Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Tortellini
This slow cooker butternut squash tortellini is comforting, delicious, and so, so easy. The butternut squash makes the perfect creamy sauce!
Well, this was amazing.
And, quite honestly, a little unexpected.
So much so that we had already sat down to dinner and started chowing, when I abstractedly noticed the first few bites were being met with “wow” and “mmmm” and “seriously this is awesome” by my table partners. I shouted “STOP!! Stop eating!” as I realized the importance of documenting this meal for blogging posterity before it was all completely inhaled.
No one stopped, story of my life, so I quickly grabbed my plate, scraped the tortellini onto something {slightly} more presentable, scooted the oblivious eaters out of the way to get to good light, and snapped a couple pictures.
What started out as an experiment-slash-means-to-a-dinner-end proved to be a new family favorite.
It’s already been requested for birthday dinners, anniversaries (not the marriage kind, the “I haven’t hit my brother in three weeks kind”), and just becauses. All the while I’m sitting here thinking how it’s going to save my life this winter.
Comforting, delicious, and so, so easy.
If you haven’t experienced the delightfulness of butternut squash in pasta (like here, here and here), you’re missing out.
The very lightly sweet, winter squash makes the perfect creamy, cheesy, silky smooth sauce and is wonderful with the tender tortellini.
Seriously. That sauce is sooooo yummy. Plus, can we just talk about how the slow cooker wins again? I’m nominating her for best appliance in the history of ever.
What to Serve With This
- Roasted broccoli or skillet green beans
- Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Green salad or fresh fruit
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Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Tortellini
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ¼ teaspoon minced dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 pounds peeled and cubed butternut squash, about 4 cups or so
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 to 8 ounces cream cheese, light or regular (depending on how creamy you want it), cubed
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving, if desired
- 1 ½ pound refrigerated tortellini (see note)
Instructions
- In a nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is starting to soften, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the rosemary, thyme, sage, salt and pepper.
- Place the butternut squash in a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker. Add the sautéed onion and garlic and then pour in the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.
- Add the cubes of cream cheese and the Parmesan cheese to the slow cooker. Stir until mostly melted. Using an immersion blender (or using a blender or food processor in batches), blend the mixture until smooth (and return it to the slow cooker if needed). Stir in the tortellini. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until the tortellini are tender.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (inspired by this recipe and this one, too)
This is the best recipe! I love it so much and have made a few additions since my family thinks you must have meat in every meal.
After sauteing the onions and garlic, and adding them to the slow cooker with the squash, I use the dirty pan to saute sweet italian sausage. I set it aside until I add the tortellini at the end, but oh man does it add something special to the final dish!
I also use 2 cups of broth and add more after if it needs it, otherwise I feel the sauce is slightly runny.
Just came across Butternut Squash stuff shells .. ..cant wait to make. Im a big Bnut squash lover. Start making butternut/apple soup in the Fall. Its wonderful to use as a sauce over fresh vegetables and meat (roasted lion pork) another favorite. Thanks Mel for these delicious meals
This recipe is magic. I added about a 1/4 cup brown sugar after blending as my squash wasn’t terribly sweet. Absolutely delicious!
When placing the squash in the slow cooker do I place it face down or up to cook? Or does it not matter?
It shouldn’t matter
This is a recipe my whole family will eat- not something I can say about everything I make for dinner! Thanks for a great, easy recipe.
Delicious! I don’t usually love squash sauces or soups…but this was GOOD. I added more salt, and now I’m craving the sauce! 🙂
When I measured and weighed my squash, a generous 4 cups was only 1.7 lbs. Seems a little runny when I blended it. Next time I’m thinking go with the 2lbs instead of 4 cups. Which one do you go with usually?
I usually go with the weight measure.
I’m assuming it will turn out fine if I used cheese tortellini?
Yes, I think so. 🙂
This is a favorite of ours! However, the last 2 times I made it, the butternut squash has turned brown while cooking. It looks incredibly unappetizing, but still tastes the same. What is happening?! Any ideas? Is it over cooking?
