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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!
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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.
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.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Oh, so good! No tweeks needed – it was perfect 🙂
Thank you Olivia! xTieghan
And she does it again. Delicious and warm. Loved it! I only had skim milk but it worked!
Thank you so much Jessica! xTieghan
I made this last night because it was officially soup weather. My place smelled great! This soup has great flavor. I rarely use vegetable broth so I subbed chicken stock which I had on hand. Everything else I pretty much did by the recipe. I used my instapot which worked out wonderfully! My biggest recommendation is to use maybe 1/2 lb of tortillini or make way more broth. Tastes amazing! But the next day I almost just had a pasta in a sauce rather than a brothy soup. Most of the soup was soaked up. I added a little stock to help when I reheated it. Still amazing! I’ll definitely make this again, with chicken stock of course, (I also used the heavy cream.) Cozy weather soup!
Thank you so much for trying this recipe, Beverly!! I am really glad this turned out so well for you!! xTieghan
This soup is SO good! Perfectly cozy for fall, but still filling enough to be a good dinner when you serve it with bread! It is a very unique soup too, not just the same old thing. I have never put tortellini in soup before, but after this I am DEFINITELY a fan! Thanks Tieghan!
Thank you Jenea! I am really glad this recipe turned out so well for you! xTieghan
I made this on the stove top and it was surprisingly quick and easy to make. So flavourful and really very filling for a soup. So perfect for this horribly rainy October.
PS. Tieghan, thanks for the metric conversion you’ve added to the ingredients for all your new recipes. Makes it so much easier to follow your instructions from Europe. A great touch x
Thank you so much Hannah! I hope you continue to enjoy this and other recipes of mine! xTieghan
This soup was so good and very easy! Great for a rainy fall night.
Thank you so much Annelise! xTieghan
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit! Perfect meal for a windy day. I was a little confused on the tortellini part. I made it on the stove top and wasn’t sure if it was supposed to cook in the soup so I boiled it separately and then added it in. Reading the comments I think I should have cooked it in the broth, but it was still delicious. Love all of your recipes!
Hi Jorden! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
I followed the instructions exactly… The blandest soup that has ever come out of my slow cooker. Needs drastically more salt as the recipe calls for low sodium stock. The parmesan should NOT be mixed in with 15 min to go—it just becomes gluey. The tortellini got mushy in that time frame. Carrots tasted good but everything else was totally disappointing.
Hi Rachel! I am really sorry this soup did not turn out as expected. If there are any questions I can help with, please let me know! Otherwise, I hope you enjoy some other recipes of mine! xTieghan
Fantastic soup! I made this on the stove top and took the other reviewers suggestion to add some spicy sausage. I also used ravioli rather than tortellini because that’s what I had. Sooooo good! Soooo easy! 10 stars! 😉
Yes! So happy you loved this one! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
I’ve been trying to make this soup over the past week. (Had to get more fresh carrots because I waited too long to use them) plus, I’m 50 and it’s the 1st time I ever bought kale! I made it on the stove top, followed the recipe ad is, and it was fantastic. So yummy for a cold rainy evening. I served it with warm crusty bread for dunking. I look forward to making it all through the winter. Even my 10 yr old loves it!
I am really glad this turned out so well for you Beth! I’m glad you gave kale a try! Thank you so much! xTieghan
Made this tonight Perfect night for it weather wise. I had a rotisserie chicken in the refrigerator so I added some shredded chicken breast to it. Served it with french baguette Excellent Soup Glad we have leftovers ?
Thank you so much Marie! I am really glad this soup turned out so amazing for you!! xTieghan
I am not giving five stars only because of the herb quantities. I have an herb garden and cook with herbs all the time. I was suspicious of the 1 tablespoon quantity of dried herbs, so I used 2 teaspoons of each and less than one of fennel seed.
That said, this is an amazing soup! It was so delicious with some crusty bread on a chilly wet day. My adjustments came out perfect.
The other thing is that you must have a larger than basic crockpot, I had to finish mine off on the stove in a Dutch oven.
This one is in our rotation now.
Hi Cheryl! I am really glad this recipe turned out so amazing for you! Thank you for trying this one! xTieghan
Oh my goodness this soup is soooo delish! I added some ground sausage but it paired beautifully. I tried to add a photo but can’t figure it out!!!! Super easy and we are having with warm sourdough bread!
I am so happy this recipe turned out so amazing for you, Katie! If you have instagram, I would love to see this! Thank you for trying this one! xTieghan
So so so good, one of my absolute favorite HBH recipes. Thank you Tieghan!
Thank you so much Allie! xTieghan
I made this soup using two different methods, one batch in the instant pot and one on the stove. I took off one star for this recipe because the tortellini (yes, I used fresh like the recipe said) ended up absorbing too much broth. In the future I would probably double the liquid or maybe pre cook the pasta. I also would prefer the spices to come through a little stronger so I would also increase those, possibly even double. Overall, still a great recipe! Thank you!
I am really glad this recipe turned out so well for you, Liane! Thank you so much for trying this one! xTieghan