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Smoked Shotgun Shells Finished
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Smoked Shotgun Shells

This recipe is ideal for feeding a crowd from your smoker at the tailgate or any other outdoor gathering. It pleases a crowd with its savory flavors, particularly from the bacon wrap that adds the perfect salty touch to the dish.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Appetizers, Main Course
Servings: 10 people

Equipment

  • 1 Traeger Timberline XL
  • 1 Baking Rack
  • 1 Basting Brush

Ingredients

Instructions

  • To get started, I placed the 80/20 ground beef and the sage ground sausage into a large bowl before adding Smoked Q Rock’s Boom Boom Spice Blend and mixing it together with my hands.
  • In this step, I keep it simple by rolling up my sleeves and stuffing all these shells by hand. There are other recipes out there that suggest a piping bag, but really this step is not as difficult as it seems and the piping bag is just an extra step that I don’t find that I need.
  • For this final prep step, it is important to wrap as much of the shell as possible. Since I don’t part boil the pasta, any exposed part will still be hard after smoking.
  • This step is the important one.  I have tried placing them in the fridge for varying times, but the best results have been from placing them in the fridge overnight to really soften up the pasta shells as the fat from the bacon sinks in. 
  • I’ve run this recipe at multiple temps, but I’ve found that running my Traeger Timberline XL at 300º slow cooks the filling and pasta, while keeping the bacon chewy yet crunchy. 
  • As the smoker comes to temp, I place all the shells on baking racks before I apply a heavy dose of my Smoked Q Rock’s Honey Chipotle Spice Blend to all the shells wrapped in bacon.  Then I placed them on the smoker for 45 minutes, checking doneness by the look of the bacon.
  • After 45 minutes, I basted on some Smoked Q Rock’s Bourbon BBQ Sauce and let them smoke for another 10-15 minutes to finish these off. 
  • After resting for 5-10 minutes, I slice them into thirds to serve. Enjoy!!!

Nutrition

Calories: 564kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 614mg | Potassium: 398mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 2mg