This chicken soup with gnocchi is a thick, hearty, and delicious creamy soup. Sautéed vegetables are simmered with bone broth, cream, fresh herbs, tender, seared chicken breast, and pillowy gnocchi. It’s a nourishing, satisfying comfort food the entire family will love.
My favorite recipes are hearty, filling, and delicious. That’s why I love adding some type of pasta (try my homemade sourdough pasta), cubed potatoes, sourdough dumplings, or tender gnocchi to a soup.
They really make soups a complete meal in themselves, and this homemade version of Olive Garden’s chicken gnocchi soup is exactly that.
Protein from the chicken and broth, plus the carbohydrates from the gnocchi and veggies, make this soup a super easy one pot meal. It’s so comforting and delicious, perfect for a cool winter’s night.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Great for when you need to feed a crowd – I love making a large batch of this soup for dinner one night, and then we have at least one (maybe even two) easy and quick lunches for another day. It’s an easy way to get ahead through the week, while still feeding my family a nourishing meal.
Perfect for soup season and beyond – The vegetables provide a freshness to the soup that really give the dish a place on the menu in every season.
Make it all homemade or throw it together quickly with a few store bought items –If you are pinched for time, you could use store-bought broth, gnocchi, leftover chicken, or even a rotisserie chicken. I prefer to make it all homemade, but we all have those busy weeknights when we need something quick.
Ingredients
Chicken or bone broth – Making your own bone broth is super easy. I will roast a whole chicken and then use the bones for broth. You end up with chicken for your soup and broth. Learn how to make homemade bone broth in the Instant Pot.
Gnocchi – While store bought gnocchi is just fine, I like to use my homemade gnocchi. It’s easier to make than you would think!
Heavy cream – I prefer cream to make a really creamy broth, but use what you have! Half and half or even whole milk would work just fine.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Chicken And Gnocchi Soup
Step 1: Cook chicken in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, about 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Alternatively, you could use leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken.
Dice celery, onion, and carrots.
Step 2: Place a large pot over medium heat and add butter. Add the diced celery, onion, and carrots.
Step 3: Cook veggies for five minutes until they start to become translucent. Add garlic and cook an additional two minutes.
Step 4: Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and butter to create a roux. Cook for another minute, stirring constantly to avoid burning. This will help thicken the soup. You want to make sure to cook the flour a few minutes (without burning) to cook out the flour taste.
Step 5: Add in the broth and cook until thickened.
Step 6: Dice chicken and add to soup.
Step 7: Add thyme and gnocchi. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until gnocchi is cooked.
Step 8: Add cream and a little salt and pepper to taste.
Step 9: Lastly, add fresh spinach and cook until wilted.
Step 10: Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy.
Tips for Chicken Soup with Gnocchi
- If you want to make everything from scratch in this recipe, I recommend starting it earlier in the day. Make the bone broth a few hours ahead of time. You could even make the gnocchi a few hours ahead of time and just place it in the fridge until you are ready to roll out, slice, and cook. Same goes with the pan-fried chicken.
- While all purpose flour works great in this recipe, you can substitute with einkorn flour if you prefer to use ancient grains.
- Add a spicy kick with a little red pepper flakes if desired.
Recipe FAQs
While you could cook gnocchi first, it is not necessary. When cooking in the soup, they soak up all that delicious broth! If you do cook before adding to the soup, add them at the very end and do not over cook.
Gnocchi can cook too long and become soggy. This is why I add it to the soup last, except for the spinach of course. Once the gnocchi is cooked, the soup is ready!
Gnocchi goes with many things! You can enjoy it in almost any soup you would add potatoes to. I also like to enjoy it in a homemade creamy gnocchi sauce or with homemade pesto.
More Soup Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Healthy Potato Soup
- Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Sourdough Grilled Cheese
- Easy Cheeseburger Soup
- Chicken Marsala Soup
- Creamy Chicken And Wild Rice Soup
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Creamy Chicken And Gnocchi Soup
Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven large pot
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter , or olive oil
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour , or 1/3 cup einkorn flour
- 6 cups broth, I prefer homemade in the Instant Pot.
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped (You can use leftovers from a whole roasted chicken or boneless skinless breasts.)
- 1 recipe gnocchi, or 1 package
- 2 cups cream or half and half, I prefer cream, but use what you have!
- 1 cup spinach, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place a cast iron skillet over medium high heat; add butter and chicken to the hot pan. Cook chicken about 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Set aside to cool. You can also use leftover roasted chicken.
- While the chicken is cooking, place a large pot over medium heat and add butter.
- Dice celery, onion, and carrots and add to the pot.
- Cook veggies for five minutes until they start to become translucent.
- Add garlic and cook an additional two minutes.
- Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and butter to create a roux.
- Cook for another minute, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
- Add in the broth and cook until thickened.
- Dice chicken and add to soup.
- Add thyme, gnocchi, and cream.
- Simmer for 5 minutes, or until gnocchi is cooked.
- Add spinach, then salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
- If you want to make everything from scratch in this recipe, I recommend starting it earlier in the day. Make the bone broth a few hours ahead of time. You could even make the gnocchi a few hours ahead of time and just place it in the fridge until you are ready to roll out, slice, and cook. Same goes with the pan-fried chicken.
- While all purpose flour works great in this recipe, you can substitute with einkorn flour if you prefer to use ancient grains.
- Add a spicy kick with a little red pepper flakes if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I switch the gnocchi with tortellini?
Yes!
Could I replace ricotta for anything else?
You could replace it with cottage cheese.
We had this for dinner tonight – absolutely delicious
This is the Best. Soup. Ever. Do yourself a favor and make a big pot. So worth it!
I didn’t think my first comment posted, so I came back and made sure to comment again since it is that good lol. Therefore the 2 comments.
This is the Best. Soup. Ever. Do yourself a favor a make a big pot of it! Your stomach will thank you. Made me so happy!
Hi Lisa! Thanks to you, I made my first sourdough loaf! Just wondering if you have a gnocchi recipe that you like best?
That’s awesome! I have a gnocchi recipe that uses einkorn, which is my favorite! https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/homemade-gnocchi-with-einkorn-flour
I have made this quite a few times. I roast the chicken in advance, then use its bones for broth and make the gnocchi and freeze it in advance. I use unbleached all purpose flour in place of the einkorn, but I’d like to try einkorn one day. Usually I doctor soup recipes up a lot but this is one that I like sticking to the actual recipe. Delicious every time!
Thanks for the kind words! Happy new year!
This is my family’s favorite soup at Olive Garden. This recipe matches it perfectly and is delicious and easy to make! I didn’t have time to make the gnocchi so I used some fresh gnocchi from the grocery store and it worked well.
Do you know if this recipe freezes well?
I’m wondering this too!