Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup Recipe

5 from 3 votes

This Olive Garden gnocchi soup is a copycat recipe and it tastes better than the real thing!

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Total Time50

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 400kcal

Preheat a Dutch oven or another soup pot over medium heat and add about 2 tablespoons of canola oil.
Sear and cook chicken meat until just done and take it out of the pot. Set chicken aside for it to cool down enough for you to handle it.
While chicken is cooking, dice onion, celery, and shred the carrot.
Add another teaspoon of oil into the same pot and add diced onions, celery, and carrots. Cook vegetables until softened.
Dice chicken while vegetables are cooking.
Stir in minced garlic and cook until it's fragrant.
Add chicken back to the pot with vegetables, stir, and pour in chicken stock and milk. Lower the heat to medium low and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
Add seasoning and a sprig of thyme.
Optional: Parmesan rind cooked in soup will add great flavor so if you have a whole wedge of parmesan cheese, cut off the rind, and add it to the soup. (You will discard it with the thyme sprig later.)
Cook the soup until it comes to a simmer and them add gnocchi.
Cook just until gnocchi floats or according to the time on package instructions.
Stir in chopped spinach, grated Parmesan cheese, and heavy whipping cream. Cook for a few minutes, until spinach is wilted.
Take off heat right away and discard the sprig of thyme and Parmesan rind.

*Gluten free note: To make this soup gluten free, use gluten free gnocchi. Many stores (especially healthy grocery stores) carry gluten free gnocchi. If you can’t find them at your stores, you can make homemade gnocchi but substitute gluten free all purpose flour.
Storing: Store the leftover chicken and gnocchi soup right in the Dutch oven you cooked it in or in an airtight container, in the refrigerator. Make sure to COOL the soup to room temperature first and cover the pot with the lid if using the same pot. Stored properly, this soup should be good for about 3-4 days.
Reheating: You can reheat the individual portions in the microwave. If you need to reheat a lot at the same time, do it on stovetop in the Dutch oven over medium heat until warmed through.
Freezing: you would have to freeze it without gnocchi! You also want to freeze it without cream, milk, or spinach. So essentially, you will be making the soup half way in order to freeze it. Freeze soup in an air-tight freezer container and don’t fill the container all the way so there is room for soup to expand as it freezes. You can also freeze it in zip-lock freezer bags. Cook gnocchi in thawed soup while reheating.