Tuscan Chicken Soup

Tuscan Chicken Soup is creamy, hearty, and bursting with rich, comforting flavor. Made with tender chicken thighs, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh vegetables, and Parmesan, it transforms simple ingredients into a restaurant-quality meal. Perfect for weeknights, this one-pot soup is cozy enough for family dinners yet impressive enough to serve guests.

Love More Soup Recipes? Try My White Bean Soup or this Italian Penicillin Soup next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This Tuscan Chicken Soup is pure comfort in a bowl, with tender chicken thighs that fall apart in a creamy Parmesan broth. The vegetables soak up all that rich flavor, making them just as irresistible as the chicken itself. Best of all, it comes together in one pot with minimal effort, yet tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen.

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Ingredient List

For the Soup Base:

• 1 lb chicken thighs, boneless (don’t use breasts, trust me)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped up
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 celery stalks, sliced thin

For the Broth & Body:

• ½ cup white wine (cooking wine from the box works fine)
• 4 cups chicken broth (low sodium or it gets too salty)
• 3 cups water
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 8 oz small pasta (shells, elbows, whatever)

For the Creamy Finish:

• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (not the powdered stuff)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 big handfuls baby spinach
• ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped up

For Thickening:

• 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tsp water

Why These Ingredients Work

Chicken thighs don’t get tough like breasts do when you cook them. They’re cheaper too. The butter browns the chicken and leaves good stuff stuck to the bottom of the pot. That’s where flavor comes from.

Wine helps get all that stuck-on stuff loose. Parmesan melts into the broth and makes it creamy without being heavy. Sun-dried tomatoes are like little flavor bombs – way better than regular tomatoes would be here.

Cornstarch keeps everything smooth. I used to use flour but it made the soup look cloudy and weird.

Essential Tools and Equipment

Big pot with a heavy bottom. Sharp knife. Cutting board. That’s about it. I use a wooden spoon but anything works.

How To Make Tuscan Chicken Soup

Step 1: Brown the Chicken

Salt and pepper the chicken. Heat butter in your pot until it stops foaming. Brown chicken on both sides – maybe 3 minutes per side. Don’t cook it through, just get some color. Take it out.

Step 2: Cook Vegetables

Same pot, turn heat down. Add onion, garlic, celery. Cook until onion looks soft, maybe 3 minutes. Stir so garlic doesn’t burn.

Step 3: Add Wine

Turn heat up high. Pour in wine. It’ll bubble like crazy. Use a spoon to scrape up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom. Let wine cook down by half.

Step 4: Add Broth and Pasta

Add broth, water, salt, pepper. Bring to a hard boil. Add pasta. Cook exactly what the box says, usually 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Step 5: Add Chicken Back

While pasta cooks, chop that chicken into small pieces. Add it back to the pot when pasta has about 5 minutes left. It’ll finish cooking.

Step 6: Make It Creamy

Turn heat to low. Add Parmesan and stir until melted. Mix cornstarch with water in a small bowl, then add to pot along with cream and spinach. Stir for a minute until spinach wilts and soup thickens.

Step 7: Serve

Put in bowls. Top with sun-dried tomatoes and a little of that oil from the jar. More cheese if you want.

You Must Know

This Tuscan Chicken Soup is packed with tender chicken, white beans, and hearty vegetables simmered in a flavorful herbed broth. It’s a rustic, soul-warming soup that tastes like it came straight from an Italian countryside kitchen.

Personal Secret: Don’t skip browning the chicken even though it’s annoying. All that brown stuff stuck to the bottom is pure flavor.

Biggest mistake: Adding cream while heat’s too high. It’ll curdle and look gross.

Shortcut I use: Buy rotisserie chicken when I’m lazy. Just shred it and add at the very end.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Thighs over breasts always. They’re more forgiving and taste better. Small pasta works best but I’ve used penne when that’s what I had.

Don’t have celery? Use carrots. Out of spinach? Kale works but cook it longer. No wine? Skip it, soup’s still good.

Taste at the end and add salt if needed. I usually need more than the recipe says.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Sometimes I add mushrooms with the vegetables. My husband likes Italian sausage instead of chicken. Sister-in-law uses turkey leftovers after Thanksgiving.

Want it lighter? Use milk instead of cream and add extra butter. Need it gluten-free? Rice instead of pasta works fine.

Make-Ahead Options

Here’s what I learned the hard way – don’t store pasta in the soup. It turns to mush. Make the soup base, store that. Cook fresh pasta when you want to eat.

Soup base freezes great for months. I portion it in freezer bags and pull one out when I need dinner fast.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

This recipe’s pretty flexible. I’ve forgotten ingredients and it still turns out fine. Soup too thin? Cook it uncovered longer. Too thick? Add more broth.

That cornstarch trick makes it look fancy instead of homemade chunky. My mother-in-law taught me that.

Serving Suggestions

I serve this with whatever bread I have around. Sometimes those frozen garlic bread loaves from the grocery store. My kids like crackers in it.

Goes good with a simple salad but honestly this soup fills you up pretty good on its own.

How to Store Your Tuscan Chicken Soup

Fridge: Keeps 4 days easy. Store pasta separate if you can remember to.

Freezer: Base without cream freezes perfect for 3 months. Add fresh cream when you reheat.

Reheating: Stovetop on low heat. Don’t microwave or the cream gets weird and separated.

Allergy Information

No dairy: Use olive oil instead of butter, skip cheese, coconut milk instead of cream. Different but still tastes good.

No gluten: Rice works instead of pasta. Or just make it without any starch.

Lower carb: Skip the pasta, add more vegetables instead.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

What is Tuscan chicken soup?

It’s basically regular chicken soup but fancier. Got that creamy base from Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes for flavor, and spinach. Tastes like something you’d get at an Italian restaurant but way easier to make.

Can you freeze Tuscan chicken soup?

Yeah, but freeze the base without the cream and pasta. Cream gets weird when frozen, and pasta turns mushy. I freeze it in portions for up to 3 months. Add fresh cream and cook new pasta when I reheat it.

Can Tuscan chicken soup be made dairy-free?

Sure can. Use olive oil instead of butter, skip the Parmesan, and coconut milk instead of cream. Won’t taste exactly the same but still pretty good. My lactose-intolerant neighbor makes it this way.

Slow cooker version?

Brown chicken first. Everything except cream, cheese, spinach goes in slow cooker. Add those last 30 minutes.

Can I prep ahead?

Make base without pasta. Way better texture when you cook fresh pasta later.

💬 Made this? Let me know how it went. Always curious what people change.