Chicken Tortellini Soup

This hearty chicken tortellini soup will quickly become your new go-to cozy recipe with cooler temperatures or when you’re feeling under the weather!

This large, one pot meal is perfect for meal prep or big families. One of the reasons why I prefer to cook in bulk is because it actually helps me reduce food waste. Instead of using a portion of a bag of carrots or celery, we’re just going to use the whole thing here. A win/win because we’ll also increase nutrients from veggies!

I highly suggest reducing the recipe to one half of all ingredients if you prefer a smaller batch or are not a fan of leftovers. You could always plan to use any leftover carrots and celery to make my high protein and loaded veggie chicken pot pie!

Ingredients needed for chicken tortellini soup

Vegetables

I consider this recipe an elevated version of chicken noodle soup, so we’re just sticking to the basics with onion, carrots, and celery. I also like to add a bag of baby spinach or a chopped bunch of spinach or kale at the end. Why not increase the nutrient density if we can?! Throwing some leafy greens into a pot of soup is an easy way to add some extra veggies and nutrition.

Seasoning

Again, nothing out of the ordinary. I bet you have all of these dried seasonings on hand: pepper, garlic powder, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and cayenne pepper (optional).

Shredded chicken

You could go about this a few different ways. I always recommend planning your week of meals in advance (whether you actually “meal prep” or not). So you could easily make my simple shredded chicken ahead of time to have on hand and use in a variety of ways to create different meals. Making the chicken ahead of time will only speed this chicken tortellini soup process up!

If needed, you could certainly make your chicken at the time of cooking or use a pre-cooked option, like a rotisserie chicken.

Cheese Tortellini

This is the real gem, y’all! This recipe originally started as a hearty homemade chicken noodle soup, but I swapped the noodles out for cheese tortellini and OMG. It definitely takes it to a whole new level! Of course, you could just use regular noodles…but just know you’ll be missing out.

Parmesan cheese

Another gem you don’t want to skip. Once I added the cheese tortellini, I felt like it just needed something else: more cheese??? So I added some freshly grated parmesan to my next bowl and *chef’s kiss!*

&& Since I mentioned reducing food waste earlier in this post…I started to add the parmesan rind to the broth while simmering after learning about this tip on insta! I bet my fellow food blogging (and real life!) bestie, The Perfect Pear, would be so proud! She is the QUEEN of repurposing leftovers!

Broth

Since I get my broth in bulk from Sam’s, I personally use a full sodium version (but note that I don’t add additional salt to this recipe). If you’ve been instructed to reduce your sodium intake or would like a reduced sodium version (especially if you are using a shredded rotisserie chicken), simply opt for a low-sodium both!

Cooking Method

I prefer to cook this recipe on the stove to avoid overly-cooked or mushy veggies. I like a bit of texture in this one. So while I haven’t made this recipe specific to a pressure cooker or slow cooker…I don’t see why it wouldn’t work out! Simply add all ingredients – except for the tortellini & spinach – to your slow cooker or pressure cooker pot. I would opt for raw chicken breast in this case.

For a slow cooker, I would set to low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4. For a pressure cooker, I would do 12 minutes. Remove the chicken breast, shred, and then return to pot. Switch back on high or sauté mode and add the tortellini…cooking until tender. Turn off heat and stir in spinach.