Chicken Tortellini Soup
Everyone’s favorite chicken noodle soup gets an upgrade using cheesy tortellini! So comforting and easy to make for any night!
When it rains in LA, there’s always three things that needs to happen.
1. You need to find your umbrella, because you know you have one but you don’t know where it is because it rains about twice a year.
2. You need to stay away from any kind of freeway because Los Angelenos cannot drive when something is falling from the sky.
2. You need to make soup.
And with yesterday’s all day cookbook cover photoshoot, this is just what I needed. An umbrella, a day without driving, and a huge pot of chicken noodle soup, except I used cheesy tortellini to substitute the noodles. I know, I’m kind of a genius.
And since I’m not a huge celery fan, I also substituted zucchini – but either veggie will work. Just make sure that there’s enough tortellini to go around. I fished throughout the veggies to only get tortellini on my spoon!
Chicken Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks*
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated three cheese tortellini
- 2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise then sliced crosswise
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, optional
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Add chicken to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the stockpot. Add garlic, onion and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in thyme and oregano until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in chicken stock, bay leaves and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Stir in chicken and tortellini; reduce heat and simmer until tortellini is cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in zucchini until tender, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in lemon juice, if using, and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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can I use ground chicken instead of the thighs?
I’ve made this multiple times and it is delicious. The seasonings are perfect, the tortellini amps up the flavor, the zucchini is also a great healthy addition.
I doubled this recipe. Added spinach and celery. Cooked tortellini separately to avoid tortellini getting mushy. So very good. Thanks for this great recipe.
This was stupid easy and yeah, damn delicious. A fun variation on chicken noodle soup, and the acidity of the lemon juice brightens it up so nicely.
I’ll make it again for sure.
Hi! I want to make this, but want to do it in the slow cooker. When would I add the zucchini? I’d be afraid it’d get too soggy if I put it in at the start.
Thanks!
Second time making this soup. My family and I love it. It’s also so easy.
Going to make this for my fiancee. He isn’t a fan of zucchini. How much celery would you add?
I would add about 2 ribs of celery, but as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Used red wine instead of water to suate the onions adss an extra layer of flavor
I am going to try this. I have some pesto filled dry tortellini from Trader Joe’s that I think will be terrific in this recipe.
What is the purpose of the lemon juice?
For flavor! 🙂
I made this for dinner last night with leftover thanksgiving turkey. Great use for it! Super delish! 🙂
did you know if you put a stalk of celery it will almost do away with the order when cooking? I do cabbage very much like your. Sausage in skillet, cabbage, then onions on top. Cover and cook until tender.
Do you have the calorie count on this soup? I made it over the weekend and it was DELISH!!!! (I also added extra tortellini but that’s just me). Just wondering the nutrient count.
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, I recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps! 🙂
Can I just throw this all in the crock pot (minus the tortellini of course)?
Yes, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Does this freeze well?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
This super is delicious. I made it too eat for my lunch all week and it reheated well. I did add a few more spices and the lemon at the end really brings a lot of flavor.
Very quick and easy
I made this with a whole roasted chicken. peas and carrots and fresh spinach. MmmmmMMMmmmmm!
Love the idea of adding tortellini, it really IS genius!
🙂
Hi Chungah,
It’s good that it’s much healthy than its taste. Really amazing looking soup specially with chicken vegies!
Thanks you for details of it & I already printed it & hope could make it successfully! Thanks….
Chungah – this soup was DAMN DELICIOUS! Been a rough week for my family. I have walking pneumonia, my husband and son have bronchitis. Saw this recipe and used what energy I had to make it! It was so good my husband and son battled for the last bowl. Got the ingredients to make a double batch. I think I’ll cook the tortellini separately this time and let folks add as they want. My son added some crushed red pepper to his. Thanks so much for posting it WHEN you posted it 🙂
Hope you are all feeling much better now.