Question about freezing pasta dishes.

[Arkansas Granny]

I want to make a big batch of stuffed shells (filled with Italian sausage, ricotta and spinach), make them up in meal sized disposable pans and freeze for future meals. I figure I have two options.

1. Bake the completed dish before freezing and then thaw and reheat.

2. Assemble the dish and freeze, then thaw and bake when I'm ready to eat it.

Does anyone have any experience with this and which method do you think would work best?

[PoliticAverse]

1. I'm one of the people that think pasta dishes (like lasagne) actually are better...

after cooking then aging and reheating. I'd go with (1).

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Thanks. I have frozen leftovers before, but I've never planned to fix a pasta dish just for the

purpose of freezing.

[Fresh_Start]

2. I freeze stuffed shells individually before they are cooked

that way I can use as many as I need depending on whose eating dinner.

Tomato sauce loses flavor in the freezer so I prefer to not freeze it.
Bolognese is an exception because it relies on meat versus herbs for flavoring.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I'm using a parmesan cream sauce to cover the shells and just a little marinara for topping.

[Warpy]

5. Home freezing takes longer and pasta can turn to a gummy mess

unless you coat it with oil before freezing it. You don't have to make it sopping, just a light coating will do it. I also make it a little firmer because when it's reheated, it will recook a little.

I've frozen stuffed manicotti, same thing, and lasagna with great success, spaghetti with far less success.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I am going to cook the shells al dente and fill them with sausage, ricotta and spinach mixture.

I assumed that if the pasta was fully cooked, it would get too soft during the baking and reheating.

They will be covered with a creamy parmesan sauce and a little marinara (mostly for color). I've decided to go ahead and bake the individual portions, freeze and then reheat before serving.

[nocalflea]

6. Cooked than froze manicotti -turned out fine.But,

red sauce was a little bit dry . Didn't perceive any change in flavor. Do whats easiest for you-no one will probably notice either way.

[Warpy]

8. yes, the pasta tends to keep sucking moisture in until it's frozen solid

which is another reason to coat it with a little oil if you're going to freeze it.

[nocalflea]

9. Appreciate the tip . Definitely put it to use.

[dem in texas]

10. Been Freezing rice and pasta dishes for years

It is a lot of trouble to make some pasta and rice dishes, so I like to make extra so I get a little less work down the road, I make up the dish until it is oven ready, then cover and freeze it. When I am ready to serve, I do not thaw it, but stick in the oven frozen and let it cook until browned and bubbling. I usually have the oven set for 375 to start then turn it up to up to 425 to finish.

Some dishes tend to run or fall apart when taking from the serving dish, If this is the case, then cook it first before freezing, then when ready to serve, start out on low, 325, then turn up heat towards the end to get some browning and bubbles. This way the dish will not run or fall apart.

[Arkansas Granny]

11. I decided to go ahead and bake the shells before freezing.

The recipe I used made 38 filled shells. Since I'm sharing with others, they will have option of reheating in the oven or popping them out of the pan and nuking it.