Tortellini Recipe: How to Make Homemade Tortellini
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: May 20, 2025 • 5 min read
Homemade tortellini is among the greatest comfort foods in the history of Italian cuisine. The classic dish is easily customizable and freezes well for the perfect weeknight dinner.
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What Is Tortellini?
Originally from the Italian region of Emilia, tortellini and tortelloni are both stuffed pastas shaped into rings. Tortellini are traditionally stuffed with meat and served in broth (Italian brodo), while slightly larger tortelloni are typically filled with cheese and served in a butter sauce. You can make cheese tortellini with Parmesan cheese for a vegetarian take on the classic Italian dish. While 00 flour is traditional in fresh pasta, all-purpose flour performs well and is available at any grocery store.
4 Tips for Making Tortellini
There are many different techniques for making fresh pasta. These four tips will guarantee a great batch of tortellini:
- 1. Roll the dough into a thin sheet. The thinner the dough, the more delicate and snappy the pasta will be. As the old saying goes, you should be able to read the newspaper through a sheet of properly rolled pasta dough. Rolling the dough correctly also makes it easier to seal the edges and encase your filling. After being cooked, the ravioli should have the gentlest give as you bite into it, rather than a thick, doughy chew.
- 2. Seal the edges. Tortellini rely on folding to seal its contents inside. Sealing the pasta well helps ensure that the filling will not leak out in the cooking process.
- 3. Less filling is more. It’s tempting to add extra filling, but too much filling will make it a challenge to seal the tortellini with enough space for folding. Typically, no more than a teaspoon of filling is needed for each three-inch pasta piece.
- 4. Try a cream sauce. While tortellini soup is traditional, you can also make creamy tortellini with heavy cream, and cheese, alfredo-style with kale or baby spinach wilted in at the end for a fast family favorite. Garnish with rosemary to complement the fillings.
Tortellini vs. Ravioli: What’s the Difference?
Tortellini and ravioli are both stuffed pastas with versatile applications, but there are three key differences:
- 1. Shape: Tortellini are made by folding individual small pieces of pasta and shaping them into rings. Ravioli are typically round or square, formed by dotting filling equally spaced apart on a pasta sheet, draping a second sheet over the top, and then stamping out individual pieces.
- 2. Texture: Tortellini are typically more dense than ravioli because they have more folds of pasta dough and meaty fillings. Tortellini are often served in brothy soups, like a dumpling, while ravioli are often tossed in butter, red pasta sauce, or pesto.
- 3. Fillings: Tortellini are often filled with dense, intensely-flavored fillings of meat and grated hard cheeses to help maintain their structure. You can fill ravioli with almost anything, but ricotta is traditional.
Italian Sausage Tortellini Recipe
makes
prep time
2 hr 20 mintotal time
2 hr 30 mincook time
10 minIngredients
- 1
Make the tortellini filling. In a medium bowl, combine the pork, prosciutto, Parmesan, rosemary, nutmeg, garlic, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and a few cracks of black pepper.
- 2
Mix until very evenly blended. Cover and refrigerate filling for at least 2 hours (this helps the flavors meld together).
- 3
To make the pasta dough, mix flour and 1 teaspoon salt together in a large bowl. Using your knuckles, create a well in the center of the flour, leaving a thin layer at the bottom of the well.
- 4
Crack 1 egg into the well, and using a fork, whisk the egg until frothy. Add olive oil to the well. Using your other hand, add a little flour into the mixture as you go.
- 5
When the egg-flour mixture is thick enough that it is no longer runny, turn the dough out onto a clean surface and use a bench scraper to cut in the rest of the flour.
- 6
Bring the dough together with your hands, and knead until it forms a smooth ball, about 5–10 minutes. The finished dough should very lightly spring back when pressed with your finger but otherwise hold the indent.
- 7
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- 8
When you’re ready to roll out the dough, lightly flour a clean work surface. Using either a rolling pin, a tabletop pasta roller, or a stand mixer attachment for making pasta, roll the dough into a single layer until it is thin, but does not rip. If using a roller attachment, mark the halfway point of the finished ribbon of dough with a paring knife; if using a rolling pin, divide the dough into two halves before rolling.
- 9
Cut the pasta dough into 2-inch squares.
- 10
Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling over the center of each pasta square.
- 11
Dip your finger in water and lightly trace the edges of the pasta to moisten. Fold one corner across to the opposite corner to form a triangle. Press firmly to seal and remove any air bubbles. Draw the bottom two corners together to form a small ring (similar to a kerchief).
- 12
Set on a floured surface baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
- 13
To cook tortellini, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat.
- 14
Carefully transfer tortellini to the water. Cook, stirring to prevent sticking, until all of the tortellini have popped up to the surface, about 5 minutes (cut into one tortellini to make sure the filling is cooked through).
- 15
Drain the pasta and serve tortellini in warm chicken broth or vegetable broth, or the sauce or soup of your choice.
- 16
You can freeze tortellini for up to 3 months. After folding, place all of the tortellini on a floured sheet tray without touching each other, and flash freeze for 1 hour. Then transfer tortellini to a freezer bag or container to freeze long term. Cook straight from frozen in boiling water. The tortellini may take a few minutes longer to bob up to the top.
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