Post by gracoman on Feb 10, 2019 15:16:20 GMT -5
I was charged with making Upvote Soup.
The real name of this ridiculously delicious concoction is "Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini, Spinach and Chicken Soup" but that's not the end of it. Reddit people have added, subtracted and reworked the recipe many times so I waded through many Upvote Soup changes before deciding on just how I was going to make this.
The original recipe, found here is as follows:
Description
A creamy tomato soup with cheesy tortellini and chicken and then a pop of color from the bright green spinach.
Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp dried basil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 to 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups frozen cheese tortellini (or you can use fresh)
3 cups packed spinach (you can definitely add more than this if you want)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup heavy cream or 1 cup half and half
Instructions
In a microwave-safe bowl add the onions, flour, basil, garlic, tomato paste and drizzle with olive oil. Microwave for 5 minutes, stirring every 90 seconds or so. (The mixture will be pasty and look weird but don’t worry it will all be okay in the end). Add the mixture to the slow cooker*.
Add broth, tomatoes, chicken, salt and pepper to the slow cooker. Stir.
Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours (or until chicken is very tender).
Remove the lid use a fork to remove the chicken out of the slow cooker. And add in tortellini and spinach, Parmesan cheese and warmed cream (cream should be warmed because it may cause curdling if added in cold).
Anyone spending any time on Reddit will recognize the term upvote. Posts there can be upvoted or downvoted. I'm not familiar enough with the reasoning behind this but it may, or may not relate to Reddit gold, or Reddit karma. Sorry, but I don't know what those things are either. What I do know is that if Reddit has renamed a soup "Upvote Soup" it must be one heavily upvoted recipe.
Google "Upvote Soup" and see for yourself.
The real name of this ridiculously delicious concoction is "Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini, Spinach and Chicken Soup" but that's not the end of it. Reddit people have added, subtracted and reworked the recipe many times so I waded through many Upvote Soup changes before deciding on just how I was going to make this.
The original recipe, found here is as follows:
Description
A creamy tomato soup with cheesy tortellini and chicken and then a pop of color from the bright green spinach.
Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp dried basil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 to 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups frozen cheese tortellini (or you can use fresh)
3 cups packed spinach (you can definitely add more than this if you want)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup heavy cream or 1 cup half and half
Instructions
In a microwave-safe bowl add the onions, flour, basil, garlic, tomato paste and drizzle with olive oil. Microwave for 5 minutes, stirring every 90 seconds or so. (The mixture will be pasty and look weird but don’t worry it will all be okay in the end). Add the mixture to the slow cooker*.
Add broth, tomatoes, chicken, salt and pepper to the slow cooker. Stir.
Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours (or until chicken is very tender).
Remove the lid use a fork to remove the chicken out of the slow cooker. And add in tortellini and spinach, Parmesan cheese and warmed cream (cream should be warmed because it may cause curdling if added in cold).
On a cutting board, shred or cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Add the chicken back into the slow cooker. Put the lid back on and cook on HIGH for about 10 more minutes, or until the tortellini are cooked through. Ladle into serving bowls and enjoy!
In addition to the other ingredients I used:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 pound Italian sausage without casings. Fried in a skillet and broken up into bite-sized chunks while cooking. Deglazed the pan w/white wine and poured into the cooker.
1 pound fresh button mushrooms sauteed
3 tsp crushed red peppers for some kick
2 tsps dried thyme
2 tsp fennel seeds
Way more garlic (8 cloves?)
More freshly cracked black pepper
5 cups chicken broth
An entire bag of baby spinach
A rounded full cup of freshly grated Parmesan
Fresh tortellini
I did not add the tortellini to cook in the soup base as called for in the recipe, but instead cooked it separately so leftovers wouldn't turn into mush. I do the same with any noodle soup
Everyone owes it to themselves to put this soup together. Winter comfort food at its finest. And you certainly don't need to make this soup in a slow cooker. Stove top should be fine and much faster to boot. Next time I believe I'll caramelize the onions separately but the microwave technique worked fine and it sure was easy.
Upvote soup complete in my 7 qt slowcooker.
I didn't get any plated pictures so I'll just use the finished pic from the original recipe. Mine looked exactly the same but I'm sure it tasted better.