Are you on the hunt for the ultimate easy weeknight dinner? A cozy, comforting, and incredibly delicious one-pot meal that the whole family will go crazy for? This amazing, 30-Minute Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup is your new weeknight superstar! We’re talking tender chicken, cheesy tortellini, and a rainbow of veggies, all swimming in a luscious, velvety, and perfectly spiced creamy broth. And the absolute best part? It all comes together in a single pot for the easiest cleanup ever!
This isn’t just another soup recipe; it’s a guide to your new secret weapon for those busy nights when you need a hearty, satisfying, and wholesome meal on the table in a flash. We’ll show you how to build a deep, complex flavor quickly, and the brilliant, healthy hack for creating an unbelievably creamy broth without a ton of heavy cream.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Recipe Overview: The Ultimate One-Pot Family Dinner
What makes this Chicken Tortellini Soup so spectacularly delicious is its incredible, rich flavor and its wonderfully simple one-pot preparation. This recipe is a masterpiece of family-friendly comfort food. The flavor foundation is a classic, aromatic blend of sautéed peppers and onions, seasoned with a warm, smoky mix of chili powder and cumin. The soup is loaded with tender, cooked chicken, protein-packed black beans, and sweet, fire-roasted corn. The true magic, however, is the brilliant technique of using blended cottage cheese to create an unbelievably creamy and velvety texture that kids and adults will love. The final, crowd-pleasing touch is the addition of soft, cheesy refrigerated tortellini, which cook to pillowy perfection right in the pot.
| Metric | Time / Level |
| Total Time | 35 minutes |
| Active Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Difficulty Level | Easy |
| Servings | 6-8 |
The Essential Ingredients for This Quick & Cozy Meal
This iconic dish uses a handful of smart shortcuts and high-quality ingredients to create its signature comforting and cheesy flavor.
- The Shortcut Superstars:
- Cooked Chicken: Using pre-cooked, diced or shredded chicken is a fantastic time-saver. A store-bought rotisserie chicken is a convenient and flavorful choice that makes this a true 30-minute meal.
- Refrigerated Cheese Tortellini: This is the key to a super-fast and kid-friendly meal! A package of your favorite fresh, refrigerated cheese tortellini cooks in just a few minutes and adds a wonderful, cheesy, and satisfying bite.
- The “Secret” Creamy Base (Blended Cottage Cheese!):
- This is the brilliant, healthy hack that makes this soup so special! When you blend cottage cheese in a blender, the curds completely break down, and it transforms into an unbelievably smooth, creamy, and tangy base that is a fantastic, high-protein, and lower-fat substitute for a large amount of heavy cream.
- The Vegetables & Spices:
- Fire-Roasted Tomatoes: Using a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes is a fantastic shortcut that adds an instant, deep, and smoky flavor to the soup with zero extra effort.
- Taco Seasoning: A classic, warm, and perfectly balanced chili spice blend of smoky chili powder, earthy cumin, and a hint of cayenne gives the soup a familiar, family-friendly taco night flavor.
Step-by-Step to the Best Creamy Tortellini Soup
This delicious, one-pot soup is incredibly simple to prepare.
Step 1: Sauté the Veggies and Spices
In a large Dutch oven or a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the 1 tablespoon of avocado oil over a medium-high heat. Add your 2 cups of diced bell peppers, your 1 cup of diced onion, and your 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. Sauté until the onions begin to soften.
Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon of chili powder, the 1 teaspoon of cumin, and the 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne on the vegetables. Stir well and continue to sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the spices are very fragrant.
Part 2: Simmer the Soup
Step 1: Add your 12 ounces of frozen corn, the 1 can of fire-roasted tomatoes (with their liquid), the 6 cups of chicken broth, and the 2 cups of diced, cooked chicken to the pot. Stir everything together and allow the soup to come to a low boil.
Step 2: Let the soup cook for about 5 minutes to allow all the delicious flavors to meld together.
