This easy tortellini pasta bake only requires 30 minutes, 8 ingredients, and one pan! It's a cheesy pasta bake that everyone will love. And the best part is that it's an easy oven meal made from scratch.
You'll also love my other easy pasta bakes- tuna pasta bake, this vegetable pasta bake, or this easy one-pan lasagna.
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⭐️ Why this recipe works
- It only takes 20- 30 minutes from start to finish.
- This pasta bake gets made in one pan meaning very easy clean-up.
- This easy dinner recipe is great for making ahead of time or for meal prep to freeze for a later date.
🧾 Ingredients overview
- Fresh tortellini: No need to boil this pasta first. It gets added directly to the sauce and baked in the oven.
- Passata: is a smooth tomato sauce , these sieved tomatoes are a similar texture and consistency of a jar of marinara sauce but without all the additives.
- Grated mozzarella: the melting properties of mozzarella really are unmatched! A mild and creamy cheese that goes perfectly with this pasta bake. You can use a mix of mozzarella and cheddar if you like.
- Italian herbs: a tablespoon or two of dried herbs go a long way to bringing this easy Italian dish to life.
- Garlic and shallots: you can use an onion here in place of shallots with no noticable difference. Shallots are what I had on hand.
- Parmesan cheese: The parmesan cheese in the sauce really helps bring depth and richness to the whole dish and thicken it.
- Ground cinnamon: Brings warmth to the sauce and balances out the acidity of the tomatoes without having to add any sugar. You can add sugar, but you may find you don't want to after adding the cinnamon. It's a classic Italian tomato sauce ingredient.
- Double cream (heavy cream): you don't need much double cream here to bring that richness to the sauce. And you can skip it if you prefer a more robust tomato sauce.
For precise measurements and additional ingredients, refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
👩🏻🍳 Here's how to make it
30-Minute Tortellini Pasta Bake recipe step-by-step
- Add some olive oil to a high-sided skillet or frying pan. Sauté the onions and garlic in the oil until they're soft and translucent.
- Pour in the passata. Stir in the fresh thyme, Italian herbs, and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle simmer. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Swirl the cream into the sauce, and whisk to combine. Add in the parmesan and let it melt into the sauce.
- Add the tortellini to the pan and toss to coat it in the sauce.
- Transfer the tortellini and sauce into an oven-safe casserole dish or baking dish if your skillet is not oven safe.
- Scatter the mozzarella generously over the tortellini and sprinkle with some cracked black pepper. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes.
📖 Variations
- Tortellini - I'm using a spinach and ricotta stuffed tortellini, but you can easily use any stuffed pasta you like. A beef and red wine tortellini or a ham and chicken variety would be great in this recipe.
- Tomato sauce - you can use a jar of pre-made sauce if you already have one. But I would still recommend sautéing the onion and garlic before adding the sauce to the pan.
- Meat - you can pan fry some beef, turkey or chicken mince to add to the tomato sauce.
- Frozen cheese tortellini- you can use frozen or shelf-stable tortellini in this recipe. Just add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time.
💡 Chef's Guide: Expert Tips
Drawing on a decade of experience in Michelin-starred kitchens and Cordon Bleu training, I have compiled my top tips for recipe success.
- Make-ahead: Follow the instructions all the way up to and including step 5- topping the casserole with cheese. Once you've sprinkled the mozzarella over the tortellini, cover it tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze the dish.
- Preheat the oven: Be sure to preheat the oven before baking. If cooking from the fridge cooking time should be only an extra 10 minutes.
- Cooking from frozen: Let the dish stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking. *This is especially important if you're using a ceramic casserole dish, so it doesn't shatter due to the extreme temperature change.
🍯 Storage & Leftovers
- Fridge: Cheesy pasta bakes keep really well in the fridge for up to 3 days. Be sure to store in an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid.
- Freezer: Stuffed pasta freezes really well for up to 1 month in an airtight container.
- Reheat: you can use a preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Be sure to cover the dish with foil so that the cheese doesn't get too brown.
- Or reheat in a microwave using 30-second bursts until the pasta is hot all way through.
