• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
4 Sons 'R' Us

4 Sons 'R' Us

Fast fix, budget-friendly, family-style recipes made from scratch at home

  • Home
  • About
    • Work With Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Nutritional Disclaimer
    • Email Subscribe
  • Recipe Index
    • ALL Recipes
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
    • Lunch
    • Main Dish
  • Holidays
    • 4th of July
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • St, Patrick’s Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • Ingredients
    • Beef
    • Chicken & Poultry
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Vegetables
  • Popular
    • Air Fryer
    • Bread
    • Cakes & Pies
    • Casseroles
    • Cookies & Bars
    • Comfort Food
    • Copycat
    • Crock Pot
    • Grilling
    • Instant Pot
    • Kid Friendly
    • Salads & Dressings
    • Snacks & Dips
    • Soups, Stews & Chili
  • Family
    • Arts & Crafts
    • Child’s Play
    • D.I.Y.
    • Parties
    • Opinion
  • TQK Ā 
4 Sons 'R' Us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About
    • Work With Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Nutritional Disclaimer
    • Email Subscribe
  • Recipe Index
    • ALL Recipes
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
    • Lunch
    • Main Dish
  • Holidays
    • 4th of July
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • St, Patrick’s Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • Ingredients
    • Beef
    • Chicken & Poultry
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Vegetables
  • Popular
    • Air Fryer
    • Bread
    • Cakes & Pies
    • Casseroles
    • Cookies & Bars
    • Comfort Food
    • Copycat
    • Crock Pot
    • Grilling
    • Instant Pot
    • Kid Friendly
    • Salads & Dressings
    • Snacks & Dips
    • Soups, Stews & Chili
  • Family
    • Arts & Crafts
    • Child’s Play
    • D.I.Y.
    • Parties
    • Opinion
  • TQK Ā 
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Recipe Index Ā» Recipes Ā» Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

Published by Meaghan on October 20, 2014 | last updated on May 5, 2022.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Jump to Recipe

Shell-shaped pasta is tossed in a creamy white garlic cheese sauce for an amazing experience. The best part? This Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta recipe doesn’t require any kind of packet and is ready in less than 15 minutes.

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

I’m just going to go ahead and apologize right now before I go any further.

I’m sort of on a comfort food (you know, high calorie, delicious, and unhealthy food) kick right now, (maybe because the weather is getting cooler?) and there is absolutely nothing healthy about this dish.

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

Actually, you could make it significantly healthier depending on what type of ingredients you choose to use (skim milk instead of cream, less cheese, and not over-indulging), but I’m not going to lie and tell you I made any of those choices. This is pure, delicious, evil.

There was a long (-ish) period where the hubs and I should have bought some stock in Lipton. We were investing that much money.

When I was first married those little side-dish pasta packets were an automatic go-to of mine for dinner.

Except in our little world, while we were figuring everything out, including learning to cook and figure out a monthly food budget, they weren’t really sides so much as a meal and, man, did we love em.

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

Sure, one package allowed us to reach our sodium limit for a month, but I’m sure that’s what made them so tasty.

After a few years went by, we had learned a few things.

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

Those pasta sides got kicked to the curb in favor of more and more homemade versions, that we came to find tasted better and were loads cheaper, especially for a large, expanding family.

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

So here’s all that delicious (and still very convenient) taste, without the copious amounts of sodium, and without requiring you to purchase a pasta packet.

If you’ve tried this CREAMY GARLIC SHELLS PASTA, or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!

Creamy Garlic Shells Pasta

A quick and easy dish, this yummy recipe features small shells stirred into a creamy Parmesan garlic sauce.
4.50 from 12 votes
Print Pin Rate
Author: Meaghan @ 4 Sons R Us
Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  • 8 oz small shells pasta
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream, half/half, or even milk- if you'd like a lighter version
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1/4- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp parsley flakes

Instructions

  • Cook pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain, then set aside. Let pot cool off the heat for several minutes.
  • Return pot to stove over medium heat then melt butter in olive oil. Add garlic then saute until golden brown, about 30 seconds, being very careful not to burn. Sprinkle in flour then whisk and cook for 1 minute. Slowly pour in chicken broth and milk while whisking until mixture is smooth. Season with salt & pepper then switch to a spoon and stir constantly until mixture is thick and bubbly, about 4-5 minutes.
  • Take pot off the heat then stir in parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and parsley flakes until smooth then add cooked pasta and stir to combine.

