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This creamy one-pot tortellini with sausage is a delicious meal that whips up in less than 30 minutes. The seasonings in the sauce make it so flavorful!
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This one-pot tortellini is a great meal for when you are in a hurry and need to get dinner on the table quickly! Especially this time of year when the kids are back in school, I find myself always falling back on these types of dishes. This cooks up in less than 30 minutes and has everything you need in one pot. If you love one-pot meals, try my other favorite one-pot meal: Teriyaki Chicken Bowls.
You can be as creative as you need with this dish. I love the creaminess of the sauce. If you want to make it even cheesier, sprinkle some mozzarella over the top right before serving. If you are watching your calories, use fat-free cream cheese. There is so much flavor already in the dish, you will hardly be able to tell you used the fat-free. And since you can load it up with different veggies, it’s a great way to get some of those vitamins and minerals into your kids’ bodies (and yours!) without really noticing.
Tortellini with Sausage Ingredients
Get ready to indulge in the best one-pot meal ever! It is filled with pasta, veggies, and the best sausage combination! It has a tremendous amount of flavor and the best part is, it is all cooked in one pot! Easy to make and easy to clean up!
- Oil – Heat your oil in a pan before adding in sausage to saute. Use either vegetable, canola, or olive oil.
- Smoked sausage – Cut and slice the kielbasa into even pieces. This will ensure that the Italian sausage cooks together at the same time.
- Garlic – We love garlic and the flavor enhancers that it brings to a dish. This weeknight meal needs a touch of garlic to make it perfect!
- Broccoli florets – You can use just broccoli as the vegetable in this dish, or you can use a “garden mix” of veggies that includes broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. We have also used squash, zucchini, onions, and peppers before.
- Tortellini – Pasta is a bonus to this family-friendly main dish! It is a lighter, fuller pasta that has a soft texture when biting into it. Plus the cheese inside leaves you feeling comforted and whole.
- Tomatoes – Slice and chop your tomatoes into small pieces.
- Tomato sauce – Added to the pan for flavor and a creamy tomato sauce flavor.
- Chicken broth – More liquid will simmer together giving flavor to the red sauce being created.
- Basil – You have to have seasonings and herbs thrown into this beautiful Italian dish! Fresh basil is a delicious flavor that blends the ingredients.
- Oregano – A savory and sweet seasoning that helps boost and balance the flavors together in this one-pot meal.
- Parmesan cheese – This is the parmesan cheese that comes in a tube-like bottle with a green lid. It is a powder substance of grated cheese. Parmesan cheese will thicken giving a delicious flavor to the sauce.
- Cream cheese –Gives thickness to the creamy sauce and flavor.
How to Make Creamy One-Pot Tortellini with Sausage
Make this one-pot meal in no time! It is fresh and delicious with an assortment of flavors. It is every mom’s dream of a one pot, easy to make, and versatile. If you want to add onions and/or peppers, just saute them up with the sausage and add a little extra oil. We have done this and added a little Cajun seasoning and all I can say is, oh my!
- Saute – Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and saute until brown and slightly crispy on each side. Add garlic and saute for another minute.
- Cook – Add broccoli, tortellini, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, basil, and oregano.
- Simmer – Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer for appx. 7-8 minutes or until broccoli is cooked through.
- Combine – Add Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, and salt and pepper to taste, and stir until well combined.
- Low heat – When the cream cheese has melted in, heat on LOW for another 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately.
“Just made this tonight for my family and it was a hit! I served it with Cheddar biscuits, it was the perfect compliment. Thanks for the recipe!”
-Brittany
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, but only for a minute or two. Tortellini is already soft and can become mushy if overcooked. You will want to cook it al dente. This will prevent the tortellini from becoming mushy or soggy.
If the tortellini is frozen you do not need to thaw it ahead of time unless you have time to do so. Frozen tortellini will take a bit longer to cook compared to fresh or thawed tortellini.
It depends on the type of tortellini you have. Most tortellini has a cheese-filled inside but not all of them. The cheese is usually ricotta cheese. Some have even meats or vegetables inside them too.
Make a Complete Meal
The pairing of soup with salad always seems to make sense for a complete meal. So if you’re looking for a great salad to put on the side of this delicious soup, try one of these.
