ONE PAN CREAMY TORTELLINI AND SMOKED SAUSAGE

My One Pan Creamy Tortellini and Smoked Sausage is a match made in heaven! It’s a delicious one pan meal that combines the tender, cheese filled pasta with savory smokey sausage and wraps it all in a creamy cheesy tomato sauce. One bite and you’ll wonder where it’s been all your life!

One Pan Meals have long provided record breaking traffic to the blog. People really fell in love with the One Pan Cheesy Smoked Sausage Pasta and others like my One Pan Caprese Pasta and One Pan Beef Stroganoff (my personal favorite).

I did make one small change to the recipe this time around (but left both versions in the printable recipe). I had originally used a big can of whole tomatoes that you cut up yourself in the can, but I’ve found that I prefer crushed tomatoes. Using crushed eliminates a step, and they taste just as fresh if you use a good quality brand like San Marzano.

So really it’s not a huge change and you can stick with whatever type of tomatoes you prefer.

To make the One Pan Creamy Tortellini and Smoked Sausage, start by cooking up the smoked sausage with some fragrant diced onions and a little garlic. That alone will make your kitchen smell divine and you might want to just start picking them out of the pan and eating them one by one. But refrain! You’re so close because this recipe is incredibly easy.

Once the onions are soft and the sausage is browned, you add in the rest of the ingredients (minus the cheese) – Refrigerated Tortellini (whatever flavor you prefer), a 20 oz can of crushed tomatoes or cut up whole tomatoes(use your kitchen scissors and cut them up right in the can), a cup of chicken broth or water, and salt and pepper. Give it a few quick stirs while you let it come to a boil. Then cover it up and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Alternatively, you could leave the lid off while it simmers at a higher heat, stirring often, to cook it a little faster.

Once the pasta is tender, you just add in the cheeses. The sauce will seem thin, but will thicken as it sits. Cover to allow the cheese time to melt, then serve hot.

This is one that I will definitely be adding to my monthly meal plan, because my kids LOVED it! You can kick it up a little by adding two cans of Rotel Tomatoes instead of the whole canned tomatoes, too. If not for my picky kiddos, I would have added a couple big handfuls of spinach.