Creamy Spinach Mushroom Tortellini with Caramelized Onions is an Italian pasta dish packed with veggies. This easy and delicious meatless recipe is a perfect weeknight dinner!
If you're looking for a simple creamy tortellini recipe, this is it! To make this, you will need basic ingredients, such as spinach, mushrooms, onions, cream, and store-bought tortellini. This creamy pasta was inspired by my farfalle recipe.
If you like this type of easy-to-make, family-friendly weeknight pasta dishes, I also recommend the following recipes: Italian ravioli with spinach, artichokes, and capers, as well as pesto chicken tortellini with veggies.
What is Tortellini?
- Tortellini is a stuffed pasta that features a distinctive ring shape. Tortellini is traditionally served with broth.
- Tortellini is usually stuffed with cheese and meat-based filling.
- Tortellini originates from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, situated in northeast Italy.
Things I love about creamy spinach mushroom tortellini
- Meatless recipe. This pasta dish creates rich, deep flavors without any meat. Sauteed mushrooms, creamy spinach, and caramelized onions provide so much flavor to the pasta that it stands great on its own.
- You can easily add protein if you prefer. This pasta will make a perfect sidekick to any type of grilled meat, whether it's steak, pork, or chicken. Spinach mushroom tortellini will also work well with fish, shrimp, and scallops.
- Simple ingredients. This recipe uses basic ingredients, such as spinach, mushrooms, onions, cream, and store-bought tortellini. There is no need to look for that special ingredient. These basic ingredients, when combined, create an absolutely amazing flavor profile!
- Easy recipe. Because this recipe comes together so easily, it's a perfect dish to make for a weeknight dinner. Tip: make caramelized onions a day or two in advance to save time.
- Versatile dish. Tortellini is not the only stuffed pasta you can use in this recipe. Ravioli will work great as well! You can also use regular pasta, such as bow-tie or penne pasta.
Substitutions
- What kind of tortellini should you use? You can use any type of tortellini: three-cheese tortellini, spinach tortellini, beef-stuffed tortellini, etc. I used refrigerated 3-cheese tortellini.
- What can you substitute for tortellini? Use ravioli, gnocchi or bow tie pasta.
- What can you use instead of spinach? Baby kale or arugula will work great in this recipe.
- What kind of mushrooms will work well here? You can use button mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, shiitake, crimini, porcini or oyster mushrooms.
What can you use instead of heavy cream?
- Half-and-half. You can use 1 cup of half-and-half instead of heavy cream. Bring half-and-half to boil, then add ½ cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. Reduce to simmer. Keep stirring while the sauce simmers until the cheese melts.
- Coconut milk. Use 1 cup of coconut milk to replace 1 cup of heavy cream. Follow the recipe as is.
Can you make this recipe gluten-free?
Substitute tortellini with gluten-free ravioli or gluten-free short pasta, such as gluten-free bow tie pasta. You can also use gluten-free gnocchi (be sure to check the packaging as not all gnocchi is gluten-free).
How long to cook tortellini?
Follow the package instructions. The cooking times and instructions will depend on whether you buy refrigerated or frozen tortellini. If using the refrigerated type of tortellini (not frozen), usually you would bring a large pot of water to boil and then cook the tortellini for about 7 to 10 minutes in boiling water.
Cooking tips
- Make-ahead tip. Make caramelized onions ahead of time, refrigerate them in an air-tight container, and use within the next 3 days. You can also freeze caramelized onions for up to 2 months and thaw them whenever you need them.
- How to reheat. Reheat gently, on low-medium heat. Add a small amount of heavy cream or half-and-half to thin out the sauce.
SIDE DISHES
Spinach mushroom tortellini is a rich pasta dish that features a luscious cream sauce made with heavy cream. The best side dishes for this type of rich creamy pasta are fresh salads along with bread. Here are some ideas:
- Basic Green Salad. Make a simple green salad, such as spinach or arugula salad. Use a simple dressing made with olive oil, coarsely ground black pepper, and shredded Parmesan cheese.
- Vegetable salad. Serve a refreshing salad, such as Tomato Basil Avocado Mozzarella Salad with Balsamic Dressing or Basil Pesto Tomato Avocado Salad.
- Broccoli salad. Here are 2 delicious recipes featuring this wonderful vegetable: Broccoli Cauliflower Salad and Broccoli Cashew Salad.
