One Pot Pesto Lemon Tortellini Soup
Puffy pockets of cheese tortellini, cooked in a pesto-and-lemon-spiked broth. Dotted with peas, and showered with lots of parmesan. Light yet hearty, you can’t imagine a better marriage of flavors.
This is the ultimate weeknight meal. It’s made it one pot and ready in under 30 minutes. No dicing, slicing, or fussing! Actually, there’s a little onion to chop, but that’s it. And since the tortellini cooks directly in the flavorful broth, there’s just one pan to clean.
Basil pesto adds all the flavor to this tortellini soup. Pesto is a marriage of basil, parmesan cheese, pint nuts, garlic, and olive oil. It’s fresh, garlicky, nutty, and an amazing ingredient to keep in your fridge/pantry. In this tortellini soup, pesto perfumes the broth in the most magical way!
What kind of pesto should you use? I had a jar of shelf-stable pesto, so that’s what I used in this soup. You can also use the refrigerated variety.
There’s no need for additional herbs and spices because all the flavor is in the pesto. The only additional aromatic ingredient we add in this soup is red onion. I love red onion for this soup because it’s slightly sweet (which partners beautifully with the lemon) and adds a pop of color.
Lemon enlivens everything in the soup, including the cheese in the tortellini. When you add lemon to a dish, it elevates the flavor of all the other ingredients. You can detect a little tanginess, but mostly it bolsters all the other players in the game. I’m excited for you to try this soup – you will love it!
One Pot Pesto Lemon Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 8 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 4 tablespoons basil pesto
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
- 20 ounces cheese tortellini
- 1 cup frozen peas, kept frozen until ready to use
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Grated parmesan cheese for serving
- Chopped fresh parsley for serving, optional
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until soft.
- Add the broth, pesto, and lemon juice and bring to a low boil.
- Add the tortellini and cook according to the package directions, adding the peas for the last minute of cooking.
- Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and lemon juice, if desired.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with parmesan cheese and parsley, if using.