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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Tried this in the Instant Pot–I made it through step 3 in a cast iron, then added that + ingredients in step 4 to the IP on high pressure for 10 minutes; also cooked tortellini in the broth for an additional 5 min @ high pressure–and it was excellent. I also added a touch of fresh lemon juice at the end because I prefer a little more acid. Will definitely be making this again!
Wondering if I can make this as the recipe calls and then add to my crockpot? Adding the tortellini at the end? Thoughts?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
What size dutch oven do you typically use for your dishes, 5 or 7qt?
I typically use 5qt.
YUMMY! This soup was so good,
I used fresh spinach instead of Kale.
Will definitely make again SOON!
I’m sure spinach works great!
This soup is out of this world!! Seriously so indulgent and wonderful. It’s the kind of food that’s better than sex! I used venison sausage and spinach as mods. Thank you damn delicious!
This soup is SO DELICIOUS. The ingredients are so simple and the flavor is amazing!
Thank you!
As soon as I saw this recipe I got the ingredients to make it for lunch! I put spinach instead of kale, used fat free half and half instead of cream, and put a dollop of mascarpone in at the end. OUTSTANDING!
Awesome!
This was very delicious!! I added a pinch of crushed red pepper for heat, and I used spinach instead of kale, and it turned out really great! We added some fresh grated parmesan to the top. I will be making this soup again! Thank you for posting it.
Thank you, Tina!
Sooooo good!
What’s the crusty bread in these pictures?
It’s ciabatta from Whole Foods. It’s my favorite! 🙂
I don’t rate recipes that I try as often as I should. This recipe is definitely 5 STAR and one I will make again and again. It was perfect for the snowy night we are having in western Washington. The only two, minor changes I made was adding a picnic of sugar and using baby spinach vs. kale.
Excellent recipe, five stars!!!
Thanks so much!
Can you share where these white bowls are from? I love the minimalist, modern look.
CB2. 🙂
It is a wonderful soup for a cold night!!!! Do you know what is the calorie count?
Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
This was just DIVINE as written. I doubled the recipe for my family of 6, hoping to have leftovers for lunch. Nope. Hubby ate THREE HELPINGS, and declared it the best soup ever. Very, very good – thank you for sharing.
Oh wow! So happy to hear it was a hit!
This was delicious! I didnt realize that I did not have the sausage I ordered until cooking was underway. But even without the sausage this was very filling! A great addition to my lunch rotation!
It’s great as a vegetarian option!
Does this need to be served immediately or can it simmer for a while in Dutch oven?
You can simmer for longer, if you prefer, but I recommend holding off on the tortellini, kale, heavy cream and basil until right before serving.
I made this last night and it was easy and delicious. This is a keeper! Thanks for the recipe.
Awesome!
Made this for my husband tonight and it was Amazing! The only substitutions we made were that we used full fat coconut milk in the can instead of heavy cream because we don’t do dairy and we used a combination of baby kale and arugula. It was delicious!
Great! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This recipe comes together very quickly and it’s delicious! This will definitely be in the rotation-
Great!
This soup was fantastic! I subbed the Italian sausage with ground turkey and heavy cream with half-and-half to lighten it up slightly. Also, I added the tortellini with the broth and tomato sauce and cooked it in the Instant Pot for 4 minutes, then added the kale and half-and-half. Turned out delicious!
That’s a great idea!
How many ounces of spinach would you recommend?
I would estimate about 6 ounces.