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Creamy chicken tortellini soup with spinach is cozy, soul-satisfying comfort food that’s also packed with veggies and protein.
Why we love this recipe & why it works
This easy soup recipe is equal parts comfort, nutrition, and deep, savory flavor. It’s family-friendly, weeknight-accessible, and just SO good.
- The small amounts of butter and flour create a roux, which helps make the soup creamy without any cream
- Cooking the tortellini right in the broth adds another layer of silkiness
- A piece of parmesan rind contributes both creaminess and depth of flavor
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- You can use a 26.5-ounce box or a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, which is about 3 cups.
- Use cheese tortellini from the refrigerator section of the grocery store, which is made with fresh pasta.
- Adding a piece of rind from parmesan cheese to the broth while it simmers creates a creamy, savory depth. You can buy a piece of cheese to grate and use the rind from that, or do as I do and buy the rinds directly from the cheese counter. They’re inexpensive and super-useful.
- Any simply flavored cooked chicken, from rotisserie to roasted to Instant Pot to sous vide, will work well. Leftover turkey works too!
How to make it
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a cozy pot of creamy chicken tortellini soup with spinach. You can see all the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get the details in the recipe card below.
- Cook the vegetables in the butter.
- Stir in the flour and seasonings, then the tomato paste.
- Add the liquid ingredients along with the parmesan rind and simmer to create a luscious broth.
- Cook the tortellini, then add the spinach and chicken and cook until wilted and warmed through. That’s it!
Expert tips and FAQs
No problem. You’ve got a few options.
You can dice 12 ounces of raw boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs and cook it right in the broth, adding at the same time as the tortellini (or shortly before, if your tortellini only cooks for a couple of minutes).
You can buy a rotisserie chicken if you’re short on time.
Or you can use one of my favorite easy methods to cook chicken: roast it, cook it in the Instant Pot, or go sous vide.
Leftover turkey works too!
Because the tortellini is cooked directly in the broth, this soup is best made shortly before serving time.
That said, leftovers are great for lunch the next day.
The soup will keep in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for a week, but the tortellini will absorb the liquid. You can thin it with chicken broth when reheating if you like.
More favorite tortellini recipes
- Spinach tortellini soup (one of our most popular recipes of all time)
- A quick and easy vegetarian dinner
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Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup with Spinach
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter
- 1 medium onion, diced small
- 1 medium carrot, diced small
- 1 rib celery, diced small
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 8 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons (15 grams) flour
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) tomato paste
- 3 cups (710 ml) chicken broth
- 26 ounces (750 grams) crushed tomatoes (see note 2)
- Large piece parmesan rind
- 9 ounces (255 grams) cheese tortellini (see note 3)
- 5 ounces, (142 grams) baby spinach
- 12 ounces (340 grams) cooked chicken (two cups diced)
Instructions
- In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion, carrot, celery, and salt. Cook, stirring from time to time, until softened, about five minutes.
- Stir in garlic, herbes de Provence, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, and cook for one minute.
- Add flour and stir to coat well. Cook one minute more.
- Stir in tomato paste.
- Pour in broth and crushed tomatoes and stir well, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pot and allowing the flour-coated vegetables to mingle with the liquid.
- Nestle the parmesan rind into the broth.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.
- Stir in tortellini and simmer according to the length of time on the package. (The brand I typically use cooks for seven minutes.)
- Stir in spinach and cooked chicken and simmer until spinach is wilted and chicken is warmed through.
- Serve with grated parmesan to pass at the table if you like.
Notes
- If you don’t have cooked chicken on hand, you’ve got plenty of options. You can dice 12 ounces of raw boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs and cook it right in the broth, adding at the same time as the tortellini (or shortly before, if your tortellini only cooks for a couple of minutes). You can buy a rotisserie chicken if you’re short on time. Or you can use one of my favorite easy methods to cook chicken: roast it, cook it in the Instant Pot, or go sous vide.
- You can use a 26.5-ounce box or a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, which is about 3 cups.
- Use cheese tortellini from the refrigerator section of the grocery store, which is made with fresh pasta.
- Leftovers are great for lunch the next day. The soup will keep in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for a week, but the tortellini will absorb the liquid. You can thin it with chicken broth when reheating if you like.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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