The BEST tortellini soup recipe! With cheese tortellini, Italian sausage, kale, and creamy butter beans. Ready in 30 minutes.
This soup and I are having a MOMENT.
We first published this brothy tortellini soup recipe in 2019, and it's still one of my most-made weeknight dinners. It's ready in about half an hour thanks to some frozen tortellini, and it's easy to customize.
A dash of fish sauce at the very end of cooking adds a ton of flavor to this recipe. Serve this sausage soup with a hunk of our favorite homemade crusty bread for the ultimate warm-and-cozy dinner.
(PS - Don't just take my word for it: We were honored to have this recipe featured on The Drew Barrymore show!)
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Love this recipe? Try our brothy weeknight butter beans next →
Ingredients
Find a full ingredients list with exact quantities in the recipe card below.
- Cheese tortellini. Our favorite frozen tortellini cooks in just a minute or two, while the fresh and shelf-stable/dried varieties we tested tended to take a few extra minutes.
- Spicy Italian sausage. Grab loose Italian pork sausage (without casings) if you can; otherwise, use a sharp knife to remove the casings from Italian sausage links to remove the meat inside. Use a turkey or chicken sausage if you prefer.
- Butter beans have a buttery, creamy texture that's perfect in this soup. Swap them for cannellini beans or great northern beans if needed.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use gnocchi, ravioli, or your favorite pasta in place of the tortellini (you may need to adjust the cook time). This soup is also great with zucchini noodles in place of tortellini.
- Add extra spices (red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, thyme) if you like.
- Use meal prep shredded chicken in place of the sausage, or omit the meat altogether for a vegetarian option (sauté the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil if you go this route!)
- Use fresh spinach in place of kale.
- Add extra veggies like diced or shredded carrots, diced tomatoes, celery, cauliflower, corn, or broccoli.
Instructions
Cook the Italian sausage in a large pot, breaking the sausage up into small pieces as it cooks. Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked sausage from the pot and set it aside, leaving any rendered fat behind.
Add onion and garlic to the pot with the sausage drippings, and cook until onion is translucent.
Deglaze the pot by slowly stirring in chicken broth. Return cooked Italian sausage to the pot, along with a splash of lemon juice.
Bring the soup to a simmer, then add kale, drained butter beans, and tortellini. Cook, stirring frequently, for just a few minutes more until the tortellini is cooked through. Stir in the fish sauce, taste and add seasonings as necessary, then serve.
Storage
Let leftover soup cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat leftovers in a small saucepan or deep skillet over medium heat on the stovetop, until soup is warmed through.
FAQs
Yes. Add a splash of heavy cream or cauliflower purée towards the end of cooking to thicken this Italian sausage tortellini soup up, or make a flour roux after you sauté the garlic and onion (like we do in our smoked salmon corn chowder).
Fish sauce adds important umami and complexity to the final soup: It's a key ingredient that makes a big difference in helping the flavors "pop", so we don't recommend skipping it! If you don't have fish sauce on hand or your preference is not to use it, you can swap it for another umami-forward sauce like soy sauce or Worcestershire with similar results.
🎥 Step by step video
📖 Recipe
Tortellini Soup with Sausage and Kale
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: American
Description
The BEST tortellini soup recipe! Ready in 30 minutes with kale, white beans, and Italian sausage.
Ingredients
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, removed from casings
- ½ large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 heaping cups cheese tortellini (fresh or frozen - see recipe notes)
- 3 heaping cups roughly chopped kale
- 1 (15.5 ounce) can white beans or butter beans, drained
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
Instructions
- Place a large pot on a burner over medium-high heat. Add Italian sausage and cook, stirring frequently to break up any large pieces, for 7-10 minutes or until cooked through.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked sausage from the pot, leaving behind any fat that has released (you'll use it to cook the onion in the next step!) Transfer cooked sausage to a bowl and set aside.
- Add onion and garlic to pot. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.
- Add stock to pot a little at a time to deglaze, using a spoon or spatula to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot (we want to soak up all that flavor!)
- Return cooked Italian sausage to pot. Add lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Stir to combine.
- Bring soup to a simmer.
- When soup has reached a low simmer, add tortellini, kale, and white beans. Stir to combine and simmer an additional few minutes until tortellini is cooked through.
- Add the fish sauce, taste, and add salt as necessary. Serve immediately.
