This 25-minute Instant Pot Tortellini Soup is made with cheesy tortellini, a flavorful soup broth, and packed with fresh spinach, tomatoes, and chicken sausage. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan and red pepper flakes and enjoy this easy meal while hot and cozy!
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🌟Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Made with simple ingredients - This is one of my favorite Instant Pot soup recipes because it is hearty and rich in flavor, yet made with simple, good-for-you ingredients. This is a cold-weather recipe you'll come back to time and time again!
- Family-friendly - This sausage tortellini soup is a recipe the whole family loves. It's a creamy, filling soup that is mild in spiciness, meaning it's good for kids, too! Be sure to check out my Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup, Instant Pot Minestrone and Easy Stuffed Pepper Soup Instant Pot for more family-friendly Instant Pot recipes.
- Short cook time - Thanks to the invention of pressure cooking, this cozy soup is ready from start to finish in just 25 minutes!
🥘Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sausage - Italian sausage with the casing removed is my favorite in this hearty meal. Depending on your spice preference, you could opt for a mild Italian sausage or a sweet Italian sausage. Or if you and your family like a spicy kick, try a spicy Italian sausage. You can even substitute another protein such as ground turkey sausage or ground beef for a heartier tortellini soup.
- Diced tomatoes - I used a can of diced tomatoes with juices, but if needed you could substitute a can of crushed tomatoes or no salt added diced tomatoes if you are sensitive to sodium. Crushed tomatoes will add good flavor, but won't add the same chunky texture as diced tomatoes. I do not recommend substituting with tomato paste or tomato sauce - both are too thick and acidic and will not yield the same results.
- Chicken broth - Chicken broth is my go-to broth to use here as I find it more flavorful than vegetable stock, but vegetable broth will work too!
- Cheese tortellini - This easy weeknight meal was developed using fresh or frozen tortellini. If you choose to substitute dried tortellini, it must be cooked in a separate pot before adding it to the soup. Otherwise, the dry pasta will absorb a significant portion of the broth and make the base of the soup too thick. If needed, opt for fresh, gluten-free tortellini.
- Milk - Either heavy cream or full-fat canned coconut milk will work here. Feel free to use what you have!
See the recipe card below for the remaining ingredients and quantities.
🔪Instructions
- Cook the onions, sausage and garlic. Set the Instant Pot to the sauté function on high. Once warm, heat the olive oil. Then, add in the diced onions and chicken sausage. Using a wooden spoon, break the sausage into crumbles and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent and the sausage is browned. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Add the spices, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth. Turn off the pot and stir in the Italian seasoning, diced tomatoes with juices and chicken broth. Scrape any browned bits off of the bottom of the Instant Pot to add all that flavor to the soup and prevent a burn warning.
- Pressure cook for 5 minutes. Once combined, add the lid of the Instant Pot, check that the pressure valve is set to "seal," and pressure cook on manual high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Quick release pressure and add fresh tortellini. After the soup broth has finished cooking, immediately release the remaining pressure by switching the valve from "sealing" to "venting." Remove the lid, turn off the Instant Pot, then set it to the sauté function once more. Add in the fresh cheese tortellini and cook for 2 minutes, or until the tortellini are floating and tender.
- Stir in fresh spinach and milk. Allow the fresh baby spinach to wilt for a couple of minutes, then serve this Instant Pot tortellini soup immediately while hot. Garnish with parmesan cheese, fresh basil, red pepper flakes, and crusty bread, or as desired.
💭Recipe FAQs
When stored in an airtight container, this sausage tortellini soup will last for up to 4 days. For best results, I recommend storing leftover Instant Pot Tortellini Soup in glass over plastic, and allowing the soup to cool to room temperature before storing. For more information, check out my post, How Long Does Cooked Sausage Last?
I would not recommend freezing this hearty soup once the tortellini and cream are added. Cooked tortellini pasta will not freeze well and cream can separate and become grainy once defrosted. With that being said, you can freeze this soup base before adding the spinach, cream, and tortellini.
Then when ready to eat, defrost the Instant Pot tortellini soup base overnight in the refrigerator. Once defrosted, simmer on the sauté function until warmed through again and add the spinach, cream and tortellini as usual.
Just like any pasta, overcooking tortellini will cause it to become incredibly soft and deteriorate. It will still be safe to eat, but will not be the most ideal texture.
If your tortellini is floating immediately, this simply means there is air inside of the tortellini, causing it to rise to the surface of the water. Continue to cook for the called for couple of minutes, or until tender.
👩🏻🍳Chef Tips
- Be careful when releasing the Instant Pot pressure. When you switch the valve on top of the Instant Pot from "sealing" to "venting," hot steam will release and can burn you. Always keep your hands away from the spout for the steam to release. You can even use a kitchen tool such as a spatula to move the lever so your hand is far away and safe!
- Double check you have scraped any browned bits from the bottom of the pot - If any browned sausage or garlic has stuck to the bottom of the pot and is not scraped up before pressure cooking, it is highly likely your soup will not come to pressure and will trigger a burn warning. Always check to make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom before securing the lid and beginning the cooking cycle.
🥗Serving
This Instant Pot Tortellini Soup is quite filling and can be served on its own as a standalone meal, but if you are looking for a few simple sides to pair alongside it, here are a few of my favorite easy vegetable sides:
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Did you make this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating & comment below to let me know how it came out. Thanks for visiting!
🍳Recipe
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Garlic press
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1 (15 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 10 ounces fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
- 1 (5 ounce) package baby spinach
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup coconut milk or heavy cream
Instructions
- Begin by heating the oil in the Instant Pot using the sauté function on high.
- Add the diced onion and chicken sausage and brown while crumbling for about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Next, add in the spices, diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Stir everything together and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pot, if needed.
- Close the lid, set the valve to seal and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes.
- Quick release the pressure, turn on the sauté function again, add the tortellini and cook for 2 minutes while simmering.
- Turn the power off, add the spinach and milk and stir to combine until the spinach wilts.
- Serve with Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and bread.
Video
Notes
- Be careful when releasing the Instant Pot pressure. When you switch the valve on top of the Instant Pot from "sealing" to "venting," hot steam will release and can burn you. Always keep your hands away from the spout for the steam to release. You can even use a kitchen tool such as a spatula to move the lever so your hand is far away and safe!
- Double check you have scraped any browned bits from the bottom of the pot - If any browned sausage or garlic has stuck to the bottom of the pot and is not scraped up before pressure cooking, it is highly likely your soup will not come to pressure and will trigger a burn warning. Always check to make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom before securing the lid and beginning the cooking cycle.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Kathy says
I made this last night, and we loved it. I couldn’t find the chicken sausage in our grocery store, so I wound up substituting regular mild Italian sausage. I bought frozen tortellini, cooked it and kept it separate. I should have spooned out some of the grease after browning, I can probably scrape it off the top now that it’s been in the fridge, but it didn’t taste greasy so it really wasn’t a probably. I shared the recipe with a friend and will make this again. Delicious!
Sarah Holt says
Hi Kathy, really happy you enjoyed the soup! I will add a note about removing some grease after browning the sausage in case people want to do this. Thanks for sharing the recipe with a friend 🙂