Easy & Fast – 30-Minute recipe
This Chicken Tortellini Soup has everything you need to snuggle during cold weather. A creamy soup loaded with pillowy tortellini, chicken, and veggies. If you are not much into a thick creamy soup, check this Instant Pot Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup with a tangy tomato broth. Cheesy tortellini soaks up all the flavors from the thick creamy broth and melts in your mouth. We have also added some veggies to make the soup more wholesome and filling. Pre-cooked chicken is diced and added to the soup, which is tender and elevates the taste of the dish. This Tortellini Soup takes less than 30 minutes from the stovetop to the table. Using precooked or leftover rotisserie chicken works well here. Tortellini is pasta but is often stuffed with cheese or even meat. These little ring-shaped pastas are usually cooked in and served with broth. In this recipe, they are cooked in chicken broth used as a base for this soup. Tortellini is often confused with ravioli as they are both stuffed pasta. They differ in shape, stuffing, and technique used to make them. Ravioli are square-shaped, whereas tortellini is ring or navel-shaped. The stuffing in Ravioli is filled between very thin layers of pasta, and we often see ravioli shapes to be bigger than tortellini. Looking for some Italian recipes? Check out my Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup, One Pot Tomato Basil Chicken Orzo, Creamy Spinach Pasta, or Pasta Alla Norma (Eggplant pasta).
Ingredients & Possible Variations
The chicken tortellini soup recipe uses cheese tortellini, diced chicken, and vegetables as its main ingredients. Cheese Tortellini is a favorite, and I always stock up in the pantry. You can use any other variety of tortellini you have in hand. Diced or shredded chicken from a leftover Rotisserie Chicken works best, just like this Bacon Chicken Tortellini. Boneless skinless chicken breasts can be marinated, sauteed on a pan, and later shredded to use in this recipe. This would be easy and quick to prep before you make the soup. Coming to vegetables, I have added carrots and fresh baby Spinach. You can add peas and red pepper. You can also substitute Spinach with Kale. Garlic, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, salt, and pepper provide the spice flavors and heat to balance the soup. For herbs, I have used celery which you can substitute with parsley. For a lighter version, use low-fat cream. I have not used olive oil and instead gone with butter. No olive oil in an Italian recipe? I can assure you that sauteeing the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in butter provides way better flavor. This is a secret tip for great flavor.
How To Make Chicken Tortellini Soup
30 minutes is not too much time to ask to put up a warm, comforting soup on the table. Making this chicken tortellini soup is a very easy one. A few ingredients to prep, and then all we have to do is work with just one pot.
Use a large dutch oven. We start by making the soup base. Sauté onion, garlic, and veggies in butter until aromatic on the stovetop. Sautéing helps to build flavor.
The next step is to add the flour and saute until the raw flour smell is gone.
We are making a roux of butter and flour that helps to thicken the soup when stock is added.
Add stock and seasoning to the veggie and flour mixture. The soup base is ready. It might not be thick as of now.
To the above stock, add dry tortellini. The advantage of cooking tortellini in broth is that the tortellini soaks up all flavor from the broth.
And also, when pasta gets cooked, the starch helps to thicken the broth further.
Then the last step is to add cooked chicken, spinach, cream, and parmesan. At this point, check the seasoning and adjust per taste.
Tip – Use frozen veggies to reduce the prep time.
Can this Soup be frozen?
This soup is not ideal for freezing. Tortellini pasta, when left for too long in broth, will soak the liquid and swell up. So I wouldn’t freeze this soup with the tortellini in it. Freeze the soup without adding the tortellini. Cook the tortellini and soup separately and let the soup cool. Store the soup and the tortellini in separate containers or zip-lock bags. If there is any leftover and you end up freezing it, then while reheating, loosen the soup by adding more stock to it until the desired consistency. You can refrigerate the soup for up to four days without the tortellini.
Serve With
This soup with tortellini and veggies is fulfilling and a meal by itself if you want to take it lightly. You can also go with salads, bread, or other sides. Salads – Serve with a fresh salad like this Asian Cucumber Salad or any salad with a lemon or vinaigrette base. Bread – Soups like this are great to have with bread. White bread like this No-Knead Rustic White Bread or Artos: Greek Celebration Bread. Meat – meatballs go well with this creamy soup, like this Chicken Meatballs with Asian Sauce. Also, you may pair it with grilled recipes like Easy Grilled Chicken with Buttermilk Marinade, Grilled Rosemary Chicken Kebabs, or Grilled Shrimp.
More Chicken Soup Recipes
Sweet Corn Chicken Soup Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Kha soup) Chinese Noodle Soup with Chicken Low-Carb Chicken Taco Soup
