Garlic Steak Tortellini
Date night doesn’t need reservations. It needs garlic, steak, and 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound sirloin steak about 1 inch thick or ribeye, strip
- 1 package refrigerated cheese tortellini 500g
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Red pepper flakes optional
- Salt and pepper
Method
Cook the Tortellini
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Boil in salted water per package directions (usually 3-5 minutes for refrigerated). Drain, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Sear the Steak
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Pat steak dry. Season generously with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until almost smoking. Add steak. Don’t touch it for 3-4 minutes — you want a deep brown crust. Flip, cook another 3-4 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board, rest 5 minutes, then slice thin against the grain.
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Resting is not optional. If you cut into a steak immediately, all the juices run onto the cutting board instead of staying in the meat. Five minutes. Set a timer if you’re impatient. I always am, but I set a timer anyway because past-me has ruined enough steaks for present-me to learn this lesson.
Make the Garlic Butter Sauce
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Same skillet, all the steak juices still in there. Reduce heat to medium. Add butter. When it melts and foams, add garlic. Cook 30 seconds — fragrant, sizzling, not brown. Pour in beef broth, scrape up all the brown bits (the fond). Those bits are concentrated steak flavour. Simmer 2 minutes until slightly reduced. Add cream, stir until smooth. Add red pepper flakes if using.
Combine
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Add tortellini to the sauce. Toss to coat. Place sliced steak on top — don’t toss the steak in or it’ll overcook. Sprinkle with parmesan and parsley. Serve from the skillet for maximum impact and minimum dishes. Light a candle if you’re feeling it. Date night achieved.
Garlic Steak Tortellini — Steakhouse Meets Pasta Night in 25 Minutes
Date night doesn’t need reservations. It needs garlic, steak, and 25 minutes.
Garlic steak tortellini is the dinner I make when I want to feel like we went out without actually going out. There’s something about steak and cheese tortellini in a garlic butter sauce that feels fancy — like “cloth napkins at a restaurant” fancy — but takes less time than ordering delivery. The steak gets a dark sear, the tortellini is plump and cheesy, and the sauce is just butter, garlic, broth, and parmesan reduced into something silky and golden. It’s a 20-minute dinner that tastes like a 2-hour dinner and costs a fraction of a restaurant bill.
This recipe was born from an actual date night. My husband and I couldn’t get a babysitter (four kids, limited options), so I decided to bring the restaurant home. I bought a good steak, grabbed tortellini from the fridge section, and improvised a garlic butter sauce in the pan drippings. He said it was better than going out. He might have been trying to make me feel better, but I chose to believe him, and now this is our standing at-home date night dinner.
Ingredients
- • 1 pound sirloin steak (or ribeye, strip) about 1 inch thick
- • 1 package (500g) refrigerated cheese tortellini
- • 4 tablespoons butter
- • 5 cloves garlic, minced
- • 1/2 cup beef broth
- • 1/4 cup heavy cream
- • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
- • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- • 1 tablespoon olive oil
- • Red pepper flakes (optional)
- • Salt and pepper
How to Make It
Cook the Tortellini
Boil in salted water per package directions (usually 3-5 minutes for refrigerated). Drain, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Sear the Steak
Pat steak dry. Season generously with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until almost smoking. Add steak. Don’t touch it for 3-4 minutes — you want a deep brown crust. Flip, cook another 3-4 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board, rest 5 minutes, then slice thin against the grain.
Resting is not optional. If you cut into a steak immediately, all the juices run onto the cutting board instead of staying in the meat. Five minutes. Set a timer if you’re impatient. I always am, but I set a timer anyway because past-me has ruined enough steaks for present-me to learn this lesson.
Make the Garlic Butter Sauce
Same skillet, all the steak juices still in there. Reduce heat to medium. Add butter. When it melts and foams, add garlic. Cook 30 seconds — fragrant, sizzling, not brown. Pour in beef broth, scrape up all the brown bits (the fond). Those bits are concentrated steak flavour. Simmer 2 minutes until slightly reduced. Add cream, stir until smooth. Add red pepper flakes if using.
Combine
Add tortellini to the sauce. Toss to coat. Place sliced steak on top — don’t toss the steak in or it’ll overcook. Sprinkle with parmesan and parsley. Serve from the skillet for maximum impact and minimum dishes. Light a candle if you’re feeling it. Date night achieved.
Tips
💡 Pro Tips
✓ Pat the steak dry. Moisture prevents browning. Dry surface = better crust = better flavour.
✓ Let it rest. 5 minutes. The juices redistribute. Trust the process.
✓ Slice against the grain. Look at the muscle fibres. Cut perpendicular. Tender slices instead of chewy strings.
✓ Use the fond. Those brown bits in the pan are pure gold. The butter and broth lift them into the sauce.
✓ Refrigerated tortellini > dried. Faster, softer, better texture with this sauce.
Variations
• With mushrooms: Saute sliced mushrooms in the butter before garlic. They absorb the steak juices and add earthiness.
• With spinach: Handful of baby spinach into the sauce at the end. Wilts in seconds.
• With cherry tomatoes: Halved cherry tomatoes with the garlic, let them blister.
• Budget version: Use flank steak — cheaper, still delicious when sliced thin against the grain. Or skip the steak entirely and make it with seared kielbasa coins for a Polish twist that costs half as much.
The Date Night Philosophy
When you have four kids, date nights out require military-level logistics. Babysitter bookings, restaurant reservations, the mental math of whether it’s worth $200+ after everything’s said and done. Somewhere around kid three, my husband and I decided that date night at home was not a consolation prize — it was the better option. Better food (because I’m making it), better wine (because there’s no markup), better ambiance (because our couch is more comfortable than any restaurant chair), and no babysitter fees.
This garlic steak tortellini is the centrepiece of our home date night. It takes 20 minutes, uses one skillet, and feels special enough to make a regular Tuesday evening feel intentional. We eat it with a good bottle of wine after the kids are in bed, and for 45 minutes, our kitchen is the best restaurant in town. That’s the Polish Mom approach to date night: don’t go out. Cook something amazing, open some wine, and enjoy the fact that you don’t have to drive home.
How to Store
Leftovers keep 2-3 days but the steak is best fresh. When reheating, add a splash of broth to loosen the sauce. Not recommended for freezing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cut of steak is best?
Sirloin for best value. Ribeye for maximum flavour. Flank for budget-friendly — just slice very thin against the grain. Avoid stewing cuts that need long, slow cooking.
Can I use dried or frozen tortellini?
Frozen works — cook from frozen, add 2-3 minutes. Dried takes 8-10 minutes. Refrigerated is best for this recipe — softer texture, faster cooking, pairs better with the silky sauce.
Is this kid-friendly?
My kids devour it. The tortellini alone would win them over, but add butter sauce and they’re sold. I just leave the steak slightly less seared for the younger ones who prefer it more done. The older ones have learned to appreciate medium-rare, which is a parenting achievement I’m unreasonably proud of.
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