While tortellini soup is typically served as a heavier tomato-based dish, this rather green version is ideal for spring but uses vegetables available just about year round. With frozen peas and spinach, it’s easy to throw together, with nicely browned leek and white wine adding some richness (omit the wine if preferred).

For more springtime soups, try a potato leek soup with lemon, an easy foraged stinging nettle soup, or make these late spring green vegetable coconut rice noodles in a light coconut milk broth with ginger. This would be nice served with a dollop of pesto in each bowl if you’re into that.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Leek: a surprisingly necessary ingredient, the leek adds a lot of body and flavour to the soup. I don’t recommend leaving it out.
• Beans: use smaller white beans if you can’t get the really big ones. Don’t sub something like black beans – I think something like cooked green lentils would be fine, but would really change the texture of the soup.
• Broth: choose a good vegetable broth as you will taste it in this dish.
• Tortellini: use vegan tortellini to keep the soup vegan as written. I usually use mushroom-filled pasta, but you can use any tortellini you like.
• White wine: I cook pretty frequently with wine because it’s so cheap in much of Western Europe, where I’ve been spending most of my time recently. If it’s very expensive where you live or you prefer not to use alcohol, simply omit it and replace with more vegetable broth.
• Spinach: use another hardy green if preferred, either fresh or frozen (use about 80 grams if fresh).

Step by Step

Step 1: fry the leek and onions until golden, then add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.

Step 2: add the wine and let it cook for a minute or two, then the broth, beans, and seasoning. Simmer, covered, for ten minutes.

Step 3: add the pasta and cook until it’s ready – this time will vary depending on whether it’s fresh or dried.

Step 4: once the pasta is cooked, stir in the peas and spinach, add the lemon, and season to taste before serving.

Recipe Notes

Vegan or dairy-free tortellini can be pretty hit-or-miss. The mushroom varieties are usually very good, vegetable-filled are usually pretty bad, and the fake cheese ones taste like fake cheese. If you have a brand or filling you know you like, choose those for this recipe too. I like the D’Angelo mushroom (either plain mushroom or porcini) but it is packaged in plastic.

How to Store

Storage: like any soup with pasta, it can get a bit soggy when stored. If you don’t mind that, keep leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days, reheating as usual.

Freezing: transfer fully cooled soup to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating. The pasta will probably be a little soft.

Expert Tips

• Note the pasta cooking time: pictured are half-dried tortellini, which take about ten minutes to cook fully. If yours are fresh, they’ll be ready in a minute or two, so the cooking time will be shorter.
• Season to taste: every vegetable broth will contain a different amount of salt, and the soup will probably need to be seasoned more than instructed in the recipe card. Taste after adding the lemon and add salt if necessary.
• Choose tasty ingredients: this is a quickly cooked soup so it’s a good idea to use decent quality ingredients as they’re not being covered up by something like a slow-cooked tomato sauce. Use a nice broth and rinse the beans well.

More Pasta Soups

Cabbage Lentil Soup
Winter Vegetable Minestrone
Chickpea Noodle Soup
Spring Green Minestrone