One-Pan Baked Tortellini
Need a quick and tasty dinner idea? Try this baked tortellini recipe. Tortellini pasta baked in a hearty meat sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese is a quick 30-minute meal. It’s a great weeknight dinner when life gets busy.
One Pan Tortellini Bake
In my house, there is one convenience product that ranks first on my list of go-to ingredients to help get dinner on the table fast, and that’s a package of tortellini. It’s a guarantee that at least one or two bags end up in my order every time I grocery shop, and for good reason – it’s the answer for those busy weeknights when getting dinner on the table seems impossible.
I’ve made this baked tortellini many times and love it – it takes no time at all, but it looks and tastes like it took much longer to make. It’s a saucy, hearty, cheesy meal.
Ingredients
- Tortellini: You don’t need to boil the tortellini for this dish! it goes right in the sauce and comes out perfectly cooked.
- Meat: I use ground turkey, but I’ve also made it with ground beef and Italian sausage – both are delicious.
- Use your favorite jarred marinara sauce! It’s a super-easy shortcut.
- Spinach adds some color and good-for-you stuff, but it’s totally optional.
- Parmesan cheese and mozzarella to make it cheesy.
It has a quick prep time since there’s nothing to dice – except for some roughly chopped spinach (emphasis on “roughly”), everything goes straight into the pan.
The total time for this recipe is 30 minutes, so if you are looking for easy main dishes, add it to your dinnertime list.
Recipe Instructions
Once you try it, I know you’ll come back to this easy recipe again and again!
PrintOne-Pan Baked Tortellini
This baked tortellini makes good use of simple pantry ingredients and serves four with bread or a salad on the side.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American-Italian
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground turkey
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 2 cups jarred marinara sauce
- 9 ounces cheese tortellini (frozen works great!)
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large oven-safe pan over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, breaking it up with a spatula or wooden spoon. Add the seasonings and cook the meat until it’s no longer pink on the outside. Add the spinach and stir it into the beef. Once it starts to wilt add the marinara. Bring the sauce to a simmer and add the tortellini stirring to coat it evenly in the sauce.
- Sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmesan over the top, cover the pan loosely with tin foil (or oven-safe lid), and pop it in the oven. Bake it for 15 minutes, uncover it and let it bake for another 5-10 minutes.
Notes
You can use ground turkey or substitute lean ground beef or Italian sausage.
If you don’t have a large oven-safe pan, you can transfer the sauce, meat, and pasta to a baking dish to bake it.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 445
- Sugar: 7.5g
- Sodium: 1059.8mg
- Fat: 18.8g
- Saturated Fat: 6.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 42g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 27.4g
- Cholesterol: 81.2mg
The nutrition information is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
A Few Other Tips
- I love this baked tortellini with a green salad on the side or some garlic toast (or both!).
- Variations: Switch up the tomato sauce, swap the ground meat, or add your favorite herbs and spices. It’s so versatile!
- You can also add other veggies like mushrooms and peppers or swap the spinach for kale. Just saute them with the meat before adding the sauce.
- If you don’t have an oven-safe pan, you can transfer it all to a baking dish or casserole dish instead.
- Add some garnishes like freshly ground black pepper or chopped herbs like parsley or basil before serving.
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Post updated from the archives. First published in November 2014.
Totally craving tortellini right now, this baked dish looks so delicious!
Thanks for stopping by, Thalia!
Mmm I could so go for a big bowl of this right now!! It looks like the perfect comfort food dinner 😀 yum!
Thanks Rachel – it is a perfect comfort food, especially this time of year!
This was amazing. Just made it tonight.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it, Chris 🙂
Made this last night, easy, simple to prepare and delicious, a big hit with hubby. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
That’s great! So glad you guys liked it 🙂
I subbed hot Italian chicken sausage and it was great! Love this recipe
Such a fantastic recipe! Easy, cheesy, and delicious!
I just wanted to tell you that I have made this recipe on numerous occasions and everyone absolutely loves it, me included. Thanks for another great recipe.
There are no dumb questions right!?! 🙂 do you cook the tortellini first?
Not a dumb question! You don’t cook the tortellini first – it goes right in the sauce 🙂
Do you have a recommendation for making it ahead of time? Add minutes to the baking from refrigeration or would you bake it first and then just heat it up after refrigeration?
Thank you!
Hi Jodi! You can assemble the dish and then pop it in the fridge. I would add a few extra few minutes to the bake time – maybe five to ten minutes?
Super easy and so good.
Thank you for sharing. It reminded us of a lasagna, just way easier. Very good and will make again.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Please season your tortilini, and do not overcook your ground turkey/ or beef.
My family loved this!! I added a chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of Calabrian chili and substituted kale for the spinach (it’s heartier and my family loves it). I doubled the recipe and it tastes just as good or better then next day. Have now made twice – great fall meal after sports practice, and simple/easy one pot meal. Will make again and again. I used Rao’s sauce and tried filled pasta (chicken prosciutto or sausage) for even more taste.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe!
Could frozen tortellini go straight into it? Or should it be cooked first?
I think it will work but it might need a little longer bake time –
This looks so good! Can you transfer everything to a baking dish and then put in the oven? Thanks!
Yes, that will work!
Do leftovers heat up well the next day?
Yep!