Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini Recipe
Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini– Need an easy and delicious dinner? Let your slow cooker do all the work of making this rich and flavorful Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini! It is a huge hit with our family and any time we have guests over for dinner.
A few years ago when we were stationed in Kansas, I babysat for a friend of mine and ate some leftovers that she had in the fridge.
After my first bite of this delicious crockpot tortellini, I knew I had to have the recipe! I’ve been making it on a regular basis ever since and it has become one of my favorite, easy dinners.
The hardest part about making this is cooking the ground beef and italian sausage, which takes all of five minutes. So really not that hard.
The meat sauce cooks all day and is rich and flavorful once it’s time to eat. Add in some tortellini, top with cheese, cook a bit longer, and voila! Mmmm delicious dinner!
Ingredients for Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini
- ground beef
- Italian sausage
- marinara sauce
- sliced mushrooms
- Italian style diced tomatoes
- fresh cheese tortellini
- shredded mozzarella cheese
- shredded cheddar cheese
How to Make Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini – Step by Step
- Crumble the ground beef and Italian sausage together in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain the grease.
- Combine the ground meats, marinara sauce, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Cover, and cook on LOW heat for 6 to 8 hours.
- Stir in the tortellini, and sprinkle the mozzarella and cheddar cheese over the top. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes on LOW, or until the tortellini is tender.
Tips and Notes
- I use a six quart crockpot to cook this recipe, but it will work for a larger size crockpot as well. If you have a larger size pot, you could also double the recipe.
- Feel free to replace the canned mushrooms with fresh mushrooms, or leave them out altogether if mushrooms aren’t your thing!
- If you like more noodles, you can use a larger package of tortellini (19 oz). I actually use the larger size pretty often since my kids like more noodles!
- You can use frozen or dry tortellini in place of the fresh tortellini. Frozen tortellini takes about the same amount of time to cook as the refrigerated tortellini in the original recipe. For dry tortellini you will need to add extra time, about 10-20 more minutes.
Can I freeze Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini?
Yes! You can freeze any leftovers you might have (we do this all the time). Just place the completely cooled leftovers in a freezer safe container with a lid and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the container in the refrigerator then either warm up in a saucepan on the stove over medium low heat, microwave the leftovers, or even place in your crockpot on “warm” for about an hour.
More Delicious Crockpot Dinners
Recipe: Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound mild Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 (24) oz jar marinara sauce
- 1 (4) oz can sliced mushrooms
- 1 (14.5) oz can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (9) oz package refrigerated or fresh cheese tortellini
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Crumble the ground beef and Italian sausage together in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain.
- Combine the ground meats, marinara sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a slow cooker. Cover, and cook on LOW heat for 6 to 8 hours.
- Stir in the tortellini, and sprinkle the mozzarella and cheddar cheese over the top. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes on LOW, or until the tortellini is tender.
Notes
- I use a six quart crockpot to cook this recipe, but it will work for a larger size crockpot as well. If you have a larger size pot, you could also double the recipe.
- Feel free to replace the canned mushrooms with fresh mushrooms, or leave them out altogether if mushrooms aren't your thing!
- If you like more noodles, you can use a larger package of tortellini (19 oz). I actually use the larger size pretty often since my kids like more noodles!
- You can use frozen or dry tortellini in place of the fresh tortellini. Frozen tortellini takes about the same amount of time to cook as the refrigerated tortellini in the original recipe. For dry tortellini you will need to add extra time, about 10-20 more minutes.
I AM MAKING THIS FABULOUS RECIPE AS WE SPEAK! 🙂 Thank you for sharing it!
You are welcome, Stephanie! Hope you enjoyed it!! 🙂
This smells soooo good! I almost always forget to put stuff in the crockpot. So this ended up being in the cast iron skillet. I added a bouillon cube, onion and bell pepper! I left out the ground beef because a pound of meat is too much for two people.
Hi Rebecca, sorry I missed your comment from a few weeks back! What a great idea to try this out in the cast iron skillet! Your additions sound super yummy! Hope y’all enjoyed it. 🙂
Just made this. Absolutely wonderful! The flavors are blended beautifully and my kitchen smells amazing! Everyone loved it. Thank you for another easy crockpot recipe:)
Wonderful Mary! So glad to hear everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I have a very picky husband but I guarantee he will love this tonight
I hope he enjoyed it, Cindy! This is definitely a crowd pleaser! 🙂
Made it. Loved it. Bought the T-shirt!
