One Pot Tortellini and Ground Beef Casserole - This 30 minute meal is loaded with ground beef and cheese. It stars quick cooking tortellini, allowing it all to be cooked in one pot. A new family favorite for sure.
Can you call a recipe a casserole if it is prepared in a skillet? Okay, so it's a skillet meal. A one pot meal. But according to the interwebs, by definition a casserole is a dish that is served out of it's cooking vessel. Admittedly, there are a lot of other definitions too but I stand by it. This recipe is a one pot, skillet casserole.
All I really want to get across is that not all casseroles will take an hour in the oven. I'm getting this skillet casserole on the table in just 30 minutes.
This Tortellini Ground Beef recipe contains the magical combination that gets my kids to rush to the table. You guessed it :ground beef, pasta and cheese. That's it, if those three things are in a recipe, they are asking for seconds.
Related: Instant Pot Taco Pasta
The preparation of this skillet meal is primarily on the stove top. It does go under the broiler for a few minutes to make it ultra cheesy. It also just helps bring it all together. The key to this is using an oven-safe skillet.
Printable Recipe Card
One Pot Tortellini and Ground Beef Skillet Casserole
Ingredients
- 20 ounces cheese tortellini refrigerated
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 10 ounces can diced tomatoes drained
- 2 ½ cup beef broth
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese blend
- 2 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Brown ground beef in a large (oven safe) skillet, over medium/high heat. If needed, drain excess grease from pan. Return pan with ground beef back to stove over medium/high heat and add in onions and garlic. Cook, stirring a few minutes until onion starts to soften.
- Stir in salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
- Add tortellini to pan, along with tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to simmer a few more minutes until liquid is almost absorbed.
- Remove pan from heat and stir in heavy cream and ½ C cheese. Top with remaining cheese.
- Place skillet in oven on broil for just a few minutes until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.
- Garnish with parsley before serving.
One Pot Tortellini and Ground Beef Casserole was inspired and adapted from Cheeseburger Gnocchi by Kevin & Amanda.
Angela says
Oh Christine my family love this meal!!! I love all your one pot meals!
Nancy says
so simple to make and really yummy, Christine!
Christine says
Now this is something I think both kids will like. One of my kids (also known as the "fake Italian") doesn't like pasta with, get this - pasta sauce! I know, I can't believe it either. I think she might like this.
Heather says
Its crazy good! Now that the kids are back in school, I've been saving quick and delicious weeknight dinner options like crazy - including this one!
peter says
Love this. Total comfort food.
Aly ~ Cooking In Stilettos says
This is a delicious idea for dinner! Thank you so much for sharing this! As for losing the original - I feel your pain. WordPress doesn't always behave sadly. This recipe is going into the meal plan.
Amanda-The Kitcheneer says
Oh no! That's the worst when you lose what you typed! It's never the same after you type it a second time! I'm sorry! But this tortellini one pot meal looks perfect and delicious!
kellie says
This is a huge hit with the family!
Isabelle @ Crumb says
This looks amazing! My mom used to make something similar, but hers was baked in the oven and made with regular pasta instead... though I have to say that this tortellini version sounds way more amazing for all of the obvious reasons.
Also, what a bummer that your first draft got eaten by the internet. I hate it when that happens! At least you still had this delicious recipe to share with us, though... so there's that.
Emily says
How many servings does this make?
foodyschmoody says
The 20 oz package of tortellini claims 7 servings. However, I find that my family eats larger portions than most packaged serving sizes. I'd say this would feed a family of 5.
Tracy says
Have made this 3 times! Big hit! Cooking it for a friend tonight!
foodyschmoody says
So glad to hear that! It's one of my faves and so darn easy in my opinion. Thanks for taking the time to let me know!!!
Erin says
When I saw “one pot” I was interested. I love to try new recipes but hate all the clean up afterwards. This recipe was quick to prepare, so delicious and so easy to clean up! I did not have any heavy cream so I left that out, I did not substitute anything for it. I guess I saved some calories but didn’t lose any flavor! I will definitely add this quick and easy meal to my dinner rotation.
My husband just said as he went back to the stovetop for seconds, “ this is a much better tasting version of the old hamburger helper, I hope she knows that’s a compliment, this is really good.”
As for serving size, in our house this made four pasta bowl full servings. We tend to eat larger portions;)
Tee says
Made this tonight. I thought I had an onion at home, but didn’t, and I just came back from the store! Ugh! So I ended up using onion powder instead, no tomatoes and added spinach. Delicious!
Lauren says
Made this last night and while it’s not bad, it takes just like Hamburger Helper.
Colleen says
I think I'm going to try this with ground sweet sausage instead, but still sounds amazing, and EASY!!
foodyschmoody says
I bet it will be GREAT w/ sausage!
Elaine says
Made this as written except added some fresh spinach. It was amazing! I cook for three so had plenty of leftovers for lunch. Reheated well. Definitely adding this to the rotation!
foodyschmoody says
So glad you enjoyed it! I agree, it reheats well and I'm not usually a fan of leftovers but this I will take any day as a leftover!
Tammy says
This was a big hit. The whole family loved it. Plus so easy to make. 5 Stars
Dennis says
I made a few changes. Instead of 10oz diced tomatoes I used 15oz tomato sauce. Added a bag of. spinach. D 2 cups of broth. Before I put the cheese on I added fresh basil. It turned out creamy.. This is going to beon a rotation.
foodyschmoody says
The changes sound great! I really love when someone can take a recipe and put a new spin on it!
Carbie says
I like that it is a one-pot meal. I didn't have beef broth, so I used bullion cubes and it ended up too salty. I plan to make it again, just making sure I use low-sodium beef broth next time.
foodyschmoody says
I can see how the bouillon would have added saltiness. I think you'll have a much better result w/ the broth.
Kim says
Has anyone used frozen tortellini??
foodyschmoody says
I just double checked because I remembered seeing a review w/ frozen somewhere. Sure enough, on pinterest, a few people used frozen without any issue. Here's the pin link if you want to check the comments https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AV7R6IWqezezCJhxxbvodr1qDtjLFsD_XRtHLT5sT3w849HV_kCq_6M/
Nicole says
Flavor was good but it seemed WAY too liquidy. I boiled and simmered forever... And too much liquid. It ended up basically being soup. Is there a typo with the beef broth quantity? Also, should the diced tomatoes be drained? If so, it should say that in the recipe. If I try this again, I will reduce the beef broth for sure and drain the tomatoes.
Michele says
Wow, tried this for the first time. I’m a vegetarian so I used meat crumbles instead and added ALITTLE veggie broth instead of heavy cream I used Alfredo sauce with mushrooms, some spinach, peas and edamame. I had no cheddar, used pecorino Romano instead. So gooood.