Vegetable Soup with Tortellini

You can have a nutritious meal on the table in half an hour with this easy-to-make soup. It comes together in about half an hour with minimal prep. All you have to do is slice the mushrooms and ginger and put everything into the pot! Serve with a salad or some crusty bread to complete the meal.

The inspiration for this recipe used frozen carrots. Although that does add more color, it's not my favorite soup ingredient. I kept the peas because they add a hint of sweetness, and instead of carrots I used fresh mushrooms for umami and spinach for all those good leafy greens things. Then I had a brilliant idea and added some fresh matchstick-sliced ginger. Pow!

Feel free to experiment with the flavors you like best. It's your food, have fun with it!

Jump to:

• Ingredients You'll Need
• Make it Yours!
• Kitchen Hint
• Make This Quick and Easy Tortellini Soup
• Eat, Comment, Share, and Follow!
• 📖 Recipe Card
• 💬 Comments

Ingredients You'll Need

chicken broth
tortellini
baby spinach
mushrooms
peas
fresh ginger
black pepper
fresh basil (optional)
grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)

Make it Yours!

Vegetarian? Use vegetable broth instead of chicken.
Can't find refrigerated tortellini at the store? Use another pasta like macaroni, shells, farfalle (bow ties), fusilli (spiral), or rotelle (wheels), and grate some Parmesan or Romano cheese over the soup when you serve it. (You may need to increase the cooking time for dried pasta.)
Want some heat? Add some red pepper flakes, or thin slices of fresh red pepper. Or grind some black pepper over it!
Fresh ingredients are always best, but if you don't have fresh spinach you can use a package of frozen, thawed and drained.
No fresh ginger? Add half a teaspoon of ground ginger to the pot. Don't have any fresh basil for garnish? Put a teaspoon of dried basil in the pot. The flavor won't be quite the same, but it will still be tasty!
Swap out any of the vegetables for something you like better, or whatever you have on hand.

Kitchen Hint

Do you have a French Press coffee maker? You can press more than coffee in it! If you're using frozen spinach, thaw it and put it into the French Press. Push the plunger down and pour off the juice, and you've got perfectly drained spinach!

What to do with that spinach juice? Don't you dare pour it down the sink! You can add it to a smoothie, or just drink it straight. And if you make your own pasta, you can use it to make spinach pasta dough.

Make This Quick and Easy Tortellini Soup

Prep your ingredients. Other than opening some packages, this is mostly measuring and slicing the mushrooms and ginger, and the basil if you're using it. You don't even have to thaw the peas! Here are all the ingredients in a big bowl.

And here's the stock pot simmering. That's two quarts, or half a gallon, of stock.

Bring the stock to a boil and add the rest of the ingredients. How easy is that?

Cook for 7 to 9 minutes until the pasta is done. If you're using dried pasta, test it to make sure it's tender.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with basil and grated cheese if you like. Doesn't that look delicious? It was so good that we wanted more, but there wasn't enough left in the pot. So I poured in another quart of stock, and more tortellini, mushrooms, and peas. We didn't have any more spinach, so I sliced up some green onions. We had enough for another serving, plus leftovers!

Eat, Comment, Share, and Follow!

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📖 Recipe Card