This instant pot creamy tortellini soup is a must make soup if you have an instant pot! It’s creamy, hearty and perfect for this cold weather!
Guys, this creamy tortellini soup is what I call instant pot deliciousness. The flavors, the creaminess. And you know what the best part is? The chorizo!
This Spanish sausage gives this soup an amazing flavor and altogether with the rest of the ingredients, it is definitely a must-try soup this winter!
By the way, if you are not a fan of chorizo, use Italian sausage instead.
For those who are not familiar with the instant pot, I will just say it’s your must-have kitchen gadget. This electric pressure cooker saves your time, energy and delivers delicious dishes. If you want to know more, check out these instant pot frequently asked questions. I found them quite helpful.
Those of you who already own this electric pressure cooker and like cooking in it might like these easy recipes:
- Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Curry
- Instant Pot Bolognese Sauce
- Instant Pot Fried Rice
What do I need to make instant pot creamy tortellini soup?
- Tortellini
- Chorizo
- Carrot
- Onion
- Vegetable Stock
- Water
- Salt
- Thyme
- Kale
- Fresh Cream
- Oil
- + Instant Pot pressure cooker
How to make instant pot creamy tortellini soup – step by step:
First prep the veggies: wash, peel and dice carrots and onion. Then slice the chorizo sausage. I like to cut it into pretty small pieces but this is just my preference. You do what you like.
Now turn on the instant pot and press the SAUTE function. Add some oil and throw in carrots, onions and chorizo. Sauté for about 5 minutes. Then you turn off the SAUTE function and add the stock, water, seasoning, kale and tortellini. Stir it around and close the lid.
Make sure you set the steam release to SEALING. Set the MANUAL function to 3 minutes and walk away. Your job is done here for a while.
When the cycle is finished, wait 10 minutes and then manually release the pressure. Be careful as it tends to spit hot steam everywhere. Use a kitchen towel or oven mitts to do this, if you are not comfortable doing this with bare hands.
You can also release the pressure right away, but I am not a huge fan of this so I prefer to wait 10 minutes.
Finish the soup by pressing the SAUTE function again. Pour the cream in and cook for about 2 minutes before turning it off.
To stop the soup from cooking, carefully remove the inner pot and place onto a trivet.
Important:
Tortellini will continue to suck the liquid so if you have any leftovers, you might find there is almost no liquid the following day.
If this is the case, just place the soup into a saucepan, add some milk/cream/stock (or a combination of these) and season to your liking.
Simmer for 2-3 minutes. By the way, sometimes you might not even need to add any seasoning.
Ingredient substitutions when making this pressure cooker creamy tortellini soup:
- Chorizo – if you don’t like chorizo, either omit it or use Italian sausage instead.
- Kale – spinach also works well here. However, if you decide to use spinach, then I recommend adding it right before you add the cream in. So right at the end, press the sauté button, add spinach and wait until it is wilted before adding the cream in.
- Dried Tortellini – Dried tortellini is the best option here as they normally need about 16 minutes to cook. If you added fresh tortellini, they would be way overcooked. I would also suggest adding them when the cooking cycle is finished and you press the sauté function again. Throw them in and pour the cream in. Cook until ready. I have no experience with using frozen tortellini when making this instant pot tortellini soup, so not sure about this option.
- Thyme – if you don’t have this herb on hand you can use Italian herbs or oregano instead.
- Vegetable stock – You can use chicken stock, chicken broth or beef broth. Just check the levels of salt they contain. If you use the one that contains some salt, I recommend seasoning at the very end as you never know much it will season your soup.
Guys, if you love easy instant pot recipes, you should definitely check some of them out!
Want to see how to make creamy tortellini soup? Watch the video!
Instant Pot Creamy Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion (medium)
- 5 ounces chorizo sausage (140 grams)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cups vegetable stock (750 ml)
- 3 cups water (750 ml)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 3 handfuls fresh kale
- 9 ounces dried tortellini (250 grams)
- 1 cup fresh cream (250 ml)
Instructions
- Wash, peel and dice carrots & onion. Cut the chorizo (it does not matter if you cut it into chunks or smaller pieces, do whatever you prefer).
