One-Skillet Sausage Tortellini & Veggies Freezer Meal

Chicken Sausage Pasta with Creamy Garlic Sauce is a super easy weeknight meal prepared in under 30 minutes or made ahead and stored in the freezer!

Gather round, friends.

Let me tell you about my newest creation.  It’s a one-skillet, five-minute prep, fail-proof, make-ahead-and-freeze, dreamy garlic chicken sausage pasta meal.

It involves vegetables and tortellini and the most delicious chicken sausage, then gets coated with the most ridiculously good garlic cream sauce.

Oh man, it is SO good.

And yes. It is a make ahead and freeze meal, too.

Make ahead freezer meals get a bad rap sometimes.

I met someone new this week who asked me about my cookbook and wanted to know what the fuss was about with freezer meals. I could see her eyes start to light up when I told her how it all works. How I make these meals by prepping in the raw state, then freeze to use on busy nights.

And she was like…. Soooooo these aren’t leftover freezer-burnt-tasting meals?

And I was all like.. Heck no! I don’t usually even like leftovers myself. I prefer freshly cooked dinners that taste amazing and fresh. It’s so much more convenient to make up a bunch of meals to freeze so I can just open up the freezer and basically pick out my dinner.

Of course, she got all giddy and started asking me more and more about it and by the end of the conversation she was so pumped to do freezer meals herself.

Freezer meals have that effect on people.

It’s seriously my favorite thing in the whole world when I get that excited look from people that realize how just how simple and awesome it really is to make freezer meals.

Okay.. so let’s talk about this new awesome recipe.

It’s sooooo easy! And it only takes 15 minutes. Like from beginning to end. To prep all you’re doing is slicing, sautéing, making a quick sauce and bagging it all up!

It’s seriously the simplest of ingredients, with al fresco fulled cooked chicken sausage, frozen tortellini, some frozen veggies, and a super quick little creamy garlic sauce. And yes, the type of sausage makes a big difference in the flavor of this dish. Make sure and get the al fresco roasted pepper and asiago chicken sausage or the garlic chicken sausage. Both work great for this recipe.

There’s something about this chicken sausage pasta that is so perfect… whether it’s the creamy smooth garlic sauce, or the mouth-watering bites of alfresco chicken sausage, I don’t know. It just makes me lose my flippin’ mind.

And the whole family loves it too…even the picky ones (which is all of them.) They all say, Mom, it’s really good! And I give them a cool calm nod, but inside am jumping up and down for joy. Holy wow, they like it!!

I love being a lazy dinner mom.

Don’t you as well?

Yeah… we should probably fist bump. Cause we’re in this crazy busy life together. And we GOT this.

One-Skillet Sausage Tortellini & Veggies Freezer Meal

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken, easy freezer meals, fast, healthy, sausage

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 474 kcal

: Karrie

Chicken Sausage Pasta with Creamy Garlic Sauce is a super easy weeknight meal prepared in under 30 minutes or made ahead and stored in the freezer!

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Ingredients

• 12 oz al fresco Roasted Pepper & Asiago Chicken Sausage
• 6 cups frozen mixed vegetables including broccoli, carrots, peas and corn
• 2 cups frozen tortellini

Sauce

• 1 cup half-n-half
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp salt

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

1. Slice all 4 of the chicken sausages into ¼ inch sized slices. 

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute sausage slices in a little bit of olive oil until golden brown edges appear.  Remove from pan and let cool. 

3. In a large bowl combine sliced sausage, frozen tortellini, and frozen vegetables. Toss together to combine.

4. In a medium bowl combine half n half, olive oil, garlic, parsley and salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside. 

MAKE IT NOW

1. Add frozen vegetables, tortellini and sausage to a large skillet with a lid. Add in 1 cup of water. 

   Heat on high heat until water is boiling, then reduce heat to medium, cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Open pan, stir to mix it all up then cover and simmer for another 5 minutes. Then remove lid, add in sauce mixture and increase heat to medium-high.

   Cook, stirring continuously until sauce is no longer watery, and coats the veggies and pasta like a thin creamy sauce and vegetables are cooked through. Serve. 

MAKE IT A FREEZER MEAL

1. Transfer frozen cooled sausage, tortellini and vegetables to a labeled gallon sized freezer safe bag. Transfer sauce mixture into a quart sized freezer safe bag. Seal both bags together in one bag, removing as much air as possible and freeze flat.

COOK FROM FROZEN

1. Add frozen vegetables, tortellini and sausage to a large skillet with a lid. Add in 1 cup of water.

   Heat on high heat until water is boiling, then reduce heat to medium, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes, opening lid and stirring it all well so pasta gets cooked every 5 minutes. 

   Then remove the lid, add in sauce packet, increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring continuously until sauce is no longer watery, and coats the veggies and pasta like a thin creamy sauce and vegetables are cooked through. Serve.

Nutrition Facts

One-Skillet Sausage Tortellini & Veggies Freezer Meal

Amount Per Serving (1 g)

Calories 474 Calories from Fat 225

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 25g 38%

Saturated Fat 6g 30%

Cholesterol 68mg 23%

Sodium 1611mg 67%

Potassium 438mg 13%

Total Carbohydrates 44g 15%

Dietary Fiber 8g 32%

Sugars 1g

Protein 21g 42%

Vitamin A 191.7%

Vitamin C 25.1%

Calcium 14.2%

Iron 17.8%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

HOW LONG WILL THIS KEEP IN THE FREEZER?

This chicken sausage pasta freezer meal recipe is best used within 4-5 months. Make sure and get as much air out of the bag as possible when sealing it to avoid freezer burn.

Other Great Freezer Meals

• Baked Chicken Pesto Alfredo Freezer Meal
• Homemade Easy Lasagna
• Stuffed Shells Freezer Meal
• Easy Make Ahead Orange Chicken Freezer Meal
• Slow Cooker Roast Beef French Dip Sandwich
• Homemade Chicken Taquitos with Cilantro & Pepper-Jack Cheese

I can’t wait for you to try out this chicken sausage pasta recipe! Let me know if you love it, too!

Thank you to AL FRESCO for sponsoring this post!