Creamy Sausage Tortellini Soup is the type of soup you’ll want in your weekly dinner rotation every fall and winter. It’s one of those hearty, creamy soup recipes filled with crumbled Italian sausage, fresh spinach, and big fat cheese tortellini that will satisfy every soup craving you have when the weather cools down.
Why We Love This Soup
Honestly, I don’t make soup often so when a soup recipe shows up here on Smells Like Home, you KNOW it’s got to be a great recipe! Here’s why we love this Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup recipe makes the perfect bowl of soup on a chilly day:
- Creamy tomato soup meets sausage pasta, where the penne switches to cheesy tortellini.
- It’s a hearty and filling soup brimming with Italian flavors the whole family will flip for.
- A complete meal in a steamy bowl with broth, veggies, protein, and carbs. What more can you ask for?
- Simple ingredients from the pantry make up an easy tortellini soup that’s ready to eat in under 40 minutes. Talk about a great meal to have ready on busy weeknights!
Ingredients for the Best Sausage and Tortellini Soup
Like most soup recipes, I like to keep the ingredients list fairly basic.
Here is the grocery store list for ingredients you need to make this soup. Be sure to keep scrolling down to the recipe card for the full printable Ingredients list and the full recipe!
- Italian sausage links: Use sweet Italian sausage for those with spice aversions or hot Italian sausage for those people who like a little kick to their soup.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Aromatics: onion and fresh garlic cloves
- Spices: Whole fennel seeds, sweet paprika, Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper
- Tomato paste: Canned and tubed both work here. This will help to deepen the tomato flavor in the soup.
- Low sodium broth or stock: You can use either chicken stock, chicken broth, vegetable stock, or vegetable broth. Just be sure to use a low sodium variety.
- Tomato purée or whole peeled tomatoes: If you use whole peeled tomatoes, you’ll need to purée them before adding them to the soup. The tomatoes help to create a silky and rich tomato broth that is the base for all of the flavors going on here.
- Refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini: My favorite brand is RANA. Frozen tortellini works too; just give it an extra 4 minutes to cook in your large soup pot.
- Fresh spinach
- Fresh basil
- Heavy cream: This is also sold as heavy whipping cream.
- A lemon: Believe it or not, a little bit of fresh lemon juice added before serving really brightens up the flavors of this soup!
- Grated Parmesan cheese: See Pro Tip #2 below for some extra Parmesan info!
PRO TIP #1
My favorite tortellini to use for soup is RANA Three Cheese Tortellini. Because it’s fresh tortellini, it cooks quickly in the soup and it’s loaded with flavor. Frozen tortellini will work too; just give it about 4 extra minutes to cook in the tomato broth.
Work Lunch Solutions
What I love about great soup is that it makes great leftovers. If you’re going to be home for the leftovers, the soup will reheat beautifully in a small saucepan on the stove.
However, if you’d like a hot lunch at work without the hassle of waiting for the microwave line to thin out, a thermos is always an excellent solution. I have a couple of small Thermos kids versions for Riley to take hot lunch to school and they’ve been lifesavers.
The larger Thermos options are abundant for adults too and they’ll keep your lunch warm for up to 10 hours.
Storage
This soup will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days after making it. After that, the tortellini starts to become bloated and mushy.
Instead, you can freeze the soup for up to 3 months. I’m in love with my Souper Cubes to freeze leftovers but any airtight container or a ziptop bag with the air squeezed out will work great too.
Swaps and Substitutions
There are lots of ways you can change this soup recipe to make it fit what you’ve got on hand or for your family’s preferences. Here are some great Swaps and Substitutions!
- Spice it up! Add a layer of heat by using hot Italian sausage and/or adding a few shakes of crushed red pepper (red pepper flakes) when you add the other spices.
- On the lighter side! Fresh chicken sausage or turkey sausage are excellent substitutions for pork sausage. If you can’t find Italian chicken sausage or Italian turkey sausage, use an unflavored fresh chicken sausage and add a teaspoon of an Italian seasoning mix with the other spices in the recipe instructions.
- Great greens! Don’t have or don’t love spinach? You can easily swap in some chopped kale, swiss chard, or arugula. If using kale or chard, allow it to cook a couple extra minutes in the broth before serving.
- Want more protein? Stir a can of drained and rinsed white beans, like cannellini or Great Northern beans, into the soup when you pour the broth/stock into the pot.
PRO TIP #2
Ever wonder what to do with a parmesan rind? You can totally toss it into this soup! The leftover cheese on the rind will melt off into the broth and help to flavor the soup in a way that extra salt never could.
What to Serve with Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
On its own, this soup is a filling meal. But if you want to eat a lighter serving of soup or maybe stretch the number of servings my recipe makes to serve extra people, I’ve got a few suggestions of what to serve with this soup.
For a soup and salad combination, you can serve a simple toss salad with a homemade dressing like my house Italian vinaigrette recipe or this lemon garlic vinaigrette recipe.
On the carby side, I’m always going to suggest some kind of crusty bread or dinner roll to go with a hot bowl of soup. Store-bought is fine! But if you’re inclined to dig your hands into some fresh dough, go with these herbed fantail rolls or these incredibly easy garlic knots that I make from pizza dough.
MORE SOUP SEASON RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Creamy Chicken Orzo Soup
- Split Pea Soup
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Bacon Cheddar Ale Soup
- Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Creamy Sausage Tortellini Soup
This Creamy Sausage Tortellini Soup is the perfect soup for a chilly day or for busy weeknights. Keep a pot of it warming on the stove and some crusty bread in the oven for when the family grazes in for a cozy meal.
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage, skins removed
- Extra virgin olive oil, if needed (see recipe instructions below)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp whole fennel seeds
- ½ tsp sweet paprika
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 heaping tbsp tomato paste
- 8 cups (64 oz or 2 quarts) low-sodium chicken, chicken stock, or vegetable broth
- 1 can (28 oz) tomato purée or whole peeled tomatoes (See Note below)
- 20 oz refrigerated 5 cheese tortellini, like Rana
- 5 oz fresh spinach
- ½ fresh basil, roughly chopped
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ lemon, juiced
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, break up the sausage as it cooks and browns. After about 7 minutes, add the onions and garlic and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the fennel, paprika, and 1 ½ teaspoons of both salt and pepper; cook for about 2 minutes, until fragrant. Mix in the tomato paste until everything in the pot is coated with it; cook, stirring for about 2 minutes, until the paste starts to darken.
- Turn the heat up to high, pour in the broth/stock and tomato purée, cover the pot to bring the soup to a gentle boil - turn the heat down to medium-high to continue at a gentle boil. Remove the lid and continue boiling for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the soup starts to reduce and thicken slightly. Add the tortellini to the soup and cook it for 2 to 4 minutes, until it starts to expand and soften.
- Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the spinach, basil, and heavy cream; cook while stirring occasionally until the spinach is wilted. Squeeze the lemon juice into the soup and give it a good stir. Season with salt to taste - you may need up to another 1 teaspoon of salt to season the soup properly.
- Ladle the soup into bowls, top with grated parmesan cheese, and serve hot.
Notes
If using whole peeled tomatoes, you’ll need to purée the whole tomatoes until smooth with an immersion blender, blender, or food processor.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 563Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 13gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 1891mgCarbohydrates: 61gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 29g
This calculation is an estimation. For the most accurate calculation, please consult a nutritionist. Smells Like Home Studio, Inc. and Tara Liptak do not provide medical information or advice.
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