Making creamy tortellini soup with sausage and spinach is so easy and it will quickly become a favorite, just read the reviews! Filled with sausage, tomatoes, tortellini, and spinach, you get all the food groups in one savory bowl. You can make it creamy or make it without cream, depending on your mood.
We show you how to make our easy sausage tortellini soup in a Crock Pot, an Instant Pot, or on the stovetop too. It's a Whole Lotta Yum!
"This soup is so delicious! I usually have all the ingredients in my pantry. Even my soup hating husband loves this soup! A+!" ~ Stephanie
"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. I love it!"~ Marissa
This tortellini soup with sausage is honestly the best!
Not only is this our reader favorite soup, it's been our kids' favorite soup for over 10 years. It's super simple and only takes 15 minutes to put together.
You can make it creamy if you're looking for hearty richness or you can make it lighter by leaving the cream out. Both ways are delicious! We can almost guarantee this will become a new family favorite.
What you'll need
- olive oil (optional)- only needing oil to saute the sausage if you're pressure cooking the recipe
- onion
- garlic
- Italian seasoning
- chicken broth
- canned diced tomatoes - do not drain
- Italian sausage, hot or sweet/mild - we used mild, but the spicy sausage would be yummy too. or mix them together. Chicken Italian sausage is great too.
- frozen cheese tortellini (or fresh) - Our original family recipe uses frozen tortellini, it might be hard to find at some stores. It's ok the swap for fresh cheese tortellini but it'll take less time to cook and it doesn't work well for the IP version unless you add it in at the end.
- parmesan cheese, shredded
- heavy whipping cream (optional)- this is entirely optional depending on if you want a tomato broth version or a creamy version. Cream cheese would be yummy mixed in instead.
- fresh baby spinach - kale is another option
How to make crock pot tortellini soup
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the sausage and onion. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning, cook for 1 more minute.
- Drain all but 1 tablespoon of grease.
- Add the cooked sausage to the Crock-Pot, along with the tablespoon of grease. Mix in the broth and canned tomatoes.
- Cook the sausage tortellini soup crock pot recipe for 7-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.
- 30 minutes before the recipe is done, add the tortellini, fresh spinach, cream (optional), 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.
- Garnish the tortellini soup with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy!
Jenni's notes
- Small tortellini work best instead of the larger tortellini.
- Use fresh or frozen tortellini for the crock pot or stovetop versions. Frozen tortellini works best for a pressure cooker.
- Tortellini soup does not keep very well, pasta soup absorbs the liquid and expands overnight. Feel free to add more broth the next day if needed.
- The Instant Pot and stovetop instructions are down in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
More soup recipes
Recipe
Creamy Sausage Tortellini Soup (Crock Pot)
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 7 cup chicken broth
- 28 oz can + 14 oz can of diced tomatoes undrained
- 1 lb uncooked Italian sausage mild or spicy
- 10 oz small frozen cheese tortellini or fresh
- ยฝ cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- ยพ cup heavy whipping cream optional
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Tortellini Soup (Crock Pot)
- Preheat a large pan or stockpot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot. Cook the mild or hot Italian sausage and chopped onion 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 tablespoon 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 scrape 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 a can of diced tomatoes. Stir all ingredients together.
- Cook the tortellini soup crock pot recipe for 4-5 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low.
- Add the tortellini, parmesan cheese, and fresh spinach, plus the cream if you're using it. Heat until the tortellini is cooked through.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy!
Instant Pot
- Turn your pressure cooker to Saute and heat your pot.
- Saute the sausage in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 5 mins, you can drain the sausage after cooking, but be sure to leave at least 1 tablespoon 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 ยฝ cup of the chicken broth to the instant pot to help scrape up the brown sausage bits from the bottom of the pot. Press Cancel to turn off the Saute function.
- Add the remaining chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and 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 ยพ 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.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes, more parmesan, and/or fresh basil. Enjoy!
Stovetop
- 1. Preheat a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot. Cook the sausage for 5 minutes, add the chopped onion, and saute the mixture for 5 more minutes. Add the minced garlic and Italian seasoning, and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add the chicken broth and tomatoes, then turn the heat up to high to bring it to a boil. Once hot, turn the pot down to medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tortellini, spinach, shredded parmesan, and cream if you're using it. Cook just until the tortellini are cooked through and the spinach is wilted, for 3+ depending on whether you're using fresh or frozen tortellini. Garnish and enjoy!
Notes
- Try to find the small tortellini, it works better in the recipe. Some brands only carry the larger tortellini.
- We don't recommend fresh tortellini for the Instant Pot version, it'll cook to fast and get soggy. If you only have fresh for your IP, stir it in at the end until cooked through.
- 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.
- 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.
Nutrition
Cathey says
Can you freeze it and reheat for later?
WholeLottaYum says
If you freeze it for later, I wouldn't add the tortellini as it will expand. I'd freeze everything else and then add the pasta when you go to cook it.
Donna says
This is absolutely delicious! Even picky husband likes it, so thatโs 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 didnโt 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 faces๐
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 ๐
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 wasnโt supposed to drain the diced tomatoes was I ? I didnโt think I should so I added all the juices ! Is this correct ? Thank you ! ๐
WholeLottaYum says
That is correct! Add all of the juice in the cans! ๐
kira says
What are the nutrition facts for this soup?
Allison says
As a type one diabetic who just made this also wondering..
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 โ a lot of tomatoes! But it is delicious!!! I used sweet sausage because my daughter doesnโt 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... weโll be making this for years
Katrina says
I didnโt 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! ๐
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 canโt have onions. And I forgot to add the cream, but honestly we didnโt 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, itโs 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 ๐
Marisa Brenny says
I made this for lunch today and WOW! Why didnโt I make this sooner?! So good. It feels decadent but itโs 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 donโt have fresh ingredients handy.
WholeLottaYum says
I haven't but I definitely think from spinach would work!