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!)
This recipe is delicious. The whole family loved it!
Made this tonight and I may make it again tomorrow! Huge hit and it was just what I was looking for to switch up my soup game. Soup perfection.
Yessss! Happy to hear this!
This soup is AMAZING! My family loved it. I used my instant pot to cook the potatoes in the broth. 8minutes, with a natural release of about 30 minutes, whoops ( forgot my son had tutoring after school and ended up waiting in the school parking lot for awhile). My sweet potatoes ended up mushy but my Yukon golds were ok. Added the rest of ingredients and turned on sauté until it all started to look like it was about to boil. I then turned it to warm and let sit for a bit and it was perfect.
Loving all these instant pot testimonials for this soup! Glad it worked out!
So you cook ONLY the potatoes in the instant pot, then sauté the rest?
I make a lot of soups, and I mean A LOT. My husband told me after I made this that it’s the best soup I’ve ever made I didn’t use any sweet potato and added some frozen peas.
Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Wow, that’s awesome!
Made this for dinner last night and it was super delicious! My husband requested kale next time to be more like Toscana soup. We will definitely be making this again in the winter months. Thanks!
Yum, I bet kale would be fantastic.
Just wondering if frozen cubed butternut squash would work in place of the sweet potatoes? Thanks
I think so!
We loved this! Even bought a new crockpot bc cord on old was looking dodgy and “This is Us’ fear . . . – price of new Crockpot totally a win for this recipe alone!! Somehow I bought sweet potatoes that were white instead of orange yams- not sure which I was supposed to use but the white sweet potatoes were fab. Thanks Mel!
Haha, I shouldn’t have laughed at the morbid This is Us reference, but I did. And yes, white sweet potatoes will work, too!
I first had this about a month ago at a very large gathering. People loved it (including myself) and were asking for the recipe! I just made it last night. I used Jana’s recipe (she’s my sister-in-law) that was used for the meeting, which called for all white potatoes and all cream! So delicious!! I took it to my sisters house and she’s made it too. I wondered why it wasn’t as thick as at the meeting and she explained that to get a thicker consistency I needed to mash my potatoes up more. But I actually liked it a little more runny. I ate it for both lunch and supper today and can’t wait to eat the rest… Maybe for midnight snack!!!
We made this last night on the stove. So fast and easy! Best of all it tasted amazing. My son said, “we need to donate like $500 to Mel. I want to meet her and thank her in person for all the delicious food she has brought into my life.” Hahaha! Thanks for another home run!
Haha…I like your son!! 🙂
Delicious! Loved my all 7 family members= ultimate success. Used 2% milk in place of cream only because I was fresh out, and it was still yummy and rich. Thanks Mel!
Thanks so much, Ellen!
Hi Mel! Thanks for all of your great recipes. My daughter always asks if whatever new dish we are trying is yours. 😉 When you bring soup to a friend, what do you bring it in? I always like to use disposable dishes so they don’t have to wash and return them, but I can’t think of a good way to transport soup.
Thanks, Rebecca! 🙂 I keep some of those super deep aluminum pans on hand (the sides are 4-5 inches tall) and I use those for soups a lot. It makes transporting them a bit tricky, but I cover with a double layer of aluminum foil and put them on a sheet pan in my car. Otherwise, I try to keep an eye out when the large, disposable Rubbermaid-type tupperwares are on sale and grab a few of those (and then make sure to tell the person I’m bringing dinner to that they don’t need to wash it and get it back to me – they can keep it).
Thank you! And I think someone needs to invent a disposable soup container. 😉
Do you ever get the Farrs ice cream tubs? I like to save those for soup.
That’s a great idea!
Had to chime in here…
I make alot I mean a lot of instant pot soups.. and after I post on Facebook my neighbor wants to try it.. all the time. So, I got these salad soup containers off the internet they have large and small ones. Just make sure to get the ones with locking lids.. I wish I could show you the link where I got mine… if you can email me do so…
Hope this helps
This one was sooo yummy! It has been cold and rainy for days now and I needed a creamy, hearty soup to warm us all up. I used a white sweet potato and some Yukon golds so that my kids and husband wouldn’t turn up their noses at the orange pieces before they even tried it. Everyone loved it and my husband and I were fighting over who got to eat the leftovers the next day for lunch. Thank you for another winner!
Thanks, Amanda!
