Venison sausage meatballs are combined with cheesy tortellini and a creamy tomato sauce for a one-pot skillet meal that will knock your socks off!
I hope you all had a chance to check out all of the amazing posts for #BrunchWeek last week and enter the giveaway!! There were really some amazing dishes, and I can’t wait to get some of them on my menu!
And how about Mother’s Day? I hope you all had a great one, whether you were celebrating yourself or another mom in your life. This was my first “official” Mother’s Day, and it was a pretty good one! Being a mom to my precious girl is definitely and adventure and a blessing! J got me some really thoughtful gifts (he’s pretty good at that), and Natalie helped me open them and was just generally a sweet girl, even though she had a nasty cold. We went to church and then met up with some of J’s family for lunch.
I was glad to have had a fun and peaceful morning at home with my loves, and the only thing that could have made the day better was if I’d have been able to see my Mom and Grannie.
And, I didn’t cook at all that day, which is always nice! J made breakfast, and we had some yummy leftovers for dinner. Easy peasy and minimal mess to clean up! That in itself makes a great day!
This dish is one of the simplest, but most flavorful, dishes I have made in a long time. And I make it often. And if you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably seen me mention that repeats are rare – other than when I was pregnant and just after having the baby – so for me to make something on a regular basis, you know it’s good. And super easy.
Because I’m all about easy these days. Did I mention that I have a baby? Well, nearly 9 months old. Which is still a baby to me. She may be turning more and more into a big girl, but gosh doggit, she’s still my baby. Just look at that face. Gah! See why I don’t want to spend too much time making dinner each night??
Oh, and this girl loves to eat. And so far, she hasn’t really met a food she doesn’t like. Pretty much anything we’ll give her bites of, she will gladly take. I cringe sometimes when J gives her foods that I, personally, don’t like (like blue cheese – blech!), but at the same time I’m thankful that she’s not a picky eater. Our little foodie girl. Granted, that could all change suddenly one day, I am aware, but I’m crossing all my crossables that she continues to be a good eater! Even if that means she likes yucky blue cheese and olives like her daddy.
In the mean time, we are just loving sharing our food with her, and watching her learn and grow, and get excited when she sees food. It’s adorable the way she kicks her legs and her eyes get all big and she makes the cutest sounds. Nope, I don’t adore this kid or anything. Could ya tell?
So, if you want an amazing meal that won’t keep you in the kitchen all night, this is the one for you. We had it last night, for the bazillionth time. And I’m having leftovers for lunch! And if you don’t have venison sausage, you can use regular Italian sausage!
Venison Sausage Tortellini Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb venison sausage (we used hot)
- 2-3 cloves garlic , minced
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 9 oz cheese tortellini (fresh or frozen)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach , loosely packed
Instructions
- In a medium non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add the sausage and use a spatula to break into bite-size "meatballs". Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage in browned. Reduce heat to low, then add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the broth, tomatoes, cream, and tortellini to the skillet. Stir to combine. Increase heat and bring to a boil.
- Cover, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until tortellini are tender and heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and then stir in the spinach. Remove from heat, spoon up into bowls, and serve!
Adapted from: Kevin & Amanda
Made this tonight. I thought it was gonna be plain bc there’s not many seasonings but the venison and garlic gave it all the flavor it needed. My family enjoyed it. It was delicious.
So glad y’all enjoyed it! It’s one of my family’s favorites.
Made this yesterday for dinner and it was so good I went to get more tortellini and tomatoes to make it again today so I’ll have some for lunches this week. I used our bayou flavored venison sausage and just cut the lids into meatball sized pieces.
So glad you enjoyed it! That bayou flavored sausage sounds amazing!
I found this recipe tonight and decided to surprise my better half and cook for a change! Your directions made it easy and EVERYONE loved it!
Thanks!
Mark (Maine)
Mark, thank you so much for your comment I’m so glad that it was easy for you to make and that your family enjoyed it!
Omgooooodness!!! So good!! A friend gives me deer sausage and I didn’t really like it !!!
Well I love it now!!❤️❤️
Thanks for sharing !!
I am so glad that you loved it and that you like venison sausage now! Such a great way to use it!
I added shallots and mushrooms, and this was absolutely delicious!
That sounds amazing!
Made this with some fresh deer sausage, seriously one of my favs now!
Rachael, I am so happy to hear this! It’s definitely one of our favs, too!
I am fairly new to preparing (or eating) venison. I am now 2 years in and 1 deer down, working on my 2nd deer and I LOVE this recipe using it!
Samantha – I’m so glad to hear that you love it! Deer meat is such a great protein, and there are so many great ways to prepare it!
Do you peel the casings off or leave them on?
The sausage I use is not in a case (it’s just ground venison sausage), but if yours is in a casing, yes, take it out of the casing before cooking.
My husband loved how “saucy” it was and my 4 year old had two helpings! I probably could have stood to put more tortellini in, but I was trying to eyeball from a 5lb Costco bag, so user error there. Will definitely save for the next time my friend gibes us venison!
Kathy, I am so glad to hear that this was a hit with the whole family! You can also make this with regular Italian sausage as well, if you don’t want to wait for more venison (though it is so much better!!)
Don’t have venison sausage, would the venison ground beef work as well?
You could definitely use ground Venison. Or regular Italian sausage, if you still wanted the sausage component!
I just came across this recipe. I haven’t made it yet, but I definately will tonight with the venison sausage I have. All of the positive comments make it even more enticing! I am now looking forward to cooking tonights dinner for my family. Thank you for this delicious idea! …and btw, to be honest, the thing that really “sold” me on this recipe was the adorable picture of your perfect little precious “Gerber baby”! LOL…congratulations and Happy Mother’s Day to you in all the years to come 🙂
Thank you, Theresa, you are so sweet!! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Oh my Goodness! This was delicious! Thanks for an amazing recipe!
Hi Shelley! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and thanks for letting me know! I’m actually making it for dinner tonight, too!
Delicious!
I made mine with a smoked deer sausage, five cheese tortellini and added mushrooms.
Oh my gosh surprisingly good had with garlic bread the bomb.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
I cooked it for my roommate and he really liked it. Nice
I have made this a few times since my husband started hunting. It is a delicious recipe, but wondering if I can do fat free half and half instead of heavy cream to reduce calories a little?
Hi Michele! I think that would be fine! Sauce may be a little thinner, but still creamy!
You can also use full fat coconut milk or coconut cream instead of heavy cream. And don’t worry – you will not taste the coconut.
Absolutely delicious! I have a family of 7 so we ended up making quite a bit more. Everyone loved it! They request this at least once a week. Even my picky 5 year old has extra servings every time it’s made. We are always looking for more ways to make meals with venison and this has definitely made it to the recipe box!
Shirah, I am so glad to hear this! My family loves it as well!
We have so much venison sausage in our freezer I was getting desperate for ideas. Definitely going to try this. Thank you!! Since Covid it’s all about eating for taste. Lol.
Just made this recipe with our venison sausage, just added a bit more tortellini and spinach. Very good! Although I’m not sure why the picture isn’t more red in color mine is a much different color.
Hi Lauren!
Thank you for your comment. Mine could have been a lighter color due to the cream in it? I’m not sure since I took those pics years ago 🙂
I followed the directions and this turned out very soupy and flavorless. Nobody went back for seconds in our house. If I were to make it again, I would add less crushed tomatoes.
Hi Danielle – I’m sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t turn out well for you. Not sure what could have been different for you than all the others who have commented, but everyone has a different palate and I’m sorry this one wasn’t pleasing to yours!
I modified it but still loved this recipe! l have a gluten and tomato allergy unfortunately…and I’ve not yet found gf tortellini. So I did gf penne and my own nomato sauce along with garlic, butter instead of cream because I don’t have any lol. And I always do my venison with sherry wine. It was amazing. Never thought that venison could go with cheese. Excellent idea! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Outstanding! I also added fresh mushrooms as I sauted the meat and garlic, added a bit of olive oil, to sauce. As the sauce came together, I added a small can of sliced olives. Then I went a bit heavy handed on the fresh ground pepper, I LOVED THIS RECIPE! ENJOYED IT WITH A NICE cabernet from Commiefornia this was the highlight meal for the last couple weeks!
East to make tasted delicious! Great way to use our ground venison sausage!
So delicious! We have an abundance of venison sausage and I’ve made this recipe multiple times now. It’s great with the cheese tortellini or with farfalle, depending on what I have on hand. I throw in some crushed red pepper since we like heat. Thanks for this yummy recipe!
Thank you for sharing. This recipe was delicious, the only thing I did was add onions only because I needed to use them. This is a keeper!!
How do you make the pan sausage into meatballs?
You can either use a spatula to just break pieces off while in the skillet (they won’t be perfectly round meatballs), or before putting in the skillet you can break off small pieces and roll in your hands to make “true” meatballs, however big or small you want them. I like just using a spatula to break pieces off in the skillet, because it’s less prep work but you still get the chunks of sausage, similar to meatballs. Hope this helps!
We LOVED this just as it was, with the exception of more spinach. We are both very adventurous, experienced cooks, so that is extremely rare. We’re going to add mushrooms tonight just because. Thank you for sharing!
Loved this! I just added more tortellini and spinach. I’m now out of deer sausage, but I buy a lot of pork sausage and was wondering if anyone has tried using that in this recipe as a substitute for venison.
Hi Donnna! I have also made this with pork sausage and didn’t have any issues 🙂
This has become one of our favorite recipes and sadly hubby didn’t get a deer this year. I have made this with regular store bought Italian sausage.
I made this tonight instead of cream I use coconut milk and I added two tablespoons of Cajun seasoning. I also put in some shallots andI had smoked venison sausages that I cubed up and put in and my family loved it.
Thanks very much I will make this again
Loved this recipe! Thank you.
Super quick and easy! Delicious! We didn’t know what to do with our venison sausage but we do now. We’ll be making this again. We each ate 2 helpings. This recipe is a keeper. You must try.