Is it the same brand of tortellini you’ve always used? Hmmm, I’m not sure what might be happening. Are the tortellini mostly covered in the sauce while cooking?
I made this tonight with the Instant Pot and it turned out great!! In case anyone is curious what I did, here you go!
– I did step 1 in the IP with the “Saute” function.
– Then I added the butternut squash and chicken broth to the IP. I then used the “Manual” function and set the time for 4 minutes on HIGH pressure.
– When time was up, I did a quick release and then I stirred in the parm cheese and cream cheese (I used 8 oz) and used a immersion blender (worth buying if you don’t have one!) to puree everything in the IP.
– Then, I added a 20 oz package of frozen cheese tortellini and used the “Manual” function again and set the timer for 2 minutes and then used a quick release when the time was up.
– I added more salt, pepper, and parm cheese (like Mel says to do). It was quite soupy at first, but it thickened up a lot when people came back for leftovers 🙂
Thank you for another home run recipe, Mel! You’re my go-to girl!!
Nice work, Ellen!
I followed these directions, but had to put the lid back on after the final 2 minutes had left it a bit too al dente for my particular tortellini. These instructions worked perfectly! Yummy! Thanks!
Thank you for the IP directions! You are saving dinner tonight!
We eat “flexitarian” as much as we can, so I’m always on the lookout for delicious vegetarian recipes. This definitely fit the bill! It was like a delicious, grown-up mac & cheese. I used the full 8 oz of cream cheese, and it was so creamy! Thanks, Mel!
I’m going to try to modify for instapot tonight! Wish me luck!
How did it go? I want to make this in my instant pot too!
Hoping it went well in the IP! I’m going to try it in there tonight. Any tips?
Update! I made this tonight with the Instant Pot and it turned out great!! Check out my new comment if you’d like to see what I did!
This recipe made waaaay too much sauce for just 1 batch of tortellini (maybe my squash was really big??), so I froze the leftovers to use later. Unfortunately, I was the only one who really liked it. My husband and 2 boys, who aren’t usually picky, all said it was too sweet.
Has anyone made this with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth? Did it affect the flavor much?
This recipe is amazing! I have made it three times now and it always turns out so good!! It’s my new favorite recipe. It’s easy and I love how low maintenance it is. It is delicious fresh and also delicious as leftovers. The Costco tortellini makes it so very good. I highly recommend this recipe if you like butternut squash.
This was amazing. We LOVED it. The sauce is to die for (and we even used light cream cheese) and I would totally make it and serve it with steamed vegetables instead of tortellini. SO. STINKIN. GOOD. Home run, Mel!
Thanks, Annie!
Mel, I’ve recently been trying out new recipes from your website with my family and I haven’t found one yet they did not like! I just made your butternut squash tortellini for dinner last night and was so excited to hear “ooos” and “ahhhs” with “WOW Mom! This is REALLY good!!!!” As if I never serve anything yummy. 🙂 Even my picky eaters joined in on the positive review-especially the one who doesn’t care for squash or this type of sauce in general. After basking in about 3 seconds of praise, I caved and told them it was your recipe and that I’d pass the praise and thanks onto you. THANK YOU!!!! The recipe is now added to our favs file and will be used and savored. As a side note, the kids and husband all asked if there was leftovers for lunches the next day. They liked it enough to eat it the next day and cold even! I doubled the recipe and it fed our family of 8 with leftovers for 4 the next day. Thanks Mel, for helping me make my “Mommy Career” fun and exciting!!!
Thanks for such a great comment, Amanda! It made me smile AND made me happy that you are loving the recipes. 🙂
This is absolutely delicious! My twelve year old twins loved it and had it a few days in a row. We had so much sauce (kept it separate from the pasta so the kids could put on what they wanted) that I put it on our new dogs kibble and she ate it up. Ha 😉 Thx for sharing such great recipes!!
Have you done this with instapot?
Not yet – sorry!
