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.
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address, and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
Watch the Recipe Video:
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!
So good! I didn’t have heavy cream so I used half and half and it worked just fine. I also used julienne cut sun dried tomatoes in a bag and it taste perfect. Addedd pressure cooked chicken breast and voila!! Everyone’s happy.
I made this tonight. The hubs and I really enjoyed it. Some ingredients I had more and some less but I did have them all and the basic taste was there. I usually keep dried tortellini and all the other ingredients on hand. This will be great to make when unexpected company shows up or as tonight when my ricotta for stuffed shells had gone bad ☹️ and I needed something quick and easy!
Major comfort food that can come together easily with many pantry ingredients. Also a little goes a long way, so this ends up being a very economical dish as well. I did add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and used 2 cloves of garlic and a touch additional cream. Definitely a keeper!
Dear browneyedbaker,
I really enjoy your recipes! And, I’ve even tried a few.
Would you please recommend a spicy sun dried tomato that’s crisp??? The last one I used was just in olive oil, and not worth the money.
Thank you,
Janell
Can you freeze to reheat later?
Hi Charlene, I’m not sure how well this would freeze. I fear the tortellini would be mushy and the cream sauce may separate.
You saved dinner! This was AMAZING and so easy! I added some fresh mushrooms since I needed to use them and only had frozen spinach on hand but it turned out really well. I can’t shut up about it!
This is SO good. I did change the recipe I tiny bit though. I love garlic. So I put in a two cloves in. And then I don’t know if I may have had the flame too high because the sauce was a little too dry. So I added a bit more of the heavy cream and also added a couple spoonfuls of the pasta water. Was absolutely perfect after that!
This was delicious! I used tortellini stuffed with Italian sausage. Definitely a keeper!
Was a very indulgent and rich meal – very tasty. After reading other reviews I kept the flour to a minimum (2 tsp) and also added a bit of milk – not sure the flour is required at all. Loved the spinach and sundried tomatoes in it. I would make again.
Yum, loved this recipe! Took a chance on Trader Joe’s sun dried tomatoes – added a great flavor.
This recipe was so easy and perfect! Me and my husband loved this dish. Thank you!!
I followed the directions except I didn’t use sun dried tomatoes. It is now one of my family’s favorites!
One of my go to recipes! I follow it more or less the same except I use spinach and cheese ravioli. Often i just use regular milk instead or cream. Delicious and easy family meal!
I’ve used this recipe for the past couple of years and always receive compliments. I make a double batch of the white sauce and toss it in fresh made pasta. Bon appetite!
Delicious that’s all I can say.
I made this and noticed it might be dry so I doubled the sauce. Used 18 oz package of tortellini instead of 1 pound but fugured it’d be ok since I was doubling the sauce, Added one chicken breast I had cooked the night before and other mods. It sucked! Maybe I tried too hard but it was sticky and gooyey and not very tasty. Added 1/8 tspn of red peeper flakes, pepper, garlic salt and caraway seed. All the way I test tasted and adjusted. Sauce was soooo thick I added another half cut of milk. I kept the sun dried tomatoes and spinach the same. Nothing worked.
The only thing that I didn’t do was drain the tortellini noodles which I asked my wife to do. When I went to add them they were one big brick sitting in the collander she left them in. She didn’t to rinse them.
So any ideas anybody? heard lots of great thing about this recipe and wanted it to work to add to my weekly rotation. But unless you have ideas I’m not making again!
If I used half & half intend of heavy cream, will it change the taste too much?
This turned out to be a very tasty and fulfilling dish.
This recipe turned out delicious although I did have to alter it by adding chicken broth to the creamy mixture to thin it out. The flavors combined and it turned out delicious!
Thus is family’s favorite meal! So good 😋
My mom is visiting for a few days after Thanksgiving so I made this tonight and it was a huge hit! This was so easy to make and tasted amazing! Will definitely make it again. Thanks for all the great recipes!
This mean was delicious! It was pretty easy to make and all 4 of my young children ate it!
My husband & I love this! It’s delicious, and I’ll definitely make it again ! 🙂
This is one of my go-to pasta recipes. So easy, so delicious and so comforting! I often use with veal tortellini.
This recipe is unreliable! I should have used my common sense to know that the cream would not form the liquid sauce I needed, I had to add milk to not make it glugy. You do not need to add a jar of sun dried tomato’s and actually leaving the baby spinach whole was better. Make a normal white sauce and then cheese, salt and pepper. It cuts down the fat. I’d also add parsley or fresh basil. Sorry the chemistry was wrong!
I can’t wait to make this! Tonight I’m cooking this for my parents and brother. I am making homemade parmesan garlic fries along with it. I am so happy that I found this. Thanks for this recipe, helping young teen cooks learn!
I’m making this tomorrow for a visiting friend and my family. I’m going to serve sliced sirloin steak with it and add some chopped chestnut mushrooms and a little cracked black pepper corns! I can’t wait
I made this for a group of 50 people – multiplied the recipe and it was wonderful. The flavors just screamed through and people went crazy. It is a fantastic recipe that will leave people wondering! Thank you for sharing it.
I’m so happy to hear that Kevin!
Is there a way to print recipes without the screen shot of the “latest video”? It takes up space on the page and had no value to the current recipe I’m printing.
Hi Patti, That shouldn’t be showing up and I apologize for the inconvenience, will get that fixed!
I made this exactly as written and it turned out perfect. It’s easy, fast, and delicious. Everyone really liked it and I’ll definitely be making this again!