- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
What you’ll need — tap to tick off as you go
- 2 tbsp
- 3 cloves
- 2 tbsp
- 400 g
- 1 ¼ l
- 1 tsp
- 1 tsp
- ¼ tsp
- 400 g
- 350 g
- 120 g
- 1 tsp
- ½ tsp
- 10 g
- 40 g
Process
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Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, sliced carrots and sliced celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 6 to 7 minutes.
Add the minced garlic and tomato paste. Stir constantly for 1 minute so the paste darkens slightly and coats the vegetables.
Pour in the canned diced tomatoes with their juices, then the vegetable broth. Add the dried oregano, dried basil, red pepper flakes if using, 1 teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Stir well and bring to a gentle boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, until the carrots are just tender when pierced with a knife.
Stir in the drained cannellini beans and the refrigerated cheese tortellini. Simmer gently for 5 to 6 minutes, until the tortellini float and their edges look slightly translucent. Do not boil hard or they will split.
Add the baby spinach in handfuls, stirring until each addition wilts, about 1 minute. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Ladle into bowls and top with torn fresh basil and grated parmesan, if using. Serve hot.
Kitchen notes
Kitchen notes
- The most common mistake is overcooking the tortellini. Fresh tortellini need only 5 to 6 minutes in the simmering broth; they are done when they float and the pasta looks slightly translucent at the edges. Boiling them hard makes them split and turn mushy.
- If you plan to have leftovers, cook the tortellini separately in salted water and add it to each bowl. Stored in the soup, the pasta keeps absorbing broth and becomes soft by the next day.
- Tomato paste needs that 1 minute of frying with the garlic before the liquid goes in. Skipping it leaves a raw, tinny taste in the finished broth.
- The broth should taste a little too seasoned on its own before the tortellini go in, because the pasta and beans will dilute the salt as they cook.
Substitutions
- canned cannellini beans→canned chickpeas or white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- baby spinach→chopped kale, simmered 5 minutes longer before adding the tortellini
- vegetable broth→chicken broth for a non-vegetarian version
- refrigerated cheese tortellini→frozen cheese tortellini, cooked 2 to 3 minutes longer
- parmesan cheese→pecorino romano or nutritional yeast for a dairy-free topping
Storage & reheating
Cool the soup to room temperature within 2 hours, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The tortellini will soften and swell overnight, so for the best texture store the soup and cooked tortellini separately. To reheat, warm gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat until steaming, about 5 minutes, or microwave covered in 1-minute bursts; do not boil or the pasta will break apart. This soup does not freeze well because the tortellini and beans become grainy, but the broth alone can be frozen for up to 2 months.
FAQ
The questions we get asked most
Why did my tortellini fall apart in the soup?
The broth was boiling too hard or the tortellini cooked too long. Keep the soup at a gentle simmer, just a few bubbles breaking the surface, and pull the tortellini out as soon as they float and look slightly translucent at the edges, usually 5 to 6 minutes for fresh ones. Stir only once or twice with a wooden spoon.
Can I use dried tortellini instead of fresh?
Yes, but dried tortellini need 10 to 12 minutes and absorb more broth, so add an extra 250 ml of vegetable broth. Add the dried tortellini at the same point in the recipe and test one at 10 minutes; it should be tender with no raw white core. Dried tortellini also thicken the soup more as it sits.
How do I keep the tortellini from getting mushy in leftovers?
Cook the tortellini separately in salted boiling water, drain, and toss with a teaspoon of olive oil. Store it in its own container and add it to the reheated broth just before serving. If the tortellini are already in the soup, expect them to be quite soft the next day, though the flavor will still be good.
Can I make this tortellini soup ahead of time?
You can make the broth up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it, or freeze it for 2 months. Reheat the broth to a simmer, then add the tortellini, beans and spinach fresh so the pasta stays firm. Assembling the whole soup more than a few hours ahead makes the pasta soggy.
Can I add meat to this soup?
Yes. Brown 250 g of sliced Italian sausage or diced chicken breast in the pot first, then proceed with the onion, carrots and celery in the rendered fat. If using sausage, drain excess fat before adding the vegetables. The simmering time stays the same.
Why does my tortellini soup taste bland?
The usual causes are under-salting the broth and skipping the step of frying the tomato paste. Salt the broth until it tastes slightly too seasoned before the tortellini go in, since the pasta and beans dilute it. A squeeze of lemon or a extra grating of parmesan at the table also lifts the flavor.
Is this tortellini soup vegetarian?
It is vegetarian as written if you use vegetable broth and cheese tortellini made without rennet. Check the tortellini label, because some brands include meat or use animal rennet. The parmesan is optional and can be left off to make it dairy-free, though the tortellini themselves contain cheese and wheat.
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