Cheese tortellini with caramelized onion sauce and mushrooms recipe! This simple and delicious vegetarian tortellini pasta has the most flavorful sauce you will ever taste. Your whole family will love this!
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Hey friends! Comin atcha today with a recipe for all you people looking to impress with minimal effort.
An easy, effortless pasta. With caramelized onion sauce. Yep, CARAMELIZED ONION SAUCE! With mushrooms and some fresh parsley. Luuuuuv this one.
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Vegetarian cheese tortellini pasta
There is absolutely no reason a vegetarian tortellini pasta can't be loaded with flavor!
For this recipe, we used refrigerated 3 cheese tortellini. Using a simple, vegetarian cheese tortellini really allows us to focus on a fresh and easy, slow cooked sauce.
The result is a rich, meatless dinner that everyone in the house is going to love!
Have you tried our chickpea pasta with creamy roasted eggplant sauce?
Caramelize the onions
OK. Let's just chat about this caramelized onion sauce for a sec. Just look at how rich and caramelized it is! This really is one decadent sauce. Sweet, savory, bright, herby. YUM YUM!
The key with this sauce though.... you HAVE to be patient. You really need those onions to cook down and caramelize, or it will just taste like a bowl full of browned onions.
See that pic below? On the left, you can see how many onions you start with. A lot! On the right, that is when you add the mushrooms and garlic. Then, the onions STILL need to cook. Until they are all jammy and mushy and caramelizy and just... delicious.
But don't worry... this sauce is mostly hands off, which means it's easy enough for a weeknight!
Psssst: if you like caramelized onions, give these quick burnt onions a try!
Have you tried our cheesy mushroom toast with mustard and thyme?
Make the sauce
So, you slow cook the onions for about an hour. Be sure to leave them alone and only stir every 10 minutes or so.
Then, when they look like the photo on the right (above), you add your garlic and mushrooms. Cook for about another 10 minutes and add some vinegar to brighten up that sweet jammy sauce. Cook just a bit longer, and toss with any kind of pasta you desire.
I recommend using some sort of stuffed pasta, like tortellini or ravioli. Or, toss it with some seasonal veggies and noodles!
Love cheese tortellini? Try this vegetarian tortellini salad recipe!
Recipe
Cheese tortellini with caramelized onion sauce and mushrooms recipe
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon salted butter
- 4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 ½ large yellow onions, sliced into ½" slices
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups sliced cremini mushrooms (about 10 mushrooms)
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 20 ounces cheese tortellini
- salt and pepper
- about ¾ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Instructions
- Heat butter and oil in a large cast iron dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and sugar and stir to combine. Cook for about 10 minutes, until onions are starting to brown. Give a good stir and reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook until onions are brown and caramelized, almost jammy (see pic), about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Be patient here! You want those onions to be brown and rich with flavor!
- Meanwhile, cook tortellini according to package directions and set aside.
- When the onions are caramelized, but not quite jammy yet (see pic), add the garlic and mushrooms. Give a good stir and cook another 10 minutes. Add the red wine vinegar, and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and toss in the tortellini. Season with salt and pepper and add most of the parsley, leaving some for serving. Toss all together and serve, topping with additional fresh parsley.
Nutrition
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Dana
I love love love tortellini! Never thought to serve it up with caramelized onions and I love this idea. For some reason I feel like it would offer up the essence of pierogi. Pillowy cheesy-stuffed dough tossed with sweet onions. I'm so into this.
Carmy
How did I not think to make a caramelized onion sauce before?! Such a delicious idea! Combined with the cheese tortellini, this is a household hit!
Debra
Caramelized onions are the best. They add so much depth of flavor and texture....plus the aroma is outstanding. Love this combo with the mushrooms and tortellini too!
Sean@Diversivore
You had me at tortellini, but there was truly no going back by the time I got to 'caramelized onions.' I love virtually anything with caramelized onions in it, and this is no exception. Great ingredient for a stuffed pasta, as you don't really want to overwhelm the flavour too much, but you do want to bring in something bold and complimentary. And I have to say, I love that you really go in hard on the parsley too - it's an underappreciated ingredient that really deserves more love!
Lisa Lotts
Big proponent of caramelized onions right here... and your tortellini with caramelized onion sauce is LEGIT. The onions add a sweet depth to the pasta -- and that skosh of vinegar is INSPIRED, to give the sauce a little tang and make your tastebuds jump. This one's a keeper!
Gloria
I LOVE pasta. All kinds of pasta. Carmelized onions are over the top delicious. Certainly worth the effort...the end result is amazing. This is a great date night dinner.
peter @feedyoursoultoo
just have to say that I smile every time I come to your blog. I love seeing your smiling face hanging out the window. It has to be the best pic of any food blogger!!!
Patricia Bozeman
LOL! Oh my gosh, THANK YOU! Such a goofy pic. You just made my day. ❤️
chefcarolb2014
Cheese, pasta, caramelized onions and mushrooms? Oh yeah! Looks and sounds divine!
Patricia Bozeman
Ha! Thanks Carol! 🙂
Kathryn @ FoodieGirlChicago
I love anything with caramelized onions...and of course pasta too!! 🙂
Patricia Bozeman
Me too! 🙂
heather (delicious not gorgeous)
ahhh caramelized onions are delicious but making a sauce out of them with mushrooms?! i've been sitting here already hungry and now i'm craving this pasta (:
Patricia Bozeman
Haha! It's pretty delicious stuff. 🙂
sugarlovespices
Buitoni is such a great Italian brand and their products are so good! Your pasta dish looks good with that flavorful sauce featuring lots of caramelized onions!
Patricia Bozeman
Thank you so much!
chavamazal
Oh perfect! I have some vegetarian friends coming by for dinner soon. I now know what I'm making.
Patricia Bozeman
Awesome! Let me know how it goes!