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.
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Thanks for the recipe! My husband and son voted for it to go into the our regular rotation.
Absolutely, the best!! Can this be frozen? I’d like to make more and then freeze to have it on hand.
Best soup recipe out there. I make this all the time for my family. Kids and husband approved. They can’t get enough so this time i have to double the recipe so i can have more then one bowl.
Loved this easy soup – so did everyone else! I replaced the sausage with cremini mushrooms (about 8 oz) and used spinach in place of the kale because that’s what I had on hand. It was delicious! I will make this soup again and often since it was so delicious!
My boyfriend finished the entire thing (I helped myself to seconds too ;)). Extremely good!! I’m definitely doubling the batch next time so we have leftovers. Definitely make this soup! The only thing I didn’t do was add the meat. It was still so delicious!
Oh man this was soooo good. And super easy to make if you prep all the chopped veggies and herbs first. We ate it with crusty baguettes and didn’t stop till the bowl was empty!
I made this soup for my husband. He loves this soup! I gotta say it tastes awesome. Will be making it again next week. I have requests for more of this delicious soup!
Entire family loved it. Definitely a keeper and will make again many times. Thank you!
This is so delicious!! Definitely a favorite in our house.
This was amazing!!! The kids and I loved it. It’s a keeper.
Delicious! Everyone raved, even the toddler. I used frozen tortellini with no problems .
Super easy, quick and very delicious! This is a keeoer for sure! Didnt change a thing other than made 1/ 2 a recipe and used the fat/oil to make the rogue with the flour instead of draining it.
My boyfriend and toddler loved it ! I used johnsonvilles spicy Italian sausage that was already grounded and rather than using fresh basil, I used 2 tbs of dried basil leaves. Nice recipe!!!
Made this last night for dinner. Was super easy and delicious. Next time I will try with spinach as others suggested. If you don’t have tortellini I think this would be just as good with any other pasta in its place. Some fresh baked bread to dunk in the broth was fantastic! Will definitely make this again.
Wow! This was SO delicious – my entire family devoured this soup! I used high-quality italian sausage and homemade tomato sauce and this was perfection. I’ve been making it for extended family members too and everyone requests the recipe after!
This was so easy to make and delicious. I used whatever I had at home, which was frozen Italian meatballs, carrots, onions, pasta sauce, dried basil, and heavy whipping cream. My family devoured it and I’m excited to make more. Thank you so much for sharing!
Loved this for a chilly weeknight! The only thing I wasn’t clear on was instructions for whisking in the flour. Was I supposed to push the sausage and onion to the side and just whisk the flour on the bottom of the pot by itself, without liquid? The sausage just clumped up in the whisk so this really didn’t make sense to me. I just gave up and stirred it all together with a spoon. Not sure if that was right but it still tasted great! Will definitely make this again.
So flavorful. So delicious. So easy! It fed my hungry household of 6 (four of them teenagers) with second helpings for a few and one small/snack size portion left over. I did increase the tortellini to 13 ounces, but everything else directly as written. Will need to double the recipe for extra left overs next time. Thanks for another great recipe!
I’ve made this several times, doubling the recipe each time. This is magnificent and the leftovers are fantastic!
This soup was delicious! Added some red pepper flakes and used spinach in place of kale. Flavorful and hearty. This is the third recipe of yours that I have tried. Always incredibly yummy! Love your street tacos and shrimp boil pan dinner as well! I will look forward to more recipes! Thank you, Chungah!
This was extremely easy and absolutely delicious! I will make this again and again, for sure.
Absolutely delicious! Perfect for a cold night. Husband and teenage son LOVED it. Even the kale. Love your recipes!