Creamy One-Pot Tortellini
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 pound smoked sausage sliced (I used a tasty smoked chicken sausage from Costco)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cup broccoli florets frozen broccoli works great
- 1/2 bag frozen tortellini appx 10 ounces
- 1 petite diced tomatoes 14-15oz can (do not drain)
- 1 can tomato sauce 8 ounces
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 Tablespoon basil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and saute until brown and slightly crispy on each side. Add garlic and saute another minute.
- Add broccoli, tortellini, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, basil and oregano.
- Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer for appx. 7-8 minutes or until broccoli is cooked through.
- Add Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, and salt and pepper to taste, stir until well combined.
- When cream cheese has melted in, heat on LOW for another 3-5 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Excellent! Very good tips about not overlooking! The 2nd time I made it, I added leftover yellow peppers and sliced mushrooms to the vegetable mix. Easy, quick all-in-one meal!
Yum! I love the idea of yellow peppers and mushrooms. Delicious additions! Thanks for sharing!
I made this recipe with a couple improvisions. I increased the broth by 8 ounces and skipped the tomato sauce. I used diced and onion canned tomatoes I used jalapeño chicken sausage and doubled the broccoli. My husband LOVED this. I will make it often and made changes based on what I have on hand. The sausage will dictate the end result. I love a quick, one pan dish that hubby loves. I will make this again.
Made this tonight, had to use chive and onion cream cheese, used a can of tomato soup instead of sauce cuz that’s what I had, was absolutely delicious!
Will be making again, & again!
Thanks!
Can I use herb & garlic cream cheese?
I haven’t tried it that way but it sounds yummy!
I just made this tonight and that was the only cream cheese I had, it turned out fabulous!!!!
Go for it!
So good and easy! It was a great way to use up left over vegetables!
Super easy and flavorful. This recipe is a keeper!
This is my go to for an easy yummy dinner, I like using fresh basil instead of the dried. 🙂
Thanks, I love the fresh basil idea! I’m going to try that next time! Yum!
I’m using buitoni tortellini that I just bought that is in the fridge, I didn’t freeze it. Do I need to boil it first or can I just throw it in towards the end so it heats up?
You just throw it in at the end so it heats through. You don’t want to overcook it. Thanks for asking!
Do you use the shredded Parmesan cheese that is in a shaker, or freshly shredded whole Parmesan cheese? Thanks!
I used the kind in the shaker, but you can use fresh if you would like!
Just made this tonight for my family and it was a hit! I served it with Cheddar biscuits, it was the perfect compliment. Thanks for the recipe!
You are welcome, I’m so glad you liked it!
Do you happen to have nutrition facts on this? TIA!
Sorry, most of our recipes do not have the nutritional information. You should easily be able to find it putting it in a nutrition calculator like liveStrong.com
So if you use frozen tortellini add it when adding broc or boil it then add…Just wanting to verify
You just add it in– you don’t need to boil it first. 🙂 Hope this helps!
I can’t afford using all that cream cheese – too expensive. Have you used any other alternatives? e.g., some cream of celery/broccoli soup? Or even just broth?
I haven’t tried it with any substitutions like that– it would probably be ok with just diced tomatoes. It wouldn’t be creamy but it would probably still taste good!
My husband does not like cream cheese so I used 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and increased the chicken broth to one cup instead. It was delicious but more like a soup than creamy.
How would you do the uncooked tortellini, boil it then add it at the same time as the broccoli?
I would probably boil it and then just stir it in at the end with the cream cheese so it doesn’t get over-done
Can I use crushed tomatoes, I really don’t eat tomatoes, but use the crushed ones instead. Would this ruin the recipe? Other than that, the recipe sounds wonderful.
Crushed tomatoes would be fine. 🙂 It am sure it will still turn out pretty much the same– you just won’t have chunks of tomatoes
Are the herbs fresh or dried?
They are dried– you can use fresh but use at least double the amount 🙂
Looks yummy! When do you add the tortellini?
You add it with the broccoli… I will fix that on the recipe 😉
Do you add in the tortellini frozen? Or has it been par-boiled before adding?
I just add it in frozen!