• Home
    • Recipes
      • Recipe Index
      • VIDEO SERIES: Learn to Cook on a Budget
      • How-To & Cooking Tutorials
      • Popular Recipes
    • Meal Plans
      • Weekly Meal Plans
      • Freezer Meal Plans
      • The ORIGINAL 20 Meals for $150 Plans
    • Classes
      • Grocery Savings 101 Workshop
      • Freezer Cooking 101 Workshop
      • Meal Planning 101 Workshop
      • Whis-Kid Cooking Lessons
      • Instant Pot Cooking 101 Course
      • My Efficient Kitchen Course
    • Store
    • Blog
    • Contact
      • About
      • Press
    • Login

    $5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

    Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals and Cooking Tutorials for the Busy Home Chef

    Join Erin's 5-Ingredient Challenge in 2023

    Tortellini Soup

    April 12, 2011 by Alea 13 Comments

    0 shares
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Sign up to receive FREE weekly emails with recipes, coupons and other money saving tips right into your inbox. Become a friend on Facebook too AND/OR join the $5 Meal Plan Family and get meal plans delivered to you each week!

    Tortellini Soup

    Last week I was craving minestrone soup, but many of the vegetables that I use in it are not in season. Buying imported, out of season veggies would have greatly increased the cost of the dish, so I decided to replace them with something that is always in season: tortellini!  🙂

    I reduced the cost of this soup, by using homemade chicken broth. I also used dry beans that I cooked from scratch. When you use dry beans you save about 75% off the price of canned beans. It is more time consuming that opening a can, but with my pressure cooker method I can batch cook a large amount in less than 1 1/2 hours. I realize that making homemade tortellini would have reduced the cost even further, but I cheated and used frozen cheese tortellini.

    Print This Post

    Alea’s Tortellini Soup

    Ingredients

    • 1 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1/2 cup onion, minced
    • 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
    • 2 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1/2 cup carrots, julienned
    • 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
    • 1 3/4 cups black beans or 1 can of black beans (Or learn how to cook your own beans here.)
    • 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley
    • 1 teaspoon basil
    • 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
    • 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
    • 2 – 3 cups  cheese stuffed tortellini
    • 3  cups  fresh spinach

    Directions

    1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add onion, celery, garlic, and carrots.

    2. Sauté veggies in the oil for 5 minutes.

    3. Add broth, tomatoes, beans, and spices to the pot. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.

    4.  Add spinach leaves and tortellini and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until pasta is al dente and spinach is wilted.

    Serves 4 – 6.

    Tortellini Soup

    Article by Alea

    Alea Milham shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home at Premeditated Leftovers. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less. Alea can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
    Alea has written 52 great articles for us.
    View all posts by Alea

    0 shares
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Filed Under: Beans Recipes, Budget Friendly Recipes, Pasta Recipes, Soup Recipes Tagged With: Alea

    Comments

    1. Karen Petersen says

      April 12, 2011 at 10:44 pm

      yum! I love tortellinis!
      My kids love this Italian Tortellini Soup…it is so good: http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/2009/12/day-330-italian-tortellini-soup.html

      Reply
      • Alea says

        April 12, 2011 at 11:14 pm

        Karen, I was just thinking today that I had never had tortellini in a beef broth and wondered how it would taste. From your link it looks like a delicious combination! Thanks for sharing.

        Reply
    2. Melissa says

      April 13, 2011 at 6:30 am

      That soup looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your recipe!

      I’ve been making minestrone … only recently, but three times already. (I’m working on a blog post about it, but just haven’t pulled it all together yet.) Like you, I use dry beans and homemade broth.

      Reply
      • Alea says

        April 13, 2011 at 3:10 pm

        Melissa, Minestrone soup is addictive isn’t it? We are always sad when the leftovers are gone so I have to make another batch. 🙂 I look forward to seeing your take on this comfort food!

        Reply
    3. B says

      April 13, 2011 at 9:45 pm

      this soup was AMAZINGLY good, thank you for sharing it! i replaced the beans with about 3/4 lb. of sausage and it added even more flavor! i also boiled the tortellini separately and added it to the soup at the end – in the past, i always run into problems adding uncooked pasta to soup because it soaks up all the liquid and i no longer have soup left! does anyone have this problem? anyway, thank you again, we all loved this at our home!

      Reply
      • Alea says

        April 13, 2011 at 11:34 pm

        Thank you! Your variation sounds amazing! Good tip on boiling the noodles separately. I haven’t had the problem with tortellini absorbing too much broth, but I have had other types of noodles do that before. thanks again, Alea

        Reply
    4. Kimberly says

      April 16, 2011 at 4:52 pm

      This soup looks declicious! I am wondering though if this is a 5.00 meal? A bag of cheese tortellini where I live is 5-6 a bag.

      Reply
      • Alea says

        April 17, 2011 at 9:45 pm

        Kimberly,

        Thank you! Yes, I was able to make this for under $5.00. I bought a 19 oz. bag of frozen cheese tortellini for $3.38 ( every day price, sometimes I can buy it on sale for less). I used half a bag which was a little over 2 1/2 cups so the tortellini cost $1.69.

        Reply
    5. Amanda says

      April 24, 2011 at 1:48 am

      Yum! This sounds great and seems easy enough that I could put it together during the week after a long day at work. Thanks for sharing 🙂

      Reply
    6. Susan B. says

      October 3, 2011 at 10:32 pm

      Great recipe. I added a little thinly sliced andouille sausage for some spice and salt to taste at the very end. I would definitely make this again. Thanks!!

      Reply
    7. Alea Milham says

      October 3, 2011 at 11:47 pm

      I am glad you liked. I bet the sausage made a delicious addition!

      Reply
    8. Mollie says

      November 29, 2011 at 8:53 pm

      I made this tonight and it was YUM! Instead of the various spices, I just did several shakes of a dry Italian seasoning blend. I also wanted to say that I had to add 2 more cups of chicken broth because there wasn’t enough liquid with all the other goodies there. My husband who doesn’t even like tortellini ate it up! Success! 🙂

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Menu Plan – Week of March 11 says:
      March 10, 2013 at 7:21 pm

      […] – Tortellini Soup, served with a garden salad and Gluten-Free Herbed Bread […]

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    I’m Erin Chase…

    Also known as the
    $5 Dinner Mom.

    I have a little problem. I cannot make a meal that costs more than $5.
    It’s a fun challenge,
    and my pocketbook
    thanks me.
    Want to join me?

    Learn more here!

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Search $5 Dinners

    Favorite Meal Planning & Cooking Resources

    Whis-Kid Cooking Lessons Grocery Budget Makeover My Freezeasy Erin Chase Store 5DD Freebie Library 20 Meals for $150 Plans

    © 2023 5 Dollar Dinners | Disclosure Policy | Copyright Information | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy | Accessibility | Design & Tech Support by Klong Designs



    Copyright © 2023 · 5 Dollar Dinners Genesis Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in