Delicious, easy homemade alfredo sauce with tortellini makes the quickest weeknight dinner! Garlicky, cheesy, and super creamy, this is one of those vegetarian comfort meals that you'll make again and again. I like it alone, but it's also nice rounded out with a tangy green salad and some marinated grilled chicken! Garlic bread on the side never hurt anything either, let's be honest.
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Ok, let's just jump in. This is one of those Everyone Likes It, Easy to Make, Very fast dinners that we need WAY more of, right? Many boxes are checked with this extremely delicious and easy tortellini alfredo.
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Recipe Notes
- Tortellini alfredo is exactly what it sounds like: your favorite tortellini mixed with a VERY simple homemade alfredo sauce.
- The best part about this recipe is that we are maximizing flavor with fresh garlic and parmesan cheese without a lot of fuss or time. The entire sauce can be made in the amount of time it takes to boil water for the tortellini.
- There is a lot of "ok but this isn't traditional" when it comes to alfredo, and so let's just say this. This is a VERSION of American alfredo sauce; the kind that we usually think of as creamy. Think: creamy, easy-to-make white sauce.
Ingredients
I love how simple these ingredients are - lots of flavor, very little fuss.
- Tortellini: Any kind you like! I like cheese tortellini with this, but since the sauce is fairly plain any flavor works really well in the alfredo sauce. A bacon or sausage tortellini is particularly delicious in this recipe. You WILL need some pasta cooking water for the sauce, so be sure to reserve some before you drain the tortellini.
- Heavy Cream and Butter make up most of the sauce, so use the regular, full-fat versions of both. Salted butter if you have it, please and thank you.
- Fresh Garlic, minced or grated with a zester. I'm a big fan of the zester for quickly melting the garlic into the cream and butter.
- Parmesan cheese for flavor and umami. IF you can swing freshly grated parmesan cheese, that's a great option. As a middle ground, I buy the cheese-only grated tubs from the grocery store because it melts a bit better than a grated cheese blend (in a green jar, for example), but any parm you like is the parm for you.
- Salt and pepper for flavoring. It's a simple sauce, but still a really yummy one that needs to be seasoned well!
Step By Step Instructions
There are VERY few steps to this recipe, so it's important to get your ingredients set before you start to make the alfredo sauce. For timing, I start a pot of water to boil the tortellini, THEN set to work on the alfredo sauce, and boil the tortellini when the sauce is nearly done.
- While you're waiting for the water to boil for the noodles, heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat with the butter, cream, salt, and grated garlic. Stir to melt everything together, and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Let the cream mixture simmer for 5 minutes to reduce and thicken a bit, stirring every once in awhile to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the skillet.
- While the sauce is reducing, boil the tortellini according to the package directions. Right before you drain the pasta, reserve a half cup or so of the cooking water; this will help thin out the alfredo sauce if needed.
- When the tortellini is done/almost done and the cream mixture has reduced, whisk the parmesan cheese into the alfredo sauce. Taste the sauce, and add more salt and pepper until it's very flavorful.
- Stir the tortellini into the alfredo sauce, and splash in pasta water a few tablespoons at a time until all the pasta is coated in sauce.
That's it! I top this with extra parm, salt, and pepper and that's IT.
This is so, so good on its own, so comforting and creamy, and the sharp fresh garlic flavor is absolutely out of this world. All in just 15 minutes!
Flavor Variations
I love this on its own, but you can add lots of things to this base recipe to add some protein, veggies, or extra flavors. This is a GREAT use for leftover grilled chicken for a very yummy alfredo tortellini chicken situation.
Some other ideas:
- Stir in 1-2 cups of chopped roasted veggies (a great use for leftovers!)
- Simmer some shrimp in the cream sauce for 1-2 minutes just before serving.
- Stir in some lemon zest and a few tablespoons of pesto for a summery kick.
- Make it feel like fall with some crisped bacon, sage leaves, and toasted walnuts. HELLO YUM.
- All grilled protein goes really well on top of tortellini alfredo, a great use for leftovers!
Side Dish Serving Suggestions
I'll keep repeating myself, but tortellini alfredo is a true gift all on its own, preferably in a shallow bowl with LOTS of extra parm, maybe a couch/blanket/wine/tv situation. I don't know what you need, but maybe it's that.
However, if you'd like to make this a more complete meal, here are some things to serve with the tortellini!
Make-Ahead and Leftover Storage
Because this is so quick, I wouldn't bother making this in advance. But, leftovers are great served at room temperature or microwaved in the oven for a few minutes.
And that's it! Easy, absolutely delicious and comforting tortellini alfredo in no time. Let me know if you make this, and tell me what other flavor variations you come up with!
Recipe
5-Ingredient Tortellini Alfredo
Ingredients
- 20 ounces tortellini any flavor you like
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ stick butter (¼ cup) salted if possible
- 1 clove fresh garlic peeled and grated with a zester or finely minced
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese plus more for serving
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt plus more if needed
- black pepper
Instructions
- Pasta: Cook the tortellini to the package directions in heavily salted water. Right before draining, reserve about a cup of the cooking liquid to finish the sauce.
- Sauce: While the water for the tortellini is boiling, preheat a medium skillet to medium heat with the cream, butter, salt, and grated garlic.
- Stir to combine the sauce ingredients and melt the butter. Allow the sauce to come to a simmer, and let gently bubble for 5-10 minutes to thicken and reduce slightly.
- Whisk in the parmesan cheese and taste; add more salt and pepper until the sauce is very flavorful.
- Turn the heat OFF the stove, and stir in the cooked tortellini along with a few splashes of cooking liquid. Stir until the sauce coats the tortellini, adding more salt and pepper for flavor and more pasta water as needed to make enough sauce to coat all the pasta.
- Serve immediately with extra parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
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