Hearty Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup

Name: Hearty Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 lb. ground sausage; 1 medium onion; diced; 3 garlic cloves; minced (or 1 t. garlic powder); 4 – 5 c. broth or water; 15 oz. can tomato sauce; 4 carrots; peeled and chopped; 1 green pepper; chopped; 15 oz. can sliced mushrooms (fresh work too); 28 oz. can diced tomatoes; 1 T. white sugar; 1 T. parsley; 1 T. basil; 1 T. oregano; 19 oz. package frozen cheese tortellini; Parmesan cheese

February 21, 2012

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On cool fall evenings and cozy winter weekends, it’s not uncommon for the smells of simmering soup and freshly baked bread to waft from my kitchen.

Surprisingly, we also eat a fair amount of soup in the spring and summer months too — but I guess that’s just because we love soup! Or… maybe it’s because I love making soup.

Soups and stews are filling and frugal meals as I often use up leftover bits of veggies, potatoes, and meat from my refrigerator… and I always add a little extra bone broth to stretch the meal even further!

Most soups taste amazing as leftovers later in the week… and, in my experience, they almost all freeze well too. Seriously, what’s not to love about soup!?!

This soup is one of our favorites:

I first tried this recipe for Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup just a year or two into marriage, when I was asked to bring a few different soups to a potluck lunch at Dave’s school.

I wanted to bring something a little different, but still really hearty and delicious. And of course, I wanted to impress his fellow staff members as he was one of the newest teachers at the time!

Thankfully, this recipe was a huge hit and my pot was practically licked clean!

This soup is now a staple in our fall and winter meal plans. It stores well in the fridge for leftovers, it freezes wonderfully, it’s a complete meal all by itself, and best of all, everyone devours it!

I love the idea of using stuffed pasta in a soup as I feel it makes the recipe more filling, and the sausage is a nice change from chicken or beef.

Ingredients for Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup:

1 lb. ground sausage
1 medium onion; diced
3 garlic cloves; minced (or 1 t. garlic powder)
4 – 5 c. broth or water
15 oz. can tomato sauce
4 carrots; peeled and chopped
1 green pepper; chopped
15 oz. can sliced mushrooms (fresh work too)
28 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used 1 quart of my home-canned tomatoes)
1 T. white sugar
1 T. parsley
1 T. basil
1 T. oregano
19 oz. package frozen tortellini {I used cheese, but beef would be good too}
Parmesan cheese

Ingredient Substitutions:

I’m always a fan of “making recipes work” for whatever I have in the house — so if you don’t have all the ingredients listed above, here are a few swaps you might consider…

Swap the ground sausage for ground beef, or whatever other meat you have in the house (the sausage does give a great flavor… but I’m sure other meats would taste yummy too)
Toss in a variety of veggies you want to use up
Mix up the spices — I used Italian spices since I was using Italian sausage, but feel free to use whatever you have in the house (or whatever your family prefers)
Use whatever pasta you have in the house (the stuffed pasta is amazingly delicious, but in a pinch, any type of starchy noodle will work)
Add more or less broth/water depending on how thick you like your soup.

Soups and stews are never an exact science (probably another reason I enjoy making them so much). Just throw in a little of this and a little of that… taste it and adjust accordingly!

How to make this soup:

1. In a large stock pot, cook sausage, onions, and garlic until the meat is no longer pink.

2. Drain and return mixture to pot.

3. Add in all the rest of the ingredients (except the tortellini) and bring to a low boil.

4. Simmer until veggies are tender — about 15 minutes.

5. Add frozen tortellini and simmer until it is cooked through (another 10 minutes).

6. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

This soup only takes about 10 minutes of prep work and then 30 minutes of cooking/simmering — which means you can easily have dinner on the table in about 45 minutes!

Or you could make this the night before and simply reheat it when you get home at night.

You can also keep this soup warm in a slow cooker for several hours — it’s just so easy!

Yield: 8 servings