Crockpot beef tortellini
Cheese tortellini in a creamy beef and tomato sauce that cooks itself, with spinach and melted mozzarella stirred in at the end.
- 290 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $3.47 a serving
- 660 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jar marinara sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup beef broth
- 4 oz cream cheese, cubed
- 1 lb 4 oz refrigerated cheese tortellini
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup grated parmesan (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp salt
Each serving has about 660 calories, 36 g protein, 57 g carbs and 32 g fat, and costs about $3.47 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No beef broth? Bone broth works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat a large over medium-high, add the beef and onion, and press the beef flat. Leave it 3 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Break it into and cook 5 minutes more, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat and stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning for 30 seconds.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Scrape the beef into the slow cooker and stir in the marinara, diced tomatoes with their juice, broth and salt.
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
Timer: 240 min
Stir in the cream cheese until it into the sauce, then add the tortellini. Cover and cook on high 20 to 30 minutes, until tender.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 25 min
Dolly’s tip: Fresh tortellini cooks fast. Taste one at 20 minutes so they don’t go soft.Stir in the spinach until it , scatter the mozzarella over the top, and cover 5 minutes to it.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 5 min
Scoop into bowls and finish with parmesan if you like.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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