Chicken Tortellini Soup (Tortellini in Brodo)

Chicken tortellini soup (tortellini in brodo) is one of those easy dinner ideas that you can cook in just 15 minutes. It is a complete meal that contains cheese tortellini, chicken, and tomato pieces in a tasty broth, making a simple and comforting meal for busy weeknights. 

On chilly, rainy days like this, there is nothing better to serve than a nice, hot bowl of soup, don't you think?!

This kind of weather reminds me of that in Southern Brazil, a region whose cuisine has been considerably influenced by Italian immigrants.

So I decided to recreate a delicious soup that I had the pleasure of enjoying when I traveled to the South of my country (Rio Grande do Sul State) a few years ago.

The difference is down there they make this soup with Cappelletti instead, calling it cappelletti in brodo. 

You are welcome to use either pasta, stuffed with cheese, chicken, or vegetables. It is up to you! 

Our chicken tortellini soup is hearty, comforting, and a complete meal in and of itself.

TORTELLINI SOUP RECIPE

This tortellini soup (a.k.a tortellini in brodo, or tortellini in broth) is the perfect soup to warm up our bodies -- a clear broth soup made from cheese-stuffed pasta, chicken broth, tomato, and herbs.

 I made it on the stovetop, but you can use either your slow cooker or Instant Pot. 

All that you have to do is sautee the onion, chicken, and garlic, then deglaze the pan with wine, add the tortellini and cook the soup in broth until the chicken is tender and the pasta is al dente.

Finish by adding the tomato and serving the tortellini soup while is hot with chopped parsley.

It is a simple process that requires no special cooking skills.  

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this tortellini in brodo, you'll need:

• 1 large skinless boneless chicken breast, small cubed (You may replace it with skinless boneless chicken thighs)
• Salt and ground white pepper to taste (or you can use black pepper)
•  2 tablespoons olive oil (not extra-virgin)
• ½ medium yellow onion, small diced (or you can use white onion)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 8 cups chicken broth, homemade or store-bought 
• 1 bay leaf
• 7 oz chicken or cheese tortellini, uncooked (200 g), use dry, refrigerated, or frozen tortellini. The latter may take a little longer to cook. 
• 1 large tomato, peeled, deseeded, and small diced. If you want, use drained canned diced tomatoes  (You may use about 1 to 2 cups baby spinach instead if you prefer)
• ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley

How to Make Chicken Tortellini Soup

1. Pat dry the chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste. Reserve.
2. Heat a medium no-stick pot over medium heat, add the olive oil, and sauté the onion for about 3-4 minutes or until translucent. PIC. 1 Add the seasoned cubed chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, stirring once and a while. PIC. 2 & 3
3. Pour in the wine and let almost evaporate. Then, add the broth and the bay leaf.
4. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and let cook for about 8-10 minutes (or for the time stated in your package), or just until becomes al dente. PIC. 4
5. Remove from the heat, add the tomato, and let rest for about 3 minutes. Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste, discard the bay leaf, and stir in the parsley. PIC. 5
6. Serve with garlic bread or a hard-crusted crust. If you want, sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top of the soup. Enjoy! PIC. 6

Other Cooking Methods

I made this chicken tortellini soup on the stovetop, but if you prefer to use one of the cooking methods below, go ahead.

Slow Cooker Tortellini Soup

1. To make this crockpot tortellini soup, add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker except for the tortellini. Cook on low for about 4 hours.
2. Add in the tortellini and cook for 15 minutes, or until they are al dente.
3. Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste, discard bay leaf, add the tomato and let it sit for 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and serve. 

Instant Pot Tortellini Soup

1. Follow step 1 for the stovetop method.
2. Press the saute button of your Instant Pot and let it heat for 2 minutes.
3. Follow step 2 for the stovetop method for sauteeing the onion, chicken, and garlic. 
4. Add in the wine and let it almost evaporate. Add the broth, bay leaf, and tortellini. Close the lid and turn the valve to "sealing". Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
5. When the cooking time comes to an end, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then carefully quickly release the remaining pressure. Take the lid off!
6. Add the tomato, and let rest for about 3 minutes. Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste, discard the bay leaf, and stir in the parsley. Serve hot!

What is Tortellini?

Tortellini is a ring-shaped stuffed pasta often filled with meat, cheese, or vegetables.

Modena and Bologna (the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy) dispute the birthplace of this pasta, which is often served in broth, especially on Christmas Eve.

Other ways to serve tortellini are with cream and butter, or in a tomato cream sauce.

The origin of its name comes from tortello, a diminutive of torta, which means pie in Italian. Tortellini are called so because they are filled just like little pies. 

