Creamy Tortellini Soup
by Chungah
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A quick 30 min dinner! Made with crumbled sausage, kale, Parmesan and tender tortellini. So easy, so cozy, so good.
Featured Comment
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 every last drop of this lovely creamy goodness.
tips and tricks for success
- 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
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 freshly 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
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.
Equipment
Did you make this recipe?
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There hasn’t been a recipe of yours I haven’t loved!!! This was wonderful and certainly no exception. Quick and easy but SO full of flavor. I stuck pretty closely to the recipe as it was. I added some minced baby Bella mushrooms when I added the onion and garlic. (Only minced them since I sometimes have to hide things in our meals for certain noses not to turn up!) My husband “doesn’t like soup” so I doubled the tortellini and then added a cornstarch slurry at the end. And for not liking “soup” he ate two bowls! Thanks for a new go-to!
Excellent! Delicious, quick easily prepared after work, and nutritious, what more could be better! Thank you for sharing!
Excellent! Quick, easily prepared, delicious, and nutritious. Could not want anything better! Thank you for sharing!
The kids and I really liked it. Probably going to make it one of those go to dishes. Pretty easy to make and still tastes good
What exactly do you mean by tomato sauce. I want to make this for dinner tonight.
I used M&S Italian tomato sauce. In the States would use di Napoli, the simplest one they have.
I have made this dozens of times, I LOVE it! And so does my family.
Can I just say it? This is kick ass amazing and comes together quickly. I knew when I perused the ingredients list that it would be good so I doubled the recipe and I’m glad I did! My advice? Don’t change anything! Glad to add this new recipe to my collection of yummy comfort dishes! Thanks!
Sandra in California
Absolutely loved this recipe! We couldn’t get the three cheese tortellini so we substituted with ricotta and spinach and it was still amazing. The Italian sausages really give it that great flavour. Everyone in our house loved it, was so easy to make. We will definitely be making this again!
Awesome recipe.
Damn delicious! We like everything everything with a kick so i made it with spicy sausage. So yummy!
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!