Kielbasa Tortellini Dinner on the Griddle

As summer approaches at a rapid rate, we have started pulling out our favorite recipes to cook outdoors on the grill and on our Blackstone griddle. There are tons of flat griddles to choose from but we have two blackstones that we love. A friend talked us into getting a 36” griddle Blackstone and we fell in love with cooking on it. Naturally, we bought a smaller two burner Blackstone to take with us on our RV camping adventures. 

There are mixed feelings about cooking pasta on the griddle top but we have tried it several ways and found this to be our favorite.

This recipe is fun because aside from a few basic ingredients, we grab whatever veggies look fresh and sound good at the moment and throw them into the mix.

In my opinion the basic ingredients that we always include is:

• Kielbasa smoked sausage (pick whatever type you like; beef, cajun, turkey…)
• Refrigerated Tortellini pasta (you can use frozen but you will need to boil it first)
• Onion
• Bell pepper
• Sauce of choice (Italian dressing, Buffalo Wild Wings Garlic Parmesan…)

Optional add ons that we have used in the past include:

• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Mushrooms
• Zucchini
• Squash
• Cherry tomatoes

I like to chop my onions and bell peppers into chunks at least ½” so that they don’t cook down too small and get lost in all the other deliciousness. In order to get all the food to finish cooking at roughly the same time I like to start the onions and the kielbasa first on medium to medium low heat.

Depending on the type of sausage you use, it can be rather greasy, for this reason I keep the majority of the sausage off to the side to the grease drains to the back of the griddle. I like to add a few slices to the onion to cook together and flavor them but not overwhelm them with too much grease. (note, I originally only had one pound of sausage and took my pictures then my husband requested that I double it… so I did! There are two pounds of sausage in this picture on the griddle.)

After the onions and sausage cook for about 5 minutes I add the bell peppers and any other “hard vegetables” that you have chosen to add such as asparagus or carrots. I like to keep all the vegetables separate at this point so that you can regulate the cooking time and move them to hotter or cooler areas of the griddle as needed.

After the hard vegetables begin to soften I add in the softer vegetables and the refrigerated tortellini. If you are using frozen tortellini, boil it according to the directions but take it out a few minutes before the full cooking time so that it is slightly firmer than you would normally serve it.

After all ingredients are on the griddle, I toss it all together and add the sauce. I like to start with a ½ to ¾ of a cup of sauce but this will depend on how much food that you are cooking.

Since you are throwing pasta on there as well as some raw veggies I use a dome to cover it and let it steam. If the dome is too small, as it is for us sometimes, I keep a disposable aluminum lasagna pan to cover it up and let it steam. Depending on your pasta and how you like your vegetables this can take from 5-10 minutes to finish cooking. Make sure to remove the cover and toss the mix to keep it from sticking.

Add more sauce as needed and serve with sauce on the side.