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This super simple Healthier Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Vegetable Soup is the perfect fall dinner…great for nights when you’re craving Italian, but want something warming and healthy too. A mix of vegetables, simmered with Italian seasonings, a splash of wine, kale, and cheese tortellini. Finish each bowl off with an extra sprinkle of cheese and serve with crusty bread. It’s hearty, full of greens, and so delicious. Great for just about any night of the week. Plus the leftovers the next day make for the best lunch!
As promised…a new slow cooker recipe to start off the week. And a healthier one too. But don’t worry, it’s still creamy, cozy, and of course, delicious. I mean, it’s October, I wouldn’t share a non-cozy recipe at this point in the year. Cozy is always the way to go when the weather begins to turn cooler.
To be completely honest, I don’t love all soups. To me, a dinner soup needs to be hearty. It needs to be brothy, but it also needs texture, carbs, and preferably some cheese on top too. French onion? Yes – yum. Hearty, thick chili? Of course. Ramen with double the noodles? Yes, 100%.
But a brothy soup with just a few vegetables just doesn’t do it for me, which brings me to this soup. It’s vegetable soup, but it’s not your average vegetable soup. This one is creamy, cheesy, and made with not just vegetables, but cheese tortellini too.
It’s all the things I love in a bowl of soup, yet made on the healthier side too. Promise you guys, this one is good, and kid-friendly too!
Here is the story:
This soup just sounded good to me. I’ve never done an Italian-style tortellini soup, but oddly I’ve done a Mexican-inspired tortilla soup with tortellini. Not sure where I got that idea, but it sure is different. Nothing like this bowl of tortellini soup.
When I presented the idea of a vegetable-based tortellini soup to my sister-in-law, she gave it a double thumbs up. Granted Lynds loves a bowl of soup, but she’s also picky about her them. So instead of second-guessing my ideas, like I always do, I took her double thumbs up and I ran with it. And the verdict? I am very, very happened I listened. This is such a delicious bowl of warming soup. And I love that I was able to make it a touch healthier than the versions you might find in a restaurant.
And my favorite part…well, aside from the taste…this is actually the easiest soup to make. You can cook it low and slow in the slow cooker, or speed things up by cooking it in the instant pot, or you can even cook it on the stove-top.
To make this tortellini soup:
I love to start this off on the stove-top. I know it’s annoying, but I really think cooking your vegetables with the dried herbs and spices before slow cooking adds so much wonderful flavor. If you have an all-in-one browning slow cooker then you can do this all in the slow cooker bowl. I literally just hit purchase (before starting this post) on this all-in-one All-Clad slow cooker with a browning function. I cannot wait for it to arrive this week!
Cook the onions with a mix of my favorite Italian spices…the dried herbs, fennel, and smoked paprika. They are all KEY here. They add so much flavor, almost like Italian sausage, but minus any of the meat.
Once the onions have been seared, add everything to the bowl of your slow cooker. Then add tomato paste, a good splash of dry white wine, and plenty of vegetable broth. Cover and cook low and slow.
I like to just let my soup cook all day long. The house smells incredible as this simmers away in the slow cooker. But, as I mentioned, I’ve also included directions for the Instant-Pot and stove-top variations, in case you’re in a crunch.
Once the soup has finished cooking, before serving, stir in a few large handfuls of kale, cream or milk, parmesan cheese, and the cheese tortellini. Cook another few minutes and then that’s it.
Easy. EASY. But yet so delicious.
I’d highly recommend serving this soup with a side of crusty bread. If you own the HBH Super Simple cookbook, there’s a really good, really easy, no-knead bread recipe that’s perfect to pair with this soup.
If you’re planning to enjoy this soup leftover, be sure to first remove the tortellini from the broth before refrigerating. That way the tortellini won’t soak up all the broth. Then just add them back in before serving.
Alright, and with that, I’m going to leave you all to it. If your Monday night needs some warming soup, this should be it. I’m actually beyond excited to make this again today on Instagram stories. It’s the perfect fall soup.
Cannot wait!
Looking for other fall soup recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup with Roasted Mushrooms
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar and Zucchini Soup
Instant Pot Pesto Zuppa Toscana
Lastly, if you make this Healthier Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Vegetable Soup be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Quick How-To Video:
Healthier Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Vegetable Soup.