This soup is AMAZING! Restaurant quality and so easy to make. I put the potatoes in the crockpot in the morning before work and completed the recipe when I got home. I doubled it and used 1 lb regular and 1 lb hot sausage. I only have a 6 qt crockpot so I just made the tortellini in a separate pot and added it to the individual bowls of soup. I prefer to do that anyway, so that the leftover pasta is not sitting in the soup overnight. I will definitely make this again. Even my teen boys liked it!
Glad this worked out for you, Melanie! Thanks for the notes!
Great soup! Loved the potatoes—both kinds—with the other ingredients in the soup. And especially loved the instant pot instructions in the comments!
I agree the comment suggestions have been so helpful!
YUM!!! This was so delicious! I bought the ingredients yesterday to make a huge batch for Sunday dinner for family coming over, but couldn’t wait and made it today. I will just have to make another batch on Sunday because it was just that good!!!
Pretty awesome if you’re wiling to eat it twice in a week (I ate it three times in a week a while back and was not sad about it). 🙂
I made this last night on the stovetop. Very easy. Cooked the potatoes in the broth. Fried the sausage. I added an entire small package of baby spinach. Combined everything and simmered for 15 or 20 minutes. I did add extra broth. Also I found as the soup sat and cooled it thickened quite a bit so I added more broth again. I didn’t care for the taste of the Italian sausage so will try it with plain next time. I was pleasantly surprised with how much my family liked this.
Thanks for the feedback on making it on the stovetop, Jeanne!
Forgot to rate it!
So, so yummy! Dinner’s always a bit of a madhouse for us, but I asked my husband afterwards if he liked it and he said, “no, that’s why I only had 3 bowls.” 🙂 SO delicious. I will definitely add this one to the “favorites.” I also used turkey sausage and used 1 c. cream and 1 c. milk and it was perfectly creamy. Thanks Mel, I love your blog! Whenever we have a new dish, my husband asks, “is this from Mel?” and then, “she never lets us down.” 🙂 It’s true!
Thanks so much, Jennie! Also thanks for including your variations!
This was so so yummy! I made the potatoes in the instant pot(8 minutes on high pressure- quick release) then added the rest and used the sauté function. It was so fast and so yummy!
Great way to use the IP. Thanks, Rachael!
This was a delicious and filling rich-tasting soup. We enjoyed it with kale salad and a hearty roll. It cooked perfectly in four hours on high in my new crock pot. I think it cooks ‘hotter’ than my very old model.
Thanks for the feedback, Eleanor!
I was super excited to try this soup tonight. I had a large sweet potato that I wanted to use, so perfect timing. However, I’m afraid that the sweet potato was a bit too large for this recipe. I had high hopes since you mentioned that it’s possible to use all of one type of potato. In the end, I threw in a few Russet potatoes for good measure – too much orange going on. The consensus was that the soup was too “sweet potatoe-y” and not enough flavor. I used the Better Than Bouillon paste for the chicken broth, which I think was too mild. My husband thinks that next time we should use spicy sausage, too. With all that being said – tonight’s attempt was kind of lack luster. I will be trying it again with a different combination of potatoes, stronger sausage, and more flavorful broth. Just about every recipe I’ve made of yours has been a knock out, so I’m not giving up on this one just yet. 🙂
Thanks for the review, Stephanie! Sometimes it’s amazing how much extra salt and pepper and the end can help too so keep that in mind if you try it again.
This was a winner at our house! I subbed kale for the spinach. Thanks so much for this yummy recipe!
Thanks for checking in to let me know!
This was fantastic! It sounded so good to me that I wanted to make it right away. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I had to make some changes. And, like most all of your recipes, it’s still turned out awesomely delicious! I made it on the stovetop, just cooked up my potatoes in the chicken broth, adding a little extra broth and garlic because I was cooking it on the stove. My kids don’t love sweet potatoes, so I diced them very small, to look like carrots, 😉 and threw them in after the other potato chunks were halfway cooked. Also, I didn’t have ground sausage, so I just fried up the Hillshire Farms loop of smoked turkey sausage I had on hand and threw it in. And… I was out of tortellini, so I just used some small bowtie pasta. lol! I know that’s a ton of changes, so I’m really not qualified to write a true review about this recipe, ha ha! But my point is, it was very versatile and easy to adapt, and still turned out so very tasty. All my family loved it! I was hoping for leftovers, but we ate every last drop! Thanks! 🙂
I love the review! And I love your changes. So happy it worked out with all the variations – that’s the best kind of recipe (and way to be a rock star and totally wing it!).
