Chicken Tortellini Soup — All the comforting flavors of chicken noodle soup, but with the unexpected twist of using cheesy tortellini instead of egg noodles! This is hearty comfort food that’s EASY to make!
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Easy Cheese Tortellini Soup … with Chicken!
I’ve been on a major soup-making kick lately. I love making soup because it’s easy and makes enough for plenty of meals to come.
Planned leftovers are my friend. My soup recipes are usually done in about a half hour and this chicken tortellini soup is no exception.
I used my Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup as the base and swapped out egg noodles for cheese tortellini. It has all the comforting qualities you want in classic chicken noodle soup but with the unexpected twist of cheesy, tender tortellini.
There’s sweet Vidalia onions, carrots, celery, thyme, oregano, and parsley to add texture and depth of flavor amidst all the juicy chicken and tortellini!
Chicken Tortellini Soup Ingredients
To make this quick and easy tortellini chicken noodle soup recipe, you’ll need the following:
- Olive oil
- Vidalia onion
- Carrots
- Celery
- Garlic
- Chicken broth
- Cheese tortellini
- Bay leaves
- Fresh thyme
- Dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
- Shredded cooked chicken
- Fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
- Lemon juice
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chicken Cheese Tortellini Soup
If you know how to chop up vegetables, then you can definitely handle this simple recipe. To make your life easier, buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, shred it up, and use the meat in this soup. Saves you the time of chopping up raw chicken!
Here’s an overview of the cooking process:
- Add the oil, onion, carrots, and celery to a stockpot and sauté until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the garlic and sauté for another minute or two until fragrant.
- Stir in the chicken broth, tortellini, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and pepper and bring to a boil.
- Let the soup boil until tortellini are tender and cooked through.
- Add the pre-cooked chicken, parsley, and lemon juice, and continue boiling until the chicken is warmed through.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can certainly omit the chicken and make a delicious vegetarian cheese tortellini soup instead.
Yes, this chicken tortellini soup can be frozen for up to 6 months. Just note that the texture of the tortellini will change once frozen, so if possible I recommend freezing the base of the soup (i.e. the entire recipe minus the tortellini) and adding the cheese tortellini to the pot when reheating the soup.
I recommend using fresh tortellini for this recipe, which is stored in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store. I don’t care for the dried tortellini sold on the shelves, as it lacks flavor and doesn’t have a great texture in my opinion.
Of course! I used cheese tortellini, but you may use any kind of tortellini you like.
The star of this cheese tortellini soup with chicken really is the tortellini, but you may of course replace it with another type of noodle or pasta. Use whatever you have on hand!
Tips for Making Chicken Tortellini Soup
Chicken: To save time, use store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken that you have on hand. Of course you can roast or pan sauté chicken, if you prefer.
Salt to taste: Make sure to salt your soup to taste. I use low-sodium chicken broth and add a bit of salt to my soup so I can control the overall salt level. The saltiness of the chicken broth, rotisserie chicken, and tortellini all vary, as do personal preferences, so salt to taste.
If your soup is too thick: If at any time while making the soup the overall liquid level is lower than you like and you prefer more broth, adding a cup or two of extra chicken broth or water is okay.
What to Serve with Chicken and Tortellini Soup
Serve this hearty tortellini chicken soup with one or more of the following side dishes:
- House Salad
- Spinach Apple Side Salad
- Cranberry Apple Side Salad
- Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
- Whole Wheat Bread
- No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Pin This Recipe
Easy 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Tortellini Soup
This chicken tortellini soup has all the comforting qualities you want in classic chicken noodle soup but with the unexpected twist of cheesy tortellini.
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, peeled and diced small (about 1 large onion)
- 1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds (about 2 large carrots)
- 1 cup celery, diced small (about 2 large stalks)
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
- 64 ounces (8 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
- 10 ounces cheese tortellini
- 2 to 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (use storebought rotisserie chicken to save time; or roast or cook your own chicken in a skillet)
- 1/3 cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves (stems discarded), finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- To a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the oil, onion, carrots, celery, and sauté over medium-high head for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Stir intermittently.
- Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, tortellini, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, pepper, and bring to a boil.
- Allow mixture to boil gently for about 5 to 6 minutes or until tortellini are tender and cooked through. Stir intermittently. At any time while making the soup, if the overall liquid level is lower than you like and you prefer more broth, adding a cup or two of extra chicken broth or water is okay. At the end you will adjust the salt level.