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 1349 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2-4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried)
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1-2 teaspoons fennel seeds use to your taste
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 6 carrots, chopped
- 4 celery stalks, chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 4-6 cups roughly chopped kale
- 1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- 1 pound fresh cheese tortellini
Instructions
Slow Cooker
- 1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion, garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, fennel, paprika, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, until very fragrant. Remove from the heat and add to the bowl of your crockpot. Stir in the tomato paste, carrots, and celery. 2. To the crockpot, add the wine, broth, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5.3. During the last 15 minutes of cooking, stir in the kale, cream, parmesan, and the tortellini. 4. Serve the soup topped with additional parmesan and fresh oregano, if desired.
Instant Pot
- 1. Set Instant Pot to sauté. Add the olive oil, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, fennel, paprika, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, until very fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste. Turn the Instant Pot off.2. To the instant pot, add the wine, broth, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cover and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.3. Once done cooking, use the natural or quick release function. Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Stir in the kale, cream, parmesan, and the tortellini. Cook until the kale is wilted, about 10 minutes. Turn the Instant Pot off. 4. Serve the soup topped with additional parmesan and fresh oregano, if desired.
Stove-Top
- 1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook 5 minutes, until golden. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, fennel, paprika, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook another 5 minutes, until very fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the wine, broth, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until the carrots are tender. 2. About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the kale, cream, parmesan, and the tortellini.3. Serve the soup topped with additional parmesan and fresh oregano, if desired.
Is 1350 calories per serving actually correct? I know it says it’s an estimate but that seems like a lot even as an estimation.
Hi Stacey,
I always recommend that if the nutritional information is important to you, you use your own personal calculator. Ours is automatic and controlled by google. It’s not something we’d prefer to be using. We are required to. I’m sorry for the trouble, we do our best! Hope you enjoy the recipe! xT
Oooooh my goodness, this soup is exploding with flavor and so hearty. I’m not a huge soup person because I have a phobia that every soup is just gonna be the watery minestrone that consumed my childhood…but this, this has changed me.
Hi Lacy,
I am so glad to hear that this recipe was tasty for you and appreciate you giving it a try! xxT
This is definitely a staple in our house. We love this soup so much.
Hey Giovanna,
I am so glad to hear that this recipe was tasty for you and appreciate you giving it a try! xxT
So delicious!! I added a pound of ground chicken but it still would’ve been amazing even without. It’s perfect.
Hi Lauren,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for making this dish and sharing your review, I am so glad it was enjoyed! Have a great week! xx
Perfect!
Hi Renie,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for making this dish and sharing your review, I am so glad it was enjoyed! Have a great week! xx
Just Curious…is the calorie count really 1349 cal per serving? Seems so high!
Hi there,
The calorie count was never this high for this recipe, I think we are experiencing a glitch on the back end. Let me know if you give the recipe a try! xx
Can you substitute something else for the tomato paste? My daughter has a good sensivity and can’t have that. This looks amazing and would still love to make it work
Hey there,
You could skip it or use some tomato sauce. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
Absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe as written except I only had Italian tomato paste (with oregano and basil.) Even my small children enjoyed it, and leftovers were even better-though I kept those for myself!
Hey Kat,
Perfect!! I appreciate you giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was a winner! xTieghan
This was really good! I added 1lb of ground Italian sausage to bump up the protein, and I think it made it that much better.
Hey Meagan,
Amazing!! Thanks a lot for trying this dish and sharing your feedback, I love to hear that it was tasty for you! xT
This was fantastic! I have a gluten allergy and made this with gluten free tortellini!
Hi Heather,
Perfect! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, I love to hear that it was a hit! xxT
This soup is so good!! Will be making again 🙂
I did add a little more vegetable broth, cream and tomato paste as mine didn’t have a whole lot of broth but the flavor is really good.
Hi Lydia,
Awesome!! So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it! xT
Can we leave out the wine or replace with something else?
Hey Megan,
You can use broth in place of the wine. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
I’m guessing it doesn’t keep as leftovers very well? I don’t usually add cream to my soup, but please advise. Maybe keep the tortellini and cream separate? Making it today!
Hey Susan,
You really shouldn’t have any issues with leftovers, you could keep the tortellini separate to avoid them getting soggy. Pleas let me know if you have any other questions! xT
This recipe sounds delicious. Would it work to use dried tortellinis instead of fresh? If so, how would I adjust it? Thanks.
Hey Lane,
You bet! Just cook them according to package directions until al dente and follow the recipe as is:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
This was very flavorful and soooo yummy!
Hey Diane,
That’s great!! I love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks so much for making it! xxT
Love this recipe! It’s frequently on our menu and I typically add chopped smoked sausage.
Hi Tracey,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it!!☀️ xTieghan