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This easy chicken tortellini soup recipe is a simple meal that has plenty of comforting cheese tortellini and juicy shredded chicken in an irresistible broth! It’s ready in just 40 minutes.
Want to make this soup in your Instant Pot? Try my Instant Pot Chicken Tortellini Soup!
Why you’ll love it
One of the most underrated things to eat is healthier comfort food. In this soup you’ve got cheesy pasta, a simple yet unbelievably flavorful broth, and it’s filling without being calorie dense. I love a comforting Chicken Noodle Soup, but something about using pillowy cheese tortellini instead of noodles makes it next-level cozy.
This chicken soup with tortellini is also super simple to make with everyday ingredients, which is good news for a cold day or when someone in your family is feeling a little under the weather! No fuss here. Just a piping hot bowl of soup fast. Total bliss.
What you’ll need
- Olive oil – for sautéing the aromatics
- Onion, celery, carrots, garlic – the tasty base for many soups
- Italian seasoning – it’s a delicious and versatile blend of dried herbs that comes in one convenient jar
- Chicken broth – another layer of flavor
- Chicken – this soup is a great way to make use of leftover chicken, or you can buy a rotisserie chicken for it like I did
- Tortellini – I used three cheese tortellini for this recipe from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Choose any cheese variety, and the quantity is pretty flexible!
- Parsley – a little chopped Italian parsley at the end adds some freshness and contrast to this hearty soup
Pro tip
Measuring out 8 cups of chicken broth is easy. All you need is to use two 32 oz cartons!
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- I use this Staub Dutch oven for this soup.
- Chop up the aromatics with a quality chef’s knife on a sturdy cutting board.
- Mince the garlic with one squeeze of a garlic press. No peeling needed!
How to make chicken tortellini soup
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Add olive oil to a large pot or Dutch oven and sauté the onion until softened. Stir in the celery, carrots, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Cook for a few more minutes.
Add in the chicken broth, bring to a boil, and then simmer until the veggies are tender. Stir in the cooked chicken and tortellini. Continue cooking until the pasta is cooked through. Season with salt & pepper and dig in!
Crockpot method
- You can absolutely make this in your slow cooker! Instead of using the pre-cooked chicken, I would suggest 3-4 raw chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs.
- Cook it on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours, and test to make sure the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily.
- Then simply add the tortellini in with about 30 minutes to go.
Substitutions and variations
- Want to make it lemony? Try stirring in 1 tbsp lemon juice or more to taste.
- You can use meat-stuffed tortellini if you prefer. Just be sure to read the package directions carefully for the cook time to ensure they’re cooked through in the soup.
- Easily add in a handful or two of fresh baby spinach or any other veggies you’d like. Frozen corn would be a great option to toss in near the end of the cooking time.
- Uncooked chicken breasts or thighs will work. Just add them in during step 3, and then cook for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through before adding the tortellini.
- You can sub for frozen or dried tortellini, but keep in mind that it will take longer to cook than the refrigerated kind.
What to serve with this soup
- I love it all on its own as the star with a big slice of crusty bread. Garlic Bread works too!
- For more of a complete meal, try pairing it with a side salad that has Homemade Caesar Dressing or this Creamy Balsamic Dressing.
Leftovers and storage
- You can keep the soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- The tortellini will soak up the broth over time. To avoid this, just add it separately as needed when you’re reheating it. You can either take it out of the soup and store it in a separate container, or simply cook more pasta when you’re ready to eat leftovers. It’ll cook right in the broth as you warm it up.
- You can freeze the broth portion, but cooked pasta freezes badly and changes the texture. Again, add in the tortellini when reheating for best results!
If you made this easy tortellini soup, talk to me in the comments below! You can also tag me on Instagram if you made this or any S&L recipe.
Easy Chicken Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 3 sticks celery finely chopped
- 3 large carrots peeled & chopped or sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups shredded cooked/rotisserie chicken (or more, to taste)
- 2 (9 ounce) packages refrigerated cheese tortellini
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Chopped parsley to taste
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and onion to a large soup pot. Sauté over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes (it's ok if onion lightly browns).
- Add the celery, carrots, garlic, and Italian seasoning to the pot. Give it a good stir and continue cooking for a few more minutes.
- Add the chicken broth to the pot. Increase the heat to high, and once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to a rapid simmer and let it cook for 10 minutes or until the veggies have softened to your liking.
- Add the chicken and tortellini to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high and let the soup cook for a few more minutes until the tortellini is cooked. If it starts to boil furiously, you may need to turn the heat down again.
