This Chicken Gnocchi Soup is cozy, deliciously thick and creamy, and loaded with chicken, potato gnocchi, carrots, celery, onion, and spinach. We were inspired by Olive Garden’s insanely popular chicken and gnocchi soup, but we decided to give this copycat recipe a healthy spin. We made some simple substitutions to lighten up this fan favorite, making it guilt free and keeping it budget friendly.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- It’s healthy and indulgent. You get both ends of the spectrum with this soup. It is deceptively healthy, even though it feels indulgent. The creamy, thick broth is made from evaporated milk, cashew milk (or 2% milk), and flour (to thicken). No heavy cream or half and half required. So it’s much lower in fat without sacrificing any of the creaminess.
- Veggie loaded. We packed this recipe with tons of good-for-you veggies, like carrots, celery, onion, and tons of spinach.
- High in protein. This recipe gets a ton of protein from the chicken, plus a little boost from the milk, keeping you fueled and filled for longer.
- Quick and easy to make. This recipe is super simple and pretty quick to throw together, taking under 10 minutes of prep time and 25 minutes of simmering–that’s just 35 minutes from fridge to kitchen table.
- Budget friendly. This recipe is much more budget friendly than hitting up the nearest Olive Garden and ordering a family-sized portion of soup. The veggies, gnocchi, and milks are fairly cheap. Most of the budget will go towards the chicken.
How to Make Gnocchi
You by no means have to make homemade potato gnocchi for this recipe to work, but we highly recommend it. It takes this soup to the next level. We have a separate post with all the details about how to make your own potato gnocchi.
If making gnocchi from scratch is not in your wheel house or you just plain don’t have time, you can always pick up shelf stable gnocchi in the pasta aisle or even fresh gnocchi (if you’re lucky) in the refrigerator section.
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How to Make Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Prepare the ingredients. Peel and slice the carrots. Wash and slice the celery. Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Add the prepared vegetables to a bowl and set aside. Cube the chicken.
Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and season with ยฝ tsp of salt and ยฝ tsp of Italian seasoning. cook until lightly browned, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dutch oven and transfer to a bowl. Cover and set aside.
Reserve ยผ cup of milk and combine it with the flour to make a slurry. Melt the butter in the dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium heat. Add the slurry, chicken broth, cashew milk, and evaporated milk. Season with remaining salt and Italian seasoning, thyme, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Simmer the soup uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent burning.
Be careful not to cook the soup over too high of a heat because it can lead to separation of the milk in the soup (it looks like floating white bits). That’s why we recommend reducing to medium heat. You may even be able to lower it a touch below medium, as long as you keep the soup simmering.
Stir in the gnocchi and simmer uncovered for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the gnocchi are cooked. Remove from heat. Stir in the spinach and chicken. Serve and garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Enjoy!
How to Store Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Freezing. Unfortunately this soup is not freezer friendly, thanks to the milk and gnocchi. Milky soups just don’t freeze well.
Refrigerating. We recommend refrigerating your leftovers in an airtight container. This soup will keep for up to 7 days in the refrigerator, although I doubt you’ll have it that long!
How to Reheat Chicken Gnocchi Soup
We always love to reheat this soup in a sauce pot over the stove on medium heat. You can also microwave covered for 2 to 3 minutes, as needed.
If your soup is a little too thick after refrigerating (the gnocchi tend to absorb some of the liquid, leaving it thicker and more gravy-like), you can thin it down to the desired consistency with equal parts chicken broth and milk of your choice.
Let us know what you think about our Chicken Gnocchi Soup by dropping a commend and/or rating below! We love to hear from you! Be sure to check out our Instagram and Pinterest for more healthy recipe inspiration!
Check out our other comforting dinner and gnocchi recipes:
- Toasted Cauliflower Gnocchi
- Miso Brown Butter Gnocchi
- Chickpea Minestrone Soup
- Fall Minestrone Soup
- Pumpkin Miso Ramen
- Coconut Chickpea Green Curry
Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients
- 1ยฝ lb chicken, diced
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1ยฝ tsp sea salt, divided
- 1ยฝ tsp Italian seasoning, divided
- 3 medium carrots, sliced or diced
- 3 celery stalks, sliced or diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- ยผ c all purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp vegan butter or low-fat butter
- 4 c low sodium chicken broth
- 1ยฝ c 2% or plant based milk (we prefer cashew milk)
- 1 12oz can reduced fat evaporated milk
- ยฝ tsp dried thyme
- ยฝ tsp poultry seasoning
- ยฝ tsp cracked black pepper
- 32 oz potato gnocchi (we recommend homemade potato gnocchi)
- 3 c fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients. Peel and slice the carrots. Wash and slice the celery. Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Add the prepared vegetables to a bowl and set aside. Cube the chicken.
- Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and season with ยฝ tsp of salt and ยฝ tsp of Italian seasoning. cook until lightly browned, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dutch oven and transfer to a bowl. Cover and set aside.
- Reserve ยผ cup of milk and combine it with the flour to make a slurry. Melt the butter in the dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium heat. Add the slurry, chicken broth, cashew milk, and evaporated milk. Season with remaining salt and Italian seasoning, thyme, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Simmer the soup uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent burning.
- Stir in the gnocchi and simmer uncovered for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the gnocchi are cooked. Remove from heat. Stir in the spinach and chicken. Serve and garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Enjoy!
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