My husband and son love a good pasta dish with tomato sauce. Recently I went to our local grocery store and saw refrigerated cheese tortellini on sale, so I picked up a couple of packages. What made me excited is that this takes only 3 minutes to cook.

I had jarred pasta sauce on hand so I decided to make a creamy tomato sauce for my cheese tortellini. I almost never use off-the-shelf pasta sauce as it is. I always “doctor it up” to make it much better, and I hope I can inspire you to do the same.

This was so quick and delicious, I had to share the recipe with you. You can use any meat- or mushroom-flavored tortellini too. I wanted to keep it vegetarian.

This recipe comes together pretty fast since I used fresh tortellini. While your pasta cooks you can make the sauce, then put it all together!

You can serve this dish with a side salad and store-bought garlic bread to make a complete weeknight dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 10 oz. packages cheese tortellini (fresh)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup yellow onion diced
• 1 24 oz. jarred pasta sauce (I used Prego traditional)
• 1/4 cup water to rinse the pasta jar
• 1/2 tsp. chili flakes
• 1 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (plus a little more to garnish)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into thin strips for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Heat oil in a large heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft for around 3-5 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium-low.

Add pasta sauce, then take 1/4 cup water to rinse the pasta jar. Add rinsed pasta water to the pot along with chili flakes, sugar, salt, pepper. Stir well, then cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring a few times in between.

Next, add heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Stir well and cook for an additional minute or until cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling, salted, and a little oil until just done for around 3-4 minutes.

Drain the pasta well, then add it to the pan with the sauce. Stir well, then taste for seasoning.

Transfer the pasta to individual serving bowl, top with extra parmesan cheese and fresh basil!

Serves 6

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like, share, and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram. If you would like to be notified of upcoming posts, please consider subscribing to my blog!