Creamy Tortellini Spinach Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 1 medium Yellow onion, diced
• ⅓ cup All-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp Dried basil
• 2 Garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp Tomato paste
• 3 Tbsp Olive oil
• 4 cups Chicken broth
• 2 cans (14.5 oz / 411 g each) Petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1½ lb / 680 g Boneless chicken thighs, skinless
• 1 tsp Fine salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 4 cups Refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 3 cups, packed Fresh spinach, packed
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 cup Heavy cream

Method

1. Stir the onion, flour, dried basil, garlic, and tomato paste in a microwave-safe bowl. Drizzle on the olive oil. Heat until the paste looks thick, about 5 minutes, and stir it a couple of times so it does not scorch. A small skillet over medium heat does the same job. Scrape the paste into a slow cooker that holds at least 6 quarts.
2. Add the chicken broth, both cans of petite diced tomatoes with their juice, the chicken, the salt, and the black pepper. The linked list gives the chicken as 1 to 1½ pounds and marks it optional. This pot uses 1½ pounds, so the bowl is a chicken soup. Stir.
3. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours. The thickest piece of chicken should be cooked through, with no pink in the center, and it should shred with a fork. If it is still firm, give the pot more time.
4. Lift the chicken out. Stir in the tortellini, the spinach, the Parmesan, and the cream. Warm the cream first so it does not curdle in the hot soup. Shred or cut the chicken, then return it to the pot.
5. Cover and cook on high until the tortellini are tender, about 10 minutes, and longer if the pasta went in frozen. Ladle 8 bowls. That is the yield on the linked list. The soup keeps covered in the fridge for a few days. The pasta keeps drinking the broth, so add a splash of water when you reheat. That splash is not in the count.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. Counted as 1 of 8 bowls: the onion, flour, dried basil, garlic, tomato paste, olive oil, chicken broth, undrained petite diced tomatoes, raw chicken thighs, fine salt, black pepper, cheese tortellini, spinach, Parmesan, and heavy cream. Extra water at reheating is not in the count. The linked list says 8 servings and gives the chicken as 1–1½ lb, optional. This version uses 1½ lb and keeps 8 bowls. The spinach cup is the USDA raw cup, 30 g, so a tightly packed cup may be heavier than the count. The tortellini cup is scaled from the fresh cheese-filled row, 108 g per cup. Added sugars are 0. The sugars in the count come from the tomatoes, onion, broth, tomato paste, cream, and a small amount in the tortellini. That tortellini share is not split on the USDA row, and it is under 1 g per bowl.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Dairy-free

  The dairy is the heavy cream, the Parmesan, and the cheese in the tortellini. Use 1 cup of a plain dairy-free cooking cream, or unsweetened canned coconut milk, in place of the heavy cream. Skip the Parmesan or use a grated alternative you already cook with. Use tortellini whose package says it has no milk. Read those packages. Some add soy, and some group coconut with tree nuts. The soup will be less rich. This is a kitchen note, not a dairy-free certification.

• Gluten-free style

  The wheat is in the flour and the tortellini. Use ⅓ cup of a cup-for-cup blend whose bag says gluten-free, and tortellini from a package that says gluten-free. Boil the pasta in its own pot if you want it firmer, then stir it in with the spinach. Read the broth. Chicken, tomatoes, spinach, cream, Parmesan, olive oil, garlic, onion, basil, salt, and pepper do not call for wheat. This is a kitchen note, not a gluten-free certification.

• No chicken

  The linked list marks the chicken optional. Leave it out, or use 1½ lb / 680 g of boneless turkey thighs and cook them until the center is no longer pink. The bowl is no longer a chicken soup if you skip the bird.

• Egg-free pasta

  Standard cheese tortellini includes egg. Use a filled pasta whose package does not list egg if the bowl should skip eggs. The rest of the pot does not call for egg. This is a kitchen note, not an allergen clearance.

• Lower sodium

  Use a chicken broth labeled less sodium, no-salt-added diced tomatoes if you can find them, and ½ tsp salt instead of 1 tsp. The Parmesan and the tortellini are still salty. This is a kitchen note, not a low-sodium diet.