I’m a sucker for anything with cheese. Cheese pizza, a cheese sandwich, cheesy pasta, it’s all good. When I saw a recipe for Baked Tortellini, I was beside myself. Cheese tortellini itself is good. Bake it in a light cheese sauce, and we’re golden. In fact, the dinner I had planned was immediately scrapped so that I could make this!
I decided to add some spinach, which was very welcome and an easy way to boost the nutrition of this dish. I added a little cayenne pepper to perk things up a bit, and also added garlic. We can’t have pasta without garlic, right? Baked Tortellini with Spinach is cheesy pasta perfection, made healthier, with a little kick.
- ¼ cup fine dry breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups skim milk, heated (I microwave it for about 1 minute)
- ½ cup fontina cheese, shredded
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 16-20 ounces cheese tortellini (I used 2 10-ounce packages)
- 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese and set aside.
- Set water to boil in a large pot to cook tortellini.
- In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add flour and whisk constantly, cooking for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until flour lightly browns. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, continuing to whisk constantly.
- Add hot milk and bring to a simmer, stirring until smooth and slightly thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- While the milk mixture is simmering, add tortellini to boiling water and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or according to package instructions.
- Remove milk mixture from heat and add in fontina cheese and cayenne pepper, stirring to melt the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
- Drain cooked tortellini. Add tortellini to the cheese sauce (milk mixture) and stir until coated. Add chopped spinach and stir until evenly distributed.
- Spray 2½ quart baking dish with cooking spray and pour mixture into dish, using the back of a spoon or a silicone spatula to spread evenly throughout.
- Sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Cover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
Calories: 366
Fat: 8g
Carbs: 46g
Protein: 18.5g
Adapted from Eating Well
This looks so good-I love spinach with my pasta. I’m always in need of baked pasta dishes since they are easy to prep in the morning then cook whenever I get home. I need to try this one!
I’m crazy with cheese too, any kind of meal that have a word cheese on it, is like something must to try! and all the cheese at your Tortellini make me droooo…ling
cheers
This look delicious. I am always looking for ways to sneak some veggies into our daughters diet. Pasta is the best way I have found.
This looks so wonderful!
Mmm, what a treat! I’ve never had baked tortellini, but I love anything pasta with spinach, and fontina cheese is an added bonus 🙂
I love fontina cheese and the spinach makes it healthy. This looks absolutely delish. Great dish!
Yum…no wonder you scrapped your other dinner plan 🙂
I love tortellini, and this looks like a great way to prepare it with veggies!!
Mmm, I love that you added spinach and so many other wonderful ingredients to otherwise pretty plain pasta. I could eat this every night!
I’m a sucker for anything with cheese too! The tortellini looks fabulous. 🙂
Oh, Alida this is terrific! I’d probably scrap my dinner plans to make this right away, too!