This Instant Pot Tortellini Soup is a flavorful, hearty meal of Italian sausage soup with pasta and veggies. The recipe is a snap to make in your pressure cooker using fresh tortellini! It’s delicious, and the perfect comfort food meal for winter!
When winter weather sends chills through your body, nothing will warm you up quicker than a hearty meal.
If you own a pressure cooker, the perfect solution is to cook up your favorite Instant Pot soup, easy chili mac, or stew.
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Why We Love Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
- Quick, easy, and convenient!
We prefer pressure cooker recipes instead of one-skillet recipes for making quick and easy dinners. Why? Because generally, meals made in an Instapot are less hands-on and usually require less cooking time.
So really, they’re the best versions of one-pot meals!
- Best flavor in the shortest amount of time.
Just like ravioli lasagna and lasagna soup Instant Pot, this quick Italian soup tastes like it had to simmer all day. But, it only takes around 30 minutes to prepare.
🎯 New to Instant Pot Cooking?
Read How to Use the Instant Pot first! Then, our Tips and Hacks for the Instant Pot is a great resource for new owners and seasoned IP-ers alike!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Ground Meat – Your choice of ground pork or chicken sausage. Or, use ground beef, or any other ground protein.
- Yellow onion – peeled and diced, for a sweet but still pungent flavor.
- Chicken Broth – You can substitute the broth for chicken stock, beef broth/stock, or even vegetable broth.
- HOT Water – using hot water helps the Instant Pot come to pressure more quickly.
- Tortellini – You can use fresh or frozen. If using frozen tortellini, add 1 minute to the pressure cooking time shown in our recipe card, at the bottom of this post.
- Seasonings – bay leaves, Italian seasoning, and salt. You can also use garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper.
Recipe variations
- Spicy tortellini soup – Swap the mild Italian sausage for hot.
- Vegetarian Instant Pot tortellini soup – skip the sausage, use vegetable broth, and bulk the dish up with veggies. Instead of Italian sausage, use a cup of chopped zucchini. At the end, stir in some frozen chopped spinach. The heat from the pot will warm it up quickly.
- Creamy Italian sausage soup with pasta – for a creamy soup, stir in 4 ounces of cream cheese after pressure cooking.
Our Favorite Tools To Make This Recipe
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New to Instant Pot cooking? Read How to Use the Instant Pot 101 first! And, then Tips & Hacks for the Instant Pot is terrific for new owners and seasoned IP-ers alike!
Tips for Perfect Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
Get the pressure cooker nice and hot.
Set the pressure cooker to “sauté” and prepare your ingredients while it heats up.
Add the sausage and onion, breaking up the ground sausage. Stir often until sausage is cooked through and onion is soft for about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
Mix in the Ingredients. Stir in tomatoes, broth, water, seasonings, and fresh tortellini pasta. Gently stir everything together. Do not fill the instant pot past the “maximum” line.
Pressure cook. Secure the lid of the Instant Pot and seal the pressure valve. Then set the pressure cooker to “high pressure” and set the timer for 1 minute.
When the pressure cooking is done, twist or press the steam valve to let the pressure out.
Ready to serve. After the pressure pin has dropped, carefully open the Instant Pot.
Remove the bay leaves. Dish out soup, and feel free to top it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves.
Tips to Prevent an Instant Pot Food Burn:
Thick and/or acidic foods tend to burn onto the bottom of the inner pot. When this happens, a notice will appear on the pressure cooker’s display as “BURN,” “OvHt,” or “Food Burn.”
Here are some suggestions for preventing and dealing with a burn notice:
- Before pressure cooking, turn the Instant Pot to sauté and let it warm up. Also, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil before adding ingredients to the inner pot This helps to keep food and sauces from sticking and burning.
- If you sauté meats before pressure cooking, deglaze your pot by adding the broth a few minutes before sealing your pot.
- Keep an extra Instant Pot liner insert on hand. If you get a burn notice, then having an extra pot will allow you to safely transfer the food to a clean pot and continue cooking. Plus, an extra inner pot gives you flexibility when pressure cooking.
How long to cook rice in an instant pot or potatoes first, add a silicone lid to that pot, and use the second pot for cooking the meat.
For more information on how to handle a burn notice, read this article from America’s Test Kitchen.
What to Serve with Rustic Tortellini Soup
Must-have sides for this Italian sausage soup with pasta are a Chick-Fil-A kale salad recipe and french bread with sourdough starter.
My favorite breads for dipping into the broth are garlic sourdough toast or garlic rolls. Those flavors pair well with the Italian flavors of this soup.
Tortellini Sausage Soup Recipe FAQ
If you cook the pasta correctly, it should not be soggy. It’s important to follow the recipe instructions closely to ensure that you don’t overcook it.
Sausage and Tortellini Soup is already pretty healthy, but you could use chicken sausage and vegetable and cheese-filled tortellini if you wish to make it healthier.
The soup cooks best in the instant pot on high pressure. Just be sure to let the steam release before trying to open the pot.
Italian sausage soup with pasta is a great dish to make ahead of time, and you can store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheating the meal is easiest in the microwave. Just ladle into microwave-safe bowls and reheat on medium power for a couple of minutes. You can also reheat the dish on the stovetop if you want, but be sure to do so over low heat.
Tortellini soup cooked in an Instant Pot does not freeze well. Unfortunately, the pasta tends to fall apart as it thaws out.
If you tried this tortellini soup recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 12 ounces ground Italian sausage * see Notes for substitutions
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 29 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth or beef broth/stock
- 2 cups hot water (hot water speeds up pressurizing time)
- 12 ounces cheese tortellini fresh or frozen *see Notes for using frozen
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ½ tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
optional garnishes
- ½ cup shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese
- fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Set the pressure cooker to “sauté”. Gather/measure your ingredients while it heats up.
- Add the ground sausage and onion to the inner pot. Using a wooden spoon, break up the ground sausage as it cooks. Stir frequently until sausage is cooked through and onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
- Stir in tomatoes, broth, water, seasonings, and tortellini pasta. Gently stir the ingredients together. Do not fill the instant pot past the “max” line.
- Secure the lid of the Instant pot and seal the pressure valve. Set the pressure cooker to “high pressure” and set the time for 1 minute
- Once the pressure cooking is done, perform a quick release by twisting or pressing the steam valve to “vent” the pot (release the pressure).
- After the pressure pin drops and it is safe to open, carefully open the Instant Pot. Remove the bay leaves. Ladle tortellini sausage soup into bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves.
Notes
- Italian sausage can be substituted with ground chicken, beef, or other ground meat of your choice.
- To use frozen tortellini in soup, add 1 minute to the pressure cooking time, for a total of 2 minutes.
Nutrition
This post, first published in Oct. 2022, was updated with new content in Feb. 2023.
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DK says
I love pasta soups like this one – and this tortellini soup is delicious! So rich and hearty!
Charah says
Easy and looks very delicious, I love this! Thanks for sharing
kushigalu says
Love the combination of flavors in this soup recipe. Thanks a lot for sharing.