❓Recipe FAQ's
Absolutely! Here are the top cheeses I recommend. They all have great melting qualities which you really need for this tortellini pasta bake.
cheddar- go for younger and milder styles that have more moisture and melt better than aged styles.
gruyère- a melty cheese that is mild, nutty and slightly sweet.
fontina- fontina and provolone are both sharper flavoured Italian cow's milk cheese.
provolone- see above
taleggio- the strongest of all the cheeses listed here, this one has slight fruit notes with a definite pungency to it.
This recipe is great for wilting in some spinach or kale. You can also add in some roasted aubergine, chargrilled peppers, or courgette.
Looking for other pasta bake recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this Easy 30-Minute Tortellini Pasta Bake please let me know in the comments below, and please leave a star rating while you're there!
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Easy 30-Minute Tortellini Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 250 g (½ lb) package of fresh or shelf-stable tortellini
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, picked
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs
- 500 g (17 oz) carton of passata (or chopped tomatoes)
- 100 ml (½ cups) double cream (heavy cream)
- ½ lemon, juice only
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 250 g (2 cups) shredded mozzarella
- 50 g (½ cups) parmesan, shredded
- 80-100 g (2 ½ cups) kale or spinach, optional
Instructions
Preheat the Oven:
- Preheat your oven to 160ºC fan (180ºC regular, 350ºF).
Sauté Aromatics:
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in an oven-safe skillet or frying pan over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot and shimmering, add the shallots and sauté until soft and fragrant.
- Add the minced garlic and dried herbs, continuing to cook for another 5 minutes until the mixture is soft and just starting to turn light golden.
Prepare the Sauce:
- Once the onions and garlic are light golden, pour the passata into the pan and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning, then pour in the cream, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of cinnamon.
Combine Ingredients:
- Stir in the kale or spinach and the drained tortellini, mixing well to wilt the greens and coat the tortellini in the sauce.
- Grate half the parmesan over the tortellini and stir to melt the cheese into the dish.
Bake:
- Sprinkle the mozzarella and remaining parmesan over the pasta.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.
Serve:
- Remove from the oven and serve in bowls with salad and bread.
Notes
- Kale vs. Spinach: Kale will take a little longer to wilt than spinach, so leave it on the heat for an extra 3-4 minutes.
- Cinnamon Tip: Adding cinnamon may seem unusual, but its warm toastiness helps balance the acidity of the tomato sauce, similar to adding a pinch of sugar but with a richer flavour.
- Substitutions: You can use a regular onion in place of shallots. Cheese or vegetable-stuffed tortellini can keep the dish vegetarian, or you can use ham or beef-stuffed tortellini. Ravioli works well, too.
Nutrition
Meet the Chef!
Hi, I'm Debs, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef dedicated to helping you create unforgettable meals on a budget. Discover more about my journey and dive into a world of foolproof recipes designed for those who love to eat well without overspending.
Pauline
In the recipe you stated ‘drained tortellini’ so presumably you parboil them before adding to the sauce?
Both fresh and dried tortellini need precooking I think
Deborah Rainford
Hi Pauline, you don't need to cook the fresh or dried tortellini for this recipe. Both get cooked in the sauce. If you're using fresh make the recipe as instructed and you're using dried tortellini add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time to ensure that the pasta is cooked. I just updated the recipe this week, and it looks like somehow you have got the older version. But it's been updated to make it easier and the instructions have been updated for clarity.
Emma
Love the concept of your website, even though I don't have an Aldi near me - I'm using it to try to increase the number of meals my daughter will eat.
This was a tasty recipe ... but no mention of the oven temperature!
It would be really helpful to include nutritional information in your recipes too - with so much cheese this is supercalorific!
Deborah Rainford
Hi Emma. Thanks so much. And I'm so sorry about missing the oven temp! I've updated it now. And I've added the nutritional info. All the recipes do have nutritional values added but there may be the odd one that I've missed here and there. This one is one of them, so thanks for catching it and letting me know. Really happy that you're liking the recipes and adapting them to your available shopping. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment. Any and all feedback is so helpful and much appreciated!
🙂
SJR
The recipe doesn’t mention the quantity of kale
Deborah Rainford
Sorry about that. Kale is about 2 cups which works out to 80-100g. You can add more if you like or add some spinach. I've updated the recipe now. Thanks for catching that.