How do I store leftovers of this chicken tortellini? Can this be put in the freezer too?

Store any leftover pasta in an airtight container and place in the fridge. This should be consumed within 3-4 days. If you want to freeze this, put the pasta dish in a freezer-safe container, making sure the seal of the container is air tight. Place in the freezer for up to two months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or add to a large pot with 1/4 cup water on medium heat.

Can I add sun-dried tomatoes to this tortellini pasta?

If you want to make this dish taste more like a "Marry Me" pasta, you can absolutely add in sun-dried tomatoes. I personally don't love sun-dried tomatoes, but feel free to throw them in!

What is a good substitute for chicken in this recipe?

If you are not a huge chicken fan, you can swap in ground pork sausage (I would opt for the sweet Italian over the spicy Italian), ground turkey, or you honestly can just omit the meat altogether.

Creamy Chicken Tortellini Pasta Recipe

Name: Creamy Chicken Tortellini Pasta Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 lb chicken breast (boneless skinless; diced); 1 tsp flour; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp pepper; 1 tsp paprika; 2 tbsp olive oil (divided); 3 cloves garlic (finely sliced); 1 medium shallot (minced); 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 cup heavy cream; 1/2 cup chicken stock; 1 cup fresh baby spinach; 1 lb tortellini; 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

TL; DR Recipe Rundown

👩🏼‍🍳 Cook Level - Easy/Beginner

⏱️ Cook Time - From start to finish, it'll take 30 minutes!

😋 Taste - Creamy, rich, decadent, cheesy. All of my favorite flavors!

🍽️ Best Paired With - Make a simple fresh salad with mixed greens for added veggies, toast up some herbed garlic bread, and make a batch of chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

Tried and True Tips and Tricks

Cook the pasta al dente, meaning "to the tooth" or "to the bite", so the pasta has a chew rather than being flimsy and overcooked.

Ladle the tortellini directly into the pan with the sauce, chicken, and spinach instead of straining. Ladling the tortellini will leave some starchy pasta sauce on the tortellini itself and naturally make the sauce a little thicker and tastier.

Measure out the olive oil so that the sauce doesn't get to oily as you layer in the other ingredients.

Watch the garlic and shallot in the pan as you sauté. If left unattended for longer periods of time, the garlic and shallot will burn, You want a light sauté, just until you can smell it in the pan.

The sauce should coat the back of a spoon. That's when you know it's thick enough.

Important Ingredients

ingredients to make creamy chicken tortellini pasta.

Tortellini Pasta - delicious little filled pastas with ricotta cheese. Tortellini is perfect for this recipe.

Chicken Breast - we are using diced boneless, skinless chicken breast for this recipe.

Garlic - you don't need to mince the garlic, but finely slice it enough that it cooks and renders down.

Shallot - shallots are such a fun onion to use in recipes, they are actually my favorite from the onion family.

Tomato Paste - one tablespoon of tomato paste helps give the blush color of this cream sauce.

Heavy Cream - we use full heavy cream in this recipe to give the sauce structure, thickness, and lots of flavor.

Chicken Stock - the chicken stock is part of building the sauce and adds flavor.

Spinach - I love adding spinach into pasta recipes especially with a blush sauce.

Parmesan Cheese - a little parmesan cheese mixed in at the end really brings out the creaminess of the sauce, and also helps to thicken it.

Chicken Tortellini Swaps and Subs

Use a different cut of chicken like a boneless, skinless chicken thigh instead of chicken breast.

Feel free to switch out the heavy cream for regular milk or half and half.

If you don't want to have spinach in this, you can omit and add other vegetables like cauliflower, sun-dried tomatoes (hello marry me chicken tortellni), or even asparagus.

How to make creamy chicken tortellini

diced chicken breast tossed in a bowl with paprika, flour, salt, and pepper.

Step 1: Dice the chicken breast and add to a bowl. Coat with flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Toss to combine, then set aside.

pan seared diced chicken breast in a large pan with oil.

Step 2: Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a large frying pan on medium heat. Sear the chicken in the olive oil for 4-5 minutes or until all the chicken has been fully cooked through. Remove and set aside.

shallot, garlic, and tomato paste in a large frying pan.

Step 3: In the same pan, add the remaining olive oil, then sauté the garlic and shallot on a medium flame, cooking for 3-4 minutes until fragrant.

heavy cream and chicken stock in a large frying pan mixed together with tomato paste, garlic, and shallot.

Step 4: Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Pour in the chicken stock and heavy cream. Leave to sit on a medium heat until the sauce come to a rolling boil (bubbles will begin to form), then stir occasionally. Bring to a simmer on a low flame.

spinach added to the cream sauce in a large frying pan.

Step 5: Add in the spinach and stir to wilt directly into the sauce, this should take no longer than 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat.

tortellini pasta in a large pan with chicken in a cream sauce.

Step 6: Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt to the pasta then pour in the tortellini. Cook until al dente and add to the sauce, along with the chicken. Stir to combine and coat the pasta and the chicken.

Stir in parmesan cheese and serve.