Made with cooked chicken, canned beans, and an assortment of fresh vegetables, this easy Tuscan Chicken Soup is the perfect way to quickly serve healthy, delicious meals! It’s perfect for clearing extra veggies out of your fridge, yet it’s delicious enough you’ll want to make it again and again.
This Tuscan chicken soup is the perfect light one-pot meal. It’s easy enough for supper and perfect for a cozy fall lunch! Try it with some French bread, a green salad, or leftover rotisserie or spatchcocked chicken for a filling meal your whole family will love.
Why you’ll love this Tuscan Chicken Soup
- Quick & easy - Especially if you use cooked chicken, this soup will be ready from start to finish in about 45 minutes, and it makes enough for 6 servings!
- Inexpensive - Most of the ingredients in this soup are low-cost, everyday items like onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and canned beans. It’s a filling, affordable option for busy families!
- Perfect for leftovers - Since one pot makes 6 batches, this is a great soup to make on the weekend and serve for lunch or dinner later in the week!
Ingredients
- Olive oil - This will help you tenderize the garlic and onion and draw out their flavors.
- Cooked chicken - Use leftover rotisserie or roasted chicken for an easy meal.
- Garlic - Saute the garlic and onions in olive oil to bring out their aroma and flavor.
- Onion - Choose yellow onions for their pale color and slightly sweet flavor.
- Carrots - Slice your carrots into small rounds.
- Celery - Celery has a really savory flavor that makes the broth even more flavorful.
- Zucchini - Dice your zucchini into small cubes to cook evenly.
- Spinach - These greens will cook down and tenderize in the pot. Feel free to use kale, chard, or collards instead.
- Cannelini beans - These white beans add a creamy, meaty texture. Rinse the canned beans before adding.
- Chicken broth - Use either homemade or store-bought chicken broth.
- Seasonings - Add a bay leaf for a savory flavor. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Variations
- Make it spicy - Add a teaspoon of red chili flakes for a bit of heat.
- Add fresh herbs - If you want a little more flavor, add one-quarter cup of chopped fresh basil when you add the spinach.
- Add some pasta - This Italian-style vegetable soup is great on its own, but you can also add a cup of dried pasta for a thicker, heartier soup. Allow it to cook until al dente before serving.
- Squeeze some lemon juice - Chicken soups always taste great with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or a sprinkling of fresh herbs right at the end!
- Make creamy Tuscan chicken soup - blend the beans before you put them in the pot for a deliciously creamy soup.
How to Make Tuscan Style Chicken Soup
- Cook the garlic and onion in the oil until the onion is transparent.
- Add all the rest of the ingredients except the spinach and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until the carrots are crisp and tender.
- Stir in the spinach and continue to cook for about 5 minutes more until the spinach is nicely wilted. Serve immediately.
Expert Tips
- Don't rush the process - Although it’s tempting to speed up the process of cooking your garlic and onions, this adds so much flavor later on.
- Use frozen ingredients - If you have a lot of frozen veggies on hand, use those to shorten the cooking time and minimize your prep. Avoid overcooking your soup, or the veggies will become mushy.
- Season as you go - Salt enhances the flavor in your recipes, and it’s best to taste the broth several times as it’s cooking to ensure it’s perfectly seasoned.
Recipe FAQ’s
With their light broth base, most chicken soups fill you up briefly before you start craving something more substantial. Add canned beans or starch, like pasta, rice, or potatoes, to make your chicken soup even more filling. Add extra veggies for more fiber to tide you over. Consider serving your brothy soup with a side of extra protein or a little extra bread.
Although you don’t have to drain or rinse canned beans, many people prefer to do so to reduce the sodium or starches in their soup. For darkly colored beans like black beans or kidney beans, the bean liquid can also impart a purple or reddish tint that changes the color of the soup. If you’re sensitive to beans, rinsing can also help wash away the starches that can cause gas or indigestion.
This is a great recipe to slow cook in the instant pot or crockpot because the chicken is already cooked, and the vegetables will be able to soften slowly, infusing their flavors into the broth. It’s best to sautee the garlic and onions first, either by using the sautee function of your pressure cooker or cooking them in a pan before adding them to the slow cooker. Then, add the rest of your ingredients and allow them to slowly cook until the vegetables are perfectly tender.
More Chicken Recipes
- 9 Ways to Use Chicken Leftovers
- Mexican Chicken Soup
- Chicken Mulligatawny Soup
- Croatian Grilled Chicken
- Chicken Stir Fry With Peanut Sauce
- Southern Style Fried Chicken
Tuscan Chicken Soup Recipe
Author: Recipe Idea Shop
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups cooked chicken diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 2 14- ounce cans of chicken broth
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 1 14.5- ounce can of cannellini beans or any white bean, drained and rinsed
- 2 small zucchinis cubed
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups spinach packed, rinsed and torn; you can substitute collards or kale
Instructions
- Cook the garlic and onion in the oil until the onion is transparent.
- Add all the rest of the ingredients except the spinach and cook about 15-20 minutes, until the carrots are crisp tender.
- Stir in the spinach and continue to cook for about 5 minutes more, until spinach is nicely wilted. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (may vary depending on ingredients and amounts used)
