Smoked Shotgun Shells make an amazing starter or snack! I have made these with many different fillings and a variety of sausages. It's a very hearty version and it is filled mostly with meat and a little cheese and you can add jalapeno chilies for a Southwestern flavour However, as I always say, feel free to make the recipe you own with fillings that you enjoy.
It's key to allow the meat mixture to rest in the pasta tubes in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
what you need - makes 24
2 boxes pasta tube shells such as Cannelloni or Manicotti tubes
2 packages, regular bacon
500gr minced pork & beef
500gr mildly spices sausages.
225gr/8oz shredded cheese
Smokey Joes Honey Hog or Firecracker
BBQ Sauce to glaze. I like Stubb’s Sticky Sweet
what to do Remove the sausage meat from the casings. Mix the sausage meat, ground beef & shredded cheese in a large mixing bowl. If you are adding chilies or other peppers, mix those in as well.
Stuff the pasta tubes completely with the mixture, wrap each shell in one piece of bacon covering the shell as much as possible & season all sides of the shells with Smokey Joe’s Honey Hog Rub or firecracker if you like a bit of heat
Place the shells on a sheet pan and rest in the fridge at least 4 hours or up to overnight. Anything less will result in a tough and chewy bite after these are cooked.
Prepare the Smoker Prepare your smoker at a temperature of 150c / 300f degrees. I recommend a medium smoke wood for this cook such as hickory or pecan.
Smoke the Shotgun Shells Place the shotgun shells on a baking rack and place then into the smoker.
Smoke for 1 hour. At this point the ground meat will be above74c/ 165f internal temp and the shell should be tender.
After 1 hour, brush on the BBQ sauce.
Return to the smoker and allow the sauce to set up 15 minutes.
Remove from the smoker and enjoy!