These chicken alfredo stuffed shells are so delicious, you won't believe how easy they are to make! They are filled with tender cooked chicken, broccoli, and spinach, and mixed up with a delicious homemade alfredo sauce, and topped with a layer of shredded cheese. This meal comes together so quickly, and your kids won't even know there are healthy vegetables in there.
This is one of our favorite meals to have as a family for dinner. I like to make this when I have leftover chicken from the night before. It is so easy to mix up some homemade alfredo sauce, mix in the chicken, broccoli, and spinach, fill in the shells, cover with cheese and bake! It is super easy!
If you are short on time, you can always pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, grab a jar of bottled alfredo sauce (I won't tell anyone), and a bag of shredded cheese. But... homemade alfredo sauce is a million times healthier for you.
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Ingredients
Alfredo sauce: To make homemade alfredo sauce, I used:
- 3 tablespoon margarine. You can also use butter.
- 3 tablespoon flour
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
- 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper.
- 1 cup of heavy cream (anywhere between 18% to 30%)
- 1 cup of 1% milk (or milk of your choice)
- ½ cup of parmesan cheese.
For the stuffing:
- 2 cups of shredded cooked chicken. You can use a rotisserie chicken. I use leftover chicken and shred it with a fork.
- One 12 oz box of jumbo pasta shells
- 1.5 cups of broccoli, fresh or frozen. Steam or bake first, then chop.
- ½ to 1 cup of spinach, chopped. We love spinach so I used 1 cup. It disappears quite quickly once it's heated up.
- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
How to make stuffed shells
- To begin with, fill a large pot with 5 L of water and bring it to a boil. Add some salt if you like. Prepare shells according to package directions. Add a few jumbo shells at a time and cook in the pot, uncovered, for about 14-16 minutes. You want them to be al dante.
- Drain well in a colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process and so you can handle them without getting burned.
- Next, place the shells on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet to prevent them from sticking to each other.
- Meanwhile, steam or bake your broccoli until tender. You want to be able to pierce it with a fork. I used frozen broccoli and placed it on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and baked it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. You could also bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the broccoli for about 4 minutes, or until tender.
Now to make the homemade alfredo sauce:
- First of all, in a saucepan over medium heat, add 3 tablespoon of butter and the chopped garlic cloves. Let the garlic cook for about 1 minute. Next, add in 3 tablespoon of flour. Use a whisk to mix everything together. Finally, add in 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 cup of milk, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. The sauce should start to thicken up rather quickly. Stir continuously with a whisk so it doesn't burn. When the sauce has thickened up, remove it from the heat and add in ½ cup of parmesan cheese and ½-1 cup of chopped spinach.
- Secondly, in a large bowl, add shredded chicken and cooked broccoli. Add 1 cup of alfredo sauce to the chicken mixture and mix it together to combine.
- On the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking pan, add a spoonful of alfredo sauce and move it around to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Fill each cooked pasta shell with a spoonful of chicken and broccoli mixture, and place it on the baking dish.
- Finally, spoon the remaining alfredo sauce evenly over the top of the stuffed pasta shells, and cover the pasta shells with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
First, make the alfredo sauce. Mix together butter, flour, garlic, heavy cream, milk, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese Next, add spinach to alfredo sauce. Stir in the spinach until it wilts. In a large bowl, add cooked broccoli to shredded chicken Add 1 cup of alfredo sauce to chicken and broccoli Stir together well to combine all ingredients 
Take a large scoop of alfredo sauce and place it on a baking dish Add a scoop of chicken mixture to each jumbo shell and place filled shells on baking dish Continue until the baking pan is full of stuffed shells Spoon the remaining alfredo sauce over the stuffed jumbo shells and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 25-30 minutes. 
Finally, stuffed shells are done when the cheese is bubbly and starting to go slightly brown on top
Frequently asked questions
To make this a complete and balanced meal, serve with a simple green salad and garlic bread or Grandma's Homemade Air Buns or Homemade Whole Wheat Bread.
A box of jumbo shells contains approximately 46 shells.
Surprisingly, these stuffed shells are really filling. I usually estimate about 6 shells per person and 7-8 for larger appetites. My family is a bunch of huge eaters, and I had quite a few leftovers, which hardly ever happens around here.
Absolutely. Simply cover the shells with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and allow them to freeze completely. Once they are frozen, transfer the shells to a large freezer bag. Return the shells back to the freezer, and you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Place frozen shells into a casserole or baking dish. Add alfredo sauce as above. Cover and bake for 50-60 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. On the other hand, if they were thawed in the fridge prior to baking, reduce oven time to 25-30 minutes.
If you like this recipe, check out these:
📋 Recipe
How To Make Easy Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Shells - With Spinach
Ingredients
- For the alfredo sauce:
- 3 tablespoon margarine or butter.
- 3 tablespoon flour
- 3 cloves garlic chopped fine
- 1 teaspoon Italiano seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream anywhere between 18% to 30%
- 1 cup 1% milk or milk of your choice
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- Stuffing ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked chicken shredded
- 1 12 oz box jumbo pasta shells
- 1.5 cups broccoli fresh or frozen. Steam or bake first, then chop.
- ½ to 1 cup spinach chopped.
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with 5 L of water and bring it to a boil. Add some salt if you like. Add a few jumbo shells at a time and cook in the pot, uncovered, for about 14-16 minutes. We want them to be al dante.
- Drain well in a colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process and so you can handle them without getting burned.
- Next, place the shells on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet to prevent them from sticking to each other.
- Meanwhile, steam or bake your broccoli until tender as well. You want to be able to pierce it with a fork. I used frozen broccoli and placed it on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and baked it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. You could also bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the broccoli for about 4 minutes, or until tender.
Now to make the homemade alfredo sauce:
- In a saucepan over medium heat, add 3 tablespoon of butter and the chopped garlic cloves. Let the garlic cook for about 1 minute. Add in 3 tablespoon of flour. Use a whisk to mix everything together. Add in 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 cup of milk, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. The sauce should start to thicken up rather quickly. Stir continuously with a whisk so it doesn't burn. When the sauce has thickened up, remove it from the heat and add in ½ cup of parmesan cheese and ½-1 cup of chopped spinach.
- In a large bowl, add shredded chicken and cooked broccoli. Add 1 cup of alfredo sauce to the chicken mixture and mix it together to combine.
- On the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking pan, add a spoonful of alfredo sauce and move it around to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Fill each cooked pasta shell with a spoonful of chicken and broccoli mixture, and place it on the baking dish.
- Finally, spoon the remaining alfredo sauce evenly over the top of the stuffed pasta shells, and cover the pasta shells with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
Julia
This is such an easy and delicious dinner!
Jeri
Thanks Julia! I'm so glad you liked it!
Angela
Wow! What show stopper! All of my favorites in one dish. This is easy to make and so delicious. The ultimate comfort food.
Jeri
Thanks Angela! I'm so glad you liked the recipe!
Jen
Thanks for the tip about freezing this. I made 2 batched at once, one for dinner and one to freeze for later. Such a great dinner!
Jeri
That's fantastic Jen! What a great idea! Perfect for busy nights! I'm so glad you liked them!
Beth
This turned out fantastic and so delicious! The family absolutely loved these stuffed shells! Such a big hit here and I’ll definitely make these again.
Jeri
I'm so glad your family loved them!
Andrea
I've never had stuffed shells this way. It looks and sounds marvelous.
Jeri
It is so easy to make too!