Its larger version is Tortelloni, which has the extremities closed differently, and is filled with ricotta and sometimes parsley and spinach.  Unlike tortellini, tortelloni is cooked in water, stir-fried with butter and sage, and served dry.

Types of Tortellini

Tortellini pasta falls into the category of stuffed pasta.

Traditionally it is stuffed with Parmiggiano-Reggiano, egg, nutmeg, and a mix of pork loin, raw prosciutto, and mortadella. Most are available fresh! 

In American grocery stores, you may find it dry, refrigerated, or frozen. It comes in the following variations: 

• Cheese tortellini 
• Chicken tortellini (filled with minced chicken)
• Vegetable tortellini (usually filled with spinach)

This pasta is usually 'fatter' than ravioli. 

Difference Between Tortellini and Cappelletti

Tortellini and Cappelletti are not the same!

The difference between them is Cappelletti are made from squares of pasta while tortellini are made from circles and have different meat stuffing.

What is Tortellini in Brodo?

Tortellini in Brodo means “tortellini in broth.”

To make it, you just have to simmer the tortellini in a simple broth until the pasta is cooked through.

The broth is light yet full of flavor! 

Variations

• Creamy tortellini soup: Make tortellini in broth and add heavy cream at the end for a creamy broth, letting sit for about 3 minutes or until heated. 
• Sausage tortellini soup: Replace chicken with sausage rounds. You may use Italian sausage, hot or mild, or any other of your choice. 
• Spinach tortellini soup: You may add or replace the tomato with fresh baby spinach. You can also use tortellini filled with cheese and spinach. 
• Tomato Tortellini Soup: Ours already calls for tomato. 
• Cheese Tortellini Soup: Use tortellini filled with cheese only. 

What type of tortellini should I use?

This recipe calls for dried tortellini that you find on the shelves of your grocery store. 

However, you can use frozen or refrigerated tortellini. But be aware you will need to adjust the cooking time following the package instructions.

Alternatively, you may replace it with dried ravioli, adjusting the cooking time!

You may use tortellini filled with cheese only, chicken or other meat, spinach, etc.

How to serve this chicken tortellini soup?

You may serve it by itself as a main dish, a starter, or a side for a meat entree such as this crock pot pork loin.

What goes well with tortellini soup?

It is a light soup that pairs well with:  

• Bread: Garlic bread, hard-crusted such as this no yeast bread and Portuguese corn bread, focaccia, or breadsticks like this gluten-free breadsticks.
• Salad: A simple salad such as Caesar salad.
• Panini or Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Vegetables: Seasonal ones such as air fryer asparagus, air fryer Brussels Sprouts, or roasted carrots and parsnips. 

Expert Tips

• The longer the tortellini sits in the broth, the more it will absorb some of the liquid. If needed, add more broth to the soup. 
• Don't be afraid of adjusting the seasonings to your taste. It may require more salt if you use a low-sodium broth! 
• I prefer to use dried tortellini because it can hold its shape longer than a refrigerated one. Be aware frozen tortellini will tend to get mushy too quickly and fall apart in the soup. 
• This recipe will make enough to feed a family of 4, but you can always scale this recipe up or down depending on the size of your family and also how much leftover for lunch the next day you want to have.
• Reheat the soup on low heat preferably to not make the pasta mushy, or in the microwave at reduced power. You may need to add more broth! 
• Be free to customize your own by replacing chicken with sausage or other protein, adding or replacing veggies, or using tortellini filled with different fillings. 
• If you using shredded rotisserie chicken instead of raw chicken, add it to our tortellini in broth about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. If you add it at the beginning, it will become dry! 
• If replacing skinless chicken breast with sausage, you may have to remove excess oil or grease from the pot; otherwise, your broth soup will become full of oil/grease pools.
• For a creamy chicken tortellini soup recipe, add heavy cream after you remove the pot from the heat. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes in order to heat through. 

How to Store

Let the chicken tortellini soup cool and then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. 

Freeze either in airtight containers or gallon-sized freezer zipper bags. Because liquids expand when frozen, leave about an inch at the top of the bag to allow expansion. To avoid freezer burn, remove any excess air.

Lay the soup bags down in a flat single layer on cookie sheets and place them in the freezer on a level surface. After they are frozen, stack the bags up on their side in the freezer to save space.

Thaw in the fridge overnight.

Reheat over low heat on the stovetop or in the microwave at 60% power, avoiding overcooking any ingredients before heating through. 

Other Pasta Soups

• Black bean soup
• Ravioli soup
• One pot noodle soup

PIN & ENJOY!

Post first published on September 17, 2012.