- Beet salad. Beets are often overlooked, but they are great in salads. Here are my favorites: Simple Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Beet Salad with Spinach and Cashews.
- Bread. Serve garlic bread or baguette with this creamy spinach and mushroom tortellini.
Add protein
If you crave to add protein to your dinner, this pasta is so versatile, there are many types of meat you can add.
- Grilled steak. This creamy spinach mushroom tortellini will make a worthy side dish to any steak: rib-eye, filet mignon, porterhouse, flank steak, or skirt steak.
- Chicken. Serve this pasta with grilled or sauteed chicken. You can use chicken breasts, chicken thighs, or chicken legs.
- Pork. Grilled pork chops or pan-seared pork chops will work great. You can also serve spinach mushroom tortellini as a side dish to pork tenderloin.
- Seafood. Add grilled or pan-seared salmon or trout. This pasta goes well with seared shrimp and scallops.
Other Pasta Recipes
- Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Pasta
- Sun-Dried Tomato Mushroom Pasta
- Penne Pasta in Creamy Vodka Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms
Other Tortellini Recipes
- Asiago Cheese Tortellini
- Butternut Squash and Spinach Tortellini
- Creamy Chicken, Asparagus, and Bacon Tortellini
- Creamy Shrimp Tortellini with Veggies
Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Tortellini with Caramelized Onions
Creamy Spinach Mushroom Tortellini with Caramelized Onions is an Italian pasta dish packed with veggies. This easy and delicious meatless recipe is a perfect weeknight dinner!
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 yellow onions large
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Creamy pasta sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 08 oz mushrooms (I used crimini mushrooms)
- 8 oz spinach
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 9 oz tortellini (I used 3-cheese tortellini, refrigerated)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper when serving
Instructions
How to caramelized onions (this can be done a day or 2 in advance):
- Peel the onions, wash them and thinly slice them.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add sliced onions and cook on high heat for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring with the spatula.
- Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking the onions for 10 more minutes, continuing to stir, as onions brown even more without burning. At this point add a pinch of salt over the onions.
- Continue cooking for 10 more minutes on medium or low heat, stirring occasionally to make sure onions don’t stick to the bottom of the pan or burn.
- In total, you should have cooked onions for 30 minutes. Remove the onions from the skillet onto a plate.
How to make the creamy sauce
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same skillet on medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook mushrooms for about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring, until mushrooms are soft.
- Add fresh spinach to the skillet and stir on low heat just until spinach starts to wilt.
- Add back the caramelized onions.
- Add 1 cup of heavy cream and ¼ teaspoon salt to the mushroom and spinach mixture and bring to a quick boil. Immediately reduce to simmer. Keep stirring while the sauce simmers for a couple of minutes.
Add tortellini
- Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Usually, that means to bring a large pot of water to boil. Add tortellini and boil for 7 to 10 minutes. Drain.
- Add cooked and drained tortellini to the creamy sauce. Stir on low heat for a couple of minutes to reheat.
- Top with cracked black pepper when serving.
Notes
Helpful Tips about Caramelized Onions.
- Make-ahead tip. Make caramelized onions ahead of time, refrigerate them in an air-tight container, and use within the next 3 days.
- You can also freeze caramelized onions for up to 2 months and thaw them whenever you need them.
- Half-and-half. You can use 1 cup of half-and-half instead of heavy cream. Bring half-and-half to boil, then add 1/s cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. Reduce to simmer. Keep stirring while the sauce simmers until the cheese melts.
- Coconut milk. Use 1 cup of coconut milk to replace 1 cup of heavy cream. Follow the recipe as is.
- Use button mushrooms, portobello, cremini, shiitake or oyster mushrooms.
- Good substitutes for spinach are kale and arugula.
- You can also use pre-made ravioli, gnocchi or short pasta (such as bow-tie or penne pasta) instead of tortellini.
- Substitute tortellini with gluten-free ravioli or gluten-free short pasta, such as gluten-free bow tie pasta. You can also use gluten-free gnocchi (be sure to check the packaging as not all gnocchi is gluten-free).
- Protein. You can add grilled steak, pork chops, or chicken. You can also serve this with fish, shrimp, or scallops.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information
Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Tortellini with Caramelized Onions
Amount per Serving
Calories
544
% Daily Value*
Fat
38
g
58
%
Saturated Fat
17
g
106
%
Cholesterol
105
mg
35
%
Sodium
640
mg
28
%
Potassium
621
mg
18
%
Carbohydrates
38
g
13
%
Fiber
5
g
21
%
Sugar
5
g
6
%
Protein
14
g
28
%
Vitamin A
6190
IU
124
%
Vitamin C
21.5
mg
26
%
Calcium
198
mg
20
%
Iron
3.6
mg
20
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Tried this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment and provide a Star Rating below - I love your feedback and try to respond to every comment!
