Chicken Tortellini soup not only feeds the body, but it also soothes the soul. Made with tender fresh chicken, garden fresh vegetables, and cheese tortellini, this soup is a simple healthy meal that you’re family will love and you’ll love serving to them.
This comforting soup has everyday ingredients and doesn’t require a culinary degree to make. Chicken tortellini soup has always been one of my go-to soups when I need a quick and delicious dinner or I’m entertaining friends and family.
It’s easy to make and adaptable to what you have on hand.
This is a great soup for lunch or dinner. Don’t wait for soup season to make this delicious soup. Chicken tortellini soup makes a great addition to your dinner table any time of the year.
If you like chicken soup, my Italian Wedding Soup is another favorite of mine.
Ingredients to make Chicken Tortellini Soup
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Chicken Tortellini Soup. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Simple Ingredients
- chicken thighs
- chicken broth
- carrots
- celery
- onion
- zucchini
- baby spinach
- garlic
- cheese tortellini
- cannelini beans
- black pepper
- salt
Do I have to add cannelini beans to the soup?
No, you don’t. I like cannelini beans and they add another flavor to the soup, but they can easily be left out of the recipe. You can also puree the beans, if you want add the nutritious beans to the soup, but have bean haters in your household. I’ve done that on many occassions and no one has a clue there are beans in the soup.
You can also substitute your favorite greens to the soup, instead of baby spinach as well as add any additional vegetables you enjoy in soups.
What kind of tortellini should I use?
You can find fresh tortellini in the refrigerated section of your grocery store and they come in different varieties. I like to add sausage tortellini when I can find it. You can also find frozen tortellini in the freezer section of your store.
If you’re not a fan of tortellini, you can replace them with egg noodles, rice or your favorite grain.
How to make Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the carrots, celery, onion, and zucchini to the pot.
- Stir the vegetable mixture and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the raw chicken and chopped garlic to the pot.
- Continue cooking until the chicken has been seared (2-3 minutes).
*If you have leftover rotisserie chicken, you can use that instead of the chicken thighs. You can also stew a whole chicken and pull the meat off the carcass to make shredded chicken. And the broth from stewing the chicken can be added to the soup in place of chicken broth.
- Add the chicken broth to the soup pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the cannellini beans and black pepper to the soup and continue to simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
- Add the spinach, and tortellini to the soup pot.
- Continue to simmer the soup for 10 minutes or until the tortellini has fully cooked.
Re-season with salt and black pepper as needed. If you’d like to add a little heat to the soup, add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
Just imagine sitting down to a bowl of this delicious chicken soup. Loaded with fresh vegetables, tender chicken and cheesy tortellini my easy chicken tortellini soup is going to become a family favorite just like it is my house.
To make a creamy version of this soup, add a cup of heavy cream when you add the broth to the soup.
Recipe FAQ’s
I prefer using chicken thighs because they tend to stay more tender, but if you’re looking cut down on fat you can definitely use boneless skinless chicken breasts to make this soup.
It’s also a great way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken
Crusty Italian bread or garlic bread would go perfectly with this hearty soup. Add a ceasar salad or tossed green salad and you have a delicious light dinner.
Yes, you can. You can freeze leftover soup in an airtight container for up to 3 months in your freezer. If you’re making the soup to freeze for another time, don’t add the tortellini. Wait until you serve the soup and add the tortellini when you reheat the soup.
More Soup Recipes You’ll Love!
Chicken Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- ½ cup carrots peeled and diced (2 carrots)
- 1 cup onion diced (1 small onion)
- ½ cup celery diced (4 stalks)
- 1 cup zucchini diced (1 small zucchini)
- 1 teaspoon garlic finely chopped
- 12 oz boneless chicken thighs diced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 16 oz cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 10 oz cheese tortellini fresh or frozen -10- 12 ounces depending upon brand
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- salt if needed to taste
- grated Romano cheese for serving
Instructions
- Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a stock pot over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the carrots, celery, onion, and zucchini, stir and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the chicken and chopped garlic to the pot and continue cooking until the chicken has been seared (2-3 minutes).
- Add the chicken stock to the pot and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the cannellini beans and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Add the spinach, tortellini, and black pepper to the soup pot and continue to simmer for 10 minutes until the tortellini has fully cooked.
- season with sea salt if needed.
- Serve the soup with a sprinkle of grated romano cheese and crusty bread.
Michael Lagana says
A very tasty soup.will make often.
Kim says
Hello Chef Dennis,
Your soup recipe was incredible, and easy to follow.
I cheated and used a rotisserie chicken with its juices plus 2 packets of Sazon seasoning.
Because I make a lot of soup, once the carrots were tender, I turn off the heat, added the tortellini, spinach and zucchini. Placed the lid on, and walked away. What a great meal!
Chef Dennis Littley says
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the soup, its one of my favorite soups!
Kortni says
Making this soup right now. This is the first recipe I am trying from your site. It smells and looks good so far. However, a little clarification on the cannellini beans would have been nice. 16 oz of beans isn’t very descriptive. Are they canned beans? Are they dry beans? If they are dry beans, do I need to soak them overnight first? Or will they cook up nicely in the soup as is? Just wondering!
Chef Dennis Littley says
thanks for stopping by Kortni, and I hope you enjoy the recipe.
they are canned beans
love cooking says
This is a great recipe, simple and delicious. Hot soup not only warms our stomach, sometimes, it also warms our heart. Add a lot of black pepper or some ginger, great during cold weather. 🙂
Nancy/SpicieFoodie says
Hi Dennis,
Your south is very fitting for the cause. It is so sad to hear of the devastation but wonderful to see the outpouring of help. You know I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t have to be fancy to be out of this world. Your soup sounds and looks amazing. Always wanted to try adding tortellini or ravioli to soup, so thanks for sharing:)
Luksana says
Nice simple soup, everyone will love this.
Lynn says
Inspire, comfort, give 100% from your heart- that’s chef Dennis! Being on the complete other side of the country, it’s easy to hear what’s happening out east then forget about it. Thank you for sharing, for bringing the blogging community together to help!