One-Pot Tortellini With Meat Sauce
Updated Oct. 11, 2023

- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4garlic cloves, peeled
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- 1pound hot or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1(28-ounce) can whole or crushed tomatoes
- Salt and pepper
- About 1 pound fresh or frozen cheese tortellini (no need to thaw)
- Finely grated Parmesan, for serving
- ½cup/4 ounces grated mozzarella (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Finely grate the garlic into a large Dutch oven or skillet. Add the olive oil and tomato paste and set over medium-high heat. When it sizzles, stir until the oil is a rusty red, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sausage, breaking it into small pieces. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is starting to crisp, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Step 2
Stir in the tomatoes. (If using whole tomatoes, break them up with your spoon.) Season with salt and pepper and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer over medium until thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Step 3
Stir in the tortellini, cover and cook until tender, 7 to 10 minutes, stirring halfway through and scraping any that might be stuck to the bottom of the pot. If the sauce looks dry, add ¼ cup water. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve topped with Parmesan.
- Step 4
If you’d like a melted-cheese top like a baked pasta, heat the broiler with a rack in the upper third of the oven. Sprinkle the tortellini with the mozzarella. Broil until melted and browned in spots, 2 to 4 minutes.
Private Notes
Comments
Maybe it’s just me, but this recipe is begging at least for an Italian spice blend to that sauce.
A small gripe: What is wrong with Pecorino Romano? There's an obsession with Parmesan in all these recipes. I love Parmesan, but for southern red sauce dishes Romano is the go-to cheese. It cuts through the sauce better, and at half the price.
“Italian sausage” is a fresh pork sausage, never smoked, flavored with garlic and fennel. “Hot Italian sausage” also has spicy red peppers. “Sweet Italian sausage” is not actually sweetened (like a breakfast sausage) it just doesn’t have the peppers found in “hot Italian sausage”.
Delicious, I am sure. The only thing that qualifies this recipe as a camping dish is that it is prepared in one pot, perhaps? How about a recipe that doesn’t require a freezer, or ingredients that will spoil within 12 hours of leaving the fridge. To make it a real challenge, how about no cans, no jars, and ingredients that will still be good after 72 hours in the middle of July? That, I’d love to see.
Made this as is , except didn’t want to deal with taking the sausages out of their casings. So we grilled the sausages, cut them up and added them with the tortellini. Came out delicious!
Hi! I used ground beef instead of sausage and added Italian seasoning and Parmesan. That made it very tasty and this was easy to make and only used one pot.