OH MY WORD. Best soup of the season. It was SO EASY to throw together. Literally the hardest thing was cooking up some sausage and peeling potatoes (first world problems). I thought my picky kids wouldn’t go for the orange and green in it but they devoured it. A friend came over and I insisted she eat a bow and she said it was the best soup she had eve had. Such a great comforting, easy soup that has deep flavors and makes you want to make it for every upcoming potluck and function—maybe not cause then I would have to share.
I even had some for breakfast today 🙂
So happy to read this, Sallie! It always feels good when someone agrees with me. Haha. 🙂
Made it! Loved it! Thank you!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know!
This is one of those soups that you can argue tastes better the next day, and it’s pretty delish same-day so that’s saying something. I used the instant pot but did the potatoes/broth/herbs for 7 minutes, quick release then added the rest for 3 minutes. Mainly because I’m paranoid that 6 minutes wasn’t enough. My potatoes were perfect and were still firm/together the next day. I’m betting it would work just fine on the stovetop too, it’s similar in ingredients and method to the Zuppa Toscana recipe you have!
Thanks for the IP feedback, Piper! So helpful for others (and me!). {Sidenote: I don’t think I have a Zuppa Toscana recipe posted, though!}
Have you tried this with fat free half and half?
I use the fat free in a lot of cream soups and don’t notice much difference in flavor in some, but there’s a few soups that I use the good stuff in because it needs it. Just curious if you’d tried it and if so, is this one that needs the real stuff or is it good with the fat free version?
Hey Stacey – I use fat free half and half sometimes, too, but I haven’t tried it in this recipe. Sorry!! My gut feeling is it will probably work, but the texture may be slightly less rich and maybe even a bit grainy.
Could this be made on the stovetop?
Made this last night for supper and it was good. We are few so will have it as leftovers for a while. One thing I did differently was to keep the tortellini separated from the soup until i served it so they don’t absorb a lot of the broth and get huge and mushy. I put the heated tortellini in each soup bowl and poured some soup over that. Worked great!
Glad you enjoyed it, Beth!
I don’t see any advantage to making this in the slow cooker. I guess you can leave it for hours, but potatoes don’t take long to cook anyway. You still have to cook the tortellini in at the end, and you still have to cook the sausage in another pan. I think I’ll try it on the stovetop and just dirty the one pan.
Yummy
Hi Mel:
I made this in the Instant Pot following your suggestions. I think it worked perfectly, but the sweet potatoes disintegrated a bit, and a couple of the tortellini exploded, which just made the broth a little more creamy. Definitely a keeper, and so quick!
That’s awesome it *kind of* worked in the Instant Pot! Thanks for the comment to help others who may want to try it that way!
I made it in an 8 qt InstantPot tonight and it turned out great! I put the potatoes, broth, and seasoning in the IP and set it to high pressure for 3 minutes and then did natural release for 5 minutes before manually releasing the pressure. I cooked the meat on the stove during this time. When the potatoes were done (the potatoes were perfect), I switched the IP to saute and added everything else (used frozen tortellinis). I let it simmer for about 8-10 minutes. It was delicious and relatively quick this way! Thanks Mel! Your recipes never disappoint!
Thanks so much for the feedback, Jenny!
I will try it this way next time. 6 minutes was too long and the sweet potatoes disintegrated. I think sauté is a great idea too since the second pressurization curdled the half and half and made quick release messy. Still yummy though! Thanks for the recipe!
Made this today and it was delicious!! Used all regular potatoes because that’s what I had but all 5 kids ate it. Perfect winter soup! Thanks again Mel for sharing your time and talents with all of us!!
Thank you so much for making it AND checking back in so fast to let me know! So happy you liked it!
I’m curious about what sort of sausage you’ve used. Is it the sort that goes with spaghetti, something more like pork breakfast sausage, or some other type of sausage?
I used a crumbled Italian-type sausage (although the flavor was pretty mellow) but someone else in the comments said they’ve made this soup with kielbasa (like already cooked polish sausage) and it was delicious, too.
Tis the season!! I went to a ladies lunch last week and the hostess served Sausage Tortellini Soup. Your recipe sounds delicious.
Thank you for another yummy recipe, Mel! Do you think this could this be adapted for the Instant pot? If so, how?
I haven’t tried it but gave some quick notes up above in the post for those wondering: 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.
When you say sweet potato do you mean the orange yams or actual sweet potatoes? (Ya know, the white ones)
Yeah, that can be confusing. I use the orange yams (although obviously refer to them incorrectly as sweet potatoes). 🙂 Either one would work here.
