Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup: Submitted by: Vickie | Date Added: 5 Oct 2016 Ingredients:

1½ pounds bone-in Chicken (breasts, legs, thighs, or any combination)
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped (1 bag of baby carrots ok)
3 stalks celery
1 medium onion, diced
Evolution, pat of butter
6-8 c water
1 can chicken broth
Salt, pepper, celery salt & garlic powder to taste.
Parsley, for serving
1 bag of tortellini (any kind)
1 bag fresh baby spinach

Cooking Instructions:

*First of all, I don't use an exact recipe for this and go by taste.
1. Saute onion & celery with a little evolution & a pat of butter in a large stock pot.
2. Add chicken and cover with water a chicken broth. Be sure to add enough liquid because you will be cooking your tortellini in it.
3. Season broth with salt, pepper, celery salt and garlic powder.
4. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer until chicken is done (about 20-25 minutes).
5. Remove chicken to cook.
6. Taste broth and adjust seasoning.
7. Remove skin, bones and shred chicken in separate bowl.
8. Bring broth back to a boil and add tortellini. Cook tortellini according to package (Usually 3-5 minutes for fresh and 10-15 minutes for dried).
9. Reduce heat & Add chicken and spinach; You can actually turn off heat because you only cook it long enough for the spinach to wilt.
10.Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

(Cook's note: Most of the time I make this, I use bone-in chicken and make my own chicken stock. I also prefer a mix of dark & white chicken because white meat tends to get dry reheated. I have cheated and used rotisserie chicken....pull the meat off the bone and shred. Use bones with a higher ratio of chicken broth instead of water. Otherwise, cook as directed above. This can also be made in the crockpot!
To cook in the crock pot: Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker except for the tortellini & spinach.
Cook on low for 6 hours. Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and shred or cube and add back to the slow cooker.
Add in the tortellini and cook for 15 minutes or until they are cooked all the way through. Add spinach to wilt.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with chopped parsley, if desired.
PS....This is the same chicken and stock recipe I use to make chicken and dumplings (less spinach), chicken noodle soup or chicken and rice soup! Just substitute the tortellini the for pasta of choice!)