Any thoughts on doing this in the instant pot??? I forgot to get my slow cooker going this morning but wanted to make this tonight still.
There are some people in the comment thread who have done it in the IP with success!
Thanks!!! I looked a little ways Down but I explore further. 🙂 I ended up making it tonight the regular way. Can’t wait to taste it!!!
I don’t have either type of blender. Will a hand mixer get it close enough to the consistency needed?
Hmmm, I’m not sure…the sauce may have a bit more texture to it, but it’s worth a try!
This was my first time using butternut squash and the directions and recipe were awesome! My tortellini was just 19 oz (and frozen) so I added one chicken breast (sliced into small strips & cooked about 80% in a skillet with a bit of salt, pepper & sage) at the same time and everything came out super yummy! Thanks for expanding my horizons!
I buy tortellini from Costco but I freeze it. Can I just add it frozen?
It might make the overall dish a bit runnier, but you could definitely try that.
This recipe food blog gets reccomended to me often. This recipe was the first one I made. I have 2 very picky eaters. Every let me repeat Every person in my family liked this. Thank you! I didn’t have sage on hand so I substituted it with oregano.
This looks so, so tasty. We’re remodeling our kitchen right now and the only appliance I have for cooking is my slow cooker. I’m sure it won’t be quite as amazing, but would it still work to just toss in the onions, etc. without sautéing them first do you think?
If that’s the case, I’d probably leave the onions out and use onion powder.
I didn’t sauté as I forgot to and it turned out fine!
I have tried this with tortellini and it worked incredibly. I’m pondering trying with gnocchi next week, do you think it would work?
Sounds promising! I think gnocchi might have a tendency to get overcooked and turn mushy/gluey, so I’d keep an eye on that.
I have a 1 lb bag of pre-cut butternut squash that says it contains 5 cups. Is that enough for this recipe, or should I use 2 bags or half the recipe? It looks like it would measure close to 4 cups, not quite 5 to me. Thanks!
I would use two bags or halve the recipe since the recipe calls for 2 pounds.
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Just made this today. AMAZING!! Thank you so much!
We love this recipe and I really wanted to make it tonight but decided to at 3:30pm. Obviously not enough time to do it in the slow cooker so I pulled out my amazing Instant pot and it did not disappoint. It even turned into a one pot meal with the sauté feature used for the onion and garlic. Cooked the squash for 10 minutes on High and then used quick release. Mixed in the cheese and puréed it then added the tortellini put on slow cooker High function for 30 minutes and it was done. I will probably make it this way from now on especially since it is a meal my 2 year old gobbles it up! Thank you!
Sweet! So happy to know this transitioned so well to the Instant Pot!
I just made this delicious meal in my instant pot last night and I cooked the squash for 6 minutes. It worked wonderfully well! I love this recipe!
Mel, my family loves, loves this recipe. I recently got an instant pot. Have you tried making this in the instant pot? How long would you cook the butternut squash for? Then use the saute function for cooking the tortellini?
I haven’t tried it in the IP yet, Kelley, so I’m not exactly sure, but maybe try 8-10 minutes for the squash?
Tried this with regular pasta in the instant pot. Super yummy!
We’re not really big fans of butternut squash in my house, but this was AMAZING. I didn’t have time to saute the onion and garlic, so I just threw in a teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder and it was delicious…tons of flavor. Just in case anyone else is always looking for shortcuts like me. 🙂 Thank you for this recipe! It’s a keeper.
Mel, I finally made this tonight, and we loved it! I used 3 ounces of cream cheese, chicken stock instead of broth, and lots of ravioli. The ravioli was frozen and took forever to heat through, so next time I will cook that on the stove. Thanks for a great recipe!
My daughter told me about this site a few months ago. I am so sorry I didn’t know about it earlier because everything I have tried is delicious and I can’t wait to try it all. I made this last night and it is one of the best things I have ever eaten. Thank you!
So happy you are enjoying the recipes, Linda!
New favorite. I think I’ve made it once a week for the last month. Thank you!
