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Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup has a thick and rich broth with shredded carrots, celery, chopped spinach, gnocchi and chicken hidden throughout. This tastes even better than Olive Garden!
Bring restaurant quality soup to your home. I just love the Italian flavors in the slow cooker pasta e fagioli soup or creamy zuppa toscana too, so be sure to give them a try!
Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
You guys are going to love the incredible creamy and rich broth. It is flavored with the perfect amount of seasonings and it even has one of my favorite herbs inside…. thyme. The added chicken and gnocchi (which I absolutely love) are so hearty. When you add in the freshness of the shredded carrots, celery, and spinach this soup is full of flavor! Put this on your list of must try soups! You will not regret it.
This chicken gnocchi soup is full of flavor in every bite. The combination of the vegetables, creamy broth and gnocchi give this soup 5 stars. It is simple to make and so delicious! Make this a complete meal by serving this favorite olive garden soup with homemade breadtwists and a side salad asparagus salad with lemon vinaigrette or antipasto salad.
Ingredients to Make Gnocchi Soup:
This Olive Garden Copycat recipe has been on my list of soups to make for a few years now. I love all of Olive Garden’s Soups but their Chicken Gnocchi soup is awesome. The best part is that it is so easy to make! It comes together in less than 20 minutes.
- Butter: Use the butter to make the roux.
- Olive oil: Add to the pan with the butter onion and celery and garlic.
- Onion: I keep frozen diced onion in my freezer so that I can easily add it to any dish.
- Celery: Diced celery gives this soup a great crunch and fresh flavor.
- Garlic cloves:Minced garlic adds a deep Italian flavor.
- All-purpose flour: The flour makes a roux which gives the soup its consistency.
- Half-and-half: The creaminess of this soup.
- Chicken broth: Add as much as you like depending on how thin you like your soup. For a thinner soup use more broth.
- Fresh thyme: Earthy and a little bit sweet, with a slightly minty
- Shredded carrots: I love the sweet flavor the carrots add!
- Spinach leaves: Chopped so that you don’t have big pieces in your spoonful.
- Chicken breast: Diced and cooked chicken. Cut into pieces before cooking so it will cook quicker. Cook it in a little bit of olive oil until it’s just done. Add a little salt and pepper to it if you like.
- Potato gnocchi: Hint- find this on the pasta isle.
- Salt and pepper: To taste!
How to Make Gnocchi:
Gnocchi is made from potatoes, flour, and eggs. It seems like an odd combination I would have never thought of, but I am so happy someone did! Although it does take time to make from scratch, making gnocchi can be so fun!
When I am in the mood and I have the time, I enjoy making it myself. However, it tastes great store bought too! If you are hoping to try it from scratch here is the breakdown:
- Boil Potatoes: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Peel potatoes and add to pot. Once cooked, scoop out inside.
- Combine: 1 cup mashed potato, flour and egg in a large bowl. Knead until dough forms a ball.
- Cook Gnocchi: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop in gnocchi and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until gnocchi have risen to the top; drain and serve.
Olive Garden Favorite Soup:
- Make a Roux: In a large pot add butter and olive oil. Over medium high heat sauté onion, celery and garlic until tender. Next, add the flour to create a roux and cook for another minute.
- Add In Liquids: Slowly add the half and half and chicken broth and stir until it starts to thicken.
- Spices and Ingredients: The thyme, carrots, spinach, chicken and gnocchi.
- Simmer: Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes or until gnocchi is cooked and soup is thickened. (If you want a thinner soup add another can of chicken broth.) Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.
Tips for the Best Chicken Gnocchi Soup:
- Gnocchi: It is best to use mini gnocchi if you can find them (or make them mini), they’re the perfect size for soup.
- Sauce: Don’t let the sauce get too hot or it can separate. Continually stir the sauce to prevent any separation.
- Spinach: For best results use fresh spinach. The frozen spinach will become mushy in the soup over a long period of time.
- Vegetables: Dice vegetables small and the same size to have them cook through evenly in time.
Variations:
- Substitutes for Gnocchi: A great substitution is pasta. The small shells or orzo are perfect for adding to this soup as well as rice.
- Protein: Substitute Italian sausage instead of chicken in the soup. Before adding it to the soup, brown the sausage at the beginning, then add it in.
- Vegetables: Sneak in extra vegetables like peas, zucchini or asparagus.
- Thicker Soup: Add extra cream to make it even richer.
- Chicken: To save time use pre-shredded, cooked chicken from the grocery store.
Slow Cooker Adaptations:
I would still definitely use cooked, diced chicken. Also, go ahead and sauté the veggies and garlic. Then put the chicken and veggies all together in the bottom of your slow cooker. Add the liquids and all the other ingredients except the gnocchi, half and half, and spinach. Cook on low for three to four hours, adding the gnocchi in for the last hour of cooking. Before serving, add the half and half and spinach and stir to combine. The spinach should wilt quickly. Serve.
