Tortellini alla Panna recipe – Tortellini is tossed in a simple and delicious creamy Parmesan sauce. This is an amazing recipe that your whole family is sure to love!
For our recipe we chose to take some help from the grocery store but you can use homemade tortellini if you like. It would obviously take longer than our version.
Ingredient List:
Just a few ingredients are all you need to make this quick meal.
Tortellini Pasta – you can use dry, fresh, or frozen tortellini. We chose to use three cheese tortellini but you can use cheese or meat tortellini.
Heavy Cream – this is the main ingredient of the creamy sauce.
Parmesan Cheese – we buy it in the deli section at Dillons and grate it ourselves. We used to buy it already shredded but have since discovered that it is much tastier if we grate it fresh. It is more expensive than the pre-shredded type, but worth it (in our opinion).
Garlic – I almost always use the kind in the jar because it is much quicker and requires no clean up. Just open up the jar and scoop out the amount needed.
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Step By Step Instructions to Make This Tortellini Recipe:
You won’t believe how quickly this dish comes together!
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add tortellini to boiling water and cook until al dente, one minute less than package directions.
- While the pasta cooks make the sauce; start by heating the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 1 – 2 minutes making sure it does not brown. Add cream and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to a simmer, add the Parmesan cheese and simmer on low, stirring occasionally until the tortellini is done.
- Drain pasta and add to cheesy cream mixture, season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Notes:
- Salt can be added to the pasta water if you like, we don’t add any because we cut sodium out anywhere we can and this in one of the times that we can.
- We have plenty of sauce to adequately coat 1 pound of pasta. You can reserve a cup or so of the pasta water to make a thinner sauce if for some reason your sauce it too thick to coat all of your pasta. Or if you want to add any of the suggested additions below. Just add it a little at a time until the desired consistency is achieved
What Type of Tortellini Should You Use?
This is personal choice and what is available in your area may dictate what kind you will need to use. We used to be able to find all 3 types but have only been able to find dry and frozen lately.
- Dry tortellini can be found on the pasta aisle and takes the longest time to cook. That is the kind I use most and has about a 9 minute cook time.
- Fresh tortellini can be found in the refrigerated section, we have also found it in the deli, and has about a 7 minute cook time.
- Frozen tortellini can be found in the frozen section with other frozen pasta, like ravioli, and has about a 3 minute cook time.
We have seen the following varieties of tortellini:
- Three Cheese
- Four Cheese
- Five Cheese
- Cheese & Spinach – we have seen regular tortellini filled with spinach and cheese and green spinach tortellini pasta filled with cheese.
- Tricolor Cheese
- Prosciutto & Cheese
- Cheese & Mushroom
- Chicken Mozzarella
Substitutions & Additions:
With only 5 ingredients besides salt and pepper there are only a couple of substitutions.
- Substitute melted butter or canola oil for the olive oil.
- Substitute Pecorino Romano for the Parmesan cheese.
- You can use a different type of pasta but we like the flavor the filled tortellini gives this dish.
There are several ingredients that can be added.
- Frozen Peas
- Prosciutto
- Ham
- Mushrooms
- Freshly Ground Nutmeg
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh Parsley
More Delicious Recipes:
Chicken Spinach Tortellini Alfredo
Orzo Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries
Or check out my round of post of 14 Positively Perfect Pasta Dishes!
Storage:
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
We hope you like this Tortellini alla Panna recipe as much as we do. I serve this pasta dish with a side salad and heat-and-serve breadsticks for an easy and complete meal.
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Tortellini alla Panna
Ingredients
- 1 pound tortellini
- 1 tablsepoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- Salt & Pepper to taste
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Instructions
- Cook tortellini until al dente, one minute less than package directions.
- While the pasta cooks make the sauce; heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 1- 2 minutes making sure it does not brown. Add cream and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to a simmer, add the Parmesan cheese and simmer on low, stirring occasionally until the tortellini is done.
- Drain pasta and add to cream mixture, season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Notes
- Salt can be added to the pasta water if you like, we don’t add any because we cut sodium out anywhere we can and this in one of the times that we can.
- We have plenty of sauce to adequately coat 1 pound of pasta. You can reserve a cup or so of the pasta water to make a thinner sauce if for some reason your sauce it too thick to coat all of your pasta. Or if you want to add any of the suggested additions below.
- Total time to prepare this dish will vary based on the time it takes to cook the tortellini. If you are using the frozen type that takes a short amount of time to cook then make the sauce while you are waiting for the water to boil and keep it warm while the tortellini cooks.
Nutrition Facts
Recipe minimally adapted from Italian Recipe Book.
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