Notes

recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats
Did you make this recipe?Share it on Instagram @4sonsrus or tag #4sonsrus!

Creamy Garlic Shells

If you enjoyed this...

  • Chicken And Stuffing Stuffed Shells
    Chicken And Stuffing Stuffed Shells
  • Mummy Macarons #HalloweenTreatsWeek
    Mummy Macarons #HalloweenTreatsWeek
  • Instant Pot Shells & Cheese
    Instant Pot Shells & Cheese
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Ā« Previous Post
Baby Ruth Cupcakes
Next Post Ā»
Chili Dog Casserole with Cheese Fries
4sonsrus about us graphic

Hi! I’m Meaghan

Welcome to my kitchen. Pull up a chair and get ready to dig into family friendly, easy recipes and meal ideas. I’m a self proclaimed, proud pickle snob and cheese lover. Aside from that, I’m also the mom to 4 busy boys, elementary school through college aged. My boys keep my husband and I busy, and boy, do they like to eat. A lot. Read more...

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Helpful comments include feedback on the post or changes you made.

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. Mandi says

    October 24, 2014 at 4:08 pm

    Ahhhhh yummy – I love simple creamy pastas like this – right up my street!!

    Reply
  2. Sue says

    October 24, 2014 at 4:41 pm

    Pure out and out comfort food, mac and cheese as far as I’m concerned, but 10 times better with your sauce! Thank you for bringing to the party and have a wonderful weekend!!!

    Reply
  3. Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says

    October 25, 2014 at 11:46 am

    yum this looks delicious! We can justify comfort food around this time of year, we need those extra calories to keep us warm in the colder months šŸ˜‰ lol x

    Reply
  4. Julie is HostessAtHeart says

    October 25, 2014 at 1:33 pm

    Yummy creamy goodness!

    Reply
  5. Alison's Allspice says

    July 5, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    Garlic is my favorite! A creamy comfort food like this is sure to be a hit, so delicious! Pinned for later, Thanks!

    Reply
    • 4sonsrus says

      July 6, 2017 at 9:57 pm

      We put in everything! Well not everrrything, but ya get the idea. Thanks for the love, Alison and I can’t wait to hear your final thoughts.

      Reply
  6. Marye says

    July 10, 2017 at 6:51 am

    5 stars
    So creamy and gooey looking! Pinning… I know this will be a favorite here!

    Reply
  7. Richard V. says

    July 30, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    5 stars
    I was looking for a recipe for shells, peas and pasta salad, but came across this creamy garlic shell pasta recipe to make instead. Made this recipe instead and added peas. Came out delicious.

    Reply
    • 4sonsrus says

      July 30, 2017 at 9:23 pm

      So happy you found & enjoyed our recipe, Richard. I can totally picture peas in this and it sounds delicious. Next time I make it for my guys, I will definitely be giving your version a try!

      Reply
  8. Crystal @ OurLittleBunch says

    December 30, 2018 at 9:19 pm

    Thank you for sharing this recipe! I needed a side dish and knew I had pasta shells in the pantry so I googled pasta shell side dish and your port popped up.
    It was delicious and my whole family enjoyed it, even my picky 2yr old šŸ™‚

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to 4 Sons ‘R’ Us

Hi! I’m Meaghan. Welcome to my kitchen. Pull up a chair and get ready to dig into family friendly, easy recipes and meal ideas.

I’m a self proclaimed, proud pickle snob and cheese lover. Aside from that, I’m also the mom to 4 busy boys, elementary school through college aged. My boys keep my husband and I busy, and boy, do they like to eat. A lot.

Read More

Trending Recipes

a wooden spoon in a silver pan of buttered cafeteria noodles
grinder salad on meat and cheese stuffed toasted hoagie rolls
homemade boursin cheese served in a blue ramekin with crackers and pretzels on the side

Footer

SEEN ON

as seen on promo graphic

SEEN ON

as seen on promo graphic

Copyright 2022 • 4 Sons R Us • Privacy Policy

4 Sons 'R' UsLogo Header Menu
  • Homepage
  • About
  • Recipe Index
    • ALL Recipes
  • Course
  • Holidays
  • Ingredients
  • Popular
  • Family
  • TQK