- Plug in the Instant Pot. Press “SAUTE”. Pour in the olive oil. Add carrots, onion and chorizo. Sauté for 5 minutes. Turn off the SAUTE function (by pressing the CANCEL button). Add stock, water, seasoning, kale and tortellini. Stir, close the lid and lock it.
- Set the steam release to “SEALING”. Press “MANUAL” and adjust the time to 3 minutes. When the cycle is finished, wait 10 minutes and then manually release the pressure.
- Press “SAUTE” function again. Pour the cream in and cook for about 2 minutes. Press “CANCEL/KEEP WARM” and unplug it. To stop the soup from cooking, carefully remove the inner pot and place it onto a trivet.
- Serve warm.
Notes
- If you have any leftovers: Keep in mind that tortellini will continue to suck the liquid. If you end up with almost no liquid, just re-heat the soup in a sauce pan and add some milk/cream and stock/water. Simmer for a few minutes and season to your taste.
- You can omit chorizo completely or use Italian sausage instead.
- Vegetable stock can be substituted with chicken stock/broth or beef broth. When using this, always check whether they contain salt or not. If they do, I recommend seasoning this soup at the very end to avoid over-salting the soup.
- To make this recipe I used a 6-quart/6-litre Instant Pot.
- This soup yields 4 generous portions.
- This recipe works best with dried tortellini. For fresh tortellini, I suggest adding them in the end, right before you add cream and cook until done.
- The overall time does not include the time needed for the pot to come to pressure nor the waiting time before you release the pressure manually. Count with an extra 20 minutes.
Ellen says
I’m always looking for new instant pot recipes. This will be perfect when the weather cools off.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Definitely! :)
Kristen Greazel says
Another awesome IP recipe!!! can’t wait to try it!!!!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thank you Kristen. When you do try it, let me know what you think!
Edyta says
Oh wow! This soup looks super delicious. I just came to the conclusion that I have to get myself Instant pot. Thanks for inspiration :)
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thank you, Edyta :)
Traci says
Ok I know this is gonna be great! Looooove making tortellini soup…any season of the year. But since it’s fall, I’m especially dreaming about this right now. Thanks for sharing!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome! :)
Lucy says
This soup is such a lovely color and i love that you’ve added a touch of kale into the mix. It’s a great way to boost it’s overall goodness.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks, Lucy!
JoAnne S Haffeman says
Can you make this in a slow cooker? I don’t have an IP.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
I haven’t tried it in a slow cooker so not sure.
Jessi says
I tried this tonight and used frozen tortellini. I added a bag to the IP right after adding the cream, brought it to a boil and cooked for 3 mins. Added parm cheese to my bowl, it was delicious.
Charlotte says
Is this really 54g fat per serving??? Looks fantastic tho. Maybe I could trim it down with low fat turkey italian sausage and half and half? Think that might work???
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Charlotte. Yes, it seems to be the right number. However, these calculations are based on 4 generous portions (served as a main course). If you divide this recipe between 5 (or more) people, then you will serve less and so the amount of fat will go down per serving (around 40g per person). But you can substitute with a sausage of your choice and use half and half (if you do, I think the soup will need more seasoning). Hope this helps.
Melissa says
How would frozen tortellini change this recipe? I normally buy frozen.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Melissa. The only change would be the timing – now I have not tried using frozen ones but I suggest you check the package instructions and if it normally takes over 15 minutes to cook them – then I would add extra 2-3 minutes to the active cooking time, just to be safe. Then just taste one and if you feel it is not cooked to your liking, let is just simmer for a longer – then next time you can adjust the time. Hope this helps.
Maxime67 says
Absolutely delicious and easy. I’ve tried several recipes and this is the BEST!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Yay! That’s so good to hear :) Thank you for your feedback!
