Slow Cooker Tortellini Sausage Potato Soup
This slow cooker tortellini sausage potato soup is so easy to make…and so uniquely delicious! There’s no other soup quite like it. I get asked for the recipe every time I make it!
Well, I’ve officially made this slow cooker tortellini sausage potato soup every week for the last three weeks. Once just for our family. Another time for a large gathering at our house all in the name of football. And lastly as a take-in meal for my neighbor.
It’s so good, you guys. And totally unlike any other tortellini soup (and slow cooker soup, for that matter) that I’ve seen out there on the world wide web. In a million years, I probably never would have paired these ingredients together in a soup. And I certainly wouldn’t have thrown it all in the slow cooker.
But thank goodness someone decided to do both.
I was pretty excited when Jana, a MKC reader, emailed me about this “favorite soup of hers” recipe. I was intrigued from the beginning! Since I’m me, I couldn’t help changing up a bunch of things, but the end result is a crazy delicious soup! Also (sidenote), have I mentioned how much I love it when you guys send me the recipes? It’s seriously like Christmas morning for me. The best.
If you’re looking to take your soup game up a notch, this slow cooker tortellini sausage potato soup (with spinach, don’t forget!) is exactly what you need. In a lineup of soups at your next church function or neighborhood potluck, it’s going to get some serious attention. Creamy soups always do, have you noticed that?
Plus, hello, tortellini! Those soft little pillows filled with cheesy goodness are just one part of what makes this soup spectacular.
Every time I’ve served this over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten requests for the recipe. It’s just that kind of soup. Different enough to make you stop and think about it seriously, but delicious enough to almost make you lose your mind until you realize you’re on your third bowl and don’t know whether to be embarrassed or just straight up own it.
The best part of it all is that other than peeling half a dozen potatoes and browning some sausage, it couldn’t be easier.
I like using a variety of sweet potatoes AND Yukon Gold/yellow potatoes, but you could definitely use all of one or the other. Those sweet potatoes give such a delicious contrast to the cheesy, salty flavor of the tortellini (and the spicy flavor of the sausage, if you’re using a kicky variety).
And there’s just enough spinach in there to make us all feel better about having a few carbs in our lives.
I’ve given some other suggestions/variations in the notes below the recipe, so make sure to read the recipe and notes fully before making!
Also, if you are curious, I haven’t tried making this in the Instant Pot, but if you experiment, be sure to report back! I’m thinking a good starting place would be to cook the potatoes + broth + parsley + garlic on high pressure for 6-ish minutes, quick release, add the rest of the ingredients and cook on high pressure for another 2 minutes or so.
I hope you love this one of a kind soup! Everyone around here agrees it’s definitely something special.
One Year Ago: Turkey {or Chicken} and Brown Rice Soup {Instant Pot or Stovetop}
Two Years Ago: Buttery Fluffy Cornmeal Dinner Rolls
Three Years Ago: Holiday Pomegranate Guacamole
Four Years Ago: Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes
Five Years Ago: Apple Dapple Cake with Warm Vanilla Cream Sauce
Slow Cooker Tortellini Sausage Potato Spinach Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound peeled, chopped sweet potatoes (about 2-3 medium potatoes)
- 1 pound peeled, chopped Yukon gold or yellow potatoes (about 3 medium potatoes)
- 3 cups chicken broth, I use low-sodium
- ½ tablespoon dried parsley
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
- ½ to 1 pound ground sausage, regular or spicy, cooked and crumbled (grease drained)
- 9 to 12 ounce package cheese tortellini (see note)
- 2 cups half and half (see note)
- 2 to 3 handfuls fresh spinach, torn into pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To the insert of a 5- or 6-quart (or similar size) slow cooker, add the potatoes, chicken broth, parsley, and garlic. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours until the potatoes are tender.
- Leave the potatoes in chunks OR lightly mash them in the slow cooker until slightly chunky (I prefer mashing the potatoes lightly).
