This baked tortellini recipe is cheese tortellini in a hearty meat sauce, all topped with cheese and baked to perfection. A super easy dinner that the whole family will love!
Baked pasta is classic comfort food that’s always a crowd pleaser. This version uses tortellini in a homemade meat sauce and can easily be doubled to serve a large group. It’s one of my favorite baked pastas along with baked ziti, baked spaghetti and pasta al forno.
I’ve been adding some new dinner options to our menu rotation lately, and this baked tortellini definitely fits the bill! It’s cheesy, hearty, kid pleasing, and so very easy to make. All you need is a handful of ingredients and about 15 minutes of prep time to have this comfort food classic on your table.
This baked pasta is delicious with a veggie side dish like grilled broccoli, roasted parsnips or asparagus salad. You could even serve an appetizer like garlic knots for a real feast!
Table of Contents
Baked Tortellini Ingredients
When you make this delicious baked tortellini you will need tortellini, marinara sauce, olive oil, white onion, ground beef, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
How Do You Make Baked Tortellini?
Start this baked tortellini recipe by bringing a pot of water to boil. While the water is heating sauté diced onion and ground beef in a large pan with a little salt and pepper. Cook the tortellini in the boiling water. Add marinara sauce to the beef mixture. When the tortellini is done, drain the water and pour the meat and marinara mixture over the pasta. Spoon the tortellini and sauce into baking dish or casserole dish and top it with shredded mozzarella. Bake it until the cheese is melted and bubbly then serve it with a sprinkle of parsley!
Tips For The Perfect Baked Tortellini
- You can use your favorite jarred marinara sauce or you can make your own homemade marinara sauce.
- Use 90% lean ground beef which has a lot of flavor but is not overly greasy.
- Do your best to cover the tortellini with sauce or cheese before it goes in the oven.
- You can make the meat sauce up to two days in advance if you store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This can save time when you make the pasta.
Quick Tip
Shred your own mozzarella cheese. The store bought bags of shredded cheese often have anti-caking agents which prevent the cheese from melting well.
Recipe FAQs
Fresh store bought tortellini takes about 3-4 minutes to cook and frozen store bought tortellini takes 5-7 minutes to cook. I typically make this dish with fresh tortellini, but you can also use frozen tortellini with excellent results.
Most tortellini require the pasta be cooked either in boiling water or with another method. Fortunately, most tortellini cook in a matter of minutes!
You can cook tortellini without water. You can cook it in marinara sauce. However, it will usually take longer to cook in marinara sauce than boiling water. This recipe is for boiled tortellini that is baked with sauce and cheese.
Follow Me
Baked Tortellini Variations
This recipe is quick, easy and delicious as-is; however, you can change it to suit your taste:
- Veggies: Try adding some spinach leaves to the sauce or sauté some diced zucchini, carrot or chopped mushrooms with the onion.
- Cheese: You can add some fontina or ricotta cheese to the dish before baking it. You can also grate some parmesan cheese over the top of the pasta after you remove it from the oven.
- Meat: Instead of ground beef you can use ground turkey or Italian sausage.
- Stovetop: If you don’t want to heat your oven, try my stovetop cheese tortellini in meat sauce.
My whole family loves this baked tortellini, and I love how easy it is to make. It’s the perfect meal for a busy weeknight, or you can make a double batch and serve it up at a potluck! Regardless of how you serve it, it’s sure to be a hit with both kids and adults alike. If you want more pasta, check out some of my favorite slow cooker pasta recipes.
More Pasta Dishes You’ll Love
Taco Pasta
20 mins
Chicken and Broccoli Pasta
40 mins
Chicken Parmesan Pasta
40 mins
Chicken Pesto Pasta
30 mins
Baked Tortellini Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Baked Tortellini with Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 18 ounces cheese tortellini (2 10-ounce packages or 1 family size 20-ounce package)
- 1 15-ounce container marinara sauce
- cooking spray
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 6 cup or larger baking dish with cooking spray. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook the tortellini according to package directions.
- While you wait for the water to boil and tortellini to cook, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened.
- Add the ground beef to the pan and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up the meat with a spatula, until done, approximately 4-5 minutes.
- Pour the marinara sauce into the pan with the beef and heat until warmed through.
- Drain the pasta and return to the pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat.
- Spoon the pasta into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- You can use your favorite jarred marinara sauce or you can make your own homemade marinara sauce.
- Use 90% lean ground beef which has a lot of flavor but is not overly greasy.
- Do your best to cover the tortellini with sauce or cheese before it goes in the oven.
- Shred your own mozzarella cheese. The store-bought bags of shredded cheese often have anti-caking agents which prevent the cheese from melting well.
So easy, so fast, sooo good! This is going on regular rotation around here for those days where I can’t even think of what to make. I used fresh tortelloni from Giovanni Rana. The family size spinach and mozz tortelloni which is a big bigger than the ingredients called for and a 28oz jar of Aldi’s organic marinara along with a pound of ground beef. Sprinkled some shredded parm over the mozz (~1/4 cup) because I love it so much. I’ll have to keep some frozen tortelloni in the freezer for emergencies! Thank you!
Excellent dish. Very tasty couldn’t wait to eat leftovers the next day.
I had some extra spinach so I added it in! Really great recipe that we all loved.
I couldn’t stop eating this with all the flavors, textures and melted cheese!
Excellent recipe! Added a couple garlic cloves chopped, Italian seasoning, and a splash of sherry to the sauce. Turned out delicious. Served with a salad and bread.
Could I put this in a slow cooker? I cook for 6- 8 men and need a lot!!
You could make the sauce in the slow cooker then stir in the tortellini during the last 30 minutes!
Excellent recipe, my family love pasta dishes, made it with
sweet Italian sausage and served with a garden salad or cooked spinach . Truly was a hit.
Can this be made ahead and frozen? Having a big crowd and looking to cook from the freezer..
Yes that should be fine!
Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Like other commenters, I could not find the specific brand of tortellini or sauce. I used Buitoni brand. I added half a green bell pepper, three cloves of garlic, some basil, and a dash of red pepper flakes. Overall I found the dish to be dry. It’s tasty but needs more marinara. I will keep playing with it, though!
This is delicious and so easy to make! Big hit with everyone!
Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
Soooo good and easy to make, I added portobella mushrooms and fresh baby spinach as well as Italian seasoning and a few dashes of Spike seasoning, also used a 650ml jar of marinara, definitely going to make again! 👍🏻👍🏻
Sounds amazing I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This was so very good . Family loved it. Easy to make in a tight schedule world we live in.
Thanks so much for reporting back, glad you enjoyed it!
Good dish! I’m a sauce lover so I doubled the sauce! I used a Sunday gravysauce which is identical to most heirloom sauces. Added a bit of garlic,Worcester, and a good balsamic vinaigrette. A touch of all three!
Potluck this weekend and this is what we’re bringing! Cheesy
Perfect casserole that can be made ahead! Love all that melted cheese!
I can not find the sauce or tortellini anywhere. 🙁 any suggestions, My target does not have a refrigerated section
Hi Sarah, have you looked at their store locator? https://threebridges.com/store-locator/ I hope you can find it near you, it’s totally worth it!
My family would just love this! Making it this week!
This looks like the BEST dinner ever and I love how easy it is. Making this this week for SURE!
I wish I had made this last night so I could bring the leftovers to work for lunch!