Woo hoo!! So glad you enjoyed it! This is definitely one of our all time favorite meals!
How YUMMY!!
Thank you, Sue!
I cannot wait to try this recipe tonight. I was wondering how many servings is this? I was wondering if it would be too much to add a whole lb of hamburger instead of half.
Hi Deanna! This is at least 6 servings, probably more. My husband, two kids, and I all eat this and then usually have plenty left over for another day or so. I’ve never tried it with a whole pound of ground beef, but I think it would be fine. You’ll just have a thicker, meatier sauce. 🙂 Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks so much- we made this yesterday and ended up just using half and saving the rest to make another batch- it was DELISH! My daughter who is such a picky eater even liked it. This will be going in our recipe book!
Whoo hoo! I am so glad to hear that, Deanna! And this is a great meal for picky eaters; my son is a picky guy, too, and he loves this! Thank you so much for coming back and letting us know how it turned out! 🙂
The best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had! And the recipe was enough for 2 dinners…bonus! I used half for the tortellini as shown here, froze the other half, then heated it up tonight for a spaghetti dinner. I will use this one over and over!
Yay!!! Lisa I’m so thrilled to hear that! And isn’t it great when you can get two meals out of one? Whoo hoo! Thanks so much for coming back and giving your review! 🙂
I made the sauce and refrigerated it overnight because I did not have time to complete the recipe. Can I just reheat it in the crockpot and then add in the tortellini like the recipe suggests?
Also, what is the best way to store this? Is it best to freeze it or refrigerate it?
Hi Kate! I sent you an email yesterday, let me know if you didn’t get it. 🙂
All I have is frozen tortellini. Will that be ok to follow your directions with cooking for 15 min in crockpot or should I cook on stovetop then add. I’m fixing this tonight.
Hi Gwen! You can definitely use frozen tortellini. 15 minutes should be sufficient. Just check it to be sure and give it a few more minutes if need be. 🙂 Hope you enjoy it!
I have this in the slow cooker right now, and am very excited about the final product. I have recently begun working nights, so cooking dinner for my family has become more of a challenge. I was thrilled to find something this easy, and adaptable to what I have on hand. I made a few changes just based on what I had in my fridge/freezer/pantry… fresh mushrooms instead of canned, bell peppers, diced onion, and I didn’t have any Italian sausage, so I increased the amount of ground beef and added some extra Italian seasoning. It smells wonderful, and I think it will be perfect for an unseasonably cold day (it’s snowing here, more than a month before our earliest snow in recent memory).
Hi Mrs. Gamgee! All of your additions sound perfect, and this is a great meal for a snowy day, even if you weren’t anticipating one so early! Crock pot meals are so nice when you’re busy, and I bet your family really appreciates you putting in the time to still make them a good dinner when you’re working. I hope it turned delicious and you’re staying warm where you are! 🙂
Hi Ashlyn, I made this dish tonight for dinner along with a salad and italian bread. It was a big hit. It was extremely simple and oh so very delicious. Thank you so very much for sharing !! Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer 🙂
I am thrilled to hear that, Esther! This is one of our absolute favorite meals; we actually had it for dinner a couple nights ago! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it. 🙂
Hi Ashlyn, I made this for dinner tonight along with a salad and italian bread. It was a big hit. Extremely simple and absolutely delicious. Thank you so very much for sharing 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your summer !!
Okay I am a newbie to the tortellini world lol I bought dry tortellini that you boil just like traditional pasta… Should I boil it and then just add it at the end? Or do you think it would get tender if I added it at the beginning dry and let it cook all day? Thanks so much!
I would of course add in some beef broth to provide liquid to cook the tortellini 🙂
Hi Ashley! I’ve made other recipes where I have added dry pasta at the end, and let it cook. I would think you could add dry tortellini at the end, just like the refrigerated kind, and it should cook just fine. It would probably take a little longer than the fresh, maybe another 10-15 minutes, but I think it would still be fine! I don’t think I would put it in with everything at the beginning because then it might get mushy. A little beef broth might be good, too! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Hi Ashlyn,
What a great recipe to have for a busy day, plus it looks like fabulous flavor! Hope you are having a great day and thanks so much for sharing your awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Thank you, Miz Helen!
This is a perfect family meal in my house!! I’m featuring this post on Best of the Weekend. Thanks for linking up.
Nichi, thank you so much for the feature! I love coming over for y’alls awesome party! Headed that way, now. 🙂