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This chicken tortellini Alfredo recipe is a hearty, cheesy, and comforting weeknight meal! It’s easy to make and ready in about 25 minutes.
You may also like my Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup or this Bacon Ranch Tortellini next.
Why you’ll love it
Jazz up your dinner rotation with this quick chicken Alfredo tortellini! It’s another tasty pasta recipe to add to your “How do I use up leftover chicken?” arsenal and if you’re wondering what to make with refrigerated tortellini. It’s low effort with minimal ingredients as well.
Alfredo sauce is simply a mix of butter, cream, and parmesan cheese. That means it’s really simple to make in your kitchen. I always like to liven it up a bit, so here I add in a bit of garlic and some lemon juice for brightness and all-out depth of flavor!
What you’ll need
- Cheese tortellini – we’re using the refrigerated kind
- Butter and flour – to make a quick roux
- Chicken broth – the savory base of the sauce
- Garlic powder and lemon juice – tasty additions to prevent this dish from being too rich or one-dimensional
- Heavy cream – to add body and irresistible creaminess
- Parmesan – always freshly grate your own
- Chicken – if you don’t have leftover chicken, buy a rotisserie chicken. They’re so useful for making quick meals.
Helpful Tip
Especially for creamy pasta sauces, it’s so important to grate your own parmesan cheese from a block. It melts into the sauce seamlessly, unlike the pre-grated stuff in a bag or can.
How to make chicken tortellini Alfredo
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Cook the tortellini. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat up the butter, and whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the chicken broth and lemon juice to dissolve the flour. Pour in the cream, then add the garlic powder.
Keep whisking until the sauce is smooth, then reduce until the desired thickness is reached. Stir in the parmesan. Add in the chicken and drained pasta, and toss to heat through. Taste, season with salt & pepper, and enjoy.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- My trusty Le Creuset skillet is the one I like to use for this pasta.
- Use a whisk to easily make the roux.
- A Microplane zester is ideal to grate the parmesan finely.
Substitutions and variations
- I don’t recommend subbing the cream for something else, e.g. milk or half-and-half, unless you’re confident in your abilities to thicken up the sauce/make adjustments as needed. Also, it won’t taste as good if you don’t use heavy cream.
- I chose garlic powder instead of a garlic clove (or two) since it dissolves nicely and I didn’t want the garlic taste to be too overpowering. With that said, feel free to use fresh garlic if you want to!
- At the end, you could throw in some frozen peas or corn or a handful of fresh spinach.
What to serve with this chicken Alfredo tortellini
- Just a note on the serving size: this dish is fairly rich, so it does make four reasonable portions, but then I would serve them with a side salad or Garlic Bread or something else. If you’ve got super hungry people who eat a lot, it’s more like two portions.
- For a salad pairing, make this Homemade Olive Garden Dressing, a Caesar salad with my 10-Minute Caesar Dressing, or try Honey Mustard Dressing for something a little lighter.
Leftovers and storage
- Store leftover creamy chicken tortellini for 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container, but keep in mind that it’ll dry out the longer you leave it since the pasta soaks up sauce over time.
- Reheat slowly in a saucepan over a low heat to prevent the sauce from separating.
- I don’t recommend freezing leftovers.
Love Alfredo sauce? Try these next
Let me know if you made this chicken tortellini Alfredo recipe! Tag me on Instagram if you’re on there. Questions? Leave me a comment below.
Chicken Tortellini Alfredo
Ingredients
- 1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated cheese tortellini
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 3/4 cup heavy/whipping cream
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1.5 cups cooked chicken (I used rotisserie) shredded
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil a salted pot of water and cook tortellini according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, when the tortellini is not too far away from being cooked, start the sauce. Add the butter to a skillet over medium-high heat. Once it's hot, whisk in the flour and let it cook for about a minute.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice to the pan and start whisking it to dissolve the flour (do this for about 30 seconds or so).
- Pour the cream in and add the garlic powder. Continue whisking until you've got a smooth sauce. Let it reduce for a minute or two or until desired thickness is reached. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a bit more cream or chicken broth.
- Stir in the parmesan.
- Add in the chicken and drained pasta. Toss to let it heat through, season with salt & pepper as needed, then serve and enjoy.
Notes
- Feeds 4 if you serve it with other things (e.g. salad or garlic bread) or it makes 2 rather large portions.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This recipe was originally published on August 15, 2019. It’s been updated with new photos and better instructions but is the same great recipe!
Have you ever made this a few days before and refrigerating it then reheating ? I want to make this for a family function but wondering if it would keep.
Hello! I haven’t, and I think this recipe may not be a good one to make ahead, unfortunately. The pasta will soak up the sauce, and creamy sauces tend to go a bit dry in the fridge, I find. Also, upon reheating they can separate. If you’re open to suggestions, something like my baked ziti is much better to make ahead: https://bit.ly/3zOzd1r
I too would like to make this ahead of time and bring it to a cabin. If I had the sauce, chicken and cooked pasta in separate containers, can I throw it all together before serving?
I think that should be ok. Reheat slowly over a low heat. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
I made this tonight and it was very good. I did saute some onion and mushrooms and I added fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. Delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it, Mary!! 🙂
I have made this dish at least 3 times now and it gets better and better each time!!! A true staple in my household!!!
That’s so nice to hear!! 😀 Thanks for your 5-star review!
So easy but really good! I didn’t have heavy cream so subbed half n half which worked fine🥰
Excellent!! Glad it worked out. 😀
First time writing a recipe review, however I just HAD to write one for this recipe!! The hubby asks for this ALL the time, it’s now been a frequent menu item in our rotation!! I will say however, this makes 4 very small servings – I usually double the recipe & it works great!! Enough for leftovers – which are also delicious!! Definitely recommend to everyone!!
I’m so glad you like it!! 🙂 Thanks for your review!
I have made this several times and my family loves it. I add sautéed mushrooms and fresh spinach it is so good. Thank you!
Wonderful! 🙂 Love adding the mushrooms and spinach.
I started by sauteing onion, red bell pepper and garlic…………then follow the recipe… but then I used chicken and mozzarella ravioli………. awesome!!
Awesome!
Sounds great to me, Sue!
I made this tonight as I was looking for some recipes to use up my leftover turkey. Loved the addition of the lemon juice, I might have added more than the recipe called for! I sent the recipe to my college daughter. I know she’ll love it. Love all the recipes on this blog.
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Colleen!! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Making now! Can I sub butter with olive oil? Have everything else and hope I don’t need to run to the store ?!
Hi Megan, I got your message on IG, but I will approve this one so others can see. Yes, olive oil will work in a pinch. 🙂
Thank you for responding! Olive oil worked really well and this was so delicious. Honestly my fiance said this is one of his new favorite meals. I used the sauce with linguine + peppers, spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes with a side of grilled chicken. Will be making this more for now on! Thank you for sharing. Excited to try some more of your recipes.
You’re very welcome! 🙂
I love recipes that help me use up leftovers. I could easily see my family picking up a roast chicken from Costco and using the leftovers for this dish! Great idea!
Thanks so much!