This creamy tortellini recipe with tomatoes, basil, garlic and zucchini is easy, comforting and simply divine – an excellent meatless dinner option when you crave a big bowl of pasta! It comes with a creamy sauce made with cream cheese and fresh tomatoes and is vegetarian and kinda healthy.
Creamy Tomato Basil Tortellini
It’s true that this tortellini recipe does use a lot of cheese and tortellini on their own aren’t the most incredible food nutritionally, but this recipe is kinda healthy and a good choice when you don’t want to settle for zucchini or cauliflower.
The recipe makes two servings and comes with a whole zucchini, garlic, basil and fresh tomatoes. That’s 4 of your daily vegetables right there. And the best part: this doesn’t taste “healthy”.
It simply tastes super good.
Tomato Basil Tortellini Ingredients
You need one large pan and a few, very basic ingredients to make this delicious pasta:
- fresh tomatoes
- cream cheese
- zucchini
- basil
- garlic
- milk
- mozzarella cheese
- cheese-filled tortellini (or another pasta – cooked if you use dried pasta)
- olive oil
How To Make Healthy Creamy Tortellini
As I mentioned, the entire cooking happens in one pan, which is great if you don’t have too many pans in your kitchen or don’t like to clean up for more than 10 minutes.
- The very first thing you do is prepare all of the ingredients for the cooking. This consists in chopping all of the vegetables.
- You then start cooking in a large skillet. Start with the tomatoes and olive oil – after cooking for a few minutes this will turn into the sweetest, best tomato sauce you’ve ever tasted. I’m serious.
- Add in the tortellini and cook for 1-2 minutes, then start adding the rest of the ingredients one at a time. First stir in the garlic and the zucchini (I used a white one), then the cream cheese and milk until you get that creamy delicious sauce that I’ve been talking about.
- Refine: Stir in shredded mozzarella cheese and fresh basil throughout, add salt to taste and serve immediately!
Another great thing about this pasta recipe is that it’s ready in about 15 minutes. You read that right – fifteen! No need to order food – you can make it faster and the recipe requires very minimal effort and cooking skills.

15-Minute Creamy Tomato Basil Tortellini
Super tasty creamy tortellini recipe with tomatoes, basil, garlic and zucchini! This kinda healthy tortellini recipe is perfect whenever you crave a big bowl of pasta and need a speedy easy dinner in about 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 7oz/200g cheese tortellini, refrigerated
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 1 cup juicy tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup basil
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 2 Tbsp cream cheese (heaping)
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Chop all the vegetables and heat a large pan (medium-high temperature).
- Cook the chopped tomato with the olive oil in the pan for 2-3 minutes, covered with a lid until you get your tomato sauce.
- Stir in the tortellini and let them cook for 1-2 minutes (or follow instructions on package label - some types might need to cook longer - the ones I bought took 3-4 minutes).
- Stir in the zucchini and garlic. Then add the cream cheese and a little bit of milk - this will turn into a creamy garlicky sauce.
- In 1-2 minutes add in the mozzarella cheese and the basil, stirring throughout. Have a taste and add salt if needed.
- Serve immediately and add Parmesan cheese or arugula if desired.
Nutrition Information
Yield 2 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 559Total Fat 29gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 17gCholesterol 67mgSodium 842mgCarbohydrates 56gFiber 4gSugar 6gProtein 20g
These values are estimates.