- Stir in the cooked sausage, tortellini, half and half, and spinach. Cook on high for 20-30 mins until the tortellini is tender. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper! The soup will thicken slightly as it cools (refrigerated leftovers will thicken quite a bit).
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: inspired by a recipe a MKC reader, Jana D., sent me (thanks so much, Jana!)
Cannot even count how many times I’ve made this soup!!! It’s incredible!
I browned the sausage in my 8 qt instant pot, added the potatoes, broth, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper and cooked it on high for 3 minutes. After a quick release, finished it on saute for a couple of minutes with heavy cream, tortellini and some kale because thats what I had. It was quick, easy, all in one pot and came out great! I cut up the sweet potatoes too small so they did not hold their shape which was fine with me, but the quartered baby gold potatoes were perfect. The sausage didn’t seem to have a boiled meat texture.
Hi I have made this recipe and it was delicious, however, wondering why you add the sausage later and not while the potatoes are cooking ? I did add it last the first time I made it, but am making it today again and am thinking about adding the sausage to it so the flavors all combine before the tortellini goes in later. What are your thoughts on this ?
You definitely can add the sausage sooner! I prefer it added at the end because I like the texture of the sausage best that way (it can take on a bit of a boiled texture if added sooner).
I have this in the crock pot now after seeing it in your email and reading all of the great reviews! We can’t do sausage because of an allergy so I’m going to put some rotisserie chicken in instead. I REALLY hope it turns out as great as everyone says the original recipe is!
Absolutely fantastic recipe! Delicious and very easy to make! Have made it 2x in the past 3 weeks and both times it lasted less than 24 hours with my family of 3 teenage boys (who don’t eat spinach or sweet potatoes!) Only addition I made was chopping up a Vidalia onion and browning it with the sausage. Other than that, made it exactly as directed. Perfection! Will definitely be adding this to our regular rotation! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Just made this today and it’s tasty! I had to add an extra cup and a half of broth because it was super thick. I also added a tsp of ground sage and loved how it turned out. Thanks for a yummy recipe!
This soup is amazing. I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the reviews and I’d be disappointed— but it is every bit as good as everyone says.
I cooked the tortellini separately, but probably won’t bother to do that next time.
My husband doesn’t like sweet potatoes, but I added them as directed, and he loved this!
We had a house full of company this weekend and I needed something easy, delicious, and made in advance. It might become our new Halloween dinner tradition! Thanks for another delicious recipe, Mel.
Anyone know what cheese Mel used to garnish this soup? I swear last year this recipe mentioned pecorino cheese but now it doesn’t mention a cheese garnish at all. Any recommendations?
Hi Jess, it’s Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (from Costco).
So yummy! Warm, creamy, and delicious. This one has been on repeat at our house after I had it at a friend’s house in the spring. Maybe my favorite soup recipe ever!
I made this in the Instant Pot last night and wanted to report back here. Overall it turned out well, but I did run into some mishaps. See my wordy detailed report below, or scroll to the end to read my conclusion 😉
Per your recommendation, I cooked the potatoes, broth, parsley, and garlic on high for 7 minutes in the cooker (I let the pressure naturally release for a couple of minutes and then did a quick release). The potatoes were perfect. I slightly mashed them and added the remaining ingredients. I noticed the pot was slightly full but didn’t think much of it. I closed it up and set it to cook for 2 more minutes on high. It never fully came to pressure before I got a “burn” warning (but that took about 10 minutes to show up). When the burn warning didn’t go away, I turned off the pressure cooker and did a quick-released.
This proved to be messy business as the thickened creamy potato broth squirted out of the vent and got everywhere. I put a cloth over the vent hoping that would help, but soon the broth was overflowing out of the back spill-catcher thing. I turned the quick-release off and waited for a few minutes and tried again. It was still messy, but the pressure finally released enough that I could open the lid. The bottom was in fact burned, but everything else was perfect.