Kristin says
Made tonight and it was delicious! I used sweet chicken sausage and nonfat 1/2 and 1/2 to lower fat. Definitely will be making again!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks so much for finding time to leave the feedback, Kristin. Love the idea of using sweet chicken sausage!
Rowina says
Hi there! I’m very excited to try that recipe and thank you for sharing. BUT, please make “prep time” reflect the amount of time it actually takes to prep the meal. I see 20 minutes of various cooking sessions before I’ve even taken “x” amount of time to cut my veggies.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Rowina, I have double-checked the times and they seem correct to me. However, the overall time does not include the time needed for the pot to come to pressure and also the 10 minutes when you wait before you release its pressure. This is an inactive time which I do not include in the preparation time but I usually explain this in the recipe notes section. I had somehow forgotten to do it for this recipe but it has already been updated. Thanks for spotting that and letting me know!
Jennifer Zaccagnini says
I made this last night….with the substitions of spinach, Italian sausage, and Italian seasoning. Soooooooo good!! Will try it with chorizo when I find some with natural casing, and buy thyme. Definitely will make again.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Yay! :) I highly recommend using chorizo (I absolutely love the spicy one in this soup). What I do is I remove the casing when possible.
Gail says
I made this today. I used spinach because I LOVE spinach! And I had some leftover beef stock along with my vegetable stock, so I used that and no water. This soup is ahhhhhhmazing!!! The flavors—the chorizo adds a little extra, the broth tastes buttery, and one of my favorite textures in the world is tortellini!!! Next time I’m making a double batch!!!
Shelly R says
I have 7-8 people to feed (and the larger instant pot). I made a few changes to feed us all.
1 lb ground chorizo
4 diced carrots
1 cup diced onion
3 packages Aldi dried cheese tortellini
11-12 cups broth
2-3 large handfuls chopped spinach
2 cups heavy cream
No thyme
Used your directions. I’ll be making this regularly, it was amazing!
lori says
Everyone loves this soup! I make it all the time. Great recipe:) Thank you!!
Michele says
This was fantastic! I added sun dried tomatoes when I added the cream the second time I made it and loved the flavor it added.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks so much for your feedback, Michele! Hope you find here more recipes that you enjoy as much as this one!
Christina says
Hi… I wonder, if you are using fresh tortellini at the end, would you need the extra 3c water? I am assuming that is for rehydrating the dried tortellini?
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Yes, you are right. You can reduce the amount of liquid. I would probably add only 1 cup of water. Just note that it will probably need less salt so maybe add only half the amount and add more at the very end, if it is needed. Let me know how it went if you give it a go!
Vanessa says
I made this today. It’s delicious and a good warm winter meal. I used soy chorizo instead of regular and it turned out wonderfully. Thanks for this amazing recipe
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome and thanks so much for finding time to write the comment, Vanessa!
Erik says
Thinking of adding mushrooms, what would you suggest as far as when to add to the recipe?
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
I would add them altogether with carrots, onion and chorizo. Or perhaps after you have sautéed these for a few minutes because the mushrooms will release their juices so you could end up with steaming everything rather than sautéing. Hope this helps.
Bev says
Really delicious soup! A definite keeper! Hearty but not overly rich or heavy.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Bev, thanks for your feedback! :)
Gwenivere DiMarco says
Love this recipe!! I do put in more vegetables than it calls for. I add green bell peppers and broccoli. Other than that, this recipe is amazing. I double it to feed my family of 5 so we can have left overs.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
That’s so good to hear, Gwenivere and thank you for your feedback! It’s a flavorful soup and so easy to make, right?
Jamie Deluccia says
Hi, is there any non-dairy substitute for this that is recommended? Thanks
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Jamie, I am afraid I won’t be able to help as I don’t have experience with non-dairy substitutions.
Taylor says
I’ve made this at least a dozen times now, one of my go-to weeknight dinners. Solid recipe with room for alterations if need be. LOVE
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thank you so much for your feedback and rating, Taylor! I am so happy to hear this is one of your go-to dinner! :)