Tortellini in Parmesan Cream Sauce with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Cheese tortellini are tossed in an easy Parmesan cream sauce with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. An easy dinner ready in less than 30 minutes!
A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready to touch base with everyone about Sunday dinner and was stumped for dinner ideas. I asked my husband if there was anything he was hungry for, and he said he would love some sort of pasta in a creamy sauce, but he did not want alfredo sauce. After doing some brainstorming, I came up with this dish. I’ve always loved tortellini, especially in creamy sauces, so I’m all about an excuse to make it, and this was a perfect one!
I loved that dish came together in less than 30 minutes – it made it incredibly easy to prepare before we sat down to eat on Sunday. Simply slice up the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, drop the tortellini in water and while it boils, you can make the sauce. A wonderfully simple but incredibly impressive dish. Everyone loved the bright green and red colors from the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, and they were even more impressed with the flavor. The sauce is creamy, but much lighter than a traditional alfredo sauce, which is typically quite thick.
It all combines for a perfect pasta dish to make on a weeknight or for your next dinner party.
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Tortellini with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes in a Garlic-Parmesan Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound (453.59 g) cheese tortellini
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1¼ cups (297.5 ml) heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ⅓ cup (33.33 g) grated Parmesan cheese
- 5 ounces (141.75 g) baby spinach, thinly sliced
- 7 ounce (198.45 g) ar sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Boil the tortellini according the package directions.
- While the tortellini is cooking, prepare the sauce. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until it has absorbed the melted butter, becomes a paste and begins to smell nutty. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream (at first the mixture will be thick and chunky, but it will smooth and thin out), then add the salt and Parmesan cheese. Allow to simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, then transfer the cooked and drained tortellini to the skillet, gently stirring to coat the tortellini with the sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
I just finished this dish and can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it. I made it exactly as written and the sauce was very smooth after a couple of minutes what’s a little thicker than I liked it so I added 3 tablespoons of chicken broth and it was perfect. The Sun-dried tomatoes were an outstanding addition because it gave just a little bit of saltiness and tang and really brought out the cheese tortellini.
Of course I used parmigiano ReggIano cheese … the real thing.
The tortellini were from Whole Foods and they were ricotta and Parmesan cheese tortellini. This is a definite keeper and I’ll be making this again you could be sure.
Such a great and easy to follow recipe. I made this tonight and it was amazing! I substituted the heavy cream for plain greek yogurt and a splash of fat free milk and couldn’t tell the difference!
Great start. I used abt a T. of roasted garlic rather than adding fresh later , cut the tomato addition in half, and sautéed blackened shrimp to stir in. Also ended up adding about 1/2c milk. Before the milk, mine was more like a thick glue consistency. Turned out terrific.
I made this today with more heavy cream (i’m addicted!) and spinach and minus the tomatoes (reflux has got me down) BUT it was so good! I paired it with some smoked beef sausage and steamed string beans and came out a very nice meal!
I thought this was delish! I didn’t have the spinach or sun dried tomatoes, but I did have about 1/4 lb of imitation crab meat. Tossed that in with a dash of dried parsley and a pepper. Tasted fabulous. I would definitely add the spinach if I had it on hand for a different spin.
This sauce is easy and delicious! Tonight I made it omitting the spinach and tomatoes and adding a dash of cayenne pepper, to toss with bite-sized cooked chicken. My family loved it!
Gorgeous tasting sauce. The cream on its own does not work, it just stayed lumpy. Had to add milk to make it creamy. But apart from that quick easy and delicious.
Delicious! I was looking for something that had a cream & parmesan based sauce, to use up some spinach & ravioli and this was one of the first 6 that came up in my search. I had all the ingredients so I made it. I did use 2-tsp of cornstarch instead of flour since I have yet to have a white sauce come out right for me with flour and I also added a cup of milk to extend the sauce a bit. I’ll leave the sun dried tomatoes out next time though – the sweet tangy bits mixed in with all that salty creamy goodness didn’t quite fit for me. but it was still really good.
