Instant Pot Tortellini Soup with Parmesan, Chicken Sausage and Mushrooms needs to make its place on your menu this week. My husband said “this is maybe the best soup I’ve ever had!” It’s slightly creamy (but doesn’t go overboard with dairy) and has amazing flavor thanks to the chicken sausage. It also has a nice pop of color from the chopped spinach. This soup can be made in minutes with your electric pressure cooker.
Get the SLOW COOKER version of the recipe here
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup with Parmesan, Chicken Sausage and Mushrooms
I’ve eyed a recipe from Closet Cooking for a long time. It just looked like something I would love. I knew that I could make a spin off version of the soup in my Instant Pot. I added chicken sausage and left out the flour and white wine. I also adapted the recipe for an electric pressure cooker.
This particular recipe actually has a 0 minute pressure cooking time. You may not have known that you could even do that in your pressure cooker! What it means is that the pot will heat up, cook your soup and finally come to pressure (soups take a while to come to pressure since the pot is so full and there is so much liquid). Then the pot will switch over to warm. At that point you’ll let the pressure release naturally for 10 minute (the soup will still be cooking during this 10 minutes because there is still pressure in the pot). Then you’ll move the valve to venting to release any extra pressure. You’ll open the pot and find perfect cooked tortellinis and a soup that tastes like it’s been simmering all day.
I love making one pot meals like this Instant Pot Tortellini Soup with Parmesan, Chicken Sausage and Mushrooms. It feeds a crowd, warms you up and leaves you satisfied. I hope you enjoy this soup as much as my family did!
More recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Pasta E Fagioli Soup (Olive Garden Copycat)
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Italian Tortellini Soup
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Chicken and Spinach Soup
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make this Instant Pot Tortellini Soup with Parmesan, Chicken Sausage and Mushrooms I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup with Parmesan, Chicken Sausage and Mushrooms
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes (plus time to come to pressure and 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Description
This soup needs to make its place on your menu this week. My husband said “this is maybe the best soup I’ve ever had!” It’s slightly creamy (but doesn’t go overboard with dairy) and has amazing flavor thanks to the chicken sausage. It also has a nice pop of color from the chopped spinach. This soup can be made in minutes with your electric pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 pound ground chicken sausage (or you can use ground pork sausage)
- 1 diced yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 6 cups chicken broth (or 6 cups water and 6 tsp Better than Bouillon* chicken base)
- 8 ounces sliced or quartered mushrooms
- 1 (16 ounce package) frozen or fresh tortellini
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 5 ounces coarsely chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream, warm
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting and adjust to “more.” Add in the oil. Let the pot heat up for a couple of minutes. Add in the chicken sausage and brown for about 5 minutes. Add in the onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add in the thyme.
- Deglaze the pot with the chicken broth. Add in the mushrooms and then add in the tortellini.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 0 minutes (zero). It should be on high pressure.
- While the pot is coming to pressure chop your spinach and warm up your dairy (I just stuck mine in the microwave for 30 seconds).
- Once the pot comes to pressure your timer will beep. Do nothing at this point and just let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, move the valve to venting. Once you can, remove the lid.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese, spinach and half and half. Turn the pot to the saute setting. In a small bowl stir together the cornstarch and water. Then stir the cornstarch slurry into the pot. It will thicken the soup just a bit. Once soup is thickened turn off the saute function and turn the pot to the keep warm function. Salt and pepper the soup to taste.
- Ladle soup into bowls and top with additional parmesan cheese.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
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I added the tortellini after releasing the pressure to avoid overcooking. Also added a cheese rind before pressure cooking so was able to use less parmesan at the end. It was delicious.
★★★★★
I bet that gave it great flavor! Good tip.
My family loves this recipe! Was wondering if I did a shorter NR like 5 min If that would help make the tortellini less overcooked?
★★★★★
Yes that would probably help. Just make sure if foam comes out of valve that you turn it back to sealing and wait for 20 seconds before moving it to venting again.
Made this for supper tonight and loved it! Was wondering if you could make this using gnocchi instead of the tortelling? Would almost be like having Olive Garden’s gnocchi soup which my husband loves.
Yes that would be amazing I think.
Hi
I have made this recipe a lot. Actually on my stove top.
Love it!!
Can I use rotisserie chicken or chicken breast instead of sausage?
Also anyway u can post recipes with less salt?
Ty
Yes you can do that. You can always reduced the sodium in my recipes by eliminating the added salt and then using low sodium products.
I also used italian style sausage, not ground and chopped it up. It was wonderful!! I didn’t have any cornstarch, so just used some poultry gravy mix and turned out great!! My husband said this one is a keeper!
★★★★★
Sounds fantastic!
Do you have any idea of the calorie count on this recipient?
Just added the nutrition info!
Made this last night for the family. It was so delicious! I can’t wait to make it again. Thank you so much for helping us all look good. Take care
★★★★★
I love this one too! I’m glad you found it 🙂
The instructions don’t indicate to drain the fat after browning the sausage. Is that necessary or is it just a given? I’m going to use pork sausage so it will have more fat than chicken sausage. Thanks!
The chicken sausage doesn’t have much fat at all. So yes if you’re using pork sausage I’d drain off the grease.
