Making creamy Italian tortellini sausage soup is easy and will quickly become a favorite! Filled with sausage, tomatoes, tortellini, and spinach, you get all the food groups in one savory bowl.
The tortellini soup (crock pot, instant pot) is a fan with kids in particular, nothing tastes better when you need a hearty comfort food soup the whole family will love. It’s a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
Creamy Tortellini Soup
If you’ve been following our food blog for a while you might remember that I can’t even have gluten and that my husband is on a keto diet. So why am I making crockpot and instant pot tortellini soup??
Because of the kids my friends, this is their FAVORITE! We originally got the tortellini soup recipe from my kind father-in-law and we’ve been making it at home for the kids for years. It’s our most requested soup at home! When I decided to turn it into a blog post, we not only added a little cream to make a creamy version and spinach for color, but we turned it into a crockpot and instant pot tortellini soup recipe too.
My daughter who conveniently moved just 2 miles down the road was the intended recipient of this delicious and easy batch of tortellini soup until a foot of snow hit us and it would be days before she could make it to our house.
Let me tell ya….I walked the entire enormous pot straight to our next-door neighbor friends who have kids and they were beyond excited. My daughter not so much haha. I guess I’ll just send her the tortellini crock pot soup version since she doesn’t yet have an instant pot.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The easy tortellini soup (crock pot, instant pot) only takes 15 minutes to put together before cooking
- It’s a kid favorite and always a crowd-pleaser
- The tortellini soup is easy whether you use your crock-pot, instant pot, or make it on the stove
- The use of Italian aromatics makes this the ultimate Italian inspired comfort food on a cold day
- You can easily substitute frozen or fresh tortellini
If you’re a soup lover like we are then you’ll also want to check out our pressure cooker pizza soup, stuffed pepper soup, crockpot taco soup, and egg drop soup.
Ingredient Notes
The ingredients for the tortellini soup (crock pot, instant pot) with Italian sausage and spinach is also very simple! We love to keep all of these ingredients on hand in the pantry and we almost always have extra frozen tortellini and Italian sausages in the freezer.
Our traditional way of making this soup recipe is actually without spinach, that’s why it’s listed as an optional ingredient. Likewise, adding heavy cream is a new addition, so you can also skip that to lighten it up a bit and then be sure to increase the chicken broth to 8 cups (2 quarts).
- olive oil
- onion
- garlic
- Italian seasoning
- chicken broth
- canned diced tomatoes
- Italian sausage, hot or sweet/mild
- frozen cheese tortellini (or fresh)
- parmesan cheese, shredded
- heavy whipping cream
- fresh baby spinach (optional)
The tortellini soup crock pot recipe works great with either mild Italian sausage, spicy Italian sausage, OR chicken Italian sausage. We’ve tried it in the past with all 3 types of Italian sausage and we love them all!
This is going to be a long post…we decided to put the instructions for how to make a tortellini soup crock pot recipe, an instant pot tortellini soup, and the stovetop version all in one spot for readers instead of trying to write 3 separate posts.
Crock pot Tortellini Soup
When you have a little extra time in your day and want to simply dump the ingredients in a pot and let the pot do the work, you’ll love the tortellini soup crock pot version. You’ll still need to brown the sausage and onions, but the rest is just. dump and go recipe.
Preheat a large pan or stockpot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot. Cook the hot or mild Italian sausage and chopped onion for 6- minutes until cooked through.
Add the minced garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for one more minute.
Drain most of the grease from the pan, I like to keep at least 1-2 Tbsp in the pot to go into the soup since it adds a lot of flavor.
Put the seasoned sausage mixture into a large crockpot, be sure to scape up the bits of sausage from the bottom of the pan you cooked it in and add those to the crockpot also.
Add the chicken broth and can of diced tomatoes. Stir all ingredients together.
Cook the tortellini soup crock pot recipe for 7-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.
30 minutes before the cooking time is done, add the tortellini, spinach, cream, and shredded parmesan to the pot. Turn the slow cooker to High and cook until the tortellini floats to the surface and the soup is heated throughout. Give the soup a stir before serving.
Garnish the tortellini soup crock pot recipe with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
Turn your pressure cooker to Saute and heat your pot.
