Shotgun Shells

Hi Y’all. Found an interesting recipe for shotgun shells and my husband smoked them on the grill last week.

We tend to get in a rut with certain foods so we try to change it up with new ideas.

Now, some of the stuff we try we don’t ever try again. However, these tasty shells are something we will grill again.

This recipe was shown as an appetizer, but we had them as our main meal.

Here are the steps to stuff and grill these shotgun shells for anyone who wants to try them.

Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees

Get ingredients ready – I like to have everything in sight so I open packages, select my measuring utensils, and anything else I will need (see recipe at the end of this post)

Step 1 – Mix all ingredients in a Large bowl except the bacon and extra BBQ sauce

Step 2 – Gently stuff the ingredients into the uncooked manicotti shells from both ends and make sure there are no air pockets

Step 3 – Wrap 2 slices of bacon around each shell

Step 4 – Lightly brush BBQ sauce on each side, place on your preheated grill, and close the lid (I make our BBQ sauce and you can find it in another post on my site, Homemade BBQ Sauce)

Step 5 – Smoke for 60 minutes, turn the shells over and lightly brush BBQ sauce on the tops and close the lid

Step 6 – Smoke for another 60 minutes, remove from grill and enjoy

Additional tips

• The recipe below makes 14 rolls so I only used one box of manicotti shells
• I had already mixed up the full amount of ingredients so I froze the remaining mixture to use another day
• The prep time was a little longer for me because it was the first time I had stuffed manicotti shells
• I used the hot Italian sausage but next time I will try regular pork sausage
• You can adjust the quantities for how many you want to make
• If you use as a meal, you can pair with beans, a salad, fruit, etc.

Enjoy!

Recipe

• (2) 8 ounce boxes manicotti shells
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 pound hot Italian sausage (or regular pork sausage)
• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
• 6 ounces cream cheese (I used the full 8 ounce package)
• 1 jalapeno, finely diced (I took the seeds out)
• 2 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama seasoning
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup BBQ sauce
• (2) 16 ounce packages bacon
• additional BBQ sauce for coating