Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
Italian sausage and cheese tortellini make a generous soup, with a creamy tomato broth around the little pasta parcels. Spinach is welcome at the end if you fancy some green in the bowl. Ladle out a helping and enjoy the savory sausage between bites of tortellini.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Original yield
- Serves 6
- Ingredients
- 13 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Main course
- Cuisine
- American
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 31–60 minutes
- Dish type
- Soups · Soups & stews · Pasta
A few quick notes
1. Leave a little sausage fat
Set browned sausage aside on paper towels, keeping only the stated small fat portion for onion and celery.
2. Dissolve flour before tomatoes
Add broth slowly after cooking flour and garlic, stirring until the flour is fully dissolved before continuing.
3. Lower to a gentle pasta simmer
After the soup boils, add tortellini and reduce heat so the pasta cooks at a gentle simmer.
Get to know the ingredients
Sausage meat
Use ground sausage, or remove the meat from whole sausages' casings before browning.
Tomatoes with their juices
Keep the canned diced tomato juices for adding to the broth with Italian seasoning and the browned sausage.
Refrigerated tortellini
Use refrigerated cheese tortellini for the short simmer before cream is stirred into the soup.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 6. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 9 steps completeMake room for Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Spinach and seasoning last
After the cream's final cooking stage, stir in optional spinach and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
A little more help as you go
Garlic and flour get a short cook
Stir constantly while flour and garlic cook with the softened onion and celery before broth goes in.
Return sausage before boiling
The browned sausage returns with tomatoes and Italian seasoning, before the soup is brought to a gentle boil.
A few questions you might have
Is the spinach required?
Fresh baby spinach is marked optional; stir it into the soup at the end if using.
When does cream go in?
Add it after tortellini has had its first gentle simmer, then cook for the separate final cream stage.
Do I need a separate pan for sausage?
Brown it in the soup pot first and set aside; the onion and celery then cook in that pot.
Should the celery be sliced thickly?
Finely chop the celery as listed before cooking it with the finely chopped onion in the reserved sausage fat.
Do whole sausages stay intact in the soup?
You can use whole sausages only with the meat removed from casings, ready to brown as sausage meat.
Any more cooking tips?
For the sausages, anything around the 16 ounce/1 pound ballpark is fine – it doesn’t need to be exact. You can either buy ground sausage meat or, if using whole sausages, take the meat out of the casings. This recipe is also in chapter 5 of the Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials hardcover cookbook.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: saltandlavender.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
