Creamy Tortellini Soup
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My favorite cozy weeknight soup made in 30 min! Loaded with tender tortellini, sausage and kale! And it’s so easy!
Featured Comment
Have you seen the news? It’s apparently -50 degrees windchill in Chicago right now. I wish I was joking. Meanwhile, it was 69 degrees F here in LA today. How will Butters and I survive in the Windy City?
I’ve loaded up on parkas and electric blankets for myself and Butters. But I don’t know, guys. It’s going to be a dicey winter for us Californians.
But what I do know is this – have as much of this creamy tortellini soup as possible until the polar vortex passes. That and all the crusty bread to sop up all this creamy goodness.
Oh, and the wine. That helps warm you up too, no?
tips and tricks for success
- Use fresh tortellini. Fresh tortellini will cook much faster than dried or frozen tortellini, and will yield more softer pasta.
- Add the cream slowly. Always add the heavy cream at the very end, pouring very slowly to prevent curdling.
- Save leftover Parmesan rinds. Get more out of those expensive Parmesan cheeses by using up the leftover rinds! Adding a Parmesan rind slightly thickens the broth and adds a level of nutty richness to the soup.
- Store tortellini separately for leftovers. When planning for leftovers, store the cooked tortellini separately from the soup to prevent it from soaking up all the broth.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
what to serve with tortellini soup
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Creamy Tortellini Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Swiss chard, baby spinach, collard greens, and cabbage are all great options.
We love using fresh cheese tortellini for a more neutral base but your favorite tortellini would also work very well here.
Absolutely! Dried tortellini can be cooked in a separate pot and added to the soup at the end of cooking time until warmed through.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the tortellini and heavy cream (cream soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding cooked tortellini and heavy cream when serving.
Creamy Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (3-inch) Parmesan rind, optional
- 1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated three cheese tortellini
- ½ bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add Italian sausage and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic, onion and Italian seasoning. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken stock, tomato sauce and Parmesan rind, if using. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in tortellini; cover and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Stir in kale until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and basil until heated through, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Video
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Amazing recipe. Great for the whole family. Super flavorful.
I put a bit of a twist on this – I set out to make the exact recipe, but with a vegetarian daughter, I had to sub the chk broth for veg broth, and I used a homemade Ital sausage made with Impossible Meat. Something went wrong (but also right) at the point I added the broth; the “meat” began to break down, and thickened the liquid – a LOT. I added the tomato sauce, then followed the rest of the instructions. Ended up with an absolutely incredible tortellini w/”meat” sauce dish, nice & thick. I’m going to try this one again with real sausage, but if anybody wants to replicate my method, just add an extra tbsp or 2 of flour at step 3 for a thickener. Overall, great flavors in this!
I’m not usually a soup person but I’ve made this soup about three times since I found it two months ago – SO GOOD! I added just a pinch of chili powder to add a kick to it.
I used hot Italian sausage and red onion. This came out amazing!! My husband and I loved it. It made enough for each of us to have one hearty bowl for dinner and each of us one bowl for lunch the next day! I also topped with some shredded parmesan cheese. Will definitely be making this often!
Yummy soup! My whole family loves it! Great for a weeknight dinner. Made exactly as recipe said. We had a lot of tortellini in it, so might add some more broth next time.
I use spinach instead of kale, and brick of cream cheese. Delicious!
Excellent soup!! Made exactly as per recipe and this is now my favorite soup! I typically do not leave recipe reviews but this was so good that I had to come back to share my appreciation. Love your work Chungah! Your site is awesome… and damn delicious!
This was sooo yummy! I had to make a few edits due to food restrictions, so I used turkey sausage and Silk Dairy Free Heavy Whipping Cream (thank you Silk people), I also mixed kale and spinach. So. Yummy!
I wanted to share with others and yet also wanted not to. Maybe next time, folks!
Where do I get bread like that? It looks so good!
This I use hot Italian sausage in my tortilinni soup. This stuff is addicting!!
Made this yesterday for my boyfriend and I – we needed some comfort food & man did it hit the spot. I added in some bell peppers & eggplant because I didn’t want them to go bad and it was the PERFECT addition! Can’t wait to make it again.
I have made this twice now and it’s quickly becoming a favorite meal…even in Texas heat!!
My fiancé and I love this soup! It is one of the easiest and a go to dinner when we’re unsure what to make! I’m always sending his dad leftovers and he raves about it! I use spinach instead of kale and use more tortellini and stock than suggested. Sometimes I will add chopped mushrooms for a different flavor. Even in 90 degree summer weather this soup is 100% worth it!
Amazingly delicious soup! I have a question though…can you make the broth part (including the sausage) and then just reheat the next day and add the tortellini and then the kale?
Made this a few times now and it’s a real go to quick and easy to make dish for the family. I substitute garden peas instead of kale and irish sausage instead of italian.
Oh my goodness was this good!!! We made it camping and my entire family loved this stuff!! We used half mild Italian sausage and half hot which was perfect. My family is suspicious of anything green so I didn’t put any Kale in it. I’ve never had it before and am not really anxious to try it. I have however tried spinach and I like it and noticed a lot of people substituted that for the Kale so that’s what I did just serving it on the side for anybody who wanted it. It was a little crunchy since it wasn’t cooked, just the heat of the soup in my bowl but I still liked it. I forgot all about adding the cream til leftovers. We loved this even without the cream but I did use it on leftovers and it took it to the next level. Great job with this one!!!
So easy and so flavourful!!! My husband is drinking the broth out of his second bowl right now!!! Easy to adapt as well. Your recipes never disappoint.
Made it exactly as recipe, it’s delicious!
This is our new favorite comfort meal. I never seem to have tomato sauce on hand, so I use whatever marinara or other pasta sauce is in the cupboard, and it has been fabulous every single time.
I made this once before, and it was a bit too rich for me. I decided to make it a second time because it really was good, but I realized I had no chicken broth. I instead used about 2 tsp of BEEF better than bullion instead of the chicken broth and wow, it was amazing. Made a whole batch and ate it over three days. Time to make another one!