Quick & Easy Chicken Tortellini Stir Fry
With a few simple ingredients, this recipe will make it very easy for you to get dinner on the table, especially on those busy weeknights. Next time you’re at the grocery store, grab some freezer cheesy tortellini and a package of chicken Italian sausage. Keep these in your freezer for this easy weeknight dinner!
Why we love this recipe so much
I love how flavorful this tortellini recipe is and how fast it comes together. Whether you have children or not, we all have busy lives, and so many activities are pulling us this way and that. A great way to be prepared for those busy nights when you don’t know what to make and you end up stopping for fast food is to keep items in your freezer that you can grab at a moment’s notice and whip up dinner. Frozen tortellini and sausages are great ingredients because you don’t need to worry about thawing them beforehand. I also like to keep bags of frozen vegetables on hand, like stir-fry veggies and soup mix vegetables. Store-bought tortellini comes in so many great flavors, making it easy to change the flavors in this recipe. This recipe is very flexible; I will give you a few ideas below for changing it up.
Gather these ingredients
How to make tortellini stir fry
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil; don’t forget to salt your water.
- While water is boiling, clean and prep your vegetables and slice the sausages into bite size pieces.
- Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add red peppers and onions, saute for 2 minutes, and add sausage slices.
- While you saute veggies and sausage, add your tortellini to the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions. Drain well when you are finished cooking.
- Add the drained tortellini and allow any water that may have transferred to the pan to cook off. When you start to see a little bit of browning on the tortellini, add the drained and rinsed cannellini beans. Toss to combine.
- Next, add 2 cups of spinach and 1 cup chicken broth. Stir to combine. Allow to cook for an additional 2 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper. Remove from heat and serve.
Tips & Variations
- Different ingredient ideas: Add whatever sounds good to this easy recipe. I have added matchstick carrots, snow peas, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, red pepper flakes, and fresh garlic minced fine. All of these ingredients can be added in the first step.
- Protein: Use your favorite pre-cooked sausage. You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken, brown ground beef, or leftover taco meat for a Mexican spin on this recipe.
- Cheesy Sauce: At the very end, add 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1 cup of Monterey jack cheese, and an additional cup of chicken broth. Stir until the cheeses are melted and the sauce is creamy and bubbling.
- Serving: If it’s a really busy night, this might be all my family gets. If I have time, I will add garlic bread and a green salad.
- Leave out the tortellini and serve over brown or white rice. (This was my son’s idea. Who is this kid? Go to school, scram! Are you trying to take my job?!)
Isn’t that pretty? This dish is just as delicious as it looks. The fact that it comes together so quickly makes it even more yummy. If you happen to have any leftovers, they taste even better the next day.
I hope this helps you get your family around the table together for dinner! I would love to hear from you. If you make this please take a minute to rate the recipe in the recipe card below, leave me a comment, share on your socials, and be sure to PIN on your weeknight dinner board.
Thanks for stopping by!
XO Sheila
Quick & Easy Chicken Tortellini Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pound precooked chicken sausage precooked any flavor (I used andouille.)
- 9 ounce package frozen cheese tortellini any type of tortellini works
- 1 whole red bell pepper deseeded and sliced into think strips
- 1 cup sweet onion sliced thin
- 15 ounce can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup chicken broth
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook tortellini according to package directions, drain off water and set aside.
- Cut red pepper and onions in thin slices, slice chicken sausage into 1/2 slices. Heat frying pan over medium high heat add in sausage and cook until starting to brown, add in peppers and onion cook until soft.
- Add cooked tortellini to your frying pan, cook until tortellini starts to brown. Keep ingredients moving in pan so they don’t burn.
- Lastly add spinach, beans and chicken broth give it all a good stir, cover and let cook on medium for 3 minutes.
We made this tonight for my birthday dinner… the original recipe you posted. It was DELICIOUS! We will definitely be making this a staple in our home. Even my picky 2 year old ate this 🙂 Thank you
I am so glad your family loved it!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know! xox Sheila
I am so excited to make this dish tonight!! What about instead of the cream cheese/chicken broth creamy sauce just putting in a can of cream of chicken soup?? I think I am going to give that a try. I am not a cook so this easy and healthy dish is right up my alley. Thanks for posting!!
I think that sounds like it would work! Enjoy and thanks for stopping by 😉 Enjoy the rest of your week.
I am bookmarking this to make ASAP! So glad you put it in your menu plan this week!
You are very welcome! Enjoy!
Amazing! I opted for the unhealthy version, this time. next time I will try the healthy one.. anyway.. my family and I loved it! felt like we were at Olive Garden. 😉 keep up the good work, Sheila! everything I have tried from your blog, have been big hits!
your old school chum,
Elsie
Love how simple and hearty this meal is! I think I could get my husband to go for this!
I love keeping chicken sausage on hand for quick meals like this. Love the idea of tortellini! Yum!
I love chicken sausage for this reason too. Thanks for stopping in Rachel, hope you are well! xox Sheila
What a yummy looking pasta salad! I have been trying to eat more vegetables. I’m trying to eat a sizable portion for lunch and dinner.
More vegetables is a good thing! It’s just not always the easiest!
This looks fantastic. This is my kind of meal – full of good stuff, healthy.
Thanks! I’m trying;) A cookie sure does sound good though!
Recipe looks great! To be honest, if I were to make it, I would probably leave out the pasta. Don’t get me wrong, I may be “The Burger Nerd” but I do looove me some pasta and the pasta you used looks delicious. Just that even before you added the pasta it looked like a big filling meal all on it’s own – especially with the beans. Great idea for a quick and easy meal, thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Love how simple this is! It’s made with ingredients I always have some variation of on hand. This is one of the meals that great for leftovers too- love the easy lunches the next day!
If there were leftovers I would have eaten for lunch for sure. I am staying away from carbs, so I loved how easy it was just to pick out what I couldn’t eat from this dish!
Looks delish my Friend! I’m saying no to white sugar…. so will have to take your son’s advice and sub brown rice! 🙂 We’ve been making a TON of stir-fry lately… never thought to add beans. GREAT idea my Friend. And I know the salad you are talking about…. I got a bag at Costco to serve for dinner when guests were coming and I was short on time. SO good!
I add beans to everything!