Notes
A few notes on tortellini. We tested this recipe with a few different varieties of tortellini - they all taste great, but different store-bought brands may vary in their cook time! Our favorite frozen tortellini cooks in just a minute or two, while the fresh and shelf-stable/dried varieties we tested tended to take a few extra minutes. For that reason, I generally recommend frozen tortellini in this recipe (but use whatever you have on hand!) The tortellini will continue to cook in the hot soup, so feel free to turn off the soup a few minutes early! Don't be afraid to taste-test a tortellini if you're not sure whether it's cooked through yet.
Substitutions. Use gnocchi, ravioli, or your favorite pasta in place of the tortellini if you like (you may need to adjust the cook time, so just keep an eye on it!) or leave the pasta out entirely for a lighter option (it's still delicious!) This soup is also great with zucchini noodles in place of tortellini! Running low on chicken or veggie stock? Substitute ½ cup water and let the soup simmer a few extra minutes to build more flavor. Use meal prep shredded chicken in place of the sausage, or omit the meat altogether for a vegetarian option (use 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to sauté the onions and garlic if you go this route!) Use fresh spinach in place of kale if you like.
To make this soup vegan, omit the Italian sausage and instead cook the onion and garlic in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Use your favorite vegan pasta in lieu of the tortellini and be sure to use a good vegetable stock in place of chicken stock.
Additions. Add a parmesan rind to this soup while it simmers for an extra flavor boost, or top with grated parmesan cheese as you serve. Add extra beans (we love white beans or butter beans!) For a thicker, creamier soup, stir in ⅓ cup heavy cream or ½ cup of our Magic Cauliflower cream. This soup is very forgiving - don't be afraid to play around with it!
Ingredients & Equipment. If you don't already have a bottle of fish sauce in your fridge or pantry, it's worth picking one up for this recipe! A dash of fish sauce adds SO much flavor to savory dishes, and it really helps this soup pop. We love the size and texture of large butter beans in this tortellini soup. Cannellini beans or Great Northern Beans are also tasty!
About the fish sauce: You can absolutely leave fish sauce out of this recipe if you like, but it really does help the whole soup pop! If you leave the fish sauce out, be sure to taste the soup before serving to check seasonings - add an extra dash of lemon juice or a teaspoon of soy sauce in place of the fish sauce if you'd like to build a bit more flavor!
Serve this tortellini soup with some homemade crusty bread or biscuits (we love our herb biscuits, pumpkin biscuits, or gruyere biscuits!)
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 266
- Sugar: 5.1 g
- Sodium: 931.3 mg
- Fat: 10.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 33 g
- Protein: 11.7 g
- Cholesterol: 30.7 mg
Lisa
Really Yummie!! I saw your recipe on the Drew Barrymore show. I forgot to add the fish sauce at the end, but it still turned out well! Just a heads up, your instructions left off the fish sauce. I only remembered Bc of the video. Anyways thought to share that catch. Thanks again for the recipe!! It will be a repeat in our house. ❤️
Team Life As A Strawberry
We're SO happy you loved it, Lisa!
Jack Coryell
Three comments on this recipe:
I used sausage that did not have casings. That was fine but I also used hot instead of mild sausage. Bad idea. Probably could have gotten 4 stars and this was my fault. I also drained most of the grease off.
I did not see how many servings and what size this makes. Since it was for 4 adults and 2 children I doubled the recipe as 1 qt. of broth did not seem like much. I think there would have been enough.
I didn't have fish sauce and was pretty sure I would hate it but I bought it anyway. Tried the broth without it. and decided it needed something. I added 1tsp (doubled recipe) fish sauce and the difference was amazing. It was now edible. 1 tsp in a full 6 qt. pot incredible!
Team Life As A Strawberry
Thanks for trying the recipe, Jack! And yes, fish sauce is a strong but mighty ingredient for this soup!
Isabelle Leventhal
Love this soup! The fish sauce and lemon add a nice brightness to the broth. The soup has become a go to cold remedy in my house. Sometimes we replace tortellini with other pasta we need to get rid of but it doesn’t change too much.
tbc345
I used mild Italian sausage. it came out yummy!
Alisha Gaines
It really is the best! Hearty and so flavorful. Subbed with Beyond Meat hot sausage, and it worked well!
Jackie @ Life As A Strawberry
Great!