With cheese tortellini, white beans, and greens in a simple yet flavorful broth, this quick and easy tortellini soup makes for a delicious weeknight meal that you can have on the table in no time.
I am kind of weird about soup. I really do enjoy a good bowl of soup when it’s cold out, but I am kind of particular about brothy soups.
I’ll never turn down a bowl of broccoli cheese soup, for example. But a bowl of chicken noodle? Eh. I could take it or leave it.
The two exceptions to this are if it is an Asian-style soup, such as ramen or pho, or if the soup has dumplings in it.
Don’t ask too many questions here, I don’t have reasonable answers. All I know is that if you put a bowl of this tortellini soup in front of me, I’ll happily eat it. Somehow it falls in the “yes” column of my weird soup rules.
And I’m not mad about it, since this quick and easy tortellini soup can be thrown together in less than 30 minutes for the perfect weeknight dinner.
Why you’ll love this easy tortellini soup
Here’s what we’re working with for this easy tortellini soup: a combination of white beans, veggies, and cheese tortellini in a simple but flavorful tomatoey broth. It’s simple but delicious and will warm you up from the inside out.
And when I say that this is a quick and easy recipe, I mean it.
The only real prep that you’ll need to do is chopping up an onion and mincing some garlic. Everything else is going to come from a can (tomatoes and beans), carton (stock or broth), or bag (fresh kale or spinach).
The soup itself cooks up in about 20 minutes, giving you an all-in time of less than 30 minutes for the entire recipe.
That’s just enough time to bake up a batch of homemade Red Lobster biscuits, sweet potato biscuits, or garlic bread to serve alongside it to round out the meal.
How to make my quick and easy tortellini soup
This is such a simple recipe, you’ll find yourself making it on regular rotation any time you don’t want to put in a lot of effort for a homemade meal.
Ingredients you’ll need
To make this easy tortellini soup, you’ll need:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 large onion (diced)
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes (do not drain)
- 2 (15-ounce) cans white/cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
- 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 pound cheese tortellini (or your favorite flavor)
- 2-3 cups chopped fresh kale or baby spinach
- Salt and pepper to taste
Any time I’m adding canned diced tomatoes to a soup or stew, I like to use petite diced tomatoes. I prefer the smaller pieces of tomato, but you can totally use regular diced tomatoes if that’s all you have.
Similar to making white bean dip, any type of white bean will work great. Great northern beans, cannellini beans, or navy beans are my personal favorites.
Feel free to use chicken stock or vegetable stock depending on if you need this soup to be vegetarian or not.
We love making this soup with cheese tortellini, but you can use any flavor of tortellini that your family prefers! Depending on what brands are available at your grocery store, the packages may range in size.
If you can’t find a 1-pound (16 ounce) package of tortellini, choose one that is close in size. It doesn’t have to be exact!
You can use fresh kale or baby spinach for the greens in this recipe. If you can find a package of baby kale, it won’t require any additional prep before tossing it into the soup.
I also like to pile on some fresh parmesan cheese for serving. After all, who doesn’t love some extra cheese??
Making this soup
To make your tortellini soup, add the olive oil to a large dutch oven (or other heavy-bottomed soup pot) and heat it over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and sauté until translucent and soft. This will take about 5-7 minutes. Toss in the minced garlic and cook for one more minute.
Now add the tomatoes and their juices, the drained and rinsed beans, the chicken or veggie stock, and the herbs. Bring the stock to a boil, then add the tortellini.
Simmer until the tortellini are cooked. Check your package directions to know how long this will take, but it is usually around 3-5 minutes.
Once the tortellini are cooked through, add the kale or spinach and stir to combine, letting the greens wilt. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, then serve up the soup with plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Recipe variations
This easy tortellini soup is delicious as is, but you can also change it up based on the ingredients you have on hand or to make it more filling:
- Use Italian-style diced tomatoes or fire-roasted diced tomatoes for extra flavor.
- Swap out the dried parsley, basil, and oregano for a couple teaspoons of Italian seasoning.
- Stir in some shredded rotisserie chicken just before serving for extra protein.
- Add some ground Italian sausage when sautéing the onion. Use mild or hot sausage depending on your family’s preference.
- Add a few pinches of crushed red pepper flakes for some added heat.
Make-ahead and storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The pasta will likely soak up some of the broth, but it will still make for a delicious lunch or easy dinner later on.
If you want to make this easy tortellini soup ahead of time, make the soup as written, but don’t cook the tortellini all the way through.
Leave the pasta al dente, and let it finish cooking when you reheat the soup on the stove. Wait until you are reheating it to add the kale or spinach.
Store the soup in the refrigerator or freeze it for up to a month.
Quick and Easy Tortellini Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 can petite diced tomatoes 14.5 ounces, do not drain
- 2 cans white/cannellini beans 15 ounces each, drained and rinsed
- 2 quarts chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 pound refrigerated cheese tortellini or your favorite flavor, see notes
- 2-3 cups chopped fresh kale or baby spinach
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute for about 5-7 minutes, until translucent and soft. Add the garlic, cook one minute more.