I’m no pressure cooker expert, so perhaps someone else has some insight, but I think there were a couple of factors that prevented the cooker from coming to pressure during the second time. 1) The cooker was too full for my 6-quart cooker. 2) The broth was too thick to naturally release (although it never got to pressure; the 10 minutes it took to get to pressure was enough to cook the tortellini), so it should have been naturally released. 3) The spinach probably should have been added at the very end and not pressure cooked– some spinach had got caught around the vent in the top of the lid which wasn’t bad but prevented the pressure from released faster.
I’d definitely try this again in a pressure cooker. Next time I think after the potatoes are cooked I’ll add everything but the spinach and move to “keep warm”, close the lid and see if the tortellini cooks that way in about 15-20 minutes. Then I’d add the spinach for a few minutes and serve.
Thanks for another great recipe. Life is Good 🙂
I see now that a few others already commented on using the pressure cooker–why didn’t I see these yesterday when I looked?! Anyway, it looks like they used the saute function after cooking the potatoes, so maybe I’d do that next time as well rather than the “keep warm”.
Life is Good 🙂
This soup is amazing! I was skeptical at first – I couldn’t quite picture how it would taste but there were so many good reviews I decided to try it. I’m SO glad I did!! We love this soup and it has gone into my regular rotation. I have several anti-sweet potato eaters so I always do it with Yukon gold only and it turns out wonderfully. I have made it for crowds and everyone always can’t quite believe how good it is. Thanks for such a delicious and unique recipe!!
This was excellent! I made two batches, one as written and the other vegetarian, I subbed vegetable broth for the chicken broth and omitted the sausage. That batch wasn’t as thick but delicious as well. I might add a few more potatoes/ sweet potatoes next time to thicken it up. Thanks for a unique and delicious recipe, My whole family loved it.
Hi! I want to make this for a work lunch and wonder if i could make it the night before, mostly in advance (less the tortellini), then warm it the morning of in the crockpot at work and THEN add tortellini for the 20-30 minutes. What do you think? Or should i just make the whole thing the night before and warm it (only worried about the tortellini getting too swollen and exploding with saturation from sitting in the broth).
Yes, I think that would work! I would add the tortellini the next day so it doesn’t get too soft and mushy.
Has anyone tried this recipe without the meat? Is it still tasty?
My crew loves this one without the tortellini. Perfect fall meal. Mmmmmm
Could you use frozen potatoes?
I haven’t tried that, but I’m sure you could.
Did you use Italian sausage or “country” type sausage?
I used country-style.
I just made this today in the Instant Pot following the suggestions from a reader in a previous comment. It turned out great and I’m excited to serve it tonight! 🙂
My favorite soup!!
I’m looking really forward to making this!: ) Can I leave it in the slow cooker for up to 8 hours, or do you think that would be too long? I work during the day, and I won’t be home in time to turn it off after 6 hours. Thanks! 🙂
Yes, I think you could leave it for 8 hours (without the tortellini!).
Finally got around to making this one. It’s delicious! Definitely a keeper.
My husband (who isn’t a lover of sweet potato) devoured this soup. He single handedly worked his way through all the leftovers for his lunches the few days after I made it. I liked it well enough but it won’t make it to the regulars list, much to my husband’s disgust, because the kids weren’t fans at all. Which was mystifying because I only made it on the grounds it had all their faves right there in one meal; sausage, tortellini, potato – what’s not to like! Oh well, you win some you lose some.
Thanks for your site, I’ll be making the chicken dumpling soup this week which looks like a crowd pleaser..fingers crossed….
I have a bag of frozen tortilenni already. Would this work in place of the refrigerated, if I just cooked it a bit longer?
Yes, I think so!
Absolutely amazing. Kids loved it, adults loved it. And so simple to make!!! Made it for Christmas Eve with guests over. They all asked for the recipe. My kids have been asking for this soup weekly.
Oh my goodness! This is Amazing. Thank you
This was delicious. I made a double batch for a family reunion and there was only a couple of servings left over which didn’t last beyond the next day.
