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
Did you make this recipe?
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Fantastic soup!!
I will try it to cook tonight!
Delicious! I improvised during the quarantine. Substituted hot italian turkey sausage and added a diced yellow pepper and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Baby kale wilted nicely then topped with a little grated parm!
So good! And easy to make. We added white kidney beans. Happy to have some leftover for lunche for the week.
Amazing! Go-to soup with no changes made to the recipe.
This was amazing! I doubled the recipe because I have a large family… except I needed to use 2.5lbs of sausage, and an extra tbsp of flour for thickening. I also put fresh spinach instead of kale because I am not a fan of kale and also had to put 2.5 the amount in.
I didn’t wait until the tortellini was fully cooked… a teensy bit under cooked, but no one noticed. I did this so that when we warmed it up the next day the noodles didn’t get soggy, that worked perfectly. And the next day was even more amazing!
Total thumbs up, 10/10!
I have made this soup many times and it is one of my favorite soups EVER. But can someone please explain to me step 3 (“Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.”)? How do you whisk dry flour into a heap of onions and dry seasonings? When I do this I just get a huge pasty clump until I stir in broth. Is that correct? Or am i missing a step? Thank you!
I sprinkled in one tbsp at a time, mixed well, then added the next… it is supposed to coat everything and act as a thickening agent after you pour in the wet ingredients. This method worked perfectly. Though it never really “browned” and once everything was well coated, I moved onto the next steps.
The reasoning is to cook the flour long enough to lose the flour taste. And yes, you did it correctly.
I just made this and it’s amazing!! It’s a keeper, definitely going into our Dinner rotation.
So yummy and easy to make! Substituted spinach, ground turkey and sour cream because we were out of ingredients and still turned out great on the first try!
You’ve done it again! I made this soup this week, and it will definitely be added into my meal rotation. It was so easy to make, and super yummy. I may switch to spinach next time due to my husband’s preference, but honestly, it weren’t for him I wouldn’t change a thing!
So good! I subbed spinach for kale and it was delicious 🙂
I used Sweet Italian Sausage and I have used Kale or Spinach to make this recipe. I also added Dill Weed to the part where you add the Italian Seasoning. My boyfriend loves when I make this and it is one of his favorites.
We love this soup recipe and make it all the time. Sometimes we swap kale for spinach or use leftover marinara instead of the tomato sauce. Always a hit!
Incredible soup, a must try!
Amazing! so tasty and easy. We added zuchini as well which was a great and doubled the recipe so we had lots of leftovers
Made this yesterday. Doubled the recipe. DELICIOUS! Saving it to keep in my recipe rotation.
This is a great soup! I did some major adjustments to the recipe but it was still totally yummy. I used red chard instead of kale and I omitted the cream completely. I added carrots, zucchini, and celery and doubled the chicken broth. It was amazing!
Made this soup and used leftover pizza sauce instead of Italian spices. Also spinach because I had no basil on hand. Homemade stock and a bit of marinara. Fantastic simple soup.
I don’t normally leave reviews, but this soup is delicious! I used hot Italian sausage and it really added a nice kick. Will definitely become a regular in the cold weather rotation!
I doubled the recipe and used hot and mild Italian sausage and spinach instead of Kale. This is a definite favorite. My husband and 15 year old loved it and had second helpings. I took some to lunch the next day…I needed to add a little chicken broth for leftovers because it does thicken up but it was absolutely delicious! I added crushed red pepper to my soup for a little kick, but not the whole batch. I highly recommend!
This has quickly become a staple in our house — and I need to make a double batch (for 2 people!) if we want it to last more than a day.
I swap out the sausage for bacon. Usually about 4 pieces and I cook the onions in the fat. I chop up the cooked bacon and add it back right before serving.
You can get away with about 1/4 cup of heavy cream. I usually just eyeball it and taste it until it’s perfect and it’s well below the 1/3 cup.