As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
A big bowl of creamy Instant Pot Tortellini Soup is a simple, delicious, and affordable “whole meal” kind of dish. This cozy soup has an amazing and flavorful creamy broth paired with delicious cheese tortellini. You’ll find both Instant Pot and stovetop instructions in the post.
If you’re looking for a quick weeknight soup that is positively packed with flavor, you’re going to LOVE this tortellini soup in the Instant Pot.
This simple recipe combines affordable ingredients for an incredible dinner in just 30 minutes. And the best-kept secret of this soup is that it is BETTER the next day.
If you are new to pressure cooking and the Instant Pot, check out this post on recipes for Instant Pot beginners.
Step-by-step instructions
*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
Start by pressing saute on the Instant Pot; wait while it heats up. In a few minutes, it will show “HOT” on the display.
Add the sausage, and break it up with a wooden spoon, or use a meat masher for a super fine dice. Pro tip: some of the sausage will stick to the Instant Pot insert. That’s normal and fine!
Once the sausage is almost cooked through (AKA, there will still be some pink), add onions and garlic. Stir until onions start softening (~2 minutes) and the sausage is fully cooked.
Turn the Instant Pot to “off” and add the chicken broth. Let it sit for a minute, and then use a wooden spoon to scrape off any stuck-on sausage that’s on the bottom. This process is called deglazing and you don’t want to skip it. It amps up the flavor of the soup and prevents error/burn messages.
Add tomato paste, tortellini, basil, oregano, and parsley, and give it a brief stir. Lock the lid into place and set the steam release handle (valve on top) to “Sealing”. Press Manual>High Pressure>4 minutes.
When the Instant Pot has finished cooking, it will beep and switch to ”keep warm”. Allow it to sit with the lid on for 5 minutes and then do a manual release with the nozzle set to venting.
In a small bowl mix cornstarch and a bit of the broth to create a slurry. Press saute and add the cornstarch slurry. Stir until thickened (~3 minutes).
Add the cream and then the spinach. Stir, salt & pepper to taste, and go enjoy your delicious soup.
Variations
- You can sub in 1 15oz can of drained diced tomatoes or even homemade canned stewed tomatoes. I used tomato paste in this recipe because I was sick of fighting my picky children over the diced tomatoes I tried during multiple recipe tests.
- Want to make this vegetarian? Sub in your favorite plant-based protein and use veggie broth.
- Feel free to sub in chopped kale or escarole instead of the spinach.
- You can pump up the flavor by adding a few tablespoons of homemade tomato powder.
How to Store and REheat
Storing Leftovers: Allow the tortellini soup to fully cool before storing it in air-tight containers in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheating Leftovers: You can reheat the soup in the microwave. Start with 1 minute, stir, and then add an additional 30 seconds until it is heated to your liking.
Or, reheat on the stovetop for 5-10 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often.
Freezing: You can freeze leftovers and store them for 2-3 months with a few recommendations. I strongly encourage you to freeze the soup before you add the heavy cream and greens. This will prevent weird textures in the soup upon reheating. You can add those items to individual portions once thawed and ready to serve.
My favorite way to freeze leftover soup is in 1-cup or 2-cup Souper Cubes. Once frozen, I remove them from the trays and transfer them to freezer-safe silicone bags for the perfect zero-waste freezer method.
What to serve with Tortellini Soup
This is a hearty soup made for floating those fun little oyster crackers, but that creamy broth is also ideal for soaking up with a side of crusty Cheesy Garlic Bread.
For a lighter pairing, serve Instant Pot tortellini soup with Chopped Cabbage Salad.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- If you anticipate having leftovers, try adding the spinach to each individual bowl and ladling the hot soup over it. This will prevent the spinach from wilting too much when you reheat portions the next day.
- We have tested this recipe with both fresh/refrigerated and frozen tortellini, and both work well. You do not need to adjust the cooking time for different types. If using frozen, just a heads-up that the final texture will be a bit softer.
- Want to make your meal prep faster? Use frozen kale, frozen swiss chard, frozen spinach, frozen onions, and frozen garlic for a dinner that requires zero chopping.
- Get a great deal on tortellini? Buy extra packages and make this Instant Pot Tortellini with marinara another night.
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork sausage {casings removed}
- 1/2 cup white onion {diced}
- 4 cloves garlic {minced}
- 3.5 cups chicken stock
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 15 oz cheese tortellini
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups baby spinach
Instructions
- Press saute on the Instant Pot.
- When it is hot, cook sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.1 lb ground pork sausage
- Add onions and garlic when sausage is almost cooked through. Stir until onions start softening (~2 minutes).1/2 cup white onion, 4 cloves garlic
- Add chicken stock to deglaze the Instant Pot insert.3.5 cups chicken stock
- Add tomato paste, tortellini, basil, oregano, and parsley. Stir.2 tbsp tomato paste, 15 oz cheese tortellini, 1 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried parsley
- Lock the lid into place and set the steam release handle (valve on top) to “Sealing”. Press Manual>High Pressure>4 minutes.
