When the weather turns cool, a large pot of Sausage Butternut Squash Tortellini Soup is a great recipe to keep you and your family warm. A warm bowl of comfort soup with crusty bread always sounds delicious.
Quick and easy Chicken Noodle Soup and Pumpkin Chili are two more favorite soups we love in the colder months... or any time of year really.
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What is butternut squash soup with tortellini and sausage?
I know you're looking for a more refined answer than a wonderful recipe or absolutely delicious, which are both accurate. Butternut squash in general, is considered a nutritious food, and it is.
When roasted, butternut squash, part of the winter squash family, has a slightly sweet flavor. To make this soup, we did not roast it, but there's still a hint of sweetness that comes through.
Once pureed into a rich and luscious soup base, the possibilities become endless.
Using Italian cuisine flavor notes, we took that creamy, rich base and added many more layers of flavor. Creamy butternut squash and Italian sausage soup is one comforting soup.
Recipe Ingredients
- Tortellini — for this recipe, we used fresh cheese tortellini found in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
- Sausage — to amplify the natural sweetness of the butternut squash, we used sweet Italian sausage in casings.
- Produce — as the recipe title suggests, we used butternut squash. But you'll also want a yellow onion, fresh spinach (regular leaf or baby spinach), garlic, fresh sage, and mushrooms.
- Pantry — chicken broth, tomato paste, salt, and pepper are all used in this recipe.
- Dairy — heavy cream added at the end is what makes this recipe luscious. Parmesan cheese, which isn't pictured, is a lovely optional garnish when serving.
Adaptations and variations
There's so many ways the basic recipe can go.
Sausage:
- spicy Italian sausage — this will give your soup a bit of a kick. Spicy sausage can also be labeled as hot Italian sausage, they are the same and interchangeable terms.
- sweet Italian sausage — using sweet Italian sausage will blend beautifully with the natural sweetness of the butternut squash.
- mild Italian sausage — as the name implies, this is simply a milder version of spicy or hot Italian sausage. The seasoning blend uses less red pepper flakes.
- turkey sausage — Italian sausage is made from pork, so using Italian seasoning blend with ground turkey sausage is a great way to lighten the meal up.
- bulk Italian sausage — if dealing with removing the casings sounds cumbersome, or you're simply pressed for time, using Italian sausage packaged like other ground meat is perfectly fine.
- Plant based sausage — use your favorite brand to make this meal vegetarian.
More vegetables:
- chopped kale
- diced sweet potatoes
- freshly diced tomatoes
- canned diced tomatoes or fire roasted diced tomatoes (fire roasted tomatoes will provide even bolder flavor)
- bell peppers, we love red bell pepper for color
- cube other varieties of winter squash
How to make Tortellini Butternut Squash and Sausage Soup
Step 1 — Remove casings from sausage links, crumble, and brown in the Dutch oven (or other large pot) over medium high heat. Strain the sausage through a fine mesh sieve, catching and reserving the renderings. Set the Italian sausage aside.
Step 2 — Add the reserved renderings (or olive oil) back to the Dutch oven and cook the chopped mushrooms, half the minced garlic, and diced onion until they start to soften and slightly brown.
Step 3 — While working on steps one and two, slice the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and peel the skin. Dice the squash into cubes, and set aside.
Step 4 — Once the vegetables have softened and browned, add the cubed butternut squash, salt, pepper, fresh sage sprigs, remaining garlic and chicken broth to the Dutch oven.
Step 5 — Over medium high heat, bring the soup to a boil. Allow to cook for 6-8 minutes or until the butternut squash is completely fork tender. Remove the sage stem, but leaves can remain. Use an immersion blender to puree everything into a smooth soup base. Stir in the tomato paste.
Step 6 — Reduce to medium heat. Return the cooked sausage to the large soup pot along with the cheese tortellini and fresh spinach. Allow to cook until a low simmer begins.
Step 7 — Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream.
Step 8 — Once combined, return to a low simmer, then serve and enjoy. Garnish with optional grated Parmesan cheese.
Recipe FAQs
Yes you can. It will deepen the flavor.
Absolutely. Any pasta can be used. If using a dried pasta, cook just before al dente then add it to the pot.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. There may be some separation but it will recombine when rewarming.
More butternut squash soup recipes
Other Delicious Dutch Oven Soup and Stew Recipes
If you tried this Sausage Butternut Squash Tortellini Soup or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Get the Recipe
Sausage Butternut Squash Tortellini Soup
Equipment
- 6 quart Dutch Oven or larger
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup onions diced
- 8 oz mushrooms chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced; divided
- 1 butternut squash peeled and diced
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 sprig sage or 8-10 leaves
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 18 oz cheese tortellini
- 6 oz spinach
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Remove casings from sausage links, crumble, and brown in the Dutch oven (or other large pot) over medium high heat.
- Strain the sausage through a fine mesh sieve, catching and reserving the renderings. Set the Italian sausage aside.
- Add the reserved renderings or olive oil back to the Dutch oven and cook the chopped mushrooms, minced garlic, and diced onion until they begin to soften and brown.
- Over medium high heat, bring the soup to a boil. Allow to cook for 6-8 minutes or until the butternut squash is completely fork tender.
- Use an immersion blender to puree everything into a smooth soup base. Stir in the tomato paste.
- Reduce to medium heat and return the cooked sausage to the large soup pot along with the cheese tortellini and fresh spinach. Allow to cook until a low simmer begins.
- Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream.
- Once combined, return to a low simmer, then serve and enjoy. Garnish with optional grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
- We love cheese tortellini but you can use any filling, sausage, mushroom, spinach and cheese, and so on.
- We used sausage renderings to sauté the vegetables, but olive oil, butter, bacon fat, or any cooking oil can be used.
- If you want a thinner soup base, you can omit the tomato paste, but then we recommend adding a tablespoon of other Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce to get the umami you'd get from the the tomato paste
- Sausage: mild, sweet, hot and spicy; chicken or turkey; plant-based are options
- Add more vegetables like bell peppers and tomatoes
- Use your favorite broth or alternative dairy options.
- Toss in more fresh herbs.
Nutrition
Dutch Oven Daddy is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
bruce and dina
Wow! We made this last night! And it was increcible! The family asked for a 2nd bowl! Yum!
Ned Adams
Oh awesome! I'm so glad you and family enjoyed it! Thank you for the feedback! 🙂
D
A tasty soup!!
Ned Adams
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it as much as we do!