This Tortellini Soup with Spinach and Sausage is such a comforting and quick weeknight dinner. Now that school and afterschool activities are back in session, I need a way to make quick dinners when we get back home in the evenings. This soup is just so perfect for that!!! Plus it’s a hit with my kids:).
My kids love pasta dinners and I cook a fair share of those. But sometimes I want to feel like that despite cooking something quick, I’m still feeding them a nutritious, filling & healthy dinner.
And there’s where this tortellini soup comes in. It has cheese tortellini in it which makes my kids happy, but it also has lots of spinach in which makes me happy:)).
I have plenty of recipes where I try to hide spinach in like these Penne Pasta Bake, or this Sausage, Pasta with Spinach and Mushrooms or this Mediterranean Frittata etc etc.
Ingredients for Tortellini Soup
There are some ingredients like onions, garlic, carrots, celery and spinach that I always add to my grocery list even when I don’t have a clear plan what I’m going to cook during the week. I also try to always make chicken stock and refrigerate some or during the summer months, I’d buy chicken stock and store in the pantry.
- Cheese Tortellini – I used a package of refrigerated cheese tortellini from my grocery store, about 12 ounces.
- Spinach – about 2 cups of fresh spinach or around 4 ounces.
- Sausage – feel free to use whichever sausage you prefer, this time I used Beef Sausage.
- Yellow Onion – 1 medium size yellow onion.
- Carrots – I had carrots sticks which proved so useful, because they’re easy to dice. Lots less prep involved when you use sticks.
- Celery – 1 long celery stalk or 2 shorter celery sticks.
- Olive oil – 2 tbsps to start with but you can increase slightly more later if needed.
- Chicken stock – I always keep some chicken stock frozen or in the refrigerator when I make it every week. But there’s nothing wrong in using store bought either
- Seasonings – sea salt, black pepper, thyme, oregano and pinch of crushed red pepper.
Let’s Cook Some Soup!
I don’t want to make this soup too complicated for you, I think the pictures below make it a lot easier to understand the order of cooking.
- Saute onions, garlic in olive oil.
- When onions are transluscent, add carrots and celery. Keep sauteing until all veggies are soft.
- Add slices of sausage and keep mixing with a wooden spoon to brown the sausage lightly.
- Add chicken stock, seasonings, mix and when it boils lower heat to medium low. Add tortellini.
- At about 10 minutes in, add spinach, let it welt, mix and turn heat off! Check for taste and adjust accordingly.
- Optional – when you serve you can add shaved parmesan and freshly ground black pepper to each individual soup bowl.
Tortellini Soup with Spinach and Sausage
Equipment
- 1 Large Soup Pot or Dutch Oven
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 1 chopping board
- 1 Kitchen Knife
Ingredients
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 carrots or about 8 carrot sticks
- 1 celery stalk or about 2 celery sticks
- 12 ozs sausage, sliced I used beef sausage for this recipe but feel free to pick your favorite
- 12 ozs tortellini I used fresh cheese tortellini
- 4 cups chicken stock
- sea salt & black pepper to taste add to your taste
- 0.5 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp oregano
- pinch crushed red pepper
- 4 ozs spinach
- 1 cup water or more for a thinner soup
Instructions
- Place soup pot over the stovetop, medium heat. Add olive oil. When oil is shimmery, add finely diced onion and minced garlic to the pot. Use a wooden spoon to stir as onions/garlic cook.
- When onion look translucent, add diced carrots and celery to the pot. Continue sauteing all the veggies together. Add sliced sausage and cook together, stirring often to allow enough movement for the sausage to cook and the veggies not to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- When sausage is cooked, then add chicken stock, water, and tortellini. Stir once to incorporate and then start adding the seasonings. Add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Then add dry thyme and oregano as well as a pinch of crushed red pepper. Mix well and lower heat to medium-low.
- At about 10 minute mark, when tortellinis have thoroughly cooked, add spinach to the pot and let it wilt. Mix well and turn heat off. Serve on soup bowls and enjoy with some warm bread or baguette!
Notes
- I used beef sausage for this recipe, sliced into thin round pieces. However, you can use ground sausage without the casing too. In that case, brown the sausage and break it apart with a spoon as it cooks before you add the chicken stock and tortellini in the pot.
- Optional – if you like parmesan cheese, you can add some shaved parmesan cheese over each soup bowl as you’re serving the soup.
- Leftovers store well in the refrigerator for few days. Warm them up in microwave or stovetop.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
Yes you can use your favorite pasta to make this soup. Adjust chicken stock and water accordingly!
Tortellinis might break up but the soup overall holds really well taste wise. If you want the soup to look as pretty the 2nd night as it did the 1st, then cook the whole pot without the tortellini. Store the soup in the refrigerator and then add tortellini as you are warming it up and let cook for as much time as package instructs. That way you cook the tortellini fresh but the soup is ready from before.
If you would like to save this recipe for later, feel free to pin one of the pictures from this post to your boards in Pinterest so you can easily retrieve the recipe in the future. I love to hear from my readers on anything you do different, ingredients you swap out or your own version of this recipe:). Thank you for reading my blog!!
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