- Add the chicken, parsley, optional lemon juice (brightens up the flavor), and boil 1 to 2 minutes, or until chicken is warmed through.
- Taste soup and add salt to taste. I added about 1 teaspoon but this will vary based on how salty the chicken broth, rotisserie chicken, and tortellini are, and personal preference. Make any necessary seasoning adjustments (i.e. more salt, pepper, herbs, etc.), remove the bay leaves, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Soup will keep airtight in the fridge for 5 to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Adapted from Easy 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
5Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 627Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 138mgSodium: 12581mgCarbohydrates: 57gFiber: 5gSugar: 21gProtein: 43g
More Easy Noodle Soup Recipes:
BEST Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe – Classic, comforting, and tastes just like grandma made but way easier and faster! This soup is amazing and it’ll be your new favorite classic chicken noodle soup recipe!
Easy 30-Minute Minestrone Soup (Olive Garden Copycat) — This minestrone soup recipe takes just 30 minutes to make and it’s way better than what you get at Olive Garden! Homemade always wins in my book!
Easy Lasagna Soup — This easy, 30-minute lasagna soup gives you all the rich flavor of your favorite lasagna minus the work. Hearty and comforting, but not as heavy as lasagna!
30-Minute Homemade Alphabet Soup — Tender alphabet pasta in a tomato flavored broth with a variety of vegetables including carrots, corn, peas, and green beans. So much BETTER than the canned store bought alternatives that many of us grew up with!
Easy 30-Minute Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup — Why have regular chicken noodle soup when you can have CREAMY instead? Pure comfort food at its finest! Ready in 30 minutes, an instant family favorite, and PERFECT for chilly weather!!
One-Pot Pasta and Ground Beef Soup — EASY, hearty, comfort food that’s full of flavor!! A FAST and tasty soup the whole family will LOVE! It will keep your warm on chilly winter nights!!
My new surgical Stainless Steel With A Life Time gar. arrived Today ! Been feeling awful, lost voice & wanted something better then chix noodle soup.
Googled for Chix Tortelli. Among many, chose yours as only 30 Min AND Lowest calories. Didn’t hurt it looked yummy! And it was.
Now I Need to bookmark as I seen blueberry bars made with greek yogurt! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Finally made this. It took me awhile to remember to buy tortellini. Definitely a hit! Good with your quick-and-easy breadstick recipe …
You and the breadsticks! You’re the only person who reminds me of that recipe of mine :) So thank you!
And glad this was a hit and that you remembered tortellini!
I’ve never imagined tortellinis being a soup ingredient. I like the idea though (pictures look good too). I’ll give it a try.
Waw, this looks amazing! I know a few recipes for chicken soup but this something absolutely new for me! Â
Emma
I know what I’m doing with my leftover turkey on Friday! And tortellini makes everything delicious. Pinned :)
I think this would be great with leftover turkey and thanks for pinning!
Why have I never put tortellini in soup??? I need to do that, stat. Looks amazing!
So easy and faster than waiting for noodles to come up to a boil! I’m all about speed most times :)
I love that this is made in only 30 minutes! I’m sure the tortelli noodles make the best addition ever! I just wish I had a big bowl right now!
This looks amazing! I love ALL things tortellini, so adding it to chicken soup sounds perfect!
Dani | http://www.styledvariety.com
I’ve never had tortellini before, but this soup looks delicious!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Great idea to add tortellini to the soup. I don’t often make chicken noodle because it doesn’t seem hearty enough to me–but this would!
Very hearty indeed!
I’m going to make this next weekend with leftover turkey. Thanks for the recipe! Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Would be great with leftover turkey and Happy Thanksgiving to you also!
DELICOUS!!! Easy soups that we can have leftovers of is perfect! The tortellini you added in just makes it that much more filling of a soup and has me over here droooooooooling!
Yum–this looks hearty and delicious ( with more food than broth)! It’s soup weather here so this is on my to- make list in the coming weeks. We had our first few inches of snow and it stuck?
Oh stay warm in the new snow…and yes this is more food than broth and hearty! Perfect for cold weather!
Mmm.. tortellini! Only saying this word makes my mouth water. At this time of year this is just the perfect soup to have. Yours look so delicious!