This is definitely a “keeper”!!! I did add some finely diced onion with the garlic. Very fast and easy to make but you would think it would take hours.
This is my 2nd time making this. It is yummy and easy to prepare, I grill a small chicken breast to serve as my hubby thinks it is not a meal unless he has meat. Very good I give it a 5 star
So I made this tonight and followed the recipe exactly, but it never turned into a sauce. It remained thick and chunky, clumping together the whole time. It never became creamy and smooth.
Do you know why this could be?
Hi Emily, Hmmm… as I mentioned in the recipe, it does start out chunky but then smoothes out. Did you try adding some extra cream, or even some chicken broth, to see if it would smooth out?
Made this tonight and was happy with it. I did need to add more cream to the mix but overall was very happy with it. Both my kids loved it, great way to sneak in veggies. ?
Do you think you can make this ahead and take with you to a pot luck dinner?
Hi Jeanine, I do think that this is best served immediately. If you can keep it warm (crock pot or casserole carrier?) and you didn’t need to travel far it could be okay. I would bring some extra cream in case it needs to be warmed up a bit and it loses a little creaminess.
I made this dish, but added chicken chunks. It was amazing!
Made this last night for the family as a change to our usual garlic infused chili sauce for pasta. Having a teen who isn’t much into veggies, I did not use nearly the amount of spinach or SD tomatoes suggested, however every bowl was empty. The sauce before adding spinach and SD tomatoes smelled supper yummy and the other ingredients just made it super delicious. Looking forward to making the full version. Also was very happy that cook time was just about what it said (if you have garlic, spinach, and SD tomatoes prepped). Definitely a keeper!
I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago and it turned out fabulous! Very quick and easy to make and full of flavor. I used Buitoni’s Mushroom Agnolotti for the pasta. If you like mushrooms it compliments the sauce well. I followed the recipe instructions for making the sauce- no changes. In fact, I’m going to make this again tonight. Thank you for sharing!
This has become a family favorite! I double the sauce and mix in sliced chicken breasts and small fresh mozzarella balls, then I top it with shredded mozzarella and bake it until brown and bubbly. It is so so good!! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Success! I tried this recipe tonight. And it was Amazing. Loved it.
I’m situated in London and I generally long for the diverse sorts of cooking or recipes (bit fiery :)) I discovered your website when I was searching for some chicken recipes. You have an amazing rundown of recipes. Thanks for sharing :)
Another hit! Made this and we loved it. Definitely a keeper.
This looks amazing. I cannot wait to have it for dinner next week.
I made this last night for dinner, and all I can say is YUM! I did double the cream sauce using light cream and heavy cream because we like extra sauce, and added grilled chicken. I will definitely make this again–it is a keeper! Thank you for all of the delicious recipe ideas, especially your desserts!
I made this tonight and it’s REALLY good, but you’ll need to add more cream or as I did half & half
Last week I cooked some crab & shrimp tortellini and served it with jarred Alfredo sauce. It was delicious. I’ll try your sauce next. Thanks!
This sauce sounds tasty. I don’t know about putting it on tortellini, but I will try it on the gruyere and asparagus stuffed ravioli I have in my freezer.
Thanks so much for your great recipes! This recipe looks great and I will definitely put it on my meal planning calendar for the upcoming week! One question for you; what brand of stuffed pasta (Tortellini, Ravioli, etc.) do you recommend? Thanks for your input!
Hi Detra, For the refrigerated stuffed pastas, I use Buitoni – I’m never disappointed!
This looks absolutely delicious! You can never go wrong with spinach, tomato and most importantly, pasta. I could easily eat pasta for 7 days in a row. xx
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I can’t wait to try this. We just left yesterday for an eight day vacation but this will be the first thing I fix when I get back home. Thanks for posting this! Yummy!!!
Oh boy. This is calling my name from so many different directions! Any kind of stuffed pasta is my jam. Ravioli, shells, manicotti… You just can’t go wrong!
That sauce looks so creamy and delicious! Tortellini is the best. You can wake me up for a dish like this any time!