Look, I don’t know. Food is fun and sometimes you just need to play with it. We’re going with Taco Thursday this week instead of Tuesday. So here we have these Air Fried Taco Stuffed Shells which are pretty much exactly what they sound like. Taco meat and cheese stuffed into some pasta shells and then fried for a quick and easy finger-food small bite of taco goodness.
The first thing I did here was to use a lean ground beef, but you can also go with ground turkey or even a vegetarian ground faux meat. I added onion and bell pepper to the meat along with taco seasoning to stretch the meat out and get a bit more bang for my buck here.
These air fried shells are perfect for dipping and dunking in your favorite salsa, guac, or queso. And they’re a great finger food to serve as an appetizer, for game day, or even as a main part of a meal. The cheese ends up melty and gooey gooey on the inside and these end up being more like 2-3 bite tacos with the pasta getting just a little crunch to them when fried.
I served mine with salsa and we ended up having a snacky grab-and-go sort of dinner.
Air Fried Taco Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 24 Jumbo Pasta Shells, Cooked to Aldente
- 1/2 Lb. Extra Lean Ground Beef
- 1/2 White Onion, Diced
- 1/2 Green Bell Pepper, Diced
- 1 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning
- 1 1/4 C. Shredded Reduced Fat Mexican Cheese Blend
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the cooked pasta; set aside.
- Cook the 1/2 Lb. Extra Lean Ground Beef, 1/2 White Onion, and 1/2 Green Bell Pepper in a medium skillet until the meat is browned and the veggies are tender.
- Add in 1 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning and stir to combine; remove from heat.
- Set out your cooked pasta shells and fill half of them with 1 Tbsp. meat and 1 Tbsp. cheese. Wrap a second shell around the first to seal in the meat and cheese. Rinse and repeat until all the pasta shells are used up.
- Lightly coat the inside of an air frier basket with non-stick spray and place the stuffed shells into it. Give the shells a light spray of non-stick spray and secure the basket in the air frier.
- Set to 350 and cook for 10 minutes.
- Flip the shells over and cook or another 5 minutes or until the pasta has a little crunch to it.
- Once done, remove from the air frier and enjoy right away with salsa or queso for dipping!
Nutrition Facts
Calories
394Fat (grams)
9.73Sat. Fat (grams)
5.35Carbs (grams)
48Fiber (grams)
4Net carbs
48Sugar (grams)
1Protein (grams)
30Sodium (milligrams)
505Cholesterol (grams)
56.85Nutritional Claims: Sugar Conscious • Egg Free • Peanut Free • Tree Nut Free • Soy Free • Fish Free • Shellfish Free • Pork Free • Crustacean Free • Celery Free • Mustard Free • Sesame Free • Lupine Free • Mollusk Free • Alcohol Free • No Oil Added • No Sugar Added
Step-by-Step Photos:
