Sometimes a comforting cheesy dinner is the only thing that will hit the spot, and when that’s the case this Easy Cheesy Baked Tortellini is the perfect solution. You can trust that it’s plenty cheesy because instead of relying on basic pasta as the base, it uses cheese tortellini! What that means is there’s triple the cheese – cheese in the base, cheese in the sauce, and a golden brown cheesy blanket to top it all off. It’s comfort food done right.
While this has plenty of cheese, it also has a hearty beef and marinara sauce to go with it. While you bring the water to a boil to cook the tortellini, you can start the sauce which is just a matter of browning some ground beef, adding in a jar of marinara sauce, and making it nice and creamy by stirring in some cream cheese.
You stir in the tortellini and some fresh parsley, just to make sure the tortellini are totally coated, and then transfer it all to a baking dish.
A generous helping of parmesan and mozzarella top it off…
… and then it heads into the oven to get melty and bubbly and beautifully golden brown.
It’s a quick and easy dinner, yes, but it also happens to be one that never garners a single complaint when the family sits down to eat it. In other words, it’s the kind of recipe we’re all always searching for – one that’s no trouble at all but always, always satisfies.
Easy Cheesy Baked Tortellini
Ingredients
- 1 (20 oz) package cheese tortellini
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 (24 oz) jar marinara sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- 8 oz cream cheese, chopped
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook tortellini for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- While tortellini cooks, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium, stir in marinara and cream cheese, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Simmer until cream cheese has melted, 2-3 minutes.
- Remove from heat, toss gently with tortellini and fresh parsley and transfer to baking dish.
- Top with mozzarella and parmesan and bake until bubbly and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Broil for 2-3 minutes for additional browning, if desired.
Recipe adapted from Dinner at the Zoo.