Valentina's Corner This Chicken and Gnocchi Soup recipe is an Olive Garden copycat recipe and tastes just like the restaurant and is ready in under 30 minutes!
If you love Olive Garden recipes, try the Homemade Breadsticks and the easy Chicken Scampi recipes.
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup Recipe-
Do you enjoy the soup and salad from Olive Garden? It’s one of our favorite reasons to go there, especially for lunch. We’ve recreated their Zuppa Toscana and the Pasta Fagioli recipe and of course their famous Homemade Breadsticks, you can make them homemade.
Now, we finally share our version of their famous chicken gnocchi soup, which is my personal favorite. The gnocchi combined with chicken and veggies in a rich and creamy broth is so addictive and hard to stop at just one bowl.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe-
- Ready in under 30 minutes!
- Tastes just like the restaurants.
- Saves so much money.
- Enjoyed by kids and adults alike.
What you’ll need:
The ingredients for the chicken gnocchi soup are so simple. We try to keep the ingredients to a minimum yet achieve the classic flavor you expect from Olive Garden.
- Chicken- We used chicken thighs but you can use chicken breast.
- Gnocchi- Unless you want to make your own gnocchi, you can use your favorite store-bought
- Vegetables- For the classic vegetables, you’ll need onion, celery, and carrots.
- To saute- To saute everything, we used both butter and oil.
- Seasoning- Salt, pepper, basil, and thyme are the seasoning needed.
- Garlic- Freshly minced garlic adds so much flavor to the soup.
- Flour- All-purpose flour is used as the thickening agent in soup.
- Broth- We used chicken broth as the base of the soup. You can use regular chicken broth or low-sodium chicken broth.
- Half & half- To give the soup its richness, we used half and half.
- Spinach- Fresh spinach is the best in this recipe.
How to Make Chicken Gnocchi Soup-
This chicken and gnocchi soup comes together so quickly and is the perfect soup recipe all year round.
- In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook until tender.
- Add the carrots, celery, and butter, and cook until the carrots are tender. Stir in the garlic.
- Whisk in the flour.
- Add the chicken (uncooked), chicken broth, and seasoning, and bring to a soft boil.
- Add the gnocchi, bring to a boil again then reduce to low and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the gnocchi is cooked.
- Add the half and half, spinach and cook another one to two minutes until the spinach is tender.
- Serve and enjoy.
Frequently asked questions
You sure can use kale instead of spinach, add the kale 5 minutes before the soup is done cooking.
Yes, you can use chicken breast for skinless chicken thighs with great results.
Yes, this is a great way to use leftover rotisserie chicken. Cook soup per instruction and just add the shredded or cubed rotisserie chicken when you add the half and half.
Yes, heavy whipping cream will give you a richer soup. Just substitute it for the half and half with heavy cream and do not add the flour.
Yes, cauliflower gnocchi, it will only need 2-3 minutes to cook so add it when adding the spinach.
storing-
Fridge- Place leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freeze- Place any leftovers in freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheat- To heat place on stovetop over low heat and stir frequently until soup is reheated.
Other Olive Garden Favorites-
We absolutely love Olive Garden and so many of their recipes, here are all the copycat recipes:
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 carrots cubed
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 garlic clovces minced
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ pounds chicken (breast or thighs) cubed 1” pieces
- 16 oz potato gnocchi
- 2 cups half and half
- 1 cup fresh spinach chopped
seasoning-
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- ¼ tsp pepper, or to taste
- ½ tsp basil
- ¼ tsp thyme
Instructions
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Heat the olive oil in Dutch oven over medium heat, add onion and sautee until tender.
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Add carrots, celery and butter and saute another 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic.
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Quickly whisk in the flour.
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Add the chicken broth, chicken and seasonings, bring to a soft boil.
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Add gnocchi, bring to a boil again then reduce heat to low, simmer 12-15 minutes or until the gnocchi is fully cooked
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Add half and half and spinach, stir and cool 2 minutes.