Saute the sausage in 1 Tbsp of olive oil for 5 mins, you can drain the sausage after cooking, but be sure to leave at least 1 Tbsp of grease in the pot for cooking the onions and garlic so they won’t stick.
While pork sausage is naturally greasy, I’ve found that adding a little olive oil to the pot helps keep it from sticking as much.
Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the cooked Italian sausage and saute for 2 more mins.
Stir in the Italian seasoning and mix the seasoning sausage mix together.
Add about a 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the instant pot to help scrape up the brown sausage bits from the bottom of the pot. We do NOT want to get a burn signal while pressure cooking the soup!
Press Cancel to turn off the Saute function.
Add the remaining chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and the frozen tortellini.
FRESH VS FROZEN TORTELLINI TIP: I would NOT use fresh tortellini for the instant pot tortellini soup version, this only pressure cooks for 1 minute with frozen tortellini using fresh could leave you with overcooked tortellini. By chance, if you bought fresh tortellini, simply pop it in the freezer for at least an hour to freeze it.
Pressure Cook on High for 1 minute. Some instant pots have this as the Pressure Cook setting and others call it Manual.
Let the instant pot tortellini soup do a Natural Release for 3 minutes and then do a Quick Release to release the remaining pressure in the pot.
The tortellini will be floating at the top of the pot.
Turn the pot back on Saute.
Add in the fresh baby spinach and stir until wilted, which only takes 1-2 minutes.
Slowly stir in the parmesan cheese, after it’s melted, add the 3/4 cup whipping cream. I like to add a little parmesan at a time, wait for it to melt, and then add a little more. This keeps the cheese from clumping or sticking to the pot.
Stir the pressure cooker tortellini soup one more time before serving. The soup should be hot and bubbling and you don’t want the cream to burn, so the whole process of stirring in the cheese and adding the heavy whipping cream should only take 1 minute.
Turn off your instant pot and immediately dish up.
Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil.
Stovetop Recipe
- Preheat a large pan or stockpot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot. Cook the hot or mild Italian sausage for 5 minutes. Add the chopped onion and saute for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the chicken broth and can of diced tomatoes.
- Simmer the ingredients on low for 10 minutes.
- Add the fresh or frozen tortellini, fresh baby spinach, shredded parmesan, and whipping cream, then continue cooking for 3 more minutes, or until the tortellini float to the top (which means it’s done) and the spinach is wilted.
- Stir in fresh parmesan.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil.
Recipe Tips
The recipe tips will be the same whether you’re making a crock pot tortellini soup, make it in a pressure cooker, or on the stove. The only noteworthy difference is that FROZEN tortellini work best in a pressure cooker.
- Try to find the small tortellini, some brands make tortellini a little larger and the small ones work best.
- Fresh or frozen tortellini works for the tortellini soup crock pot version or stovetop. Frozen tortellini work best for a pressure cooker.
- Most of the grease can be drained if you want to cut the fat in the soup (leave a little to help cook the onion/garlic)
- Hot Italian pork sausage, mild/sweet Italian pork sausage, or Italian chicken sausage all work well. Use either already ground sausage or remove sausage from the casing if you’re using something like Johnsonville Italian sausage.
- The spinach is optional, chopped baby kale would be another option but might take longer to wilt than spinach.
- You can skip the whipping cream to make the soup a little lighter, just increase the chicken broth by 1 cup
- Tortellini crock pot soup does not keep very well, pasta soup absorbs the liquid and expands overnight. Feel free to add more chicken broth the next day if much of the liquid was absorbed into the tortellini.
Common Questions
How Long Does Tortellini Soup Last?
The crock pot tortellini soup recipe technically lasts in the fridge for up to 5 days. Tortellini and all pasta soups have a tendency to absorb the liquid in the pot, which causes the pasta to swell in size and it reduces the liquid in the pot.
For BEST results you want to eat the instant pot or crock pot Italian tortellini soup recipe the day you make it. If you have left-overs, which you most likely will, add more chicken broth, cream, salt, and pepper to get the desired consistency.
Can You Freeze Tortellini Soup?
