Italian Sausage Soup with Cheese Tortellini

By Thom7747

Here’s a super hearty soup filled with sausage, cheese filled tortellini, and a ton of veggies. I know you probably all think I’m obsessed with sausage but my husband just happens to love it. I would be interested to see what it would taste like with chicken. The nutritional info says that it’s 323 calories per serving (8 servings in the recipe) but I’m not sure if I’m buying it. It’s just too good and too filling.

Short on time? I often use the prechopped veggies in the produce section when I know I don’t have time to dice and chop all my veggies. For this soup I used prediced carrots and onion.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Italian sausage (I usually use Jimmy Dean so I don't have to deal with removing the casing)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup red cooking wine
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian diced tomatoes
• 1 cup thinly sliced or diced carrots
• 1/2 tablespoon packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups green beans or sliced zucchini
• 8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta (can be found by the cheese...I used Buitoni)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Step 1

•In a large pot, brown sausage. Remove sausage and drain.

•Sauté onions and garlic in drippings. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

•Skim fat from the soup. Stir in beans and parsley. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving. Serve with warm garlic bread.

•*Just be aware that if you save this soup for leftovers the pasta tends to drink up the broth so the result is a really thick soup if you eat it the next day.