Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup

Creamy chicken tortellini soup melds classic Italian cooking with soul-warming soup into one creamy, dreamy dish. Crowd-pleasing creaminess!

Course Chicken Dinner, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Italian

Keyword chicken recipes, Chicken Soup, creamy soup, tortellini recipes, tortellini soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 549kcal

Author Kathleen

Pat chicken dry and generously season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot. Brown chicken breasts (2) on both sides and continue to cook until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2 inch pieces; set aside.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil and cook onion (1 1/2 cups), garlic (1 tablespoon), carrots (4), red bell pepper (1/2), and mushrooms (8 ounces) and cook until vegetables are soft. Sprinkle vegetables with flour (1/4 cup) and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes.
Whisk in the chicken broth (5-6 cups) until smooth. Add the Better Than Bouillon (1 heaping tablespoon), Italian seasoning (1 tablespoon), rosemary (1 teaspoon), bay leaf (1), 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and Parmesan cheese (1 cup) and bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat and simmer, stirring often so the cheese doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Stir in tortellini (10 ounces) adjusting heat to maintain a simmer, continue stirring occasionally. Cook until tortellini is almost al dente. Return chicken, and any juices that have accumulated on the plate, back to the pot and stir in cream (1 cup). Continue to simmer until the chicken is heated through.
Adjust salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in basil (1/2 cup). Ladle into individual bowls and serve. As soup sits the pasta will absorb the broth, thin as needed with extra chicken broth.

Stir the soup often after adding the parmesan cheese.
You can use rotisserie chicken instead of chicken breasts to cut down cooking time.
Curdling: The enemy of any creamy soup is curdled milk! To prevent your creamy-dreamy soup from turning into a creamy-nightmare soup, you'll want to temper any cream you add. Tempering is bringing the temperature of the milk up so when it hits the hot soup, it doesn't turn to curds.
Cooked Veggies: If you put vegetables in a soup, why do you need to cook them before? One word: flavor! Sautéing veggies beforehand allows for caramelization, which is where all flavor comes from in cooking.
Noodles: Tortellini may have extra umph in them, but they are still noodles! If you're buying them fresh just remember they don't need as long to cook as dried pasta. Aim for perfect al dente cooking. When you're grabbing your tortellini, make sure you don't grab a package or tortelloni instead. There's a big difference: size! Tortelloni are much larger and tend to be two-bite pasta while tortellini are smaller and do better in soups.