Description
Italian sausage is browned with onions and garlic and then beef broth, tortellini, tomatoes, green peppers and zucchini are simmered together to produce a soup with ultimate flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage (I used mild)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves,minced
- 6 cups water
- 1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
- 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1 large carrot, grated or diced
- 10 oz frozen or fresh tortellini
- 1 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 medium green pepper, chopped
Instructions
- In a pan on the stove, brown the sausage and drain grease. Add in the onions and garlic and saute until translucent. Place sausage, onions, garlic into slow cooker.
- Add in the water, bouillon, tomatoes, tomato sauce, carrots, basil, bay leaf, oregano and carrot into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 2 hours.
- Add in the tortellini, green pepper and zucchini to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and the tortellini is cooked through.
Notes
For this slow cooker italian tortellini soup recipe I used my beloved 6 quart oval KitchenAid slow cooker.
Get the Instant Pot version of the recipe here
Italian sausage: I use mild ground Italian sausage but you can use hot Italian sausage if you like more kick.
Canned tomatoes: I like to use petite diced tomatoes because the tomatoes are cut smaller. You could probably use fresh tomatoes with this recipe. It would be about 2 cups chopped, seeded tomatoes.
Better than Bouillon Beef Base: I love using Better than Bouillon because it makes a delicious base for soups. It also keeps for a long time in my fridge. You can substitute with beef broth in a can or carton, if you prefer.
Carrots: I ended up using my handy dandy grater to grate my carrots but you can chop them or slice them however you like.
Zucchini: I cut my zucchini into cubes but you can also cut them into rounds
Tortellini: I usually use a package of frozen cheese tortellini for this recipe. They taste great and are available at most grocery stores. You can also use fresh tortellini. Dried tortellini (next to the dry pastas) don’t taste as good and in my opinion sort of ruin the soup. I would suggest not using dry tortellini.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cooker