Roasted Veggie Creamy Tortellini Soup

This is how you roast a bunch of simple veggies and make a creamy tortellini soup. This soup is hearty, filling, and comforting. You can make this entirely vegetarian or you can swap out the tortellini for a meaty kind for more protein!

First recipe of the year!

And it’s a good one if I do say so myself.  One that I worked on quite a bit last year to get it to where it’s at today. Spoonfuls of creamy roasted veggies that are then pureed and loaded with aromatics like onion and garlic. This creamy tortellini soup is loaded with tons of roasted veggies and is hearty and warm and comforting. The best thing you can eat, especially if you’re down with this winter-virus situation we’ve got going on right here. I was in the thick of it for what felt like more than two weeks. I’ve still got a nasty cough to prove it.

And when I’m sick, I want carbs. All the carbs and nothing but.

Luckily, a warm bowl of creamy tortellini soup certainly checks the ‘carbohydrate’ box but also comes loaded with tons of fresh roasted veggies to give you the boost you need to nurse you back to health. Praise be.

One thing that I absolutely love doing when I’m making my secret ingredient tomato soup (and now this creamy tortellini soup) is giving the veggies a good rub of olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and then allowing the vegetables to roast in the oven for an hour. The slow roasting process really helps caramelize the veggies. Which then lends so much free caramelized flavor to this soup. This got me thing, if we can make roasted tomato soup, why not add red peppers to it and make roasted veggie soup, spike it with cream, and add tender tortellini and turn it into a complete meal? My god, the smells alone could make your stomach growl.

Okay, I lied. There’s another thing I love about this soup. It’s the fact that you can roast the veggies up to two days in advance, allow them to cool, refrigerate them and then just blend up the soup the day you want to serve it. Or you could even prep the entire soup a couple of days ahead of time and just boil the tortellini and add it to your bowl (or the pot) before serving. I don’t know which option is better, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to take advantage of both.

What veggies do we roast for this creamy tortellini soup?

• red bell peppers
• tomatoes (use a good variety – Campania, Roma, etc.)
• onions
• carrots
• garlic

How to make the best creamy tortellini soup: 

1. The first step is to roast the veggies. You’ll want to cut everything into pretty large pieces so that they can stand up to the longer cooking time. Then, drizzle them with a generous glug of olive oil and sprinkle on the kosher salt and pepper. Next, pop this in the oven and allow it to roast for an hour total. You’ll want to stop it around the halfway mark, remove the garlic if it’s browning already, and just give everything a quick flip to ensure even roasting.
2. If you’re serving this right away, you’ll want to start boiling water for your tortellini about 10-12 minutes before the veggies are done. Then, cook the tortellini according to package directions. When cooked, drain them and toss them or spray them with a bit of cooking spray so that they don’t all stick together; set aside.
3. Add the remaining olive oil in a dutch oven or a soup pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is heated through, add the tomato paste and allow for it to cook in the oil for 1-2 minutes or until you see that it’s visibly darkened a bit in color. This allows the tomatoes to really release their flavor into the oil, and, the smell is just *mwah* Then, add the vegetable stock, the roasted veggies, and all the seasonings to the soup and using an immersion stick blender, blend the soup. Then, heat the soup all the way through until boiling. Lower the heat and add the cream. Start with 1/2 cup of cream and adjust with more as desired. Then taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. You can add the tortellini to individual bowls if you’re anticipating leftovers, or you can add them to the entire soup pot, totally your call!

 I don’t have an immersion stick blender, how would I blend the soup?

You can transfer half of the batch of roasted veggies along with 1 cup of vegetable stock to a traditional blender and blend until smooth. Then, add this to the soup pot and repeat the step with the remaining roasted veggies, but this time, also add the basil and the seasonings (paprika, red pepper flakes, and thyme). Add the remaining 2 cups of stock to the soup pot and then continue with the recipe as directed.

Why do we roast the veggies before blending it?

The slow roasting process brings out the flavors more. It sweetens the veggies and allows them to blend very easily with the stock.

I want a lighter version can I use a different pasta to make this tortellini soup?

