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This Italian Sausage & Tortellini Skillet is a quick and delicious meal that cooks all in one pan using just five ingredients. It’s an easy weeknight meal that your entire family will be begging you to make over and over again!

We love Italian Sausage recipes because they pack a ton of flavor into a single meal, like Spicy Italian Sausage DipTortellini Soup, or Italian Sausage Meatballs. This Italian Sausage & Tortellini Skillet is no exception!

Tortellini and italina sausage in a large skillet with broiled cheese on top and a wooden spoon.
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Why We Love This Recipe

One Pan Meals are the kind of dinners you need in your weeknight recipe arsenal. They are quick, they are easy, and if you’re grabbing them from my site, I can guarantee they’re delicious!

This easy Italian Sausage and Tortellini Skillet meal is fast to prepare and so delicious. It’s a quick meal to get on the table when you’re in a hurry. With a quick prep of just 5-10 minutes, and a cook time of just 15 minutes, you’ll have dinner on the table in no time.

The tortellini is tender and flavorful, with an extra boost from being cooked right in the sauce. The sausage gives a nice savory, salty, or even spicy bite that compliments the creamy cheese. The leftovers are amazing, too!

There are just 5 simple ingredients, and it only takes about 30 minutes to make. Ground beef can be used instead of sausage but we love the flavors of ground Italian sausage with the tender cheesy pasta.

Ingredients

  • Italian Sausage – Ground Italian Sausage is so flavorful. You can use sausage links and just remove the casings if you like.
  • Refrigerated Tortellini – I always buy a few packages of refrigerated tortellini in my freezer so I can pull them out just for this recipe. You can usually find this in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. I have not tested with dry tortellini, but I’m sure it would work just with a little extra cook time.
  • Marinara – I keep a few jars of marinara sauce on hand at all times for a quick meal. But if I’m feeling a little extra I’ll whip up a batch of my Homemade Marinara Sauce or Homemade Spaghetti Sauce.
  • Onion + Garlic – Sauteed with the sausage for added flavor.
  • Water or Broth – I usually just opt for water but beef broth would add an extra flavor boost.

How To Make One Pan Italian Sausage and Tortellini

See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

Ground sausage and onion in a large skillet.
Cooked Italian sausage in a skillet.

Cook the Sausage. Start by cooking Italian Sausage with onions and garlic until the sausage is no longer pink. Use a wooden spoon to crumble the sausage as it cooks. Drain any extra grease from the skillet and return the sausage to the pan.

Tortellini, sauce and sausage in a skillet.

Add Sauce and Simmer. Add spaghetti sauce, water, seasonings, and tortellini to the pan and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and cook for 7-8 minutes or until the pasta is tender.

Tortellini and sausage in a skillet with broiled cheese.

Add Cheese and Broil. Remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. There are two methods for melting the cheese – cover and melt or broil. My favorite is under the broiler where you get those lovely crunchy brown bits as the mozzarella broils.

Serve. Garnish with fresh parsley or basil and serve immediately!

Tortellini and sausage served in bowls with forks.

Can I Use Frozen Tortellini?

A lot of comments I get ask about the type of tortellini. I have only used refrigerated tortellini with this recipe. However, a lot of readers have shared that they used frozen and it turned out beautifully. You’ll just need to adjust the cooking time slightly, and the frozen may result in more liquid, so be mindful of that.

Recipe Tips

  • Use fresh tortellini – I have found the refrigerated tortellini to be the freshest. The recipe calls for 20 ounces of refrigerated tortellini. I typically will pick up the 2-packs at Costco which are about 24 ounces – you can use that but may need to add more water. Buitoni also makes refrigerated tortellini in a 20-ounce package.
  • Cheese tortellini is best – My personal favorite is the five cheese from Costco, but you can use any flavor of tortellini that you like. Meat filled tends to have a different flavor though that doesn’t pair as well with the Italian Sausage in this recipe.
  • Onion and garlic are optional but preferred – They really do add another depth of flavor but do add about 10 minutes to the prep and cooking time. It’s a personal preference – you can easily omit those two ingredients, but I recommend using them as the flavor and the aroma can’t be beat.
Tortellini on a wooden spoon being served out of a pan.

More One Pan Meals to Try


Recipe

Italian Sausage & Tortellini Skillet

4.71 from 27 votes
This Italian Sausage & Tortellini Skillet is a delicious and simple one pan meal for an easy Italian Sausage recipe that your family will love!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup diced onion optional
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic (2 cloves) optional
  • 1 pound ground Italian sausage mild or spicy
  • 24 ounces your favorite spaghetti sauce or marinara
  • 20 ounces fresh cheese tortellini 2 9-ounce packages will do
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Mozzarella cheese
  • ½ cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Fresh chopped parsley or basil optional

Instructions
 

  • Heat an oven safe skillet over medium-high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon olive oil and add onions, cooking for a couple of minutes or until they begin to soften. 
  • Stir in minced garlic and add crumbled italian sausage. Cook until no longer pink. Drain off any extra grease.
  • Stir in spaghetti sauce, water, Italian seasoning and Tortellini. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 8 minutes, or until tortellini is tender.
  • Remove from heat. Sprinkle Mozzarella can Parmesan cheeses evenly over tortellini. Cover the skillet with the lid and let sit for 5 minutes while the cheeses melt. Alternatively, you could place the skillet under the broiler for a 2-3 minutes or until golden, melted and bubbly. 
  • Garnish with fresh chopped parsley or basil if desired.