- When the Instant Pot has finished cooking, it will beep and switch to ”keep warm". Allow it to sit with the lid on for 5 minutes and then do a manual release with the nozzle set to venting.
- In a small bowl mix cornstarch and a bit of the broth to create a slurry.2 tbsp cornstarch
- Press saute and add the cornstarch slurry. Stir until thickened (~3 minutes).
- Add cream and then spinach. Stir, salt & pepper to taste, and serve.1/3 cup heavy cream, 3 cups baby spinach
Notes
- We have tested this recipe with both fresh/refrigerated and frozen tortellini. You do not need to adjust the cooking time for different types. If using frozen, just a head’s up that the final texture will be a bit softer.
- Feel free to sub in chopped kale or escarole instead of the spinach.
- Storing Leftovers: Allow the tortellini soup to fully cool before storing it in air-tight containers in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Cook sausage in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (like a dutch oven).
- Saute onion and garlic until softened.
- Add chicken stock, tomato paste, tortellini, basil, oregano, and parsley. Stir.
- Cover, and cook on medium heat until tortellini begins to float to the top of the liquid and veggies are cooked through (~10 minutes).
- Mix cornstarch and a bit of the broth to create a slurry. Add slurry to the saucepan and cook until thickened (~3-5 minutes).
- Add cream and then spinach. Stir, salt & pepper to taste, and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks perfect for a comforting fall meal!
We agree!
Delicious! Perfect for everyone in the fam and so easy and quick to throw together. Another staple in our house from Sustainable Cooks!
Perfect for those two super weird rainy/cold August days! So glad you enjoyed it, Shawna!
Thissss ….is the third time I’ve made this Soup.. out of this world goooooood.. thank you for providing this recipe .. so simple to make … I did wait til the next day to serve it up.. I knew it was going to be much more savory after 24 hours.. Mahalo, Stephanie
I can’t ever imagine a time when you have soup weather in HI, but I’m honored that my soup is part of your routine when that happens! And yes, soup is always better the next day. YUM.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.
This soup is freekin delicious! We subbed out plant based meat and added some red pepper flakes to make up for the lack of extra flavour from the faux meat. This is a keeper, you are a pro at these hearty, comforting, hug-for-your-stomach soups. A+
I had planned to make this, but got sick, so had my husband make it. We used Italian Sausage and dried tortellini….I’m not sure if it was him or the dried tortellini but we needed to add more broth to it, it was more like a stew before that. But it was still AMAZING. SO, so good, it made this sick mom happy. And thank you for your easy to follow directions for someone who doesn’t cook very often! 😉
Tina, I’m sorry to hear you weren’t feeling well, but I’m honored my soup helped you in any way.
And yes, dried tortellini are THIRSTY little buggers! They will definitely suck up more liquid compared with their refrigerated counterparts.
This soup is delicious!! I made a vegetarian version with a plant based sausage and oat milk. With a busy toddler and newborn needing all the things during witching hour, this was so fast to make and we had lots of leftovers. This will now be part of our regular meal plan rotation!
I bought the 18 oz. package of Rana mozzarella ravioli and use half in this recipe because I like a bit more broth and I can make this dish twice in quick succession.
So delicious!
Oh, you’re a smarty pants!!! You could also use the leftovers for this: https://www.sustainablecooks.com/ravioli-bake/
This soup is DELICIOUS! I’ve been making a new soup every week since fall just for the heck of it and while I would make several of the recipes again THIS ONE is the only one so far that’s going into the LOVE IT recipe binder to definitely be repeated! So flavorful! I will say though, the smallest bag of refrigerated tortellini I could find was 18oz and I should have increased my broth just a smidge to accommodate that so mine turned out a bit more like a pasta dish than an actual soup; still awesome!
I’m so glad you have enjoyed it so much, Bernie. And you know I fully support the “a new weekly soup” idea. That is right up my alley.
I just want to relay how amazing this dish turned out.. my sick friends were over the moon when I left a couple of canning jars full of it with them to eat.. the couldn’t stop talking about it.. thank you Sarah.. it’s such a great tasty soup and I used bacon (cause I didn’t have sausage) but it still was super duper! Steph
Bacon sounds like a fantastic addition!! So glad you and your friends enjoyed it so much. I hope your friend is feeling better.
This is soooo good! My husband, I, and our 14 month old are all fans! Cooking the tortellini this way makes them rich and flavorful. Yum! A new favorite!
So glad it was a hit for you three, Jenny! Our family loves it because it’s so tasty, but I love it because it’s so easy. 🙂