some recipes in needs to be soft and wilted.

Popeye and Olive Oyl would be proud!


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Related - Aubergine and Onion Masala - crockpot curry recipe

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Crock-Pot 5.6l Digital Slow and Multi Cooker

Crock-Pot kindly sent me one of their new digital slow cookers to try. My current crockpot is great but it only has the simple settings of high and low, while this one has a digital panel and five different cooking options.

1. Slow Cook - of course it's main and standard function is to slow cook and you can still do this at low or high and adjust your time to suit your recipe.
2. Saute/Brown - you can also start of a soup, stew or any other dish really by sautéeing your onions and garlic as you would usually do on the cooker top, if you were cooking in a pot.
3. Roast - you can roast your veggies in this too. Just select the roast programme, let it heat and then add oil and your veggies and you're good to go. You can cook roast potatoes and wedges this way too, so great at Christmas when there's not enough room in the oven for everything.
4. Steam - to steam food, just add some water to the bowl and use the rack to place the food you would like to steam and use the steam function.
5. Bake - you can bake cakes and puddings in this crockpot too. Happy days! For some sweet recipes check out my friend Lucy's blog BakingQueen74. She cooks nearly everything in her slow cooker, including so many droolworthy cakes.

This slow cooker and multicooker is perfect for easy family meals. Just do some simple prep, pop it on and get on with your day. Then at dinner time, there's no work to do. Dinner is hot and ready to serve.

It's easy to clean too as the rectangular bowl can go in the dishwasher and the rest is easy wiped. 

I'm really happy with it.

Follow the conversation with #CrockPotMidweekMeals

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Related - Slow Cooker Veggie Sausage, Mushroom & Chickpea Stew

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pin it for later

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Related - Slow Cooker Triple Tomato & Spinach Pasta

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try Slow Cooker Extra Vegetable Pasta next

pasta, slow cooker pasta, crockpot pasta, pasta bake. stuffed pasta, vegan stuffed pasta, spinach pasta, vegan pasta, vegan slow cooker recipe, vegan crockpot recipe

dinner

Italian, vegan

Yield: 3-4Author: Jacqueline Meldrum

Vegan Spinach & Cream Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells

A simple recipe for a stuffed pasta recipe made in a slow cooker. The perfect midweek meal for vegans or vegetarians.

prep time: 15 minscook time: 3 hourtotal time: 3 hours and 15 mins

ingredients

• 800g passata (sieved tomatoes)
• 5-6 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• a good grinding of black pepper
• 15-20 dried giant pasta shells
• 400g vegan cream cheese (for a vegetarian version use ricotta cheese)
• 100g spinach
• 6 tbsp finely grated vegan parmesan
• grated vegan mozzarella

instructions

1. Wilt spinach in a colander, Place it in the sink and pour a kettle full of boiling water over the spinach, then pour over cold water and squeeze as much water out as possible then dry off with kitchen paper and chop.
2. In a bowl mix together the passata, the tomato puree, oregano, salt and pepper.
3. In another bowl mix the cream cheese with the spinach and parmesan.
4. Fill the pasta with the cream cheese mix.
5. Spread the bottom of the slow cooker bowl with some tomato sauce, then place the filled pasta in a single layer across the sauce, then top with more sauce. You can do this in one or two layers of pasta depending on the size of your bowl. Just top each layer with sauce.
6. Top with a layer of mozzarella and then a good grating of parmesan.
7. Set the slow cooker to high and cook for 3 hours.
8. Enjoy!

calories
638

fat (grams)
29

sat. fat (grams)
10

carbs (grams)
60

protein (grams)
20

sugar (grams)
5

Created using The Recipes Generator

Try this next

Creamy Cauliflower Macaroni Cheese

A comforting macaroni dish with a smooth cauliflower and cheese sauce, along with the alternative ingredients for a vegan version. Also, if you have a slow cooker, do try my luxury slow cooker mac and cheese, it's the best you'll try.

For more vegetarian and vegan slow cooker recipes, check out my page Easy Vegetarian and Vegan Slow Cooker Recipes

Disclosure:  I was sent a slow cooker and created this recipe for Crock-Pot. I was not expected to write a positive review and any opinions expressed are my own.