This one pot vegetarian meal is a total winner, with cheese tortellini and broccoli in the creamy and flavorful sundried tomato “marry me” sauce that has taken the internet by storm! You will love the simplicity of this recipe – it’s an easy win for families on a busy weeknight.
We’ve been playing around a lot with this Tik Tok / Instagram famous “marry me” sauce. What started out as a sauce for chicken has become a free for all, with us vegetarians doing all kinds of spin offs using healthy staples like butter beans and lentils and whatnot. It’s been fun! What’s not to love about a garlicky, creamy, cheesy sundried tomato sauce?
This “Marry Me” Broccoli Tortellini is an easy crowd pleaser / kid friendly kind of a recipe, and the perfect dinner for weeknights. The whole dish cooks in one pan (you need a large one!) and it’s absolutely packed with broccoli. Enough broccoli to make it feel well rounded, but still a real treat!
You can serve it up with garlic bread and salad, or just enjoy it on its own as a “one pot and done” kind of dinner.
Ingredients: What Matters & What You Can Change
- The recipe uses fresh tortellini from the refrigerator section, which only tends to take 3-5 minutes to cook. If you use dried or frozen tortellini, you are probably going to need more veggie stock and the recipe will take longer to cook. No biggie, you just need to keep a closer eye on things. You could also use ravioli or another filled pasta shape.
- We want the sundried tomatoes stored in oil, because the oil is super flavorful and we will saute our broccoli, shallots and garlic in it!
- The shallots could be replaced with red or white onion, but I find that shallots soften and blend into the sauce a little more easily. You can also leave them out if you’d rather.
- I use a vegetarian friendly parmesan style cheese (as true DOP parmesans are made with animal rennet and not suitable for vegetarians.)
- I use a small head of broccoli and chop the florets into bite sized pieces. If you want to use frozen broccoli, go ahead! Instructions are given in the recipe card.
How to Make Tortellini in One Pot
Making one pot tortellini is really simple! Fresh tortellini only takes a few minutes to cook, so you can just add a little extra liquid to your sauce and simmer the tortellini in it. The tortellini will drink up the extra liquid as it cooks. You get the benefit of some starch in your sauce, which helps the sauce to stick and adds a little more creaminess – but it’s not as starchy as one pot pasta dishes using dried pasta, so the leftovers aren’t so gloopy (for lack of a better word).
The Best Pan for the Job
A large, deep saute pan with a lid is ideal for this recipe. You need a wide base to saute your broccoli in one layer, and you need deep sides to simmer your sauce.
The pan I used for this recipe, which you can see in my process photos, is my beloved Carote pan which I highly recommend, it’s available globally at a great price from Amazon (FYI these are affiliate links):
Something smaller will still work fine – you can see in my photos that the pan isn’t at all full! But I do love the extra space we get using this size.
Scaling the Recipe
As written, the recipe will serve four if two of those people are children. But it’s not going to feed four hungry adults. So if you wish to double this recipe, and have a large enough pan, you can absolutely do so. It will take a little longer to cook, especially when it comes to sauteeing the broccoli because the pan will be fairly crowded, but you’ll get there.
If this is your kind of recipe…
Then you’re in the right place! This is the kind of recipe I love to create, and there’s plenty more for you to check out…
Marry Me Tortellini with Broccoli (One Pot!)
Ingredients
- Olive oil or, ideally, the herby oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes
- 9 oz (250 g) fresh tortellini, see notes
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced or diced
- 1 small head broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces (to yield 3-4 cups of florets)
- 4 large cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2-3 pinches red pepper or chili flakes
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup sundried tomatoes , chopped – this is about half of the contents of a 350g jar
- 1.5 cups (350 ml) vegetable stock
- ½ cup (120 ml) double (heavy) cream
- ¾ cup (75 g) parmesan style cheese, grated
Instructions
- Heat a couple tablespoons of the oil from your sundried tomato jar in a large, deep sided saute pan. Saute the broccoli for about 5 minutes, until it starts to soften and brown. You can cook it for longer if you'd prefer softer broccoli in the final dish.—> If you're using frozen broccoli: Steam or boil it until soft, chop it into bite sized pieces, and just saute it for a few moments to get it coated in the oil before moving on to the next step.Olive oil or, ideally, the herby oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes, 1 small head broccoli
- Add the shallots and saute until soft.2 shallots
- Add the garlic and the herbs and seasonings to the pan. You may also want another little pour of oil if the pan is feeling dry (the broccoli does have a tendency to "drink up" the oil). Stir through until the garlic and herbs release their scent into the air, then move on to the next step immediately (we don't want the garlic or herbs to burn!)4 large cloves garlic, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning, 2-3 pinches red pepper or chili flakes
- Add the tomato paste and sundried tomatoes. Add another little pour of oil. Saute, mixing constantly, for a few minutes to give the tomato paste a chance to infuse with the oil.2 Tbsp tomato paste, 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
- Now add the vegetable stock and cream to the pan bring to a gentle simmer. Add the tortellini and let it simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes (take your lead by the cooking time on the packaging). Keep an eye on the pan while it cooks and add more broth if necessary at any point. —> If you're using dried tortellini: add the amount stated to begin with, but you may need more broth halfway through cooking. —> If you're using frozen tortellini: reduce the amount of broth to 1 cup initially, because the tortellini may release some liquid into the pan as it defrosts. Add more if you need to.1.5 cups vegetable stock, 1/2 cup double (heavy) cream, 9 oz fresh tortellini
- Once the tortellini is soft, the sauce should have thickened up, though it may still feel a little runny.Add the cheese to the pan and stir until melted through.3/4 cup parmesan style cheese
- If you're happy with the consistency of the sauce, serve immediately. If it still seems a bit too runny, let it sit for a few minutes and it will thicken up a little more. If it's too thick, put it back on the heat and slowly stir through a little extra veggie stock and/or cream.
My meat-eating hubby really enjoyed this, I couldn’t find fresh Tortellini so I used Spinach filled Ravioli instead, was so good
Another banger! Thanks Christine!
Getting the broccoli in there (and making it work) makes me feel a bit less guilty about the sauce. I love the way you explain things to adapt for variances.
I forgot to give a rating above, here it is