Creamy Tortellini Soup
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Creamy tortellini soup made with Italian sausage, cheese-filled tortellini, kale, and Parmesan rind for extra richness. A cozy comfort food recipe ready in just 30 minutes.
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This creamy tortellini soup is one of the most popular Damn Delicious recipes. A quick and hearty Italian-inspired soup with sausage, kale, and tender tortellini simmered in a Dutch oven.
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 for the Best Creamy Tortellini Soup with Italian Sausage
- Use fresh tortellini. Fresh cheese tortellini cooks quickly and keeps the soup creamy without becoming mushy.
- Add the cream slowly at the very end to prevent curdling and to keep your tortellini soup creamy and smooth.
- Save leftover Parmesan rinds. Adding them while simmering in a Dutch oven gives this creamy tortellini soup a nutty depth of flavor.
- Store tortellini separately for leftovers. Store cooked tortellini separately when meal prepping or freezing so the soup doesn’t lose its creamy broth.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with homemade crusty bread or garlic knots for dipping—classic sides for creamy tortellini soup.
What to Serve with Creamy Tortellini Soup
Tools For Making Tortellini Soup
Dutch oven or large cast iron pot – essential for simmering creamy tortellini soup evenly.
Dutch oven
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
Video
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.
Did you make this recipe?
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So good. I used plant based hot sausage and it was great. Perfect comfort meal for cold, rainy, covid-19 Wednesday. Thank you!
Made this tonight and used hot Italian sausage. It was amazing. Glad I found it.
I have made this 3 times now in the span of 3 weeks over quarantine because my boyfriend is OBSESSED, the second time i made it i didnt have sausage so i cooked 6 slices of bacon and cut them up and put them in with the noodles (also very good) and subbed spinach for kale! super flexible recipe and i assume ill be making it all the time now as my boyfriend cant get enough lol
Also made your thai curry noodle soup (which is my favourite) twice now
OMG this was so Amazing!! We made it during the Polar Vortex in London, Kentucky, and it was perfect. We made it exactly as written. I will sign up for these Damn Delicious Recipes from now on! Thank You!
Can you use regular pork sausage?
We really enjoyed this. When I sniffed my cream it had gone bad, so I used 2% milk and it worked great. I also put an entire pound of tortellini in. Thanks for this great recipe!
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.