The plant nerd in me just has to chime in: both the orange and white are sweet potatoes! It annoys me to no end that grocery stores everywhere have them named as two different things when in reality they are just different varieties. Yams are a completely different animal…er, plant. So you just go on calling them sweet potatoes!
The soup looks delicious, and using either white or orange sweet potatoes, I will definitely be making it soon!
Thanks for clarifying the potato mystery. Seems like the white sweet potatoes are a bit less sweet–is that true? I’m thinking I’d prefer those in this recipe, as sweetness sometimes tastes a bit wrong to me in soup.
Thank you!! I clearly need to up my schooling game when it comes to sweet potatoes!
I made this tonight and it was SOO good. Perfect for a cold rainy night. Thank you so much for always having THE BEST recipes. I’ve never made anything of yours I don’t like.
Thanks for such a nice comment, Ally! Glad you loved this one!
America’s Test Kitchen did a blind test of tortellini a year or so ago and they recommend one of the dried shelf stable ones over the fresh. Maybe they just didn’t have access to the brand you favor. In any event, i plan to give this a try ASAP! Looks delish….
Oh that’s interesting, Beth! I’ve definitely not tried every shelf stable brand of tortellini so there’s probably some great ones out there (the few that I’ve tried were pretty awful).
Will frozen tortellini work in this recipe? It’s what I usually have on hand. It sounds absolutely amazing!! Can’t wait to try it.
I bet it would! Especially if it is a brand you prefer to use!
Do you have to sausage in it? Sounds good but I am a vegetarian, don’t like sausage at all
You could try leaving the sausage out!
What would you think about substituting kale or Swiss chard for the spinach? Not big spinach fans in my family.
I think that’s a great idea!
Is the first sentence in direction #2 supposed to be a duplicate of the last sentence of #1? You’re not cooking the potatoes for 10 hours, right?
I definitely need to try this recipe!
Oh yes, good catch, Terry. You’re not cooking the potatoes for 10 hours. Just 5-6 hours on low. Thanks!
I love soup espically in the winter and i like easy ones to do plys my hubby is now retired and he also loves soup as much as i do.
I seriously trust you Mel! I just visited your site, and had this recipe printed and plugged into this week’s meal plan within 10 seconds of arriving. Thanks for the incredible recipes, time after time.
… and now I’ll be singing “Time after Time” for the rest of the day 🙂
Haha…thanks for the laugh! Hope you love this one!
Hey Mel!
I ordered a boatload of games and scooter based on your recommendations, thanks so much! Also this recipe…can I sub red potatoes or would that take away from the yumminess of it?? ♀️
I think it’s definitely worth a try! The original recipe had all yellow potatoes (I changed it up with the sweet potatoes) so red potatoes would probably work!
Soup + slow cooker + listed ingredients =I am making this as soon as I can get the ingredients. Thanks! This sounds like a winner for this winter.
Thanks, Linda!
My husband doesn’t like sweet potatoes. Could I substitute white potatoes?
Yes, you could sub out the sweet potatoes for more yukon gold or white potatoes.
Sounds delicious! Would freezing leftovers be an option?
Hey Nancy – I’m not sure how well this soup would freeze – because of the dairy content and the tortellini, it might be a little grainy (and the tortellini really soft) after freezing and thawing, but it might be worth a try!
Hi Mel! Thanks so much for the heads up with the Cyber Monday Bosch deals! However, I can’t seem to get the coupon codes to work. The best luck I had so far is with the baker’s package. The coupon code only takes an additional $5 off though. Is that because the package is already on sale? It’s doesn’t seem anywhere near $110 off even if the sale price is wrapped in. Hopefully you can help me. I’ve wanted a Bosch for some time. I believe this is the year! I have potatoes and tortellini already. I think this soup was meant to be our dinner tonight as well!
Hey Lisa – sorry for the confusion on the Bosch codes. I just updated the post to be more clear. All the packages (except the large Holiday bundle) are already fully discounted for one day only. The coupon code for the Baker’s Package (BAKERCM18) will get you an additional $5 off and the coupon code (BOSCHCM18) for the Bosch Universal mixer will get you cookie or cake paddles for free (add both the Bosch mixer and the cake or cookie paddles to your cart and the coupon code will discount the cake or cookie paddles to free). Does that make sense?? Let me know if you have other questions! I’ll be so excited if you get a Bosch this year!!
I have every single ingredient called for in this yummy sounding recipe! It’s replacing tonight’s plan for dinner! Can’t wait! Thanks so much!
That’s awesome! I hope you like it, Holly!