Cheesy Tortellini Bake with Meat Sauce and cream cheese is a great weeknight dinner that the whole family will love! It’s so easy to make, kid approved, and so creamy, cheesy, and flavorful!
Ingredients for this Cheesy Tortellini Bake with Meat Sauce:
- Cheese tortellini (or flavor of your choice)
- Olive oil
- Ground beef
- Yellow Onion
- Garlic powder
- Salt
- Dried oregano
- A jar of pasta sauce
- Cream cheese
- Italian cheese blend
- Parsley for garnish if you’re feeling fancy
The first step in making this tortellini bake is to cook the meat and make the sauce. I like to add onions and seasonings right into the meat as I cook it. This adds so much flavor to the sauce! Also, I realize the photo looks like I added an ungodly amount of salt to the meat…I promise it’s just how I sprinkled it! It’s 2 teaspoons. This will flavor the meat and the sauce!
After cooking your beef, you’ll add in the spaghetti sauce, and the cream cheese. The cream cheese will melt into the sauce and you’ll have a beautifully creamy sauce!
While your sauce is cooking, you can also set your tortellini to boil. If you’re using fresh, you won’t need to do this and you can just add them to the dish. I use frozen tortellini though so I do boil them for about 2 minutes. As soon as they float up, you’re done!
After making your sauce and cooking the tortellini, you’re ready to assemble. You’ll want to make sure that you spray your dish with non-stick spray since the cheese and sauce can really stick and be hard to clean when you’re done.
How to assemble the tortellini bake:
- Cover the bottom in a thin layer of the sauce
- Add in all of the tortellini
- Cover with remaining sauce
- Top with cheese
After assembling, you’ll bake this in the oven for about 25 minutes. You’ll see the sauce start to bubble up around the edges. I also like to broil mine for a couple of extra minutes at the end to get a nice browned top.
Other Recipes You’ll Love:
- Creamy Chicken and Pesto Pasta
- One Pot Italian Chicken and Orzo
- Carrabba’s Spicy Sicilian Chicken Soup
- Easy Rosemary Focaccia Bread
Cheesy Tortellini Bake with Meat Sauce
Equipment
- Non-stick spray
- 9x9 baking dish
Ingredients
- 18-20 ounces tortellini pasta (fresh or frozen is fine)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef (you can also sub turkey or Italian sausage)
- 1 yellow onion (diced)
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 24 ounce jar of pasta sauce
- 8 ounce block of cream cheese
- 2 cups Italian cheese blend
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350° and grease your 9x9 baking dish and set aside.
- Heat a pot of salted (about 2 teaspoons) water and bring it to a boil. Cook your tortellini according to the directions on the package subtracting 1 minute. (They will continue cooking in the oven.) Drain, and set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil, ground beef, and onions, garlic powder, salt, and oregano.
- Break up the meat and cook until the it's browned and the onions are soft. Drain the meat if you have a lot of grease.
- Lower the heat to medium-low and add in the jar of spaghetti sauce and the cream cheese. Stir until the cream cheese is fully melted and the sauce is creamy.
- Once the sauce is ready, add a few scoops to the bottom of your sprayed dish. Then add in all of the tortellini, then cover with the remaining sauce. Top with the shredded cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes uncovered then broil for about 2-4 minutes or the top is golden brown.
- Let sit for about 5 minutes then enjoy!
2 Comments
Patty
August 7, 2022 at 12:37 pmI used mild Italian sausage in this recipe. Delicious! Will save this recipe.
Coco and Ash
August 7, 2022 at 12:38 pmAwesome!! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