- Add the tomatoes (and their juices), white beans, stock, and dried herbs. Bring to a boil and add the tortellini. Simmer until tortellini are cooked, following the package directions for time (typically about 3-5 minutes).
- Once tortellini are cooked, add the kale or spinach and allow to wilt. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve topped with plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
This soup looks so perfect for the recent colder weather. Definitely going to make this for dinner this week!
We finished up this soup for lunch today and remarked to each other how good it is. I’m excited to have another soup for my work days to have this winter. I’m going to post my one picture of you in a costume on Thursday, just to prove that you did participate in some sort of Halloween deal, even if it was just the kindergarten party. I should have forced you to trick or treat, just so I could have had all of the candy.
Let’s all go trick or treating!
Wow! I do not think I have ever met anyone who hasn’t gone trick or treating, but your reasons are totally valid. This soup sounds great, and a must for this cold weather coming.
Have you met anyone who hates chocolate? Because if not, I fit that description, too.
The best part about being a non-trick or treater is your friends and family give you cute little orange and black goody bags filled with candy…at least, this is how I am picturing your childhood. That happened, right? The goody bags? Right?
Anyway, I have fond memories of t o t-ing when I was a kid, but my town is much more mellow and completely un-spooky. Pretty much everyone and their brother is a princess for Halloween, and you pretty much have to hike in order to get from house to house, so there aren’t many creepers lurking around. Creepers are lazy < – – – my opinion.
Wow, this is becoming an essay! Your soup looks fantasticooooooo! Your pictures are driving me nuts! That Alex is one lucky man to have a lady whose experiments pan out so wonderfully!
Let's go trick or treating! 😉
Never been trick-or-treating. Whoa. I need to speak to your mom. Stat.
I do not do scary movies. Why would I want to be scared? Just…no. But I do so love Halloween. The little kids dressed up, the pumpkins, and definitely the candy. But rest assured, we can still be friends. Because I like soup, too. Whew.
Ok. I need to defend myself. I don’t think you understand the height of her fear factor, and her total dislike for candy. We would go into the local bank and the nice lady would offer her a piece of candy for being such a good girl, and she would back away from it like it was boogers or something. I FINALLY talked her into taking it, saying thank you and then holding it until we got in the car, where I would take it from her and sacrifice myself and eat the candy. It was a tough job. However, the thought of her crying as we would walk the street (in the cold) to houses that we didn’t know the people (no family) to get candy that she wouldn’t eat just didn’t make sense. I do have an adorable picture of her that I’ll post tomorrow of her in a costume from the preschool party. Oh, well…and I can actually sew!
I, on the other hand, have absolutely zero defense for being such a complete weirdo.
Haha. She was traumatized by the candy! My mom said that when I was little, if anyone even came toward me and the stroller and I would scream bloody murder…. I was probably given candy to shut up.
Haha, I’m dying over here. We crack me up.
I don’t understand people who love going to haunted houses, either. So weeeeeird.
Well, yeah. Haunted houses are not cool at all
Oh man last time I went to a haunted house or actually, a haunted trail, was in high school. We got kicked out and banned because one of my friends got so scared she hit the guy in the head with her purse. True story. I always hid behind somebody for the whole thing. I hate being scared!!!
So, I was an only child, too, but because of that, there was NO CANDY in my house growing up. Trick or treat was the best time of the year! I’d stay up late and eat it all and make myself sick. I usually missed school on November 1st.
This soup is all my favorite things!
I always forget you’re an only, too. I think it’s why I like you so much (well, one of the reasons)
I love tortellini in soups! This soup looks so good and hearty!
It seriously is my new obsession.
This soup is maj! Love it! I’m posting a soup recipe tomorrow too. I know, totally against the Halloween sweets theme most people will be doing. But, that’s why I love you. PS you weren’t missing anything by not trick-or-treating.
I suspected as much. Especially this year, when it’s raining and shitty. I mean…no fun. Seriously.
I want to lick my screen! I love soup in the fall/winter months.. Warms my hand and my heart.
Turned hubby onto Kale not too long ago and am always looking for new ways to incorporate it. This looks amazing!! Found your recipe at the Simple Supper Tuesday Link Party. I am one of the hostesses of Tickle My Tastebuds and would love you to stop by and link up this recipe if you have not yet already. Here is the link
http://bit.ly/11OzU89
Lori
Hi Stephie!! Your delicious soup has been featured at our Simple Supper Tuesday Party at Moore or Less Cooking!! Nettie <3
Link: http://mooreorlesscooking.com/2014/12/08/simple-supper-tuesday-linky-party-39/
Right!?! I hate Halloween and don’t get me started on clowns and masks. Yikes. Love the soup though.
Tracey
Only child syndrome here as well! Hallowern wasn’t that fun for me, but I do enjoy a good scary movie! This soup looks yummy and comforting. With this big snow storming coming to CT, this soup will b a hit along with my home made bread. Thank you for sharing your recipe. God Bless.