Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup A hug you can eat

Some days don’t need fixing. They just need soup.

This one starts the way all good things do — with butter in a hot pan.
It melts, sighs, and makes a sound that feels like relief.

Then the holy trinity of comfort walks in: onion, carrot, celery.
They sweat together, softening, surrendering their secrets. Garlic joins late, like a friend who always arrives with wine.

White wine if you’ve got it. Chicken stock if you don’t.
No one’s judging — not tonight.

The Build

Sprinkle in flour. Let it toast until it smells faintly of biscuits.
Add your broth, bay leaf, and everything starts to make sense.

You’ll toss in the chicken — rotisserie, leftovers, or whatever the week gave you.
Then the tortellini. Cheesy little lifeboats that rise to the surface when they’re ready to be rescued.

Finish with cream, lemon, peas, and parsley.
The soup thickens, the air changes, and for a few minutes, it feels like the world is less cruel than it was an hour ago.

The Secret

This isn’t just dinner.
It’s forgiveness simmered down to one pot.

Use whatever wine you’ll drink.
Use real butter.
Add greens if you need to feel better about yourself.
There’s no wrong way to make something that loves you back.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ tsp Italian seasoning
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup dry white wine (or more stock)
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 9 oz refrigerated three-cheese tortellini
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley

Directions

1. Melt butter in a heavy pot over medium heat.
2. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until soft and honest.
3. Stir in garlic and seasoning — breathe deep.
4. Whisk in flour until it turns gold.
5. Add wine; scrape up the browned bits. That’s where the story lives.
6. Pour in stock and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then let it calm itself for 10 minutes.
7. Add chicken and tortellini. Cook until the pasta floats.
8. Stir in cream, peas, lemon juice, and parsley.
9. Taste. Adjust. Forgive. Serve hot.

Optional Truths

• Freeze the soup without the tortellini or cream — add them fresh when you reheat.
• Substitute greens, toss in spinach, or kale if your body’s begging for something green.
• Pour yourself the rest of the wine. It’s part of the recipe.

Final Line

There’s food that fills you.
And then there’s food that brings you back.

This soup?
It’s both.