Pellet Grill Smoked “Shotgun Shells”
Smoked Shotgun Shells were our appetizers this past Christmas. An appetizer which took practically a year to make because Scott couldn’t find Manicotti pasta shells and when he finally did(at Walmart) he forgot about it. These Smoked Shotgun Shells are basically manicotti shells stuffed with 50% breakfast sausage and 50% ground turkey mixed in with shredded cheese, seasonings, and chopped Peperoncini peppers(Mezzetta brand) for an added kick then wrapped in bacon to smoke in a pellet grill. After the smoking process, brushed with a tangy-sweet BBQ sauce concoction and broiled in the oven for about 5 minutes to crisp up the bacon.
The challenge is letting the shells sit out for another 5 minutes before serving because of course you don’t want to burn your tongue from the temperature. And then, you take your first bite and WOW you tell your husband, why did you wait to make these and please make them again SOON!
Smoked "Shotgun Shells"
Equipment
- 1 Pellet Grill
Ingredients
- 1 pack Manicotti pasta shells
- 1 lb breakfast sausage
- 1 lb ground turkey (or lean ground beef)
- 2 pcs Peperoncini peppers (optional)
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- sprinkle of garlic-herb seasoning (or any seasoning you like)
- 1 pack bacon
- BBQ sauce of your choice
Instructions
- Prep the shells the night before or at least 5-6 hours before cooking. In a bowl, combine breakfast sausage, ground turkey(or lean ground beef), Peperoncini peppers(optional), garlic-herb seasoning, salt & pepper, and shredded cheese.
- Fill the Manicotti shells with the meat mixture.
- Wrap each shell with bacon. (NOTE: you can use 2 pieces of bacon on each if you want)
- Place them in the tray that came with the Manicotti box. Place the trays on a sheet pan. Cover with foil and stick in the fridge overnight or 4 hours before cooking.
- Preheat the pellet grill to 260°. Smoke the shells for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
- Take them out of the pellet grill and place into a sheet pan.
- Brush each shell with BBQ sauce.
- Broil for 5 minutes.
- Take them out of the broiler. Cover with foil and let it cool for another 5 minutes.
- Slice each shell into thirds.
VOILA! Pellet Grill Smoked Shotgun Shells. The name is kinda weird but these are sooo good. Just a TIP, when you see Manicotti shells at the pasta aisle grab them now because they’re hard to come by these days.
Not a pretty styled picture but I was dying to get into them and I wasn’t willing to wait any longer. Enjoy!