Notes

  • Use fresh tortellini – I have found the refrigerated tortellini to be the freshest. The recipe calls for 20 ounces of refrigerated tortellini. I typically will pick up the 2-packs at Costco and one of those is the perfect size. Buitoni also makes a refrigerated tortellini in the 20 ounce package which you can see HERE. (affiliate link) If you can’t find the 20 ounce package, just substitute two of the 9 ounce packages and you’ll be fine.
  • Cheese tortellini is best – My personal favorite is the five cheese from Costco, but you can use any flavor of tortellini that you like. Meat filled tends to have a different flavor though that doesn’t pair as well with the Italian Sausage in this recipe.
  • I updated the recipe to add some onion and garlic, which I think are totally optional. They really do add another depth of flavor but do add about 10 minutes to the prep and cooking time. It’s a personal preference – you can easily omit those two ingredients, but I recommend using them as the flavor and the aroma can’t be beat.

Nutrition

Calories: 706kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 36gFat: 40gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 121mgSodium: 1811mgPotassium: 583mgFiber: 6gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 751IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 413mgIron: 5mg
Keyword cheese tortellini, one pan tortellini

Kristin Maxwell

Kristin Maxwell is the creator and main recipe developer, writer, and photographer of Yellow Bliss Road. A self-taught cook and self-appointed foodie, she specializes in easy, flavorful and approachable recipes for any home cook.

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Comments

  1. I omitted the olive oil as the sausage renders a fair amount of grease and then added chopped onion and chopped garlic to the pan. Sautéed until onion translucent. Drained the oil, wiped out the pan with a paper towel and then added the sauce to the sausage mixture. Before adding the mozzarella and parm I blobbed on spoonfuls of ricotta. YUM.

  2. I like the idea but would probably use ground beef, or something with way less salt/sodium. the high taste of salt was a turn off and made the dish pretty inedible, even for my husband who loves salt.

    1. Try using a jarred sauce with less sodium. The sausage rarely has high sodium… I’ve made this a few times and it has never been salty. Try substituting ingredients for old people it may help your sensitive to salt palette.

  3. I made this tonight, with a few modifications. I started by sauteing some diced onion in olive oil, then adding the Italian sausage (I used the “hot and spicy” version and poured off most of the grease after it was cooked through.) Like some other folks, I could not find fresh tortellini at my grocery store, so I used frozen. I boiled the tortellini for about 1.5 minutes then added to the pan along with a jar of marinara sauce. I let this simmer for a few minutes before grating some parmesan cheese into the pan. Finally, I added some chunks of fresh mozzarella and covered the pan to allow the cheese to melt. The result was fantastic! I’ve been trying to eat less pasta and finding this recipe will certainly not help me to achieve that goal.

  4. Thank you so much for this recipe!! 🙂 My husband devoured this! He told me this is the BEST meal I’ve ever made! He went back for thirds saying he couldn’t stop eating this because it was so good! 🙂

  5. What kind of jar sauce did you use? I typically make my our sauce but was looking for a quicker method and wasn’t sure what jar sauces taste good?

  6. I’ve made the Italian Sausage and Tortellini Skillet a few times before and love it! I can’t seem to find the ingredients this time.

    1. Thanks for your message. We are working on some technical issues, but I am seeing the recipe when I click on the post. Please clear your cache on your internet browser and try again. Thanks!

  7. I made this for dinner tonight but substituted venison for sausage and added a cup and a half of finely chopped mushrooms. It was delicious and there’s enough left over so I don’t have to cook tomorrow. Thank you! This site is awesome!

    1. That sounds yummy!!! I love mushrooms but my 5 year old isn’t so sure about them. I did add corn to the skillet though since we all like corn.

    1. I will try to be nice… but when you are cooking in your kitchen — you can do ANYTHING YOU WANT !!

      There are no rules…. if you want to use seaweed instead of tortellini — you could do that to.

      It just amazes me that people ask the most ridiculous questions.

      1. How is that “trying to be nice” exactly? It was incredibly rude and disrecpectful actually.

        It just amazes me that people leave the most ridiculous comments like they’re better than everyone else.

  8. Ok so I made this today for dinner. I was really tired after a long day, and this was so simple. It’s also DELICIOUS. Seriously, so good. The only sorta problem is that I didn’t get the pasta all the way under the sauce and I had to cook it a little longer, but it was worth it. This is so easy and delicious.

    1. I would defrost it first. But I’d also be afraid it would add some liquid. It’s definitely worth try though!

    2. I just made this using frozen because fresh wasn’t available at my grocery store. The only thing I did differently was let everything simmer without a lid to get the excess water out. It turned out great! YUM!!! Thanks for the recipe, we’ll definitely be eating this again!

        1. The recipe makes at least 4 servings. Doubling the ingredients would double the cook time as well, and you’d want to use a larger pot…maybe a 5-6 quart soup pot?