It’s funny that I’m calling this Sausage and Tortellini Soup when the motivation behind making it was all the vegetables that I packed into the pot. I was craving vegetables but didn’t feel like a salad, so I decided to whip up a big pot of veggi-licious soup. Last-minute I decided to add some Italian sausage and pasta to make it a more filling meal, and what do you know, the add-ins became the star of the show. :P
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Alternatives to Tortellini
I had originally intended to use orzo for the pasta, but found some really inexpensive tortellini at Aldi and scooped that up instead. The cheese-filled tortellini made the soup quite filling and added a good amount of flavor and texture variety. If you can’t find affordable tortellini, you can use just about any pasta shape. If using orzo like I had planned, I’d probably add about 1/2 cup. For larger pasta shapes, I’d probably use about 1/4 pound so that it doesn’t overtake the soup.
Make it Vegetarian
If you want to skip the sausage and make this soup vegetarian, I’d suggest grabbing some Italian seasoning blend and adding a healthy dose of that to make up for the herbs and spices that are in the sausage, which go a long way toward flavoring the entire pot. You may also want to add an extra tablespoon or so of olive oil for richness.
Sausage and Tortellini Soup
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 1/2 lb. Italian sausage ($1.75)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.28)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1/2 lb. carrots (about 3-4) ($0.45)
- 1 15oz. can stewed tomatoes* ($0.49)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.03)
- 3 cups vegetable broth ($0.39)
- 3 cups water ($0.0)
- 8 oz. cheese tortellini ($1.49)
- 1/4 lb. fresh spinach ($.75)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and sausage to a large soup pot (if your sausage is in casings, squeeze it out of the casing). Sauté the sausage over medium heat, breaking it up into pieces as you stir, until it is browned and cooked through.
- While the sausage is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and continue to sauté until the onions are soft and transparent.
- While the onions are sautéing, peel and slice the carrots. Add the carrots to the pot and sauté for just a few minutes more.
- Finally, add the stewed tomatoes (with all the juices from the can), basil, oregano, and some freshly cracked pepper. Use your spoon to break the tomatoes into smaller pieces.
- Add the vegetable broth and water to the pot. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and bring it up to a rolling boil. Once boiling, add the tortellini, and continue to boil until the tortellini is tender (about 8 minutes).
- Turn the heat off, add the spinach, and stir until the spinach has wilted. Taste the soup and add salt if needed (I did not add any, but it will depend on the salt content of the broth you use).
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Sausage and Tortellini Soup – Step by Step Photos
I used about 1/2 lb. of Italian sausage for this soup and froze the rest. You can use mild, sweet, or hot Italian sausage. If you get sausage in the casing like I did, squeeze it out of the casing into the pot.
Add the sausage to a large soup pot along with 1 Tbsp olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the sausage is browned and cooked through.
While the sausage is browning, dice an onion and mince two cloves of garlic. Add them to the soup pot and continue to sauté until the onion are soft and transparent. While the onion and garlic are sautéing, peel and slice about 1/2 lb. carrots (3-4 carrots). Add them to the soup pot and continue to sauté for a few minutes more.
Add one 15oz. can of stewed tomatoes, with all their juices. Stewed tomatoes are cooked with herbs and spices and have a decidedly sweet flavor, which makes this soup’s broth super delicious. The tomato pieces tend to be large, so you’ll want to break them up with your spoon.
Add 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, and some freshly cracked pepper. You can see here how the tomatoes have been broken up into smaller pieces. The stewed tomatoes should be quite tender and you can just squash them with the spoon until they break up.
Add 3 cups vegetable broth and 3 cups water to the pot. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and bring it up to a boil.
This is the package of tortellini I used. When looking for tortellini at the store, you can usually find it in a few places: dried tortellini will be with past in the pasta aisle, fresh tortellini will be in the refrigerated section near cheeses, and often you can find frozen tortelloni near the frozen bread and ravioli.
Drop the tortellini into the boiling soup and boil until the tortellini is tender. Note: Fresh tortellini cooks very quickly compared to dried, so check the package for guidance.
Finally, turn the heat off and add 1/4 lb. fresh baby spinach and stir it into the hot soup until wilted. Taste the soup and add salt if needed. I had an 8oz. bag of fresh spinach and just estimated half of the bag.
And that’s it! A huge pot of super delish Sausage and Tortellini Soup for under $10! You can definitely freeze the leftovers of this, too.
Great flavor, and pretty too! I used a bit more sausage and pressure cooked the soup. I topped off with grated Parmesan, and had some crusty bread on the side. I’ll be making this one again!
My boyfriend is very indifferent to anything I make. I’ve been cooking for him for the last 7 years and this is probably the most notable recipe in his eyes! He RAVES about this recipe, and he is not a fan of spinach or carrots! Our two daughters love it as well (:
Definitely a favorite in our house.
This is the 3rd soup I’ve tried and I must say, this website is so AWESOME!!! My cooking skills have gone up exponentially by using your recipes! So grateful!!!
The flavor of this soup was amazing! I’ve never made a recipe from BB that I haven’t loved (and repeated). The only change that I made was that I added a can of cannellini beans juice and all. I’m so excited for soup leftovers for dinner tonight! Thanks, Beth, for once again making my tummy and my wallet happy! :)
So delicious! Just absolutely amazing. I used two cups of vegetable broth, two of chicken broth, and two water, but everything else I kept the same. This soup is so tasty and well worth the prep. Thanks for this one.
Omg SO DELICIOUS. Phenomenal recipe. I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, and bought stewed tomatoes that were already seasoned with basil and oregano, so that cut a few steps down. My husband and I devoured it! Will be making again and again.
My friend made this a few months ago and I loved it even more than my usual sausage soup recipe. I made it for my family, and everyone loved it! We couldn’t use tortelloni because of a dairy allergy, but we use egg noodles or farfalle. It is incredible!
Absolutely delicious! My 3-year old AND my 1.5-year old gobbled up the carrots, the tomatoes, the sausage, and the pasta (of course)! Definitely keeping this on rotation here at our household!
Could this be done in a crockpot? Cooking while I’m at work is my new M.O.
Another winning recipe from Beth! I’ve been cooking from your blog since ~2010 and you haven’t failed me yet. I made a huge batch of this the other night. Used chicken broth instead of vegetable bc that’s what I had, and it turned out DELICIOUS. Seriously good. It’ll go on our regular winter stew rotation!
I made this in my Instant Pot by browning the sausage and onions together then adding everything else, (but only using two cups of water rather than three) and did the manual setting for one minute. Quick release, and holy moly it was amazing and so so fast! Thanks Beth!
Love it..added some parm to mine..great with crushing bread
This was great! Was worried at first after adding the sausage and veggies that there was way too much broth, but it thickens up quite a bit with the tortellini and spinach!
Thanks for this recipe!
Going to try this today! It is snowing and windy and 18 degrees! Perfect day for soup!
How big is that pot you are using???
5 quart