Instant Pot Cheesy Beef Tortellini–beef smoked sausage, tortellini, spinach, mozzarella and parmesan make an easy and fast one pot dinner.
Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are listed in the recipe card below

Instant Pot Cheesy Beef Tortellini
This is a true less than 30 minute meal! With hardly any prep, just slicing the smoked sausage and grating the cheese, and a zero minute pressure cook time you’ll be on your way to eating dinner quickly! With hardly any ingredients you’ll be shocked at how delicious and flavorful this meal is. My family ate it all with no leftovers. This is my new favorite recipe!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Olive oil–or another type of oil like vegetable or canola oil
- Beef smoked sausage–or another type of smoked sausage or kielbasa
- Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon Beef Base
- Italian seasoning–or you can make your own
- Garlic powder
- Frozen cheese tortellini–you can find this in the freezer aisle next to the frozen breads. You can also use frozen ravioli. I haven’t tried this recipe with refrigerated tortellini. I would use the same directions as below.
- Spinach–fresh or frozen both work
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese

Steps to make cheesy beef tortellini in the Instant Pot
- Slice the smoked sausage into quarter inch rounds.
- Lightly brown the sausage: Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the oil and swirl it around. Add in the sausage and brown for a couple minutes to add some color.
- Deglaze the pot: Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Add ingredients: Stir in the Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Dump in the frozen tortellini.
- Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cooking button to 0 (yes zero!) minutes on LOW pressure. When time is up let pot sit for 3 minutes and then move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Stir in the spinach, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
- Serve: Scoop onto serving plates and enjoy!
What is a zero minute pressure cooking time?
Many people don’t realize that when you set your Instant Pot to pressure cook you can actually use the – button and adjust the cooking time all the way down to zero minutes. But why would you want to do this and what does it mean?
When you set your pressure cooker for zero minutes the Instant Pot will get up to pressure, then immediately switch off (it will switch to the keep warm function). Just because it says zero minutes on your display doesn’t mean the food is not going to get cooked. The food starts cooking while the pot is building pressure (and while it releases pressure). Certain types of foods will be fully cooked just as the pot reaches pressure, like this tortellini.
If your pressure cook won’t allow you to go all the way down to zero minute then select 1 minute. As soon as the pot reaches pressure turn off the Instant Pot.
Notes/Tips
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot. You can also make this in your 3 or 8 quart pot.
- If you leftovers you can store them in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- I haven’t tried this recipe with refrigerated tortellini. But I assume they would work fine. I would use the same directions as below. I don’t suggest using dried tortellini as they will not taste as good.
- If you want to use another type of meat besides smoked sausage you can. Try using seasoned chicken or seasoned ground beef. The smoked sausage add a lot of flavor so you may need to increase seasonings.
- If you can’t eat gluten I would suggest trying Instant Pot Cajun Sausage, Potatoes And Green Beans.
- If you are trying to eat low carb I would suggest replacing the tortellini with 20 ounces of cauliflower florets. Cook for the 0 minute pressure cook time. Add extra cheese and season to taste.
More Instant Pot Tortellini Recipes…
- Instant Pot Creamy Basil Chicken And Tortellini
- Instant Pot Tortellini Soup With Parmesan, Chicken Sausage And Mushrooms
- Instant Pot Tuscan Tortellini Soup
- Instant Pot Creamy Tortellini, Spinach And Chicken Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Instant Pot Tortellini Meatball Soup
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.

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Instant Pot Cheesy Beef Tortellini
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Beef smoked sausage, tortellini, spinach, mozzarella and parmesan make an easy and fast one pot dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 (12 oz) package beef smoked sausage
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 (19 oz) package frozen cheese tortellini
- 2 cups chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Slice the smoked sausage into quarter inch rounds.
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the oil and swirl it around. Add in the sausage and brown for a couple minutes to add some color.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Stir in the Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Dump in the frozen tortellini.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cooking button to 0 (yes zero!) minutes on LOW pressure.
- When time is up let pot sit for 3 minutes and then move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Stir in the spinach, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
- Scoop onto serving plates and enjoy!
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Slice the smoked sausage into quarter inch rounds.
- Add broth, smoked sausage, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, tortellini and spinach into slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 3 hours.
- Stir in the mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
- Scoop onto serving plates and enjoy!
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
This is one of my family’s favorites. The only changes I made was doubling everything except the tortellini and I add two cans of fire roasted tomatoes, and Boursin before the parmesan cheese. I’ve used refrigerated and frozen tortellini, both turn out good. Mine is the 8qt Instant Pot Pro and it won’t allow me to do 0, so I typically cook mine 1 minute or 2 minutes for frozen and it always turns out great!
★★★★★
Yum Boursin sounds amazing!
Made this lovely dish for dinner tonight. Everything was wonderful except the mozz was stringy. I might need to upgrade to a nicer brand. Still tasted fantastic and no leftovers!!!
★★★★
Thanks for the review! I’m glad you liked it!
I made this for first time tonight and husband made 3 -THREE! comments about how much he liked it and please add it in regular rotation. I didn’t have high expectations because of how simple the recipe and ingredients are. I was just searching for an easy recipe to use stuff I already had on hand. I used these slight modifications: used 2 links beef smoked sausage, better than beef broth bouillon, frozen cheese raviolis and the Italian mix shredded cheese that has mozzarella with other italian cheeses. My pressure cooker does not have a zero minute setting so, I used the lowest (2mins), once it changed to one min, I hit cancel/warm and let sit till time to quick release. I also made frozen chopped spinach seperatly (my kiddo hates spinach). I drained and scooped it on the grown up plates when serving. I just wanted to say many thanks for this recipe. It was really delicious and crazy easy!
★★★★★
That is so amazing to hear! Thanks for sharing and thanks for the 5 stars.
This one just didn’t work for me, even though I like all the ingredients. My tortellini was very al dente and I would also have liked less tortellini and more sausage and cheese. I pressure cooked the leftovers for a minute and that helped the tortellini. I also added more cheese. Just not my favorite Karen recipe.
★★★
I made this twice now and it’s been a hit
★★★★★
Thanks Lois!!
What type of mozzarella do you suggest? I used Galbani whole milk and it just made a big stringy clump.
This was still delicious though!
★★★★
I just bought a block of mozzarella and shredded it with my grater
Hello,
Is it the same cooking time if the tortellini is fresh – not frozen?
yes