This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup combines cheese tortellini, sweet Italian sausage, spinach and other vegetables in a creamy broth.
All year round, we keep our slow cooker close by and ready to cook delicious meals like this Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup.
A slow cooker is great for summertime cooking, because you don’t have to turn on the oven and heat up the kitchen! Plus, you can cook up a big batch of this creamy tortellini soup – then enjoy leftovers for a few days afterwards.
How do you make Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup?
Start by cooking up some sweet Italian sausage in a skillet, breaking it up into bite-sized pieces as it browns. Place the cooked sausage in your slow cooker, but leave the rendered fat in the skillet.
Next, sauté diced onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in the sausage fat – cooking until lightly browned and almost tender. Deglaze the pan with some chicken stock, then pour everything into the slow cooker with the sausage. (By the way – if you happen to have a multi-cooker slow cooker like this, you can do these first two steps right in the cooker!)
Pour in more chicken stock, cream, cream cheese, canned diced tomatoes, dry cheese tortellini, baby spinach, and seasonings including salt and pepper, dried basil and oregano.
Then – let the slow cooker do the work, cooking your Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup until the tortellini is tender (this will take three to four hours on low).
Spoon into bowls for serving. Serve with some crusty Garlic Bread on the side.
Recipe Substitutions
This Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup is versatile and can be adapted to suit your tastes and the ingredients you have on hand.
While we used sweet Italian sausage, you could swap in hot Italian sausage for a zestier flavor. Or swap in your favorite chicken sausage if you prefer. (We don’t recommend a sweeter breakfast sausage – stick with savory flavors.)
You can use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock.
You can swap in other greens for the spinach – just note that spinach cooks quickly, while other greens such as kale, Swiss chard, or collards require more time to cook. We’d suggest sautéing them with the onions, carrots, celery and garlic to cook them a bit before adding them to the slow cooker.
How do I reheat this Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup?
Because the soup has cream in the broth, a gentle reheat is recommended so the cream doesn’t break.
You can reheat the portion that you plan to eat in the microwave, or in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently.
You may enjoy these other Slow Cooker recipes:
- Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese
- Slow Cooker Apple Crisp
- Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken Stew
- Slow Cooker Italian Beef Subs
- Slow Cooker Honey-Garlic Baby Back Ribs
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini and Sausage Soup
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
2 cups sweet onion, half inch dice
1 1/2 cups carrots, half inch dice
1/2 cup celery, quarter inch dice
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
1 1/2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock or broth
3 cups heavy cream
4 ounces cream cheese
1 14.5–ounce can diced tomatoes
3/4 pound dry cheese tortellini
4 ounces baby spinach
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
Instructions
In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, add olive oil and once hot, add the sausage and break up into bite sized pieces as it browns.
After the sausage browns, about five minutes, remove the sausage to the slow cooker but leave the fat in the pan.
Keep the pan on medium high and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook until slightly browned and almost tender, about 5-8 minutes.
Add a splash of the stock to deglaze the pan then add the pan contents to the slow cooker along with all other ingredients.
Cook 3-4 hours on low until the tortellini is tender.
Serve immediately.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
BetsyD says
Absolutely a delicious family favorite
Martha says
Thanks Betsy!
Madeline says
Seriously such an amazing soup!
Martha says
Thanks Madeline!
Julie says
My husband and and I don’t like pasta(I know y’all may think we’re crazy) but this was delicious without the pasta! We also added shrimp once when reheating for supper and yum!!
Martha says
Thanks for letting us know Julie! We love the idea of adding shrimp too!
Heather Sears says
Love it!
Martha says
Thanks!
Stacey says
I made this for a big group and it was seriously a HUGE hit! My husband, who is more picky with homemade soups, said this is the best soup he’s ever had! I was glad I checked the comments and saw there IS a difference in how you cook the noodles (whether you get frozen or dried). Do not add the frozen tort to the crockpot till the very end after you’ve already cooked them stovetop. They will turn into mush (previous experience) if you slow cook them for 3-4 hrs. Lol. Thanks so much for giving us a favorite soup recipe!
Martha says
Glad the soup was a hit Stacey – and yes, this recipe is specifically written for dry tortellini.
Louane says
Have you tried freezing this soup. I like to freeze leftover soup but since this one has heavy cream,not sure if it’s ok to freeze
Martha says
Hi Louane – The cream will separate a bit after freezing and thawing. If that doesn’t bother you, you can certainly do it. Or – if a batch of the recipe as written is too much and you plan to freeze some of it, wait to add the cream until after you’d thawed it. Hope that helps!
Stscy says
Where do you find dry cheese tortellini? I only see it in the freezer section..
Martha says
We’ve found it in bags in the dried pasta aisle alongside other pastas. Hope that helps!
Kim Hennigan says
This was delicious!
Martha says
Glad you liked it Kim!
Michelle says
Can you cook on high to cut the time?
Martha says
We haven’t tried ourselves-please let us know how it work out!
Terri says
Delicious. I could not wait to make this. So I used the instant pot. Cooked the sausage, removed. Sautéed the veggies. Added the garlic afterwards. Poured in the organic stock.
Added cream and cream cheese, garlic frozen tortellini ( could not find dried) and spinach. Had to thicken with a bit of arrowroot. Superb! 😋
Martha says
Thanks Terri!