Creamy Italian Chicken Soup

This is the perfect hearty and non tomato italian soup. It's savory and creamy with so much flavor! We ate it for dinner, and I ate it for lunches through the week. The longest part of making this meal is all the chopping! I used this chopper to help cut my time down, which is super helpful. I also doubled this recipe for a freezer meal. I didn't cook the freezer meal though. I just did all the chopping and prep work with the seasonings for a quick dinner on another day. I will just need to add broth, half and half, cream cheese, and pasta when its time!

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Creamy Italian Chicken Soup

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 oz chopped Pancetta

2 tbsp butter

1 yellow onion (diced)

4 large celery stacks or 6 medium/small (diced)

4 large carrots or 6 medium/small (diced)

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (thinly sliced)

1 tbsp italian seasoning

1/2 tbsp salt

1/2 tbsp pepper

1 cup half and half

1 - 32 oz carton or 4 cups of chicken bone broth

4 oz cream cheese (half the block)

4 cups chopped kale

16 oz tortellini or saccottini

Directions:

Sauté the chopped pancetta in a large dutch oven on high heat. Remove from the pot and set aside. Add 2 tbsp butter and the onion. Mix together, reduce the heat to medium high and put the lid on the onions to slightly carmelize, let the onions sweat and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasional and puttin the lid back on. When the onions start to have a deeper color, add the celery, carrots, and garlic. Sauté those together for a few minutes. Add the sliced chicken to the pot and stir until cooked. Add the italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Once the chicken is cooked through, add the bone broth. Bring to a boil. Scoop out about 1 cup of liquid from the soup to a blender, add the cream cheese to the liquid, blend until smooth, and add back into the soup. Add half and half and kale. Stir together. Reduce heat to simmer. Put the lid on. Stir occassionally until ready to serve.

Boil your pasta according to the package directions. Scoop the soup into a bowl, add as much pasta as you want, top with the pancetta. Enjoy!

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P.s. Here is a great cooking tutorial!

-Michal