One of the best things about roasting a turkey is the leftovers that can be turned into big sandwiches or a bit dose of comfort found in this turkey tortellini soup. Best of all—it comes together in under 30 minutes, leaving plenty of time for all the board games, football and family you can handle.
Save This Recipe!
Enter your email and we'll send it right to you!
This is a great add to your arsenal of quick, homemade soup recipes, along with this simple just as quick pastina soup with chicken.
Quick soups require rich and flavorful soup bases and stocks. Let’s look at where to get them.
Soup stock options
Premade turkey stock. This is a quick soup so feel free to use your favorite brand of turkey stock – here are some I love.
- Kitchen Basic’s Turkey stock
- Trader Joe’s (seasonally – if you can find it)
- Aldi has a great one too.
Homemade turkey stock. If you happen to have a leftover turkey carcass, here’s how to make homemade turkey stock from it:
- Place the turkey carcass, a bundle of your favorite herbs (thyme, sage, Italian parsley), a few washed, unpeeled carrots, and a peeled and quartered yellow onion in a large stockpot. Add 1/4 cup of whole peppercorns. Pour in just enough cold water to cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil and let simmer for a couple of hours. Strain and when cool, place the pot in the refrigerate overnight. Remove the fat (it won’t be too much) that rises to the top to reveal the luscious turkey stock below.
This post contains links to affiliate websites including Amazon. I make a small commission for any purchases made using these links. Thank you!
Best pasta for turkey soup
I love using cheese tortellini in turkey soup because it’s a great counterbalance to the turkey and the spiciness that comes with the ground Italian sausage. Brothy soups with meat are hearty and comforting. Another one to try is stracciatella italian wedding soup.
Frozen tortellini straight from the bag cooks quickly and won’t expand too much in the broth.
By the way, there’s a little trick to keep the pasta from growing too much in the tortellini soup with sausage.
How to stop pasta from absorbing broth in soup
Here are some tips to guarantee the pasta will not get mushy in the soup:
- Pre-cook the pasta to a little less than al dente (means “to the tooth“). For the tortellini, I cooked it for about 2 minutes and then added it to the soup right at the end before serving. It finishes cooking in the broth and doesn’t absorb more broth as it cools.
- If using pasta other than tortellini, you can alway cook it just to al dente which is a minute or so less than directed on the package.
- Add only as much pasta as you need to each individual bowl right before serving.
Tortellini soup step-by-step
Right at the end, add some diced leftover turkey (skin removed), the cooked sausage, tortellini, handfuls of fresh spinach and two big squeezes of lemon.
This tortellini soup with spinach is also calling for a big sprinkle of parmesan. We can’t forget the cheese.
Made this recipe?
I’d love it if you’d share your review and leave a star rating and comment!
30-Minute Turkey and Sausage Tortellini Soup
SAVE THIS RECIPE
Enter your email and we'll send it right to you!
Ingredients
- 12 oz bag frozen cheese tortellini, I use Perfect Pasta
- ½ whole cooked turkey breast, skin removed & shredded or diced [see below for easy recipe, if needed]
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2-3 links of Italian sausage or 1/2 lb bulk sausage, cases removed
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ onion, finely chopped, about 1/2 cup
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 quarts turkey stock
- 8 oz fresh baby spinach
- ½ lemon, juiced
- grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the tortellini in salted, boiling water for half the time according to the package directions (approximately 2 minutes). Drain in a colander and set aside.12 oz bag frozen cheese tortellini
- Heat a 4 qt. soup or saucepan and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the sausage and sage. Cook until no longer pink about 8 minutes, crumbling while cooking with a spatula or wooden spoon. Remove from pan to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.2 Tablespoons olive oil, 2-3 links of Italian sausage or 1/2 lb bulk sausage, ½ teaspoon dried sage
- In the same skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and add the chopped onion. Saute for about 5 minutes until lightly golden. Add the garlic at the end and saute for 30 seconds until fragrant.½ onion, 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 2 cloves garlic
- Add the tomato paste to the soup pan and swirl around in the pan until caramelized about 1-2 minutes.3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- To the soup pan, add the turkey stock. Stir the soup and allow it to come to a very low boil, cooking for 15 minutes total.2 quarts turkey stock
- Add turkey, reserved sausage, tortellini and spinach to the soup during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. Stir until the spinach has wilted and the tortellini is cooked. Taste for seasoning adding the additional teaspoon of salt if needed.½ whole cooked turkey breast, 8 oz fresh baby spinach
- Squeeze the lemon into the soup (minus the seeds!). Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.½ lemon, grated Parmesan cheese
This recipe came to my in box just in time as I was wondering what to serve my family for dinner. We had a lot of left over turkey and this filled the bill. Lori, it was absolutely wonderful. Fast, easy, I used food I had on hand. I’m gluten free and used Taste Republic GF Four cheese Tortellini – awesome! My family and 3 yo granddaughters loved it! Will absolutely use this one again!
Yay Kim! This makes me so happy to hear the soup found you at the right time and so glad you all enjoyed it!
Sounds yummy!!