I’ve had problems in the past with tortellini soup, ie with the tortellini getting soggy. What are your thoughts on adding the tortellini after the release, ie just a few minutes before adding the spinach etc.
Perfect idea!
Could I make this with gluten free gnocchi? I can’t have tortellini anymore. 😢
Yes but I would cook them on the stove and add them in after the pressure cooking is done.
This recipe was delicious. My only problem was my tortellini were very mushy. Any thought on this or substitutions? I was thinking cannellini beans instead?
★★★★★
That would be tasty!!
We just had this for supper on a rainy chilly evening and it hit the spot!! I used a spicy chicken Italian sausage that I sliced. It wasn’t the crumbly kind. Worked great. Used evaporated milk and had a 20 oz. pkg. of tortellini so a little extra there. So so good. Will make again.
That sounds fantastic! I like the idea of the sliced sausage.
I made this tonight but didn’t realize I needed to buy pre seasoned chicken sausage. I couldn’t find it and bought ground chicken. It wasn’t until it had finished cooking that I realized my mistake. So at the very end I added in my own spices.
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage
½ teaspoon fennel
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
I was worried it wouldn’t turn out but it was delicious! Served with sourdough bread and a mixed green salad.
★★★★★
Wow that sounds great! Thanks for adding the amounts you added. This will be handy when I can’t find chicken sausage at the store.
I used your recipe just now to make my first meal in my new Instant Pot. Delicious! I will be trying many more recipes on your site 🙂
★★★★★
YAAAASSS! Welcome to the IP world 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight… The recipe was easy to follow (made as directed), simple and delicious!! Thanks for posting this wonderful dish!
★★★★★
We love this one at our house too!
This was so delicious! My tortellini was definitely overcooked and got worse as it sat. I think I would cook it separately and have it added as people took their servings. That way if I have some leftover the tortellini will be still very nice.
I am super impressed with your cookbook. Almost everything I make is very delicious.
★★★★
Very excited to give this a try. Do you think evaporated milk would work … or maybe even coconut milk? Cream and half/half are a no go in my household, since it causes major belly issues!
evaporated milk would work
I would like to make this with a tomatoey rather than a creamy liquid. Would you recommend subbing canned tomatoes or tomato sauce for part of the liquid?
Thanks! Love your blog!
I’m not totally sure. I would probably use a can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes and cut out 2 cups of the broth.
Made this soup for the family for lunch today. It was easy to make…used ground turkey and regular milk instead. The family enjoyed it. It will be a recipe to redo. Thank you
★★★★★
Hi Lynn, I’m glad you liked it. We really loved this one at my house.
Has anyone tried just using ground chicken? I have lots of this and wondering how it would do in this recipe…
You could use ground chicken but would need to season it well. The soup gets a lot of flavor from the seasonings in the sausage.
Do you have a crock pot version of this recipe?
Yes, here it is: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-tortellini-soup-with-parmesan-chicken-sausage-and-mushrooms/
This was so good!!!!! Definitely on the “make again ” list!!
Hello! I’m wondering where you found ground chicken sausage? Excited to try this recipe!
Hi Sarah, I bought mine at Harmons grocery store and it was their store brand. If you can’t find chicken sausage you can also use turkey sausage (sometimes found in the frozen breakfast foods aisle) or regular pork sausage.
Hi Karen
I am no longer able to get “ground chicken sausage”. I now see turkey sausage, mild Italian chicken sausage, etc… but nothing seems comparable to the 1st one that you recommend. Isernos makes one but may be pretty spicey. And I assume just ground chicken is bland. What spices would you add to the last one? ( 2- part question!).
Thanks, IRENA
Delicious! We’ll definitely be making it again. Even my little kids liked it.
★★★★
Oops! I didn’t realize I already commented! Lol! You can delete this comment if you wish!
Can you double recepie?
yes, do you have an 8 quart instant pot? I don’t know if it will fit in a 6 quart if you double it.
Yummy! We really enjoyed this! I’ll definitely make it again.
★★★★
So glad to hear!
My hubby needs to make this recipe for me tonight due to a schedule change and he is afraid of our instant pot 🙄
Do you have a stove top instruction for him?
Can’t do Crock Pot due to timing.
Thanks!
Did he figure it out? I haven’t made this one on the stove top yet.
Could you use the shelf stable tortellini like Barilla brand or the one at Costco?
yes I believe you could. It might soak up more of the liquid so you might need to add in more broth. I also think you’d need to set it for a 2-3 minute pressure cook time instead of 0.
Was a little wary of this because I favor cream based soups, but the flavors were amazing! I used kale instead and it still cooked up and didn’t fall apart. Highly recommend!
★★★★★
I was thinking that kale would be good!! Did you pressure cook it?
Where are the mushrooms in this recipe? If mushrooms are in the name of the recipe, I would think they would be included in the list of ingredients and instructions. This sounds really good and I will make it, but would like some guidelines as to how much and when to add the mushrooms.. I am a big fan of Tortellini Soup and love mushrooms, so this really appealed to me.
I’m an idiot and forgot to add them to the recipe. I corrected it! Thanks for the heads up!