Lean ground chicken, Italian seasoning, garlic, and Calabrian peppers join forces with your favorite pasta, green peas, and a low fat lemon ricotta cheese sauce to make this high protein creamy ground chicken soup. It’s perfect for busy weeknight dinners or even Sunday meal prep, with its giant 13-ounce serving sizes packed with 41 grams of protein each.
Serve this creamy Italian soup with a slice of garlic bread and a Caesar salad to round out a meal that’s guaranteed to leave you absolutely stuffed without any thoughts of dessert.
I’ve included a recipe video tutorial and printable recipe card below with notes for ingredient substitutions, nutrition facts modifications, and more. If you have a question about this creamy Italian soup with ground chicken, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments at the bottom of this post.
Okay, if you’re looking for more one pot soup recipes, be sure to check out some of my other recipes before you go:
- Tex Mex ground beef and potato soup
- creamy taco soup
- Mexican cauliflower rice soup
- chipotle vegetable beef soup
- Tex Mex hamburger and potato soup
- creamy white bean chicken soup
And as always, I seriously appreciate recipe reviews if you make this chicken soup and enjoy it!
Creamy Italian Ground Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- ½ Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 pound Ground Chicken
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
- 3 cloves Garlic, crushed or minced
- 1 Tablespoon Chopped Calabrian Peppers*, optional
- 4 cups Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
- 8 oz Farfalle or Bowtie Pasta
- 1 cup (170g) Frozen Peas
- 2 oz Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan, freshly grated
For the Ricotta Sauce
- 1¾ cup (15oz) Low Fat Ricotta
- ½ cup Milk
- Juice of 2 Lemons + Zest of 1 Lemon
- Black Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Once hot, add the ground chicken and leave untouched for 3-4 minutes to brown one side before breaking apart and fully cooking.
- To the fully cooked chicken, add the Italian seasoning, garlic, and Calabrian chiles. Stir everything together and cook for 30-60 seconds until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add a few tablespoons of the chicken broth to deglaze the pot, if necessary, before adding the pasta and remaining broth. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes.
- While the pasta cooks, add the ricotta sauce ingredients to a food processor or large cup to blend with an immersion blender. Blend together until smooth and set aside.
- Once the pasta has cooked for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the cover from the pot. Add the frozen peas and stir into the soup, bringing the peas up to temperature and slightly cooling the soup. Once the peas are incorporated, add the ricotta sauce and stir everything together. Finally, stir in the grated cheese.
- Serve immediately while warm. Garnish with additional grated parmesan, Calabrian chiles, black pepper, fresh basil, and a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired. (If you’re not serving right away, place the soup over a low heat to keep warm.)
Are you cooking the pasta before or adding it to the pot uncooked?
Straight in the pot uncooked.
Hi! This sounds delicious! Do you think cottage cheese could work in place of ricotta? My hubby is lactose intolerant and there’s a lactose free cottage cheese which sounds like it may be better than a dairy free ricotta lol
I’ve actually made it with blended cottage cheese. It’s good!
Thank you for the recipe! Have made it twice now and it’s delicious! My kids love it!
I appreciate the recipe but I needed to make several modifications. First and foremost there just was not enough depth of flavor. Most likely due to not being simmered long enough. Therefore , that said , it needed salt to bring out more flavor so I added it as well as chopped sautéed onions and garlic powder. I then simmered it without the pasta for a little over an hour. It was then more flavorful. Thank you.
Does this soup reheat well? Do you have recommendations for reheating?
It does! I typically refrigerate 2-3 serving portions and microwave for 3-4 minutes.
This was delicious but I had to double the amount of broth!
Is it possible to just use Italian sausage for this instead of the chicken with Italian seasoning? Thanks!
Yes, that would work fine if you’re not concerned about the extra calories.
This was so yummy!!! I added salt to taste, cayenne, and a little more broth. The creamy ricotta and the lemon were amazing!! Thank you for sharing.
I’m not sure if my lemons just had lots of juice but this recipe came out almost unbearably lemon-y unfortunately. I cut through it by adding a hot sauce but sad about this. The ricotta sauce is such a great idea though.
Sooo yummy! I made with cottage cheese instead of ricotta, left out the Calabrian chiles and topped with hot tomato oil. Delish! Looking forward to eating this all week.