We love this cozy tortellini soup recipe! It’s filled with tender veggies, store-bought tortellini, and a garlicky broth that’s ready in just 30 minutes.
I’m always happy when this vegetable tortellini soup is for dinner. It’s one of my favorite ways to use a package of store-bought tortellini. I enjoy so many of the soup recipes on Inspired Taste, but this one truly delivers on the comfort food front! It’s hearty, delicious, and quick.
Feel free to use your family’s favorite tortellini in the soup, which means you can try out different fillings to find what you love most.
Key Ingredients
- Tortellini: I’m a fan of cheese-filled tortellini, but feel free to use your favorite kind. You’ll find plenty of options at the store, including spinach, chicken, and even vegan tortellini. Small ravioli is a great substitute! And if you don’t have tortellini, regular pasta works just fine. The soup itself is still delicious.
- Veggies: I pack this hearty soup with onion, carrot, zucchini, garlic, and kale (or substitute spinach).
- Tomato Paste and Spices: Tomato paste adds a bit of color and richness, while the spices add incredible flavor. I use Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes. The pepper flakes are optional, but they add a nice little kick.
- Broth: For a vegetarian tortellini soup, use vegetable broth. If that’s not a concern, chicken broth works great.
- Fresh Herbs: I love finishing the soup with fresh herbs. Parsley and dill are my favorites.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make My Favorite Tortellini Soup
Tip 1: Start with the aromatics. Cook chopped onions and carrots in a small amount of oil until they begin to soften. This simple step builds the base flavor for the soup. Then, layer in more flavor with minced garlic, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and chopped zucchini.
Tip 2: Add the tortellini and kale at the end. Pour in the broth and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Then stir in the tortellini and a handful of torn kale (or spinach) in the soup. Cook for just a few minutes more, until the greens are wilted and the pasta is tender.
Tip 3: Make it creamy. Season the soup to taste, and if you’d like a creamy broth, add a splash of cream or non-dairy milk. I also love stirring in chopped fresh herbs, such as dill or parsley, right before serving for an extra pop of color and fresh flavor.
More Easy Soup Recipes
Easy Tortellini Soup
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We love this quick and easy tortellini soup recipe made with store-bought pasta, a garlicky broth, and plenty of veggies. I usually keep it vegetarian and use cheese tortellini, but you can use whatever you love (spinach, sausage, chicken, or even vegan fillings). Most varieties are easy to find in larger grocery stores across the US.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium zucchini, chopped
4 medium cloves garlic, minced, 1 heaping tablespoon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, omit if sensitive to spice
8 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth (1.8L)
1 package tortellini, 8 to 10 ounces
1 small bunch kale, thick stems removed and chopped
Splash cream or non-dairy milk, optional
Handful chopped fresh herbs like parsley or dill
Dash fish sauce, optional
Parmesan for serving, optional
Directions
1Cook onions and carrots: Heat the oil in a large pot, such as a Dutch oven, over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots, then cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, about 5 minutes.
2Add zucchini and spices: Stir in the zucchini, garlic, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes, and cook for one minute.
3Simmer: Pour in the broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the soup at a low simmer until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
4Add tortellini and kale: Stir in the tortellini and kale, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn the heat to low and stir in the milk/cream (this adds a creamy texture to the broth, but you can skip it if you prefer a plain broth).
5To finish: Taste the soup and season with additional salt as needed. For extra flavor, add a few dashes of fish sauce (optional). Serve with chopped fresh herbs and grated parmesan cheese scattered on top (optional).
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Keep leftover soup in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Vegan tortellini soup: To make this soup vegan, look for a vegan tortellini (Kite Hill makes one) and omit the cheese and fish sauce.
- Fish sauce: This is optional but adds a lovely flavor to sauces and soups like this tortellini soup. Two to three dashes season the soup nicely. Think of fish sauce as salt on steroids. It doesn’t make the soup taste fishy but makes the flavor pop.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We did not include optional ingredients and assumed regular (not low-sodium) vegetable broth.
Delicious and quick!
Very tasty and filling. We added some turkey kielbasa and a dash of Better than Bouillon. So fast!!!!
Made this tonight-yummy! I Added Italian seasoning and a little leftover fresh basil. I used spinach rather than kale. It’s simple, flavorful and quick! I am enjoying this recipe site and I am excited to try more recipes!
That makes us so happy, Katty! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I made this today. I can’t stop eating it. So good. I used baby spinach instead of kale. Maybe a little less crushed red pepper but that is a personal choice. Thank you for this recipe.