My family loves this, and so do the sister missionaries. I made this for them a few weeks ago and they dubbed it the “best member dinner ever.” They requested it again this week, as did my daughter for her birthday. So simple, yet so delicious. Thanks for such an awesome recipe.
So good! I’ve made it twice. It makes my heart happy. Next year, I’m growing a garden full of butternut squash!
Question: This recipe was delicious! I had a lot of the sauce leftover. Do you think it would work as the sauce for your butternut squash risotto?
I’ve never tried that Jennifer – certainly worth a try or you could probably freeze it and use later.
I made this tonight for supper. In truth, I think I burned myself out on squash this year and didn’t appreciate it as much as others might. I am just squashed-out, I guess. The sauce idea is very creative, and mine turned out very silky using my Blendtec. I love the idea of this dish, and I will put the rest in the freezer and take it out in a few months when I no longer feel overwhelmed by squash. And, consider yourself VERY fortunate if you can find cubed, frozen squash. I about threw my peeler and knife out the window after I finished prepping my squash this morning (even using the “tips” that are out there, it still is a crappy process). Now what to do with the 20 squash that are still sitting in my garage…
This was awesome! We used the 4 oz of cream cheese.
This looks fabulous. Did you use grated or shredded Parmesan? The pic looks like there’s shredded Parmesan on top but the recipe says grated. Want to make sure I get this Right!
Hi Brinley – I think it is just a matter of semantics. 🙂 I always have a big block of Parmesan cheese and I grate/shred it myself. That’s what I used here.
This was so delicious. Ours turned out a bit more soup-like than your picture, but I actually prefer a soup with extra “broth.” It was so silky and creamy. We used the full 8 oz. of cream cheese and loved it…didn’t find it one-note or overwhelmed with cream cheese flavor. It seemed absolutely perfect to us! Thanks for this one.
I made this last night. I was hoping that this would persuade my husband and kids to like ravioli or tortellini. I LOVED this, but the kids refused to eat more than a few bites. I did add a little chopped apple to add sweetness and I added a couple of tablespoons of leftover heavy cream (and a little less cream cheese) at the end. It was really delicious. I would eat the sauce as a soup without the pasta it was so good. Some day I will get my kids to like tortellini and ravioli!
Hi Mel,
I decided to try this recipe since so many others have tried it already. My family was VERY concerned when they saw the crockpot cooking with the squash. But I told them to keep an open mind. When it was ready, both my husband and daughter thought it was delicious!
I used frozen cubed squash (which I thawed out before cooking) and I used spinach and cheese ravioli since in your pictures the pasta looked more like ravioli than tortellini. I was not a fan of the spinach in the ravioli, so next time I will stick to a cheese or meaty pasta. But I will say it was so gratifying to see my 14 yr old daughter eat this dish (and eat leftovers of it) when she is NOT a veggie fan! Truly miraculous! Thank you so much for your fantastic recipes 🙂
This was amazing! My kids tolerated it but that just meant more for me! And I’m not happy about your recent Reese’s cheesecake post because now I’m going to have to try it out to see if it’s as good as you say. I will let you know! Thanks for yet another amazing recipe!
I was able to customize the sauce to my vegan life style and it was fabulous. I have put the sauce over everything possible. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. I cook many of your recipes for my family and have never had a complaint only compliments.
How did you customize to be vegan?
Hi Mel, Do you think the recipe would cook well in the slow cooker if I halved the recipe?
Thanks
Yes!
I made this dish with 16 oz of cream cheese and woah . . . I agree it wasn’t my favorite. I thought it was rather one note. Texture was all the same and very thick when eaten as leftovers. I consider this my fault due to the excess about of cream cheese, I added. I remember I checked the recipe multiple times like “seriously, 4 blocks of cream cheese?”
Hi Amy, whenever I write a recipe up with multiple blocks of cream cheese I put it as 4 (8-ounces each) packages cream cheese so I’m sorry the range of 4-8 ounces confused you (and a few others it sounds like). I’ve added “to” in the ingredients list to make it more clear.