You can use prepared egg noodles, fusilli, bow tie pasta, and even shells in place of the tortellini if you want to cut back on the cheese. I’ve got good news for my GF friends, you can use a gluten-free pasta in place of the tortellini.

I want to up the protein, what can I add to this soup?

Swap the cheese tortellini for a kind stuffed with meat! You can use the chicken and prosciutto kind, the one with spinach and ricotta, or even the kind with Italian sausage! 

The pasta-abilities are endless. Sorry I couldn’t resist.

I don’t want to use heavy cream, what can I use to make this soup creamy?

I’ve used homemade basil pesto to replace the heavy cream entirely in my tomato basil soup, and it is one of the most popular recipes on the blog – every year! So you could simply do that. If you’re looking for something dairy-free, you could try coconut cream, but keep in mind I have not tried this myself. In theory, it should work. However, I’m not entirely sure if the coconut flavor comes through a lot (I don’t think that would be bad, but again, I haven’t tried it.)

I hope this inspires you to get out a bunch of veggies and roast them until they are blistered, soft, and roasty-toasty. This from-scratch roasted veggie creamy tortellini soup is going to be a go-to for when I’m feeling under the weather, and though I hope you don’t get sick, that this soup does become a favorite of yours as well!

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Yield: 5-6 servings

Roasted Veggie Creamy Tortellini Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

This is how you roast a bunch of simple veggies and make a creamy tortellini soup. This soup is hearty, filling, and comforting. You can make this entirely vegetarian or you can swap out the tortellini for a meaty kind for more protein!

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Ingredients

• 2 ½ lbs. tomatoes (a variety, Campania, Roma, etc.) cut in half
• 1 medium onion, peeled + cut into quarters
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into quarters
• 10 fresh cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 small carrots, peeled and cut in half
• ⅓ cup olive oil + 1 tablespoon
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken)
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 4 teaspoons sugar 
• ¼ - ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme 
• ½ - ¾ cup heavy cream
• 1 (9-ounce) package three-cheese tortellini (the kind in the refrigerated section)

Instructions

1. ROAST: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Place the tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers, carrots and garlic on the baking sheet. It’s okay if some of the ingredients are overlapping. Drizzle olive oil over the veggies and season generously with a big sprinkling of salt and pepper and give it all a good toss. Bake the veggies in the oven for 1 hour. You’ll want to check on the veggies around the 30-minute mark, and remove the garlic if it is browning (save to blend with the soup later.) Once the hour is up. Hit the broil setting and broil the veggies for 1-2 minutes or until they char just a tad bit on top. 
2. TORTELLINI: If you’re preparing the soup right away, prepare the tortellini according to package directions when the soup is about 10-12 minutes from being done. Drizzle the tortellini in a small drizzle of oil to keep them from sticking if needed.
3. SOUP: Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to a large dutch oven or soup pot and allow it to heat up over medium-high heat. Add the tomato paste and allow the paste to cook and deepen in color, about 1-2 minutes. Add the vegetable stock so it stops the tomato paste from cooking and transfer the ingredients from baking tray (with juices) to the soup pot with the fresh basil and the seasonings (paprika, sugar, red pepper flakes, and thyme). Blend using an immersion stick blender until completely smooth (see notes for traditional blender method.) Bring the soup to a boil, then, lower the heat and add ½ cup of heavy cream, stir to combine. You can adjust with another ¼ cup of cream (or more) if you prefer your soups super creamy! Taste and adjust with salt and pepper as desired. Stir in the cooked tortellini or you can even portion tortellini into bowls and ladle the soup on top.

Notes

• If you don’t have an immersion stick blender: you can transfer half of the batch of roasted veggies along with 1 cup of vegetable stock to a traditional blender and blend until smooth. Then, add this to the soup pot and repeat the step with the remaining roasted veggies but this time, also add the fresh basil and the seasonings (paprika, red pepper flakes, and thyme) and blend. Add the remaining 2 cups of stock to the soup pot directly and then continue with the recipe as directed.

Have you made this recipe?

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