This chicken gnocchi soup has a rich, creamy broth loaded with tender chicken, mini potato gnocchi, and lots of fresh spinach! It's an easy, delicious weeknight meal that the whole family will love!
This homemade chicken gnocchi soup is similar to the Olive Garden classic, but SO much better in my opinion!
You might also like this sausage tortellini soup or this chicken pastina soup!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make this creamy chicken gnocchi soup!
Gnocchi - Gnocchi are essentially little dumplings made from potatoes. You can find shelf-stable gnocchi in the pasta aisle, but there's also refrigerated and frozen versions. Any type of gnocchi works in this soup, you just need roughly 1 pound. I prefer using mini gnocchi because they're adorable and bite-sized, but regular size gnocchi work too.
Chicken - I sear the chicken breasts and cook them in the soup, but you can also use leftover rotisserie chicken or my easy poached chicken!
Chicken Broth - I almost always use my homemade vegetable stock because that's what I keep on hand, but any store-bought vegetable or chicken stock or broth will work great! Just note that store-bought stock typically has a much higher salt content, so you may need to adjust the seasonings.
White Cooking Wine - This is completely optional, I just love the extra flavor it adds to the broth.
Heavy Cream - I like adding a little of cream to the soup for a richer, creamy texture. But you can leave it out for a lighter soup if you prefer!
Parmesan - This is optional, but I highly recommend adding some parmesan cheese to the soup!
Fresh Spinach - I love adding a few handfuls of fresh spinach to the chicken gnocchi soup but feel free to leave it out. You could also substitute fresh kale!
Fresh Herbs - You can substitute dried herbs or a poultry seasoning blend if you prefer. I also love adding in fresh basil at the end if I have some on hand.
Red Pepper Flakes - I love adding a few red pepper flakes for some added flavor and heat! But just leave them out if you prefer.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Variations
Make it vegetarian: Instead of adding chicken to the soup, leave it out and just add in more veggies! Some of my favorites are diced zucchini and yellow squash, peas, or sliced mushrooms.
Swap the chicken for sausage: If you aren't in the mood for chicken, this gnocchi soup is equally good with cooked Italian sausage!
Top with bacon: This chicken gnocchi soup is also delicious when topped with some crumbled bacon!
How to Make Chicken Gnocchi Soup
In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add in the olive oil and sear the chicken breasts for about 2 minutes on both sides. Remove and set aside.
Add in sliced carrots, onion, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft and aromatic. Then stir in the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, fresh sage, and thyme and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot!
Add in the seared chicken breasts and bay leaves. Then cover with the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the chicken breasts and shred with a fork. Then add the shredded chicken back in along with the mini gnocchi. Continue to simmer the soup for about 5 more minutes or until the gnocchi are fully cooked (if using frozen gnocchi it will take a little longer to cook).
Turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream, spinach, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. The residual heat will wilt the spinach. Then taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
Serve the chicken gnocchi soup warm with bread or focaccia!
Recipe FAQ's
This chicken gnocchi soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. However, the gnocchi will continue to soak up the broth in the fridge so if the soup gets too thick, you can add a splash of broth or cream when reheating.
Since this chicken gnocchi soup contains cream, I don't recommend freezing it. However, you can freeze a portion of the soup BEFORE adding in the cream and cheese, and then add in the remaining cream and parmesan later when it's time to serve. Freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw in the fridge overnight and heat up on the stove to finish.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Special Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 large chicken breasts, substitute shredded rotisserie chicken
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 ½ cups carrots , sliced (3-4 large carrots)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- ½ cup white cooking wine, optional
- 4 cups chicken broth, substitute vegetable stock or water
- 2 bay leaves
- 16 ounces mini potato gnocchi, (regular size gnocchi work too)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, optional
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add in the olive oil and sear the chicken breasts for about 2 minutes on both sides. Remove and set aside.
- Add in sliced carrots, onion, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft and aromatic. Then stir in the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, fresh sage, and thyme and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
- Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot!
- Add in the seared chicken breasts and bay leaves. Then cover with the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken breasts and shred with a fork. Then add the shredded chicken back in along with the mini gnocchi. Continue to simmer the soup for about 5 more minutes or until the gnocchi are fully cooked (if using frozen gnocchi it will take a little longer to cook).
- Turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream, spinach, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. The residual heat will wilt the spinach. Then taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
- Serve the chicken gnocchi soup warm with bread or focaccia!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Katie says
Yum! 😍 I added orzo pasta and lemon thyme. It was very good
alison says
omg this really is better than olive garden! adding it to the rotation for sure
Mark Pittenger says
Delicious! Thank You