Tortelloni
tor-tel-LOH-nee
Large tortellini, folded the same way around a ricotta filling.
50 mm across
Name. Tortelli with the augmentative -oni. Big tortelli.
What it is
Tortelloni are the large cousin of tortellini, folded the same way from a bigger square, and filled with ricotta and parsley or ricotta and spinach rather than meat. They are a Bologna and Modena dish for lean days.
They are served dry, not in broth, with butter and sage or a tomato sauce.
How to cook tortelloni
3 to 5 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
3:00
Start when the water returns to the boil.
Water and salt
- Pasta, dry
- 400 g
- Water
- 4 L
- Salt
- 40 g
100 g per person as a main. A litre and 10 g of salt per 100 g. Adjust with the portion calculator.
The steps
- Bring 4 L of water to a full boil in a tall pot. Add 40 g of salt when it boils.
- Add the tortelloni. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Keep the water at a gentle boil, not a rolling one, so the parcels do not split. They are done about a minute after they float.
- Scoop out a cup of the cooking water. Drain, or lift the pasta straight into the pan.
- Toss with the sauce over the heat for a minute. Add cooking water a splash at a time until it clings.
Read more: what al dente means and why the pasta water matters. Times for every shape are on the cook page.
How it holds sauce
A mild ricotta filling wants butter and sage, brown butter with parmesan, or a light tomato. Nothing that overwhelms the cheese.
Pairs with: Butter and sage · Pomodoro · Cream sauce · Meat ragu
Classic plates: Tortelloni burro e salvia, Tortelloni di ricotta al pomodoro, Tortelloni al ragu.
Nutrition
Per 100 g of fresh pasta. The shape does not change these numbers. The dough does, so a whole wheat or egg version of this shape reads differently. See every dough.
| Per 100 g | Energy | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fibre | Fat | Sodium | Iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | 288 kcal | 11.3 g | 54.7 g | g | 2.3 g | 26 mg | 3.4 mg |
| Cooked | 131 kcal | 5.2 g | 24.9 g | g | 1.1 g | 6 mg | 1.1 mg |
One portion. 100 g dry becomes about 220 g cooked, 288 kcal and 11 g of protein. Pasta takes on 2.2 times its weight in the pot.
Who makes tortelloni
503 tortelloni products are catalogued, most of them sold in Germany, France, Switzerland. Of those, 54 are organic, 29 are made in Italy.
Brands: Rana (26), Steinhaus (19), Coop (18), Hilcona (18), Lidl (16), Chef Select (15), Cucina Nobile (11), Betty Bossi (10), Rewe (10), Gut Gunstig (8).
No tortelloni? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.
Side by side
Easy to confuse with
Tortellini
Stuffed · Emilia-Romagna
small square folded over a filling and wrapped around the finger into a ring
Cappellacci
Stuffed · Emilia-Romagna
large folded parcel filled with pumpkin, shaped like a peasant's hat
Ravioli
Stuffed · All of Italy
filling sealed between two squares of egg sheet, edges crimped
Other names
tortelloni di ricotta, tortelloni bolognesi.
Read more
Semolina versus egg dough: the two doughs of Italian pasta
The difference between durum semolina pasta and egg pasta: flour, water, eggs, where each is made, how each cooks, and which sauces each dough wants.
Fresh versus dried pasta: neither is better, they are different foods
The difference between fresh and dried pasta: dough, texture, cook time, storage, and which shapes and sauces belong to each.
Sources
- Cook time: fresh egg pasta.
- Photograph: Pastasorten Tortelloni.JPG, User ChiemseeMan on de.wikipedia, Public domain.
- Open Food Facts (products, brands, labels), Open Database License, read on 2026-08-25.
- USDA FoodData Central (nutrition per 100 g, by dough: FDC 169727, Pasta, fresh-refrigerated, plain, as purchased; FDC 169728, Pasta, fresh-refrigerated, plain, cooked), public domain. The cooked yield is derived from the two energy figures.
- Tortelloni, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Q20061, Wikidata
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.