- Season with salt & pepper as needed and garnish with the chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
Notes
- The tortellini will soak up the broth the longer it sits, so this soup is best eaten right away. The leftovers are still tasty, but you may need to add more water or chicken broth. If you’re planning on having lots of leftovers, don’t add all the tortellini to the soup – keep the broth separate and add uncooked tortellini to the soup as needed when reheating it (it cooks fast).
- See my tips within the blog post if you want to make this soup in your slow cooker. Or check out the Instant Pot version.
- Serves 4-6 depending on portion size/what it’s served with.
- Find this recipe in chapter 5 of the Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials cookbook as well.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.
This recipe was originally published on April 5, 2018. It’s been updated with new photos and better instructions but is the same great recipe!
Any advice on how much salt and pepper to add? I’m a novice cook. Thank you.
Hi Dan! I would give it a taste and then see how you like it, and slowly add more salt in if you think it’s lacking some flavor. I don’t list a quantity because peoples’ tastes vary so much. Chicken broth has salt in it, so you may not need to add much at all. The more you cook, the easier it’ll be to gauge/eyeball how much to add. I have a salt grinder (like a pepper grinder) and add a couple twists of the wrist at a time usually. You definitely want a light hand since it’s easy to add more salt as needed, but too much salt is a problem. 🙂
Lime is a quick fix to dishes that you’ve added too much salt. Fresh lime is the best but bottled will do. Only add a pinch at a time so you don’t over power the dish. Your welcome 😊
I’ve made this several times now and it always comes out great. My partner loves it and I personally think it is a million times better than canned soup or anything pre-made. I use a rotisserie chicken and the large package of Bertolli tortellini from the “heat and eat” section of the grocery store. I only cook the amount of tortellini I need immediately. They cook in like 5 minutes so I just add fresh tortellini when reheating the soup on the stove. So easy! Thanks for this recipe!
I’m so happy that it’s hit in your home, Ally!
Very tasty and so easy to make! I used the carcass of my rotisserie chicken to make the broth. I will make this again! Thank you!
You’re welcome!
just a tip. O have made variations of this soup for the last 5 years and I have discovered if you cook the tortellini in a second pot in some chicken broth and allow people to add it to their bowl as they like, it is easier to freeze the “soup” without the pasta in it… just cook more pasta the next time you want to use it.
Great tip!! Thank you, Charlotte!
Delish! I made a few tweaks as I wanted to use up some of my leftovers. I didn’t have celery so I used a dash of celery salt. I also added some sauteed peppers, onions & bacon. I only had 4 cups of chicken stock so I added 2 cups of beef stock. I used frozen tortillini and topped it off with parmesan cheese. Thanks for sharing this fabulous, yummy recipe!
I’m really glad you were able to adapt this based on what you had on hand! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
This is the third time making this soup. It is delicious and so easy! My husband and son have that terrible bug going around and this is the best medicine for it! Thank you!
Yay I’m so happy to hear that! Hope they’re on the mend. 🙂
Love love love this soup!! I have made it 4 times since I saw the recipe and it’s a huge hit!! I added baby spinach to mine as well. And I also used “tony chacheres original creole” seasoning. It really is good on everything !!
I’m so glad you like the soup! Yes, Tony’s seasoning is soo good hehe.
Hi! Would this still be good if leftovers are frozen?
Hi! I would say the tortellini will get quite puffy/soggy, so I wouldn’t recommend it. It’ll still taste fine, just the pasta won’t be the same.
Hi, if I needed to make this for 8 people how much of everything would I need? I am super new to cooking! Thanks for the help can’t wait to make this tonight!
Hi Grace! Hmmm… that’s a bit of a tricky question since this feeds around 6 (depending on how much people eat). Could you serve it with other items or maybe just serve smaller bowls? I know this isn’t the most helpful answer, but unless you’re straight doubling a recipe, it’s tricky to guess without testing. You could always buy an additional 9 ounce package of tortellini and add it in if you feel like more is needed. And if you feel there isn’t enough liquid, just add a bit more chicken broth.
I have fresh asparagus could you chop and put it in.
Sure!
Wish this had nutritional values.
Hi Rose! I am not a trained nutritionist, so I don’t feel comfortable providing nutrition info as it may not be accurate. Calories will vary depending on the ingredients you use. Plugging the exact weights/measurements of the actual ingredients you use into one of the free calculators out there should give you a good idea of the nutritional values. A lot of nutrition info on recipes online is waaaaay off (it’s sometimes even worse than an estimate since it picks up wrong ingredients), so until I can find a good (accurate) way to calculate it, I’m afraid I won’t be including the info. Sorry about that!