We love this quick and easy tortellini soup made with store-bought cheese-filled tortellini pasta, garlicky broth, and veggies. Make this soup in about 30 minutes!
Watch the Video
Related: This is our favorite chicken noodle soup.
How to Make Tortellini Soup
We love using tortellini (or something similar like small ravioli) when making soup since they cook quickly and are delicious. I usually buy cheese-filled pasta for this soup recipe, but you can use whatever you love. Consider spinach, sausage, chicken, and even vegan fillings. Most (if not all) are available in larger grocery stores here in the US. If you don’t have tortellini and only have pasta, use that! The base of the soup is still delicious. Or try one of our other pasta soups like this chicken noodle and this Italian wedding soup.
Making tortellini soup is simple.
We’ve shared the full, detailed recipe below, but here is a brief rundown of how to make it:
Cook chopped onions and carrots until they start to soften. Then, stir in lots of minced garlic, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and chopped zucchini.
We add these ingredients after cooking the onions and carrots for a bit since they need less time in the pan. Follow up with stock or broth — I use vegetable broth — and cook until the veggies are tender.
Stir in the tortellini and a generous amount of torn kale leaves, and then cook for a few minutes. You will know it is done when the kale has wilted down and the pasta is cooked.
Finish by seasoning to taste and, if you like creamy soups, add a splash of cream or non-dairy milk. I also love throwing in a handful of chopped fresh herbs if I have them in the kitchen. Fresh dill or parsley are both delicious in this soup.
And that’s it, simple, tasty tortellini soup. It’s the best!
Variations
Vegetarian Tortellini Soup: As written, this tortellini soup recipe is meatless, but to make it vegetarian, use vegetarian tortellini, a vegetable broth — either homemade or store-bought — and leave out the parmesan cheese. You could always substitute the parmesan for another vegetarian-friendly cheese like cheddar or fontina cheese.
Vegan Tortellini Soup: To make the soup vegan, use vegan tortellini (Kite Hill makes one that we like), leave the cheese out entirely, and use a vegetable broth. (You may also enjoy this homemade veggie soup — it’s vegan and delicious.)
Tortellini Soup with Sausage: You have two options for adding sausage to this easy soup. Use tortellini stuffed with sausage and brown half of a pound of Italian sausage in the pot before cooking the onions and carrots. When browned, transfer the sausage to a bowl and continue with the recipe as written. Stir in the browned sausage along with the tortellini and kale. (You may also enjoy this sausage potato soup!)
More Easy Soup Recipes
- Easy Homemade Vegetable Soup
- Our Favorite Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- The Best Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy Sausage and Potato Soup
Veggie Tortellini Soup
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We love this quick and easy tortellini soup made with store-bought cheese-filled tortellini pasta, garlicky broth, and veggies. I usually buy cheese-filled pasta for this soup recipe, but you can use whatever you love. Consider spinach, sausage, chicken, and even vegan fillings. Most (if not all) are available in larger grocery stores here in the US.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium zucchini, chopped
4 medium cloves garlic, minced, 1 heaping tablespoon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, omit if sensitive to spice
8 cups vegetable stock
8 to 10 ounce package cheese-filled tortellini
1 small bunch kale, thick stems removed and chopped
Splash milk or cream, dairy or non-dairy
Handful chopped fresh herbs like parsley or dill
Dash fish sauce, optional
Parmesan for serving, optional
Directions
1Heat the oil in a large pot like a Dutch oven over medium heat. Toss in the onions and carrots, and then cook, occasionally stirring them, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
2Stir in the zucchini, garlic, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes, and cook for one minute.
3Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the soup at a low simmer until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
4Stir in the tortellini and kale, and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Turn the heat to low and stir in the milk/cream (this makes the broth a little creamy, you can leave this out if you prefer the plain broth).
5Taste the soup, and then season with additional salt as needed. For an extra pop of flavor, add a few dashes of fish sauce (optional). Serve with chopped fresh herbs and grated parmesan cheese scattered on top (optional).
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- To make this soup vegan, look for vegan tortellini (Kite Hill makes one) and omit the cheese and fish sauce.
- Fish sauce is optional but adds a lovely flavor to sauces and soups like this tortellini soup. Two to three dashes season the soup nicely. Think of fish sauce as salt on steroids. It doesn’t make the soup taste fishy but does make the flavor pop.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. We did not include optional ingredients and assumed regular (not low-sodium) vegetable broth.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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This Tortellini Soup was fabulous! I made a few additions/changes…added mushrooms and rotisserie chicken, used chicken broth instead of veggie (didn’t have it on hand), spinach instead of kale. The addition of fish sauce was spectacular. Thank you for this delicious alternative to basic chicken soup. This will become a regular in our menu lineup.
Made this tonight. It is AMAZING as is. No changes! This soup is better than restaurant soup. In my 3rd bowl, i added julienned pepperoni just to see how it changed the flavor. I like it better without, but the flavor was complimentary.
Made this tonight. It is AMAZING as is. No changes! This soup is better than restaurant soup. In my 3rd bowl, i added julienned pepperoni just to see how it changed the flavor. I like it better without, but the flavor was complimentary. Compliment this dish with Italian Cooking Music on Pandora.