Vegan Super Greens Stuffed Shells
If you're looking for a tasty, non-salad way to introduce more nutrient-dense greens into your life, look no further than these vegan super greens stuffed shells!
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 12 ounces jumbo pasta shells, cooked according to package instructions
- 1 block extra-firm tofu, drained
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch green chard or rainbow chard, stemmed and chopped
- 1 bunch curly kale, stemmed and chopped (about four heaping cups)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup packed flat-leaf parsley or basil leaves, or a mix of both, very finely chopped
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Crushed red pepper flakes (optional), to taste
- 32 ounces jarred marinara sauce
Instructions
- Use a tofu press to press any excess water from the tofu. Alternately, wrap the tofu in several layers of paper towel, place it on a rimmed cutting board or large plate, and set a heavy cast iron skillet on top of it. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, set a pan on top of it and place several heavy books or cans in the pan. Press the tofu for 15 to 20 minutes.
- While the jumbo shells cook and the tofu presses, preheat the oven to 400F, lightly grease a casserole dish, and get started on the filling.
- Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the chard, kale, and garlic, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the greens wilt and soften. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. If you prefer smaller pieces of greens (I do), turn the mix out onto a cutting board and chop to desired size.
- Add the pressed tofu to a food processor and pulse several times until the mixture resembles ricotta cheese. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in the greens, herb/s, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using).
- Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt and/or pepper (I usually add another ¼ teaspoon sea salt).
- Spoon 1 to 1 ½ cups of the marinara into the bottom of the casserole dish, Use the back of a spoon to evenly spread.
- Stuff each shell with about 3 tablespoons of the tofu ricotta mixture, and transfer to the casserole dish. You should have about 16 generously stuffed shells. Spoon a bit of marinara over each shell, reserving some sauce for serving.
- Cover the dish with foil, poking several slits across the surface to vent.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until warmed through.
- Top with additional marinara, if desired, and serve immediately.
- Cover and refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
*As written, the tofu ricotta is quite packed with greens. If you're not a super fan of greens, feel free to knock them back a bit—maybe start with half the amount and work your way up from there the more times you make the recipe.
*Baby spinach works great in this recipe, too—feel free to swap it in for either the chard or kale if you prefer.
*Inspired by Oh She Glows' Jumbo Stuffed Shells.