Super easy, quick and tasty! The red paper flakes add a kick, which we like! I’m saving this for the future!
Delicious soup recipe. Family loved it. Thank you. Bonus…. so easy, so fast.
This was really delicious! While the recipe is perfect as is, I had a few random things in my fridge that I felt would be great additions. Here’s what I changed: —I added some parsnip (my FAVORITE veggie soup ingredient… it’s literally what a carrot wishes it tasted liike) and celery—both of which I sauteed along with the carrots and onions. —Used more like 2 tablespoons of tomato paste instead of 1 —I also topped my bowls with some fresh cilantro and fresh cracked black pepper (Nothing like a bunch of garnishments to make a dish look – and taste – so beautiful.) —I boiled the tortellinis in a separate pot and spooned them as needed into each bowl before ladleing in the soup so leftovers weren’t ruined by the noodles soaking up the broth. So now we have PERFECT soup for lunch with a side of tortellini ready to go for a swim. —I made some crusty bread to dip (it was the ideal complement for such a fantastic winter night soup) —While I didn’t do this, I think this soup would go great with some small chunks of sweet Italian sausage (maybe next time!) Overall, the broth had a very deep flavor for only taking a short 30 min to make and not having too many ingredients/spices. I highly recommend this dish to anyone who wants a robust and filling veggie soup.
Absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exactly. This will be a regular soup for us. I added organic Italianparsely when serving and it is awesome!
I made this for dinner tonight and omg DELICIOUS!! Everyone loved it 🙂
Great recipe, far more tasty than expected. I followed the recipe with the exception of using spinach not kale. It was delightful and will make again and again. Thank you.
Soup was excellent. My only ingredient change was subbing baby spinach for the kale. Since the recipe indicates it serves 4, I reduced the amount of broth to 5 cups.
This soup was delicious. I needed to make substitutions only because of the lack of ingredients. I subbed frozen spinach for kale, and used precooked egg noodles for the tortellini. I knew I would have leftovers so I added the noodles to each bowl instead of adding to the pot of soup. This prevents the noodles from getting too mushy for leftovers. Very easy to make. We loved it!
This quick and easy recipe is perfect for a midweek supper. I did add the suggested Thai fish sauce as it makes such a difference (I used a tablespoon).
Served with homemade sourdough bread it went down a treat! Thank you Adam & Joanne! 😘
Made this tonight and it was delicious!! I did not add the pepper flakes and added 8oz of cooked ground Italian sausage which has a little bit of a kick to it. This soup is a keeper. Thank you for the recipe.
I made this soup today. We loved it. And it’s so simple to make. I even had all the ingredients on hand. Thank you.
That’s amazing, Lily! So happy you enjoyed it!
Excellent recipes, thank you.
Love all the recipes from this site. I will make the soup in a couple days when it cools off a bit. It’s about 105° here in San Diego. All the recipes are easy and tasty and they have never let me down. Thanks.
I haven’t tried the soup yet, but they all look so good! I want to try them all!
Look forward to these recipes. So delicious easy to reproduce due to the clear instructions. Well done!! Thanks Anjuli x
I love this recipe for a dinner made in short order that has a boatload of good nutrition and flavor.
Hi Barbara, Thanks for coming back and letting us know! So happy you enjoyed it.
Easy and delicious I just used cooked pasta and perhaps a sqirt of ketchup for a little sweetness.
I haven’t made this yet, but I do have a question. Is the kale you’re using dinosaur kale? I’ve read that dinosaur kale is deeper in color and more tender than regular curly kale and doesn’t take as long to cook. If I only have access to regular curly kale would I need to saute it first so that it will be tender in the amount of cook time your suggesting?
I do use lacinato (dinosaur) kale in the video, but curly kale is fine! It should cook in the same amount of time.
This Tortellini Soup was fabulous! I made a few additions/changes…added mushrooms and rotisserie chicken, used chicken broth instead of veggie (didn’t have it on hand), spinach instead of kale. The addition of fish sauce was spectacular. Thank you for this delicious alternative to basic chicken soup. This will become a regular in our menu lineup.
Made this tonight. It is AMAZING as is. No changes! This soup is better than restaurant soup. In my 3rd bowl, i added julienned pepperoni just to see how it changed the flavor. I like it better without, but the flavor was complimentary. Compliment this dish with Italian Cooking Music on Pandora.
Made this tonight. It is AMAZING as is. No changes! This soup is better than restaurant soup. In my 3rd bowl, i added julienned pepperoni just to see how it changed the flavor. I like it better without, but the flavor was complimentary.