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
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I don’t have sausage will this work with Italian meatballs? Please let me know asap I want to make it today thank you
Wow, this is SUCH a great recipe. The soup is absolutely delicious – so rich and flavorful. Five star!
Fantastic soup that came together so quickly! My husband and teenagers loved it and asked that I only use this tortellini soup recipe from now on. My store didn’t have kale in stock so I used spinach. I made two pots of it with one being the written version that I doubled and another made dairy & egg free (Kite Hill vegan ‘cheese’ tortellini and Ripple oat milk half and half) for my child who is allergic. Both were outstanding. The leftovers went fast the next day. Definitely company and pot luck worthy as well. Yum!
This was so easy and so crazy good that we inhaled it!
Every bite was awesome. Only thing different I did was use stemmed/chopped baby kale.
Def on our rotating list moving forward!
You’re recipes never disappoint!!! Delicious as always. Thank you !
I have one question: 8 oz can tomato, is that plain tomato sauce or a tomato sauce like a spaghetti sauce? Want to make sure before I make it. I heard so much about it.
This is going into my weekly rotation for fall and winter…. my family absolutely loved it!!! And it was so easy to prepare…
This was a hit for my family.
I love this and have made so many times. Quick question. I have no sweet onions will it change the taste much if I use yellow onion?
It’ll work just fine.
Simply delicious! This is a win for the entire family, even our anti soup 7 year old asked for seconds. Thank you for the quick and yummy meal.
Fantastic soup the whole family enjoyed!
This was really good! Lots of flavor for a small number of ingredients and a quick prep.
Absolutely delicious and unique. No need to change a single thing. A new family favorite!
This soup definitely needs a solid hour to come together, but goodness is it worth every minute!
Used half and half instead of heavy cream and spins instead of kale and was AMAZING!
Highly recommend!
Really tasty. I have made twice. I substituted 2% milk and 2 tablespoons low fat cream cheese.
I made this tonight it was absolutely delicious and filling will definitely make again
This soup was one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. So full of flavor – just delicious!
Amazing! Super easy and super delicious. Did add a full 20 oz pkg of tortellini and another cup or so of broth. Was more stew thank soup but boy was the flavor amazing!!
perfect!
Followed recipe to the letter. AMAZING! This will be made many times!