Tortellini, pasta sauce, and cheese baked to perfection. My husband says, “If you think this LOOKS good, wait until you taste it.”
This pasta bake is one of my go to dishes to make when company is coming over for dinner or to do a porch drop off with a friend who just had a baby, surgery, household illness, etc.
What You Will Need
Tortellini, ground beef, cream cheese, pasta sauce, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. You’ll need one pot to cook your tortellini in and a separate pot or deep dish skillet to cook your ground beef and “make” your pasta sauce in. You will also need a 9×13 baking pan because we are going to bake this pasta dish in the oven.
Step By Step Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 and go ahead and cook your tortellini according to package directions.
Brown your ground beef. Don’t forget to drain the grease once cooked.
Add one block of cream cheese.
Add in a jar of your favorite pasta sauce.
Continue cooking on low heat, stirring every few minutes, until your cream cheese is melted. Season sauce with a few dashes of salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Adjust seasoning to your taste! I use a lot of Italian seasoning because it’s my favorite.
Combine your cooked and drained tortellini with your pasta sauce. Pour into a 9×13 baking dish.
Top with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then broil on high for a few minutes to get that cheese to gooey perfection.
And that’s it! Enjoy
Tips & Advice
A lot of people ask me what kind of tortellini I use. Some people use frozen but I prefer refrigerated tortellini which can be found in the dairy section of your grocery store. My favorite is Buitoni brand. They have lots of different flavors but my go to is “Three Cheese Tortellini”. My grocery store was actually out when I made this (for this blog), so I used “Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini”. Any flavor will work and taste amazing.
Every time I make this, I think, “Gah! I should have used Italian sausage!”. We are farmers who always have beef on hand which is why I almost always forget to buy Italian sausage when I make this. Use whichever you prefer! If you go with Italian sausage, do me a favor and buy Italian sausage from the meat counter at your grocery store and not the kind in a frozen tube. Buying Italian sausage fresh (or as fresh as you can) tastes astronomically better and will add so much more flavor to your dish. It’s not even comparable to that stuff in a tube.
I highly recommend buying a block of mozzarella and parmesan cheese and shredding it yourself as opposed to buying pre-shredded cheese in a package. It’s just a very simple change you can make to make this pasta bake taste even better.
When we have guests over, I like to make this recipe and my crockpot Cajun chicken & sausage alfredo for a delicious and easy Italian night. Serve with salad and breadsticks.
Printable Recipe
Tortellini Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 20 oz tortellini
- 1 lb ground beef
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 (24 oz) jar pasta sauce
- A few dashes salt
- A few dashes pepper
- A few dashes Italian seasoning
- A few dashes garlic powder
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook tortellini according to package directions.
- While the tortellini is cooking, brown your ground beef. Drain grease.
- Add cream cheese and pasta sauce to cooked beef and continue cooking on low, stirring every few minutes, until the cream cheese is melted.
- Season meat sauce with a few dashes of salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Adjust to your taste!
- Combine meat sauce with cooked and drained tortellini.
- Pour mixture into a 9×13 baking dish.
- Top with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese (as much or as little as you want).
- Bake in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Then, broil on high a few minutes to get that cheese to gooey perfection. Enjoy!
Notes
- I use refrigerated Buitoni brand of tortellini which can be found in the dairy section of the grocery store. My go to flavor is “Three Cheese Tortellini” but I actually used “Spinach & Ricotta” this particular time. Any flavor will work so just pick your favorite!
- You could absolutely use Italian sausage instead of ground beef. If you use Italian sausage, get it fresh from the meat counter at your grocery store rather than in a tube. Trust me.
- Buy a block of mozzarella and parmesan cheese and shred it yourself instead of buying pre-shredded if you can.
This dish is SO yummy & pretty easy! My fiancé was craving it from the time I showed him Shelby’s video of making it. So when I finally got around to cooking it, he was pretty stoked. I think it’s safe to say he LOVED it after three trips back to the kitchen. 🙂 I subbed the beef with Italian sausage and we both thought that was a good choice!
Nothing makes me happier than reviews like this. I’m so glad you guys loved it!