In general, trying to freeze the tortellini crock pot soup is not a good idea. Neither cooked pasta or cream freezes well and could become mushy or the cream could even separate. If you want to freeze tortellini soup, you’ll just want to make the recipe through the steps before adding the pasta.
Freeze the Italian sausage mixture and tomato broth in a freezer-proof container for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to cook the tortellini soup, defrost it and reheat the soup. Add in the tortellini, spinach, parmesan cheese, and cream per the remaining recipe instructions.
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Creamy Italian Tortellini Soup (Crock Pot, Instant Pot)
Making creamy Italian tortellini sausage soup is easy and will quickly become a favorite! Filled with sausage, tomatoes, tortellini, and spinach, you get all the food groups in one savory bowl.
Instructions include steps for making this crock pot tortellini soup, in an instant pot, or on the stove.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 7 cup chicken broth
- 28 oz can + 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 1 lb uncooked Italian sausage, hot or sweet/mild
- 10 oz small frozen cheese tortellini (or fresh)
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (optional)
Instructions
INSTANT POT TORTELLINI SOUP
- Turn your pressure cooker to Saute and heat your pot.
- Saute the sausage in 1 Tbsp of olive oil for 5 mins, you can drain the sausage after cooking, but be sure to leave at least 1 Tbsp of grease in the pot for cooking the onions and garlic so they won't stick.
- Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the cooked Italian sausage and saute for 2 more mins. Stir in the Italian seasoning and mix the seasoning sausage mix together.
- Add about a 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the instant pot to help scrape up the brown sausage bits from the bottom of the pot. We do NOT want to get a burn signal while pressure cooking the soup!
- Press Cancel to turn off the Saute function.
- Add the remaining chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and the frozen tortellini.
- Pressure Cook on High for 1 minute. Some instant pots have this as the Pressure Cook setting and others call it Manual.
- Let the instant pot tortellini soup do a Natural Release for 3 minutes and then do a Quick Release to release the remaining pressure in the pot.
- Turn the pot back on Saute. Add in the fresh baby spinach and stir until wilted, which only takes 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly stir in the parmesan cheese, after it's melted, add the 3/4 cup whipping cream. I like to add a little parmesan at a time, wait for it to melt, and then add a little more. This keeps the cheese from clumping or sticking to the pot.
- Stir the pressure cooker tortellini soup one more time before serving. The soup should be hot and bubbling and you don't want the cream to burn, so the whole process of stirring in the cheese and adding the heavy whipping cream should only take 1 minute.
- Turn off your instant pot and immediately dish up.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil.
TORTELLINI SOUP (CROCK POT)
- Preheat a large pan or stockpot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot. Cook the hot or mild Italian sausage and chopped onion for 6- minutes until cooked through.
- Add the minced garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for one more minute.
- Drain most of the grease from the pan, I like to keep at least 1-2 Tbsp in the pot to go into the soup since it adds a lot of flavor.
- Put the seasoned sausage mixture into a large crockpot, be sure to scape up the bits of sausage from the bottom of the pan you cooked it in and add those to the crockpot also.
- Add the chicken broth and can of diced tomatoes. Stir all ingredients together.
- Cook the tortellini soup crock pot recipe for 7-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.
- 30 minutes before the cooking time is done, add the tortellini, spinach, cream, and shredded parmesan to the pot. Turn the slow cooker to High and cook until the tortellini floats to the surface and the soup is heated throughout. Give the soup a stir before serving.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
STOVETOP
- Preheat a large pan or stockpot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot. Cook the hot or mild Italian sausage for 5 minutes. Add the chopped onion and saute for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the chicken broth and can of diced tomatoes.
- Simmer the ingredients on low for 10 minutes.
- Add the fresh or frozen tortellini, fresh baby spinach, shredded parmesan, and whipping cream, then continue cooking for 3 more minutes, or until the tortellini float to the top (which means it's done) and the spinach is wilted.
- Stir in fresh parmesan.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil.
Notes
- Try to find the small tortellini, it works better in the recipe. Some brands only carry the larger tortellini.
- Fresh or frozen tortellini works for the tortellini soup crock pot version or stovetop. Only use frozen for your IP.
