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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!
I’ve made this a handful of times and it’s delicious and easy as written. I use a rotisserie chicken as suggested for ease and flavor. For the broth I use the Better than Bouillon roasted chicken base that comes in a jar (not the cubes) and mix it with water. It gives it a nice rich flavor and I don’t have to remember to buy cans of broth. I also use the refrigerated Buitoni chicken and garlic tortellini and they really complement the soup. Thanks for this great recipe!
You’re very welcome, Ally! 🙂
I made this according to the recipe but used bone broth. It was very bland. I will go back to my old recipe.
So, you didn’t actually follow the recipe, used a blander broth and then complained that it was bland?
I love this easy recipe and I get great reviews from my family when I make it. I add frozen broccoli florets at the end and just bring it back up to a boil and serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and garlic toast. Such a satisfying meal!
I’m so glad to hear it, Portland! Thanks for letting me know.
I Absolutely Love This Soup. Is There a Way I Can Just Cut The Recipe In Half Instead Of Useing 20oz Of Tortellini Use 9oz?
Hi Angela! Absolutely. I think it would be easy to halve every ingredient as a baseline, and if you wanted to, you could add more of something that you really like to tweak it to your tastes.
Everyone I know loves this soup. I make it 3x a month and it’s still not enough. Thank you for an easy recipe that tastes like it took hours to make!
Love that!! You’re very welcome. 🙂
I would like to use egg noodles instead of tortellini. Would they: 1) cook in the soup? 2) need to be cooked al dente then added to the soup? 3) cooked all the way then added to the soup.
I’m used to making chicken/turkey noodle with a carcass so I’m used to the broth cooking my egg noodles for me. Just don’t want them to be rock hard, or too soggy! Thanks in advance!!
Hi! I’d add the egg noodles in during the last 8-10 minutes of cooking. I usually finish cooking them in the soup when I make chicken soup. You can cook them separately and add them in right at the end, if you prefer. As with any soup that has pasta in it, the longer the noodles are in the soup, the more broth they will soak up.
Can this soup be frozen
Hi! It can, but personally I’m not the biggest fan of the way cooked tortellini soaks up broth and gets kinda puffy. If you want to freeze the bulk of the soup, I’d probably leave the tortellini out, and then add it to individual batches as needed when you’ve thawed the broth out and you’re warming it up.
I just made this! I loved it! Super simple. I used rotisserie chicken and just tasted as I went to adjust the saltiness and seasoning. I doubled it and made a big pot then I ended up straining out the tortellini and kept it separate to add so they didn’t steal all the broth but were still cooked in the chicken broth. It’s soup season in Massachusetts and I kicked it off with this recipe! Thank you!
Love that idea with the tortellini! So happy you enjoyed it, Courtney. Enjoy soup season 🙂
Do you cook the tortellini first?
Hi! I made the recipe exactly as described in the instructions, but you can if you want to (like if you want to add it to individual portions for leftovers so the broth doesn’t soak it up, for example).
I almost never leave reviews on recipes, but this was so perfect I had to write one 🙂 This was so tasty! I used leftover soup chicken I had from making stock last month, and served with some warm crusty sourdough + butter. A perfect winter meal — and would even be delicious without the tortellini, or with some other pasta shape/grain.
Thank you so much! Reviews are super helpful to us bloggers (and other readers), so I appreciate it. So glad you enjoyed the soup!
I’m making this for the second time tonight. The first time it was FABULOUS. Hoping it turns out the same. The first time, I cooked a whole chicken because that’s what I had on hand. This time, I’m using chicken thighs and bone-in breasts. I cook the chicken in broth first, then strain out the chicken and use the enhanced broth for the soup. I don’t get 8 cups of broth so I supplement with V-8 juice. It’s a trick I used when my kids were little to get more vitamins from veggies into their diet. I also add a can of diced tomatoes because, to me, tortellini needs tomatoes. This time, I’m going to cook the tortellini separately (in broth and tomato juice) as others have suggested, then add to the soup as needed because otherwise it really does soak up the soup.
This is a new family favorite. Smells so good, everyone wants to know when it will be ready!
Thanks, Natasha, for this delicious recipe.
I love that V8 trick… I need to try that!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Kathi. I think it’ll turn out great. 🙂