Creamy Pesto Tortellini with Red Peppers (a 15 Minute Recipe)
When you need a quick, satisfying dinner that feels a little special without extra effort, this creamy pesto tortellini is one of those recipes you’ll come back to again and again. Tender cheese-filled pasta is tossed in a creamy sauce and paired with sweet red peppers for just the right balance of richness and freshness. It’s a 15 minute pantry meal that you can dress up for guests with a salad and bread or keep it simple for a cozy family dinner.
✩ What readers are saying…
“This is a delicious recipe, Jami! So flavorful and creamy. It’s also quick and easy.” -Norma
This is another recipe in our occasional, ongoing series of easy meals from your pantry! For this series “pantry” includes not only the pantry shelves, but also the things we may have (or that we preserved!) in our fridges and freezers, too.
There are two things I’ve known for years that my family (and especially my son loves): tortellini and my homemade ‘secret ingredient’ pesto sauce. Okay, there’s actually a lot more than that (maple-mustard chicken, decadent chocolate chip walnut pie, etc.), but tortellini is not something I make by hand (hello?), so we’ve never had it as much as my family would like.
We do have a lot of our go-to quick dinner fav, creamy pasta and pesto, so using that recipe as the sauce for cheese-filled tortellini – and adding some color and nutrients with sweet red peppers – seemed like a perfect way to make everyone happy.
And when I first served this? Yes, yes it did. So much so, in fact, that his has become a regular part of our meal planning rotation whenever I find a deal on tortellini. We all love the flavor and I love:
- That it uses items I regularly keep in my pantry and fridge.
- Takes only about 15 minutes from start to finish.
- Can be adapted with other veggies I have on hand.
Just more reasons to love quick, pantry recipes!
Recipe Ingredient Notes
- Tortellini: Both fresh and frozen tortellini work for this recipe (I don’t recommend dried – we find the filling has an odd flavor).
- Pesto (homemade or store bought – the jar pictured above is straight from the freezer where I preserve it)
- Bell Peppers: Use any color you have.
- Shredded Parmesan: Again, you can use any cheese you’d like.
- Optional: Chopped parsley or additional veggies like onions, celery, artichoke hearts, or even broccoli that you can cook along with the pasta.
Whipping Cream note: This provides a wonderful creaminess to the pesto that we love. If you don’t have it you can leave it out and have a simple pesto sauce. If you would like to use something else, you can try coconut cream or whole coconut milk (that’s been blended with the cream), or evaporated milk for less fat (though I’d add a bit more flour to help thicken it, another 1/2 to whole tablespoon).
Make Creamy Pesto Tortellini
This can be ready in 15 minutes because you can be cooking the pasta while making the sauce:
- Boil water and cook the tortellini according to the package.
- While that is happening, sauté the peppers (and any other veggies, if using), then add the other sauce ingredients.
- Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce – dinner is done!
Not only does this creamy pesto tortellini taste delicious, it works for any time of the year because it’s so easy and quick to put together for a weeknight family meal.
As a bonus, it’s also colorful and nice enough to serve to guests with a salad, a good bottle of wine and some great conversation.
I sure hope you enjoy this simple creamy pesto tortellini recipe like we do – please leave a rating and review to let me know!
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Creamy Pesto Tortellini with Red Peppers
Equipment
- 3-quart or larger saucepan
- large skillet
Ingredients
- 12 ounces package tortellini fresh or frozen
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup whipping cream*
- 8 ounce prepared pesto (about a cup, preferably homemade)
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper or to taste
- Optional toppings: chopped parsley, freshly grated parmesan
- Optional vegetables: chopped onion, celery, greens, artichoke hearts, etc.**
Instructions
- Start a large pot of water to boil and cook tortellini according to package directions.**
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and add diced red peppers (if using other chopped veggies, add them here). Cook until softened a bit, about 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour, stir to incorporate and immediately pour cream over peppers, stirring until it thickens a bit.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add prepared pesto. Cook, stirring, for about 3 to 5 minutes more. Season to taste.
- Add cooked, drained tortellini to the sauce and mix to coat everything well.
- Transfer pasta to a serving dish and top with parsley and parmesan, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Questions
Yes, any stuffed pasta, both fresh or frozen – or even dried, though the flavor really suffers from being dried – will work in this recipe.
Yes! I love to add onions, sautéing them with the peppers and to add chopped artichoke hearts when mixing at the end with the pasta. Make this your own.
Again – yes! Whatever you’d like. I’ve added cooked rotisserie chicken at the end and also sautéed shrimp with the peppers in the beginning. All the different renditions are great with this basic recipe.
More Quick & Easy Recipes
- 60+ Quick Healthy Recipes
- 20 Minute Mediterranean Chicken Pesto Pasta Recipe
- Rustic Italian Sausage Soup – A 15 Minute Recipe
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in 2013.
This is a delicious recipe, Jami! So flavorful and creamy. It’s also quick and easy. I had opened a jar of your pesto that I made last summer and didn’t use all of it for the recipe I was making. Went ahead and made this tortellini even though I was a little bit shy of the full cup and it was great. Thanks for your note about how long you have kept an open jar in the fridge–it’s good to know and I have made a note along with my copy of that recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Norma!!
Yum!! This is so easy and delicious… definitely a keeper.
Looks fabulous. I love anything with pesto so I can’t wait to try!
I’ve been pulling summer pesto out of the freezer lately for quick weeknight meals. We all loved this! My son LOVES ravioli and tortellini with it, as well, so I get mom points, too. 🙂
How funny both our boys like this type of pasta! My daughter likes it, but she doesn’t love it like he does. 🙂 Don’t know what we’d do without our freezer pesto, either!