Chicken Gnocchi Soup

There’s no soup better and more filling than Chicken Gnocchi Soup! It’s creamy, packed with the most delicious seasoned chicken, and filled with fluffy gnocchi. If you this is your favorite item from the menu at Olive Garden, now you can make it at home and even better!

If you’ve never had gnocchi in a soup, you’re definitely missing out. It not only makes for a delicious “pasta” dish but it adds so much texture to a soup, especially if you’re looking for a more hearty recipe. Usually I consider soup as an appetizer or starter but with the chicken, all the veggies, and the gnocchi, this feels more of like a meal to me! Let’s make it.

How to Make the Soup

There are three parts to making this: the chicken, the gnocchi, and the base of the soup!

First up, THE CHICKEN:

This is where we get to incorporate a lot of flavor into this soup with some very well-seasoned juicy chicken. We will be using chicken breast and marinating it with the following ingredients:

• olive oil
• italian seasoning
• lemon pepper
• smoked parpka
• garlic powder
• salt
• black pepper

In a bowl, add the chicken breast, olive oil, Italian seasoning, lemon pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Mix to marinade evenly.

Heat an oiled skillet or pan over medium-high heat.

Add the marinated chicken to the pan and cook on each side until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes each side, depending how thick the breast is. Then drop the heat to low and allow the chicken to cook through to the center or the temperature registers 165°F. Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Chop the chicken into cubes now and set aside. If you prefer shredded chicken in the soup instead of cubed, feel free to shred it.

After the chicken, it’s time to make the SOUP BASE which is so creamy and dreamy!

Here are all the ingredients you need for this step:

• butter
• olive oil
• garlic
• carrots
• yellow onion
• celery
• chicken broth
• half and half
• flour
• spices
• parsley
• basil
• parmesan

Start by sautéing the garlic, chopped carrots, diced onion, and chopped celery in a little bit of butter and oil in a large pot. Cook just until the onions are softened. Then add the chicken broth. Combine the half and half with flour by whisking together in a bowl and then add to the pot. The flour acts as a thickener for the soup just to make it a bit more creamy. Mix all together and then add the following spices to season it up: black pepper, Italian seasoning, sweet paprika, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, and salt. Cover and let it simmer for 30 minutes just for flavors to meld in nicely.

After 30 minutes, take off the lid and add parmesan, parsley, red pepper flakes, basil, and the gnocchi. Mix together and let the gnocchi cook for about 9 minutes or until soft. The last step is to toss some spinach in there, taste the soup, adjust any seasoning, and take off the heat to enjoy!

Variations to Try

• If you want to save time, you can buy a rotisserie chicken, shred it up, and add to the soup instead of making the chicken from scratch although this won’t have as much flavor.
• Feel free to cook some chopped bacon up and add it to the soup as well. You can also cook it at the start and use the bacon fat to sauté the veggies at the start of the recipe. Another option is to just add some on top as a garnish.
• To make this even lighter, you can swap the half and half with milk or to make it even more creamy, you can use heavy cream!

Other Soup Recipes to Warm Up To

• Butternut Squash Soup
• Creamy Tomato Soup
• Broccoli Cheddar Soup
• Zuppa Toscana Soup

If you tried this recipe and loved it, drop by down below and let me know how you liked it with a rating and comment! Feel free to also leave a question there about this recipe and I’ll get right back to it.

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