- Most of the grease can be drained if you want to cut the fat in the soup (leave a little to help cook the onion/garlic)
- Hot Italian pork sausage, mild/sweet Italian pork sausage, or Italian chicken sausage all work well. Use either already ground sausage or remove sausage from the casing if you're using something like Johnsonville Italian sausage.
- The spinach is optional, chopped baby kale would be another option but might take longer to wilt than spinach.
- You can skip the whipping cream to make the soup a little lighter, just increase the chicken broth by 1 cup
- Serve with a Caesar salad and breadsticks
- Tortellini soup does not keep very well, pasta soup absorbs the liquid and expands overnight. Feel free to add more chicken broth the next day if much of the liquid was absorbed into the tortellini.
Donna says
This is absolutely delicious! Even picky husband likes it, so that’s saying something. Will def be making this again. I used the stovetop method, made exactly as recipe state.
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you for your feedback Donna! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Lisa says
I made this in my Instapot and it was delicious! I followed the recipe and added kale to it instead of collards or spinach. I only added a cup of kale mostly for color and texture because the soup is so delicious you really could skip it all together. I love onions so I used two onions instead of one. Over all I thought it was better than any Italian restaurant soup I have eaten over the years. My husband absolutely loved it!!!!
As far as warming up, I warmed my soup up in the microwave and didn’t add any broth or water. I thought it was better the second day! I took some to my parents and they were instant fans of this recipe. It was a lot of fun cooking the soup. Most of all, it was fulfilling to receive all the nice compliments and see the smiles on my families faces😀
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much for the kind review, Lisa, I’m so glad your family loved the recipe! It’s my kids’ favorite 🙂
Krista says
Can you use frozen ravioli instead of tortellini?
WholeLottaYum says
You could but they will be much larger than tortellini. The cook time “should” be the same.
Lexi says
Hey there ! I wasn’t supposed to drain the diced tomatoes was I ? I didn’t think I should so I added all the juices ! Is this correct ? Thank you ! 🙂
WholeLottaYum says
That is correct! Add all of the juice in the cans! 🙂
kira says
What are the nutrition facts for this soup?
Lauren says
Could you substitute ground beef for the sausage in the crock pot version?
Mel says
Hi Lauren, yes! You can definetly substitute the sausage for ground beef in the crock pot version. It might lessen the flavor slightly, since italian sausage is quite seasoned, but your soup should still be really good. Thanks!
Paige Bennett says
Omg. I was apprehensive at first because the recipe calls for 3 cans of petite diced tomatoes — a lot of tomatoes! But it is delicious!!! I used sweet sausage because my daughter doesn’t like spicy. And I forgot the chicken broth so I used bullion cubes and water instead. I am so excited to have a new soup to add to my recipe box… we’ll be making this for years
Katrina says
I didn’t have canned diced tomatoes so I dumped some regular tomato sauce in instead and it was great!! Whole family loved it. Thank you!!!
April says
Would I double the recipe ingredients to feed about 15 people
Jamie says
This is delicious! With the leftovers I did remove the tortellini from the soup and kept separate until reheating and it worked perfectly! 😋
WholeLottaYum says
Great tip, Jamie!
Theresa says
This was a great soup recipe. Since it is just the 2 of us, I halved most of the ingredients. It still made enough for probably 2-3 more meals. I made just one change in ingredients: substituted shallots for onion since my beloved can’t have onions. And I forgot to add the cream, but honestly we didn’t miss it. Will freeze the remainder for another time and add the spinach, tortellini and cheese for that pot. Easy Sunday dinner on top of stove, served with biscuits. Delish, it’s a keeper. Thank you!
WholeLottaYum says
We’re glad you loved it! We often make the tortellini soup without cream too just to lighten things up a bit 🙂
Marisa Brenny says
I made this for lunch today and WOW! Why didn’t I make this sooner?! So good. It feels decadent but it’s so easy to make. We did the instant pot version. I love it!
Margie says
How many carbs and much sodium? My husband is on a low carb low sodium diet..
Tyleen says
Have you every tried it with frozen spinach? Since all the other ingredients can be basic pantry and freezer staples, it looks like a great recipe for one of those days when you might not have pre planned and don’t have fresh ingredients handy.
WholeLottaYum says
I haven’t but I definitely think from spinach would work!