Made this tonight for my family. Everyone loved it! Will make again.
Patricia, I am so happy this recipe was a hit with everyone! ❤️
Everyone loved it but I’m curious how yours turns out brown. When I made it , it was just white from the cream no brown at all….
So glad you liked it! I think the brownish color resulted from using darker mushrooms (I did not use white mushrooms), and cooking mushrooms first and then simmering them in the sauce. And, caramelized onions add some color, too. You can also gradually add some paprika for color - adding paprika will not affect taste much but, combined with mushrooms and onions, it will turn the sauce brownish color. I did not use paprika here, but I did use it in my other recipes with that result.
This was amazing,the flavor of the onions,mushrooms and the spinach was so good. I will make this again it's so flavorful.
I am so happy you loved this flavor combo! Thank you for your review and the 5-star rating! 🙂
So delicious and easy!!!!! Will definitely be making again!!!!!
Bari, I am so happy to hear that! ❤️
Oh wow this was so good. Next time and there will be a next time will
Slice mushrooms a bit thicker and more spinach.. may add some red pepper flakes for a little spice and Parmesan or Mozzarella once I dish it up…I loved it!
Cheryl, thank you for your rave review - I am so glad you love this recipe! ❤️❤️ Great idea to add red pepper flakes, and some Parmesan or Mozzarella next time!
I added cut up cooked chicken, and next time would add garlic as well
Lynne, I love the addition of protein to this dish! 🙂
I also thought it may need more than just salt and pepper, so I added Italian seasoning and paprika. I also added chicken sausage for my hubby and he loved it. Wonderful and so easy to make! I love that it came together so quickly. I love all your recipes...definitely my go-to's!
Lori, thank you for your feedback! ❤️ Love the addition of Italian seasoning + paprika to spice things up! 🙂
This recipe has potential for more flavour with more seasoning beyond salt & pepper. I caramelized the onions and used a splash of balsamic vinegar to add some acidity and sweetness to the onions. I added garlic when I added the spinach, and also used some Italian seasoning and red chili flakes for more flavour.
Satbir, I love your feedback about adding more flavor to this. Italian seasoning is excellent. I also like the idea of smoked paprika in addition to red pepper flakes.
This is not something I will be making again. Blah tasting and left a bad taste. Not sure why, I had thought we would enjoy meal.
I made tonight for dinner, used spinach ravioli. It was delicious
Kathleen, I'm glad you liked it! Love that you used spinach ravioli - so delicious!
So easy and so yummy. Hubby wants me to make it at least once a week
This was delicious. Already know of a few tweaks I'll try next time!
I made this. I used 15% instead of full fat cream and it was still delicious. Will definitely make again.
So good! I baked some pancetta I had left over and sprinkled it over the top. Also added a bit of red pepper for some spice. Love this recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Christina, I love the addition of crispy pancetta over this pasta dish!
I pin lots of recipes and rarely do I actually make them. This looked so doable so I doubled the servings and prepared it for my family and they loved it! I was so happy with how well the caramelized onions turned out. Thank you for this delicious and easy recipe! Definitely will be prepared again.
Angie, your comment really made my day! ❤️ So flattered that you gave this recipe a try among many others.
This recipe has everything I love. And since everything was in the refrigerator I decided to make it. Based on other reviewers comments I added garlic and red pepper. My husband says it has a lot of flavor. It's okay, but I think it's very milky, coats my tongue.
Tai, thank you for trying this recipe - and glad you liked it! If it's too creamy, I would reduce the cream amount in half next time.
I am going to cook up a storm with my 34 year- old son this weekend, mostly all your recipes, so he has some good food to take home with him. However, can this be frozen after it's made? If so, how to reheat?
Virginia, thank you for this wonderful comment and for trusting my recipes. ❤️ I am not a fan of freezing creamy sauces, but I have good news:
You can make everything in this recipe (but do not add cream) - and freeze it. When you're ready, and the dinner is thawed, you can add fresh heavy cream at that point so that the sauce has a perfect texture! Enjoy! 🙂