One-Pan Italian Sausage And Tortellini Oven Bake Recipe
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We've all been there before. After a long day, the last thing we want to think about is preparing a complicated meal. Even if you love cooking, sometimes life calls for something low-key, and there's no reason your busy nights have to be limited to T.V. dinners. Instead, let the sheet pan do the cooking, tackling proteins, veggies, and even carbs all on one tray. This one-pan Italian sausage and tortellini oven bake recipe offers a filling, easy meal in about 30 minutes — and for most of it, you can let the oven do all the work.
The one-pan recipe, written with developer Michelle McGlinn, requires a few extra steps, but results in a tender, toasted pasta coated with vibrant tomato flavor. To ensure the tortellini is soft and tender with just a touch of browning on the exterior, it's first briefly boiled, then transferred to the sheet pan mid-bake. While the sausage, vegetables, and tortellini roast, a red pesto is blended together and then mixed into the bake, using the tortellini's cooking water to smoothly incorporate. A flavorful pasta dish that comes together on one pan, this Italian sausage and tortellini bake is the perfect way to make busy nights feel like a breeze.
Gather the ingredients for one-pan Italian sausage and tortellini oven bake
To make this recipe you'll first need tortelloni or tortellini. The two pastas are, like their names, very similar, only differentiated by size and filling — tortelloni is larger and typically stuffed with cheese. Either will work, though we recommend finding one filled with cheese to balance the Italian sausage already on the sheet pan. From there, you'll need Italian sausage, green beans, broccolini, a yellow onion, and some olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to coat them with while they roast. The flavor will otherwise come from the pesto, which will require a jar (or about 1 cup) of sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, almonds, garlic, and grated Parmesan.
Step 1: Heat up the oven
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Step 2: Boil a pot of water
Bring a pot of water to boil.
Step 3: Cook the tortellini until just soft
Cook the tortellini to al dente, about 3 minutes, then drain, reserving ½ cup pasta water.
Step 4: Add sausage and vegetables to a sheet pan
Add the sliced sausage, trimmed green beans, trimmed broccolini, and chopped onion to a large foil-lined sheet pan or 2 half-sized sheet pans.
Step 5: Toss with oil and seasonings
Toss with ¼ cup olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Step 6: Roast, then add the tortellini
Roast for 10 minutes, then add the tortellini to the sheet pan and roast for another 15-20 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through and vegetables are roasted.
Step 7: Add pesto ingredients to a food processor
In the meantime, make the pesto. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, basil, almonds, and garlic to a food processor.
Step 8: Pulse to chop pesto ingredients
Pulse to chop.
Step 9: Stream in the olive oil
Add the olive oil slowly, while pulsing, until combined.
Step 10: Pulse in the cheese
Add the Parmesan and pulse until just combined.
Step 11: Toss everything together with pasta water
Once the sausage and vegetables are roasted, toss with the red pesto, adding the reserved pasta water to combine smoothly.
Step 12: Serve with Parmesan
Serve the sausage and tortellini bake, optionally topped with Parmesan.
What to serve with one-pan Italian sausage and tortellini oven bake
One-Pan Italian Sausage and Tortellini Oven Bake Recipe
Ideal for busy weeknights, this one-pan Italian sausage and tortellini oven bake comes together in a breeze and even features a red pesto sauce.
Ingredients
- 10 ounces tortellini (or tortelloni)
- 12 ounces Italian sausage, sliced into ¼-inch thick pieces
- ½ pound green beans, trimmed
- 1 pound broccolini, trimmed
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered, then halved
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- For the red pesto
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained
- ½ cup basil
- ¼ cup almonds
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ cup olive oil, or as needed
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Bring a pot of water to boil.
- Cook the tortellini to al dente, about 3 minutes, then drain, reserving ½ cup pasta water.
- Add the sliced sausage, trimmed green beans, trimmed broccolini, and chopped onion to a large foil-lined sheet pan or 2 half-sized sheet pans.
- Toss with ¼ cup olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Roast for 10 minutes, then add the tortellini to the sheet pan and roast for another 15-20 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through and vegetables are roasted.
- In the meantime, make the pesto. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, basil, almonds, and garlic to a food processor.
- Pulse to chop.
- Add the olive oil slowly, while pulsing, until combined.
- Add the Parmesan and pulse until just combined.
- Once the sausage and vegetables are roasted, toss with the red pesto, adding the reserved pasta water to combine smoothly.
- Serve the sausage and tortellini bake, optionally topped with Parmesan.
Nutrition
| Calories per Serving | 875 |
| Total Fat | 71.9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15.9 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.2 g |
| Cholesterol | 70.0 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 36.4 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 10.1 g |
| Total Sugars | 13.9 g |
| Sodium | 1,024.6 mg |
| Protein | 27.0 g |
Do I have to boil the tortellini before roasting it?
Whether or not you boil the tortellini before roasting depends on the type of tortellini you buy. Tortellini can be sold shelf-stable, frozen, or fresh. Shelf stable tortellini tends to be more noodle-forward and a little bit less soft, having a denser chew even when boiled to al dente. Shelf stable tortellini must be boiled first, because the pasta is dried and needs moisture to soften. Fresh and frozen, on the other hand, don't necessarily have to be boiled.
Fresh tortellini, like any other pasta, is not dried and instead stays pliable and tender, boiling to al dente in as little as 2 or 3 minutes. When roasted after boiling, the pasta crisps on the exterior, resulting in a texture that is both soft and crunchy. For a chewier, crunchier bite, skip the boiling, adding the tortellini directly to the sheet pan instead. With this method, be sure to oil the tortellini before roasting to add moisture and prevent the dough from drying out. For the best results — if you plan on skipping the boiling step — try frozen tortellini, which can even be sold already cooked. Add the frozen tortellini to the sheet pan directly from the freezer and roast, letting the icy moisture soften the frozen pieces.
How can I customize this tortellini bake?
Though this recipe is designed to balance spicy Italian sausage with creamy tortellini, crunchy greens, and vibrant red pesto, the recipe can be adapted many different ways with just a few swaps. For example, the Italian sausage can be swapped with other types of sausages or chopped chicken breast, which cook in a similar amount of time. You can also swap the tortellini for gnocchi, which similarly roasts well on sheet pans after a quick boil.
The vegetables can also be changed, and we encourage using your favorite seasonable vegetables when adapting the dish. Ripened red cherry tomatoes, chopped summer squash, and slices of zucchini are delicious through the summer months, while broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and baby Bella mushrooms work well in the winter. You can also skip the pasta and add potatoes to the pan, tossing with the pesto for a cozy, starch-loaded veggie bake instead.