This tortellini bake is a delicious casserole made with store-bought tortellini, delicious meat tomato sauce with vegetables, all covered with melted gooey cheese. It´s so easy to make and you´ll have a tasty dinner for a couple of days!
Ingredients
Below you will find information about the ingredients and how to prepare the recipe. For the measurements and detailed instructions scroll down to the printable recipe card.
Here´s what you need to make this easy dish:
- Ground beef – Instead of ground beef you can use hot or mild Italian sausage and omit other spices. You can also use ground chicken or turkey (although I prefer the flavor of beef in this dish).
- Tortellini – Since I´m adding ground beef to the sauce I like to use 2 packages of cheese tortellini and 1 package of spinach ricotta tortellini. If you want to omit ground beef you can also do that but then I would buy 1 package meat or prosciutto tortellini. You could also keep it totally vegetarian and it also will be delicious.
- Veggies – my favorite to use in this recipe are bell pepper, mushrooms, and zucchini. Other vegetables that would work in this recipe: broccoli, green beans, spinach, leeks, onions, butternut squash.
- Spaghetti sauce – you can use store bough spaghetti sauce, marinara sauce, spaghetti pomodoro or you can make your own!
- Cheese – I used mozzarella, Swiss cheese, and parmesan for the best flavor.
- Instead of water, you can use chicken or beef broth if you have some on hand but just water is also enough for this recipe.
How to make tortellini bake step by step
STEP 1: Dice the zucchini, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Grate the cheese. Stir together mozzarella and Swiss cheese.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
STEP 2: Heat the oil in a large pot over high heat. Add ground beef in an even layer. Don´t stir for the first 1-2 minutes letting the beef brown, then start stirring and cook it for a couple of minutes or until no longer pink. Add Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powder. Cook for 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate.
STEP 3: Add the zucchini, bell pepper, and mushrooms to the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat or until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
STEP 4: Add beef back to the pot. Add spaghetti sauce and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. My sauce was quick thick.
STEP 5: Add 1 1/4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add tortellini and bring it all once again to a boil.
Note: the extra water in the sauce is needed to cook the tortellini while the casserole is baking (you don´t have to pre-cook tortellini!) and for the casserole to not end up dry. If your sauce is more runny you may need to add less water – you can add it gradually and assess if you need more.
STEP 6: Add half of the tortellini with sauce to a 9×13 (23x33cm) casserole dish (the sauce shouldn´t be very soupy but it can´t be as thick as regular spaghetti sauce.
STEP 7: Sprinkle 1/2 of the Swiss and mozzarella cheese on top.
STEP 8: Add the remaining tortellini and sauce.
STEP 9: Sprinkle with the remaining Swiss and mozzarella and then with the whole grated Parmesan.
STEP 10: Cover the dish tightly with a piece of aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
Uncover and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is browned and the edges of the casserole bubbling and crispy. I´m using a fan setting for this step but you could also move the casserole dish under the burner (grill) and bake for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese is browned (make sure to not burn it).
Dig in and enjoy!
Storage
This dish reheats very well – pour a small amount of water over the casserole (it will thicken in the fridge) and bake at 325°F (160°C) for about 20 minutes or until warm.
Keep it in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
More delicious casserole recipes
- Turkey Tetrazzini
- Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
- Chicken Pesto Bake
- Green Bean Casserole
- Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole
- Baked Ratatouille
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Tortellini Bake
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons frying oil
- 1 pound (450g) lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 red bell pepper
- 7 ounces (200g) cremini mushrooms
- 1 small zucchini
- 1 jar 24-oz or 680ml spaghetti sauce, or marinara
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 3 packages tortellini 3×12 oz (340g) which is 36 oz or 1020g in total, I used 2x cheese and 1x spinach ricotta flavor, refrigerated and uncooked
- 1 1/2 cups (150g) grated Swiss cheese
- 1 cup (100g) grated low-moisture mozzarella
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dice the zucchini, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Grate the cheese. Stir together mozzarella and Swiss cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Heat the oil in a large pot over high heat. Add ground beef in an even layer. Don´t stir for the first 1-2 minutes letting the beef brown, then start stirring and cook it for a couple of minutes or until no longer pink. Add Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powder. Cook for 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate.
- Add the zucchini, bell pepper, and mushrooms to the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat or until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add beef back to the pot. Add spaghetti sauce and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. My sauce was quick thick. Add 1 1/4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add tortellini and bring it all once again to a boil.
- Note: the extra water in the sauce is needed to cook the tortellini while the casserole is baking and for the casserole to not end up dry. If your sauce is more runny you may need to add less water – you can add it gradually and assess if you need more.
- Add half of the tortellini with sauce to a 9×13 (23x33cm) casserole dish (the sauce shouldn´t be very soupy but it can´t be as thick as regular spaghetti sauce – you can check the photos in the body of the post for a reference).
- Sprinkle 1/2 of the Swiss and mozzarella cheese on top.
- Add the remaining tortellini and sauce.
- Sprinkle with the remaining Swiss and mozzarella and then with the whole grated Parmesan.
- Cover the dish tightly with a piece of aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is browned and the edges of the casserole bubbling and crispy. I´m using a fan setting for this step but you could also move the casserole dish under the burner (grill) and bake for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese is browned (make sure to not burn it).
- Dig in and enjoy!
Notes
- Instead of ground beef you can use hot or mild Italian sausage and omit other spices.
- Instead of water, you can use chicken or beef broth if you have some on hand but just water is also enough for this recipe.
- Since I´m adding ground beef to the sauce I like to use 2 packages of cheese tortellini and 1 package of spinach ricotta tortellini. If you want to omit ground beef you can also do that but then I would buy 1 package meat or prosciutto tortellini. You could also keep it totally vegetarian and it also will be delicious.
- Calories = 1 serving (1/6 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
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