How to Store Chicken Gnocchi Soup:
It is a bummer that this soup does not freeze well but it does reheat well. Place back on the stovetop and reheat on a low setting and slowly stirring it. This will help the soup from separating.
- Freezing: Unfortunately you cannot store this soup because of the dairy and gnocchi, it won’t freeze well. The gnocchi will become soggy and the dairy mixture will separate.
- Storing: If you are planning on lots of leftovers you can cook the gnocchi separately and add to individual servings.
Warm, Comforting Soups to Try:
- Creamy Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Crock-Pot Lentil Soup
- Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon
- Cheeseburger Soup
- The Best Broccoli Cheese Soup
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Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden Copycat)
Equipment
- Want to make this even easier? Here are a few products that I LOVE:
- Calphasdon Cookware Set
- Cuisinart Stainless Steel
- Chopper Utopia Kitchen Cookied
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 1 14 ounce can chicken broth for a thinner soup use 2 cans
- 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup fresh spinach leaves chopped
- 1 cup diced cooked chicken breast I used rotisserie
- 1 16 ounce package potato gnocchi on the pasta isle
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot add butter and olive oil. Over medium high heat sauté onion, celery and garlic until tender. Add the flour to create a roux and cook for another minute.
- Slowly add the half and half and chicken broth and stir until it starts to thicken. Add the thyme, carrots, spinach, chicken and gnocchi. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until gnocchi is cooked and soup is thickened. (If you want a thinner soup add another can of chicken broth.) Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Where can I find gluten free gnocchi ?
I’m in Australia, what is Half & Half, never heard of this before
Half and half is a mixture of half cream and half milk. You usually find in the dairy isle. Hope that helps!! XOXO
Perfect! My family loved it. Be careful if you use dried thyme. 1/2 was too much. I’m thinking homemade gnocchi next time.
That is great to hear!! Thank you so much!! Sometimes the dried thyme can be over powering! Glad you modified it to your liking!! Thanks for sharing! Xo
I posted below and whined about the soup and it’s very thymey flavor. MAYBE if I had read the replys I would have known NOT to use dried leaf thyme. So it was MY mistake NOT that of the recipe author! Alyssa, I am SO sorry that I said bad stuff about your soup when it was MY bad cooking NOT yours. I am sorry.
This recipe is amazing! I wouldn’t compare it to Olive Garden, it is even BETTER! I followed the recipe to a “T” and it was nearly perfect. I also added some nutmeg (I find that it enhances the flavor of any cream sauce), added a bit more chicken, also added a smidge of parmesan, and used homemade gnocchi and frozen spinach. This is my sons’ favorite soup–one all three can agree on!!! 🙂
Thanks for a great recipe. My entire family loved it.
Just tried this soup for the first time,not from Olive Garden,but an independently owned Italian restaurant,and it was awesome! I’m definitely going to use your recipe, but from the soup I just tasted they tweaked the thyme (I think they used a lesser amount than this recipe),and they added a hint of nutmeg…thanks for the recipe!
This will thicken like stew. Use two cans of chicken broth and it’s perfect.
Can this be frozen and reheated?
Hey made this dish for my family and boyfriend last night and it was absolutely beautiful tasted amazing and was my first time trying gnocchi and I’ve fallen in love with it ??
Just made this, an omg it’s delish, definitely saving this recipe, I did substitute the spinach with fresh basil leaves and it gave it a more exotic taste than Olive Garden, which I have frequently. I do suggest if using basil add little by little an taste I used half a cup, thanks for sharing the recipe.
Making this tonight I use oregano instead of thyme I am going to try the basil though thanks for posting
Do you have any recommendations for making this soup in a crock pot instead of stove top? If I were to make it in the crock pot, how long do you think I should cook it for?
I made this tonight and it was great! I used lactose free milk instead of half and half since my boyfriend is lactose intolerant, still pretty tasty! I used a sprinkle of dried thyme because it was so overpowering, I might not use it next time. I’ll also use 2 cans of chicken broth next time, the soup came out a bit too thick than I would have liked. Other than that, it’s a great recipe.
Is it OK to use ground thyme? I have no way to get fresh.
Prep time is off; takes longer than 5 min to shred carrots, chop chicken, celery,onion, minced garlic, measure milk/half/half, broth, chop spinach, measure/grate nutmeg, etc……
We added a tablespoon of thyme as the recipe called for and it overpowered the entire soup. With a smaller amount, it would’ve been great!
i was in the mood for this soup but didn’t want to have to go to olive garden to ear it. so happy i found this recipe it tastes terrific and it is quite simple to make. i had a little trouble finding the gnocchi but i googled them and found them at different stores (i used the archer farms brand ) the soup came out wonderfully , even my picky toddler raved about it.