Chicken Tortellini Soup Recipe – An Easy Recipe For Two

Chicken tortellini soup is a comforting, hearty soup that is packed full of flavor. Chicken, tender vegetables, savory broth, and pillowy tortellini combine to create a delicious meal that will keep you feeling full for hours.

It is a true comfort food meal that is great to enjoy on a cool and dreary day, or one to eat any time you need a satisfying meal to get you through a tough day. Best of all it is easy to make.

This soup doesn’t require a lot of complicated ingredients or techniques. Common ingredients like chicken, broth, vegetables, spices and pasta are used to make this delicious recipe.

Of course this recipe would take longer if you made your homemade tortellini pasta. Although that would taste delicious, it is a huge time saver to purchase store bought tortellini instead.

It takes a lot of effort and skill to make those ring shaped pasta noodles. Therefore, in order to keep this recipe easy, I use pre-made three cheese tortellini instead.

The noodles cook up perfectly in the broth and literally melt in your mouth when you take a bite. It is a great way to get a delicious dinner on the table in a fraction of the time.

What Is Tortellini

So what is tortellini? Tortellini is a ring-shaped pasta that is typically stuffed with cheese, meat or vegetables. For this chicken tortellini soup recipe, I use three cheese stuffed tortellini.

If stuffed pasta sounds familiar you may be wondering what the difference is between tortellini and ravioli. Although they are very similar in regards to involving pasta stuffed with something inside, there are a few differences between the two.

Shape: Tortellini are typically small, ring-shaped pasta that are twisted to resemble a hat. Ravioli are typically square or rectangular in shape.

Filling: Tortellini are traditionally filled with a mixture of meat, vegetables and/or cheese with some spices included in the mixture. Ravioli, on the other hand, can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including cheese, meat, vegetables, and even seafood.

Serving Sauce: Tortellini are typically served in a clear broth or a cream-based sauce, while ravioli are often served in a tomato-based sauce or a butter and sage sauce.

Although they can be filled with the same ingredients there is a definite difference in the texture between the two different types of pasta as well. Because of the shape of the pasta, tortellini has more distinct bite than the flatter ravioli pasta.

Ingredients Required

Vegetables: Any good chicken soup recipe begins with onion, carrots & garlic. However to add a little sweetness and a pop of color I also included red bell peppers.

Chicken: You can’t have chicken tortellini soup without chicken. You can use either boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs for this recipe.

Chicken broth: Homemade chicken broth is best, however store bought, low-sodium chicken broth can be used as well to make chicken tortellini soup.

Tortellini pasta: Three cheese tortellini pasta is the preferred pasta of choice. You can use either refrigerated or shelf stable pasta in this recipe. If using fresh, homemade pasta the cook time of the pasta will decrease significantly as fresh pasta cooks faster.

Heavy cream: This brothy soup turns creamy by adding a bit of heavy cream to the mixture.

Baby spinach leaves: Not only does adding the spinach leaves add more nutrition to the soup, it also adds a nice subtle hint of green color. Don’t worry if you don’t love fresh spinach. Just like when making Chicken & Gnocchi soup the leaves wilt down in the hot broth enough that you won’t even realize you are eating spinach.

Spices: Parsley, dried thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper are used to flavor the dish.

Where To Find Tortellini At The Grocery Store

So now that you know what ingredients are required, you may wonder where you can find tortellini pasta at the grocery store. There are a few different areas to look depending on how long you want to store the pasta before making the chicken tortellini soup.

Refrigerator section – It is common to find packages of tortellini in the specialty refrigeration section at the grocery store. In my grocery store it is placed next to the packages of sliced cheese.

Frozen Section – However, you can also find packages of frozen tortellini as well. It may be located next to the frozen breads.

Dry Goods Aisles – There are brands of tortellini that are shelf stable and don’t need refrigerated. Because of the longer shelf life, I typically use this type of pasta to make this Chicken Tortellini soup recipe. You can find them packaged in either boxes or plastic bags and they are located in either the soup or pasta aisle.

Fresh Pasta – Some grocery stores or specialty markets may also have a deli or prepared food section where they offer fresh made tortellini pasta. It is definitely okay to use fresh pasta in this recipe, however, the pasta will require much less time to cook.

How To Store and Reheat Chicken Tortellini Soup

Although this is a recipe for two, you may have leftovers that you want to save to enjoy later. To store the soup let it cool down to room temperature.

Then ladle the soup into an airtight container and cover it tightly with a lid. The soup can remain in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

To reheat place the desired amount of soup into a microwave-safe bowl and cover it loosely with a paper towel or microwave splatter lid. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes, or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

To reheat the soup on the stove pour the desired amount of soup into a pot and heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.

*As the tortellini is stored it will absorb more of the liquid. Therefore, you may need to add more broth or water to the soup when reheating.

Chicken Tortellini Soup Recipe

*A printable recipe card is located at the bottom of this article which contains the specific measurements, temperatures and cook times. However, continue reading below to learn about more helpful tips about this specific recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup carrots, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into two thinner chicken breasts
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 4 ounces three-cheese tortellini pasta
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup baby spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Place a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the extra virgin olive oil to the pan and when the oil is hot add the diced onions. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until they begin to turn opaque.

Add the diced red bell pepper and carrots and saute another 3-4 minutes. Then add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds – 1 minute, or until fragrant.

Add the two thin chicken breasts, chicken broth, dried thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes. Then add salt and pepper to taste.

Bring the mixture to a boil then lower the heat to medium-low to maintain a constant simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pot.

Increase the heat to medium. Then stir the tortellini into the pot and maintain a simmer.

While the tortellini is boiling dice or shred the chicken and place it back in the soup broth with the tortellini.

Cook the tortellini per the time listed on the package directions. *I used shelf stable three cheese tortellini and it took 12 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the heavy cream, spinach leaves, and parsley. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

Once the spinach leaves have wilted you are ready to eat!

Enjoy! Mary

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