Marry Me Chicken Soup is a delicious blend of sun-dried tomatoes, creamy cheeses, rotisserie chicken, and orecchiette pasta in a rich broth, seasoned with garlic and spices, and fresh spinach. It’s a balance of creamy, savory, and slightly spicy flavors that is perfect for a cozy meal! This one-pot soup is so good that it could be the way to someone’s heart, for sure! If this is your kind of recipe, I also have Marry Me Chicken Pasta that you will want to make, too!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Before using, soak sun-dried tomatoes in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain, pat dry, and chop. Alternatively, use tomatoes packed in oil. If they’re pre-chopped, no need to soak—just drain and use!
Chicken Broth: Chicken broth serves as the base of the soup. If you don’t have chicken broth, you could experiment with a different flavor like beef or vegetable, but it may change the flavor profile a bit. You could also substitute chicken stock.
Cheese: Both cream cheese and parmesan cheese are added to the soup. Have some extra parmesan on hand for garnish!
Spinach: In the final minute or so of cooking the soup, add fresh spinach. It adds a pop of color and freshness! If using frozen spinach, let it thaw and squeeze any excess liquid from it before adding it to the soup. You may have to adjust the amounts.
Chicken: To make this a one-pot recipe, I used rotisserie chicken, which is already cooked. This means you just need to add it near the end of the recipe to warm it up! Or, add leftover shredded chicken if you have it handy.
Pasta: Orecchiette pasta, meaning ‘little ears’, is little round pasta with a shallow well, perfect for holding all of the delicious sauce! You could use pasta you have on hand, but adjust the cooking time as instructed on the package. Or, make homemade shaped pasta to use!
Red Pepper Flakes: For a little kick to each bite, I added crushed red pepper flakes. You can certainly leave those out if you don’t want any spiciness in the soup. Or, add more for even more heat!
What To Serve With The Soup
Several side dishes will complement the soup. Here are a few you may want to try:
- Crusty bread like a Baguette
- Garlic Breadsticks
- Garlic Knots
- Wedge Salad
- Roasted Potato Wedges
- Crostini
How To Store Marry Me Chicken Soup
To store Marry Me Chicken Soup, first, let it cool to room temperature. Next, store the soup in an airtight container (or containers if portioned out for easy-to-grab meals). Store the soup in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Can I Freeze Marry Me Chicken Soup?
Yes, you can freeze Marry Me Chicken Soup. To freeze, first, let the soup cool completely. Then, store it in a freezer-safe container, leaving a little room for expansion. The soup can be frozen for up to 2-3 months. When ready to enjoy, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Marry Me Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about ½ cup)
- ½ cup (about 8) sun-dried tomatoes, softened in hot water, drained, chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 8 cups (64 ounces) chicken broth
- 1 cup (238 g) heavy whipping cream
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened, cubed
- 1 cup (100 g) parmesan cheese, shredded
- 2 cups (280 g) rotisserie chicken, cubed
- 8 ounces orecchiette pasta
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup (30 g) fresh baby spinach
- parmesan, grated, for garnish
Instructions
- To a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil. Once hot, add the onion and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook until softened (about 3-5 minutes).
- Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in chicken broth and heavy whipping cream, stirring to combine.
- Add the cream cheese and parmesan, stirring continuously until the cheese is fully melted and the soup becomes creamy.
- Add the dry orecchiette pasta, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
- Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and cook, stirring occasionally until the pasta is cooked (14-16 minutes).
- In the last five minutes of cooking the pasta, add the rotisserie chicken. In the final minute, add spinach, cooking until the spinach wilts slightly.
- Serve hot, garnished with parmesan cheese.
Video
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What the Test Kitchen had to say about this recipe:
Autumn
This soup is rich and creamy and full of flavor! Perfect for a cold winter day!
Elizabeth
This is a delicious, creamy soup with lots of flavor! The ingredients blend so well for a comforting soup, especially for the upcoming cold weather!
Rachael
Wonderful soup! Hard to stop eating this but the flavor is fantastic! I especially love the sun-dried tomatoes in this.
Annabelle
This is a very flavorful soup, and the sun-dried tomatoes really add an extra level of flavor. I would definitely recommend making this one!
Selena
This is so very good. It seems so unassuming but there is a deep earthy, rich flavor to this that made me keep coming back for more! Definitely worth a try!
This soup was delicious !! I found the pasta a little over cooked in the leftover soup. The second time I made this recipe I cooked the pasta separately and added small amounts into the bowl before adding the hot broth. This allowed me to store the pasta and soup separately so each reheat I added only as much pasta as I would eat in one serving. Perfection.
We made this soup for ourselves and another family for a meal train! It was a huge hit with everyone. Absolutely delicious!
Great soup!!! I’m not a tomato fan so I put green bell pepper instead of tomato and added some broccoli for more veggies. Great soup!
Soup was great! Two questions.
1. “8 ounces orecchiette pasta.” is that by weight or volume? In other words, is it a cup, or half a one pound box? I just kinda winged it, & it was fine. But wondering what it’s supposed to be
2. I cut the cream cheese chunk into little quarter inch cubes, but they did not all melt into the soup, even after simmering for the 15 mins it took for the pasta to cook. It looks like I dumped some cottage cheese in there. Tastes fine though. what did I do wrong?
thanks!
Hi Ron-
The measurement “8 ounces orecchiette pasta” refers to weight, not volume. It means you should use 8 ounces of pasta by weight.
The recipe indicates that the cream cheese should be softened and cubed. If it is softened, it will absolutely be fully melted in 16 minutes.
Hope that helps!
Excellent soup. The pepper flakes add a nice heat to this creamy chicken soup.
Hi, this looks amazing! I am going to make it this weekend. Would like to make enough to share with a friend. Can you tell me how many servings the basic recipe is, please? Thank you! I love your recipes.
Can I make In a slow cooker?
Really? You put the cheese in at the beginning?
Yes.
This soup sounds awesome, our family would love it. Your other recipes also sound great.
Thank you for sharing.