Part 3: The Creamy Finish
Step 1: While the soup is simmering, prepare your creamy base. In a blender, blend your 1 1/2 cups of cottage cheese until it is completely smooth. Step 2 (The Secret to a Non-Curdled Sauce!): To temper the cottage cheese, add about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of the hot broth from your soup to the blended cottage cheese and whisk it vigorously. Pro Tip: This is a crucial step! By slowly raising the temperature of the cottage cheese before you add it to the hot pot, you are preventing it from getting “shocked” by the heat, which is the key that will keep your soup beautifully smooth and creamy, and prevent it from curdling. Step 3: Slowly pour the tempered cottage cheese mixture into the soup, stirring constantly until it is completely incorporated. Step 4: Add your 18 ounces of refrigerated cheese tortellini to the pot and let the soup continue to simmer gently for about 5 more minutes, until the tortellini is cooked through and tender.
Serve the hot, creamy soup immediately with a fresh squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
Chicken Tortellini Soup (A 30-Minute One-Pot Meal!)
A hearty and ‘protein-packed’ creamy soup featuring chicken and cheese tortellini with a Southwestern flair. The recipe uses a unique, healthy method to create a creamy base by blending cottage cheese until smooth. The soup starts with a flavor base of sautéed bell peppers and onions, seasoned with chili powder and cumin. This is simmered with chicken broth, fire-roasted tomatoes, corn, and cooked chicken. Refrigerated cheese tortellini and the blended cottage cheese are stirred in at the end to create a rich and satisfying one-pot meal.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 medium bell peppers, diced
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 12 ounces frozen corn
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken breast
- 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
- 18 ounces refrigerated cheese tortellini
- Lime juice and shredded cheese, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the peppers, onions, and garlic, and sauté until the onions begin to soften.
- Sprinkle the chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt over the vegetables. Stir well and sauté for another 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the frozen corn, the undrained fire-roasted tomatoes, the chicken broth, and the cooked chicken to the pot. Stir and allow the soup to come to a low boil.
- Let the soup cook for 5 minutes.
- While the soup is cooking, place the cottage cheese in a blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy.
- Temper the cottage cheese by whisking 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the hot broth from the soup into it.
- Slowly pour the tempered cottage cheese mixture back into the soup, stirring constantly until it is fully incorporated.
- Add the refrigerated tortellini to the soup and allow it to cook for 5 minutes, or according to package directions, until tender.
- Serve warm with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a sprinkle of shredded cheese, if desired.
Notes
- This recipe uses blended cottage cheese as a high-protein secret ingredient to create a creamy soup base without relying solely on heavy cream.
- Tempering the blended cottage cheese with a small amount of hot broth before adding it to the pot is a crucial step to prevent it from curdling.
- Using pre-cooked chicken and refrigerated tortellini are key shortcuts that make this a quick and easy weeknight meal.
Storage and Make-Ahead Tips
- Make-Ahead: For a super-fast and impressive weeknight meal, you can get a head start by chopping all your vegetables up to a day in advance.
- Storage: Store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The tortellini may absorb more of the broth as it sits.
- Reheating: The best way to reheat a creamy soup is to do so gently in a saucepan on the stovetop over a low heat. You may need to add a generous splash of broth or milk to loosen the soup and bring back its original, creamy consistency.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is the fastest way to make a creamy soup?
The secret is a brilliant shortcut like the blended cottage cheese used in this recipe! Unlike a traditional, flour-based roux which can take time to cook properly, this method allows you to create an instant, thick, and creamy base in your blender that you can simply stir into your soup at the end.
Q2: Can I make this soup with a different kind of pasta?
Yes, absolutely! If you don’t have tortellini on hand, this delicious and hearty soup is also absolutely fantastic with about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of a small, dry pasta shape, like ditalini, small shells, or elbow macaroni. You will need to add the dry pasta with the broth and let it simmer for about 8-10 minutes, until it is tender.
Q3: How do I get my kids to eat more vegetables in their soup?
This recipe is a fantastic “hidden veggie” superstar! By dicing the bell peppers and onions very finely, they will become very soft and will almost melt into the rich, creamy broth, making them virtually undetectable to picky eaters.
Q4: Can I freeze this soup?
Because this soup contains both dairy (cottage cheese) and pasta (tortellini), it is not an ideal candidate for freezing. The texture of both the cream-based broth and the tender tortellini can change significantly upon thawing and reheating, often becoming a bit grainy or mushy.
Q5: Is this soup very spicy?
As written, this soup has a very mild, gentle heat from the chili powder and the small amount of cayenne. For a completely kid-friendly, non-spicy version, you can simply omit the cayenne pepper. For those who like it spicier, you can add more cayenne or a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce!