When you’ve got a group of friends/family coming around, its good to have a couple of recipes in your arsenal to serve up. Case in point, check out these Shotgun Shells below which are quick to prepare and cook but will provide loads of flavor. They are Manicotti pasta shells filled with a beef/cheese stuffing, wrapped in bacon, and then smoked with Mesquite pellets for an hour. Perfect!
Tap/Click to watch the recipe above or scroll below for the steps: Video – PitBoss-Grills.com
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Step 1: For this shotgun shell recipe Mesquite pellets were chosen which can work well with beef/bacon to provide a stronger smoke flavor compared to pure Oak pellets for instance.
Step 2: To start the prep for these shotgun sells two Jalapenos were finely chopped wth the seeds still in them which will provide a decent amount of heat.
Step 3: Next, into a mixing bowl went the chopped Jalapeno, 1 lb of Ground Beef, 1 lb of Hot Italian Sausage, 2 cups of Shredded Cheese, 8 Oz of Cream Cheese, and 1 Tbs of Pit Boss All-Purpose GSP Rub (Garlic, Salt, Pepper).
Step 4: With some suitable nitrile gloves on get your hands into the shotgun shell ingredients and mix it all together until its consistent.
Step 5: For the shotgun shells themselves two 8 Oz boxes of Manicotti were used (large pasta tubes).
Step 6: When it comes to loading the Manicotti shells with the filling it will be easiest to do it with your fingers. However, you’ll want to do it from both ends until the shells are full.
Step 7: With all the Manicotti shells full of the beef/cheese mixture the next stage is to have two packs of thin sliced bacon on hand and to wrap each shell in a strip of bacon.
Step 8: With all the shells stuffed and wrapped with bacon, before they went onto the portable pellet grill they were given a final seasoning with Pit Boss Texas BBQ Rub (Brown Sugar, Paprika, Hickory).
Step 9: The portable pellet smoker was preheated to 300 degrees before the shotgun shells went down onto the grate.
Step 10: After an hour of smoking at 300 degrees the shotgun shells were nearly finished cooking. However, they were now ready for an important step.
Step 11: Using a small burst some Pit Boss BBQ Sauce was dressed over the top of the shotgun shells as they finished cooking for a final 15 minutes.
Step 12: As a Game Day appetizer or just something to serve as an appetizer when friends and family come round, these shotgun shells are pretty hard to beat.
Hi, I’m Chris Scott. I started PelHeat.com back in 2007 and I have a background in pellet manufacturing. PelHeat.com is an educational resource on BBQ pellets, pellet grills & smokers. Check out our Pellet Grill & Smoker Database.
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