I’ve cooked this twice now and it is a hit with my whole family. This last time I did it on the stove top and added a few more veggies and it was still a winner.
This was very hearty and tasty! I used whole milk instead of half and half and thought the consistency was still good. Thank you!
I’m confused about tortellini. Does it need to be cooked separately and then added to the soup, ir is it meant to go straight from the package into the soup and cook as it simmers?
No, I don’t cook it separately – I add it uncooked to the slow cooker and it cooks in the soup that way.
Can you make this with red potatoes? Will it still turn out okay? Thanks!
I haven’t tried that, but you could definitely experiment!
We made this last night and it was SO good! I don’t like sweet potatoes so we used all yellow potatoes. And because the only yellow potatoes at my grocery store were the little ones, I didn’t even bother peeling them – just quartered and threw them in – which made the soup even easier to make! Everyone in my family loved it – will be putting this in our regular rotation for sure! Thanks!
Hello. I made this soup last night and everyone enjoyed it very much. I would like to make this over the holidays. I would need to double the recipe though. I see that you mentioned that you did double this with success. My question is will the double amount of potatoes cook in 5-6 hours, or will they need more time? I did cube the potatoes about 1/2 inch when I made this last night and they were still slightly firm at the 5 hour mark. I still was able to mash a bit and it was delicious. (By the way, I only used russet potatoes because that’s what I had on hand. I did not use sweet potatoes).
When I’ve doubled this, I’ve used the same cooking times, but if your potatoes were still firm, I’d suggest adding a bit more time.
I made this today, and it was delicious!! We loved it. It was very easy to throw together. I will absolutely make this again. Thank you!!
Hi Mel,
I have a question about the potatoes. About what size is chopped? I’m guessing 1/2” cubes or is that too small? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Yes, I’d say right around 1/2-inch or so. Maybe even slightly larger especially if you are lightly mashing them.
I made this tonight and it was delicious but not soupy at all. My kids ate it with a fork. I mashed a few potatoes but definitely not all. I made it in my slow cooker and the potatoes just disintegrated. I also used Costco’s Tortellini, my favorite. I’m going to try it again but add an additional cup of broth and not mash the potatoes. It didn’t look appetizing at all but tasted pretty good, which is usually how most of my food turns out.
This soup is so delicious! Mashing up a few of the sweet potatoes made the broth so yummy! One of my favorite soups ever!!
Thanks, Ashli!
We LOVED this soup! My amazing chef of a mother-in-law shared dinner with us that night & I was so proud when she asked for the recipe. Go Mel!! Go me! I made with turkey sausage & frozen kale instead of spinach because it was what I had. Thanks for another winning recipe!
Yes, GO YOU!! That’s awesome!
I made this soup the other day and my family LOVED it! So good!
Happy to hear that, Jessica. Thank you!
I always feel uncertain when finding and choosing sausage. When you say “regular,” can you expound on what you mean exactly? Thank you!
I use the sausage that is packaged similarly to hamburger – ground pork sausage that needs to be cooked and crumbled before using. Often it’s packaged in different flavors – hot, Italian, mild, maple, etc. I just choose your average mild (sometimes Italian) sausage. Does that help?
Yes, thank you! I think my confusion is just that I almost never see anything other than Italian or breakfast sausage. I think I need to try different stores!
Have you ever used frozen tortellini in this recipe?
I haven’t, but I’m sure it would work ok!
Made this last night. Once again, your recipe didn’t disappoint! Greatt flavors and a crock pot (or pressure cooker) recipe is always one that catches my eye. Love how I could set my slow cooker for 6 hrs to cook the potatoes and then just had to add the remaining ingredients when I got home from work. Looking forward to leftovers today :). Thanks for another winner, Mel!
Thanks so much for checking in to let me know, Katie!!
I made this tonight and it was a BIG hit! So delicious!!! Thank you for the yummy new recipe to add to our collection.
Thanks, Tricia!
Can you make this recipe on the stove?
I believe several people in the comment thread below made it on the stovetop with great results.