This Italian Chicken Soup is comforting, flavorful, and packed with wholesome ingredients that nourish your soul from the inside out. It includes tender chicken, carrots, celery, and onions cooked in a tomato and chicken broth seasoned with delicious Italian seasoning to create one of the best Sicilian chicken soup recipes you’ll ever eat.
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This Italian Chicken Soup recipe happens to be an old family favorite. My mom was the one who taught me how to make this one, and her grandmother made it before that.
However, I’ve recently learned that Carrabas makes a Sicilian chicken soup recipe that is very similar, and everyone loves it. So, this can also serve as a copycat version of Carraba’s chicken soup.
Other healthy chicken soup recipes we love are Chicken Enchilada Soup, Chicken Tortellini Soup with Spinach, Buffalo Chicken Soup, Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup, and Easy Chicken tortilla soup.
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Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- One-pot! Everything cooks in one pot for easy preparation and clean-up.
- Delicious. Adding tomato sauce and Italian seasoning makes this Italian chicken soup the most flavorful recipe.
- Nourishing. There’s no better soup to eat when feeling under the weather. It’s also low carb, high-protein, and naturally gluten-free if you leave the pasta out or use gluten-free pasta.
- Make-ahead. Make this on Sunday for the week, or freeze it for dinners down the road.
Ingredients
- Onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. This is the base for this Italian chicken noodle soup recipe.
- Italian seasoning. This homemade Italian seasoning is my favorite to use in Italian recipes; you can also purchase store-bought Italian seasoning. If you don’t have either, swap in some dried oregano and dried basil.
- Chicken breast. My mother and grandmother used bone-in chicken breasts with the skin. However, I don’t particularly appreciate finding bones in my soup, so I stick with boneless chicken breasts.
- Chicken stock. High-quality chicken stock will give this Italian chicken soup the best flavor. You can also use chicken bone broth to get more nourishing benefits.
- Canned tomato sauce. This is the key ingredient to turning a chicken soup Italian; tomato sauce gives the soup a rich, delicious flavor.
- Small pasta. You can enjoy this soup without noodles but serving it over a small pasta like ditalini pasta or small pasta shells is outstanding. Orzo pasta works too.
- Parmesan cheese. Grating fresh parmesan cheese is the perfect last layer of flavor to a hot bowl of Italian chicken soup.
How to Make Italian Chicken Soup
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven or large pot. Add the carrot, celery, and onion and saute until the onion is translucent about 5 minutes. The carrots and celery will continue to cook in the broth.
- Stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning; cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken breast with veggies, and then pour the chicken stock and tomato sauce into the pot. Give the soup ingredients a couple of stirs.
- Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
- Carefully remove the chicken and set it aside until it’s cool enough to handle. Shred or chop the chicken into small bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken back into the soup and cook for another 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft—taste for salt and pepper.
- Prepare the pasta separately according to the package instructions.
- Place about 1/4 cup of pasta into a bowl and then ladle the soup over the top. Grate fresh parmesan cheese over the top.
Supplies
- 5 ½ quart Dutch oven.
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
Substitutions
- This chicken soup is very versatile; you can add just about any vegetable to it. I’ve added leeks, mushrooms, broccoli, green bell pepper, zucchini, spinach, and kale to this Italian chicken soup in the past.
- Use a low-sodium chicken broth or stock if you’re watching your sodium intake.
- You can serve this soup with regular or gluten-free pasta. I don’t recommend cooking pasta with the soup; this will make the pasta mushy. Instead, cook it separately and add it to individual bowls when ready to eat.
- Use diced tomatoes. I love the richness of tomato sauce in this recipe, but if you want more texture, add a can of diced tomatoes. You can also use fire-roasted diced tomatoes for extra flavor.
- Fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary or fresh basil add a nice flavor.
Serving suggestions
A slice of crusty Italian bread or garlic bread is the best side to serve with a hot bowl of Italian chicken soup. If you’re gluten-free, you need to make this gluten-free garlic bread.
I also love serving Italian chicken soup with fresh ground black pepper, it’s delicious!
Storage Tips
This Italian Chicken Soup stores and reheats perfectly, so it’s great to make ahead of time for a healthy dinner during the week or later. Whether you store it in the fridge or freezer, I recommend keeping the pasta separate, so it doesn’t get mushy.
For the week. After the soup cools, place it into an airtight container and store it in the fridge. Reheat the soup on the stovetop or in the microwave.
For the freezer. After the soup cools, place it into an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze for 4 to 6 months. I recommend freezing the soup into portion-control servings, making it easier to have dinner or lunch ready to cook. You can also use Souper Cubes to freeze the soup into individual portions. Reheat the soup on the stovetop or microwave. To reduce the cooking time, take the soup out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. See more of my tips on freezing soup.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
See all of my healthy soup recipes.
Italian Chicken Soup
Equipment
- 5 1/2 quart Dutch Oven or Large Pot
- sharp knife
- cutting board
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup chopped white onion about 1 medium
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups chopped peeled carrots
- 2 cups chopped celery stalks
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts about 3-4 chicken breasts
- 1 32-ounce chicken broth
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- 16 ounce Ditalini pasta or any small pasta
- Grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven or large pot. Add the carrot, celery, and onion and saute until the onion is translucent about 5 minutes. Please note that the carrots and celery will continue to cook in the broth.
- Stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning; cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken breast with veggies, and then pour the chicken broth and tomato sauce into the pot. Give the soup ingredients a couple of stirs.
- Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Carefully remove the chicken and set it aside until it's cool enough to handle, about 3-5 minutes.
- Shred or chop the chicken into small bite-sized pieces.
- Add the chicken back into the soup and cook for another 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft—taste for salt and pepper.
- Prepare the pasta separately according to the package instructions.
- Place about 1/4 cup of the cooked pasta into a bowl and then ladle the soup over the top. Grate fresh parmesan cheese over the top.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
Have you tried this Italian Chicken Soup recipe yet? If so, I’d love for you to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. We all learn from each other’s experiences. Also, it would be awesome if you could share a picture on Instagram and tag it #organizeyourselfskinny. I can’t wait to see it.
Trudi says
I posted a comment but forgot to rate this! 5 Star plus!!
Tammy Overhoff says
Yay! That makes me so happy. This is my grandmothers recipe and one I make often especially when sick.
Trudi says
I could not believe how much flavor this soup has, with so little ingredients! We loved it, and highly recommend this to anyone. Especially those trying to lose weight or doin WW like me.
Meg says
Hey Tammy,
Making this soup right now. Instruction #1 has a typo, I think. It says garlic and I think it should be onion.
“In a 5½ quart stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add in the chopped garlic and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.”
Love your website and the emails.
Tammy Kresge says
Thank you! I will fix this right now!