Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
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Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup copycat is every bit as creamy and delicious as the restaurant version, made in less than 30 minutes!
Love gnocchi? You’ll go crazy for my Gnocchi in Tomato Cream Sauce and Creamy Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Gnocchi! And don’t forget to serve them up with these easy homemade OLIVE GARDEN BREADSTICKS.
There’s a reason nearly everyone loves Olive Garden. Their food is good! And addictive! A quick search of Pinterest reveals hundreds of Olive Garden copycat recipes — from their Italian salad dressing to their toasted ravioli. I can think of a few reasons why seemingly everyone wants to recreate these dishes at home. First of all, it’s more budget-friendly to eat at home. Second, you can make as much as you want (leftovers!). Third, you don’t have to put on pants that don’t have an elastic waistband and drive to the restaurant when a craving hits. And, fourth, you don’t have to take your kids out to eat. I probably should have put that as my first reason, actually. Let’s face it, taking your kids out to eat is the ultimate gamble. And sometimes you’re just not in the mood to test your luck.
Let’s just say the perfect storm of all of these reasons came together for me one fateful Saturday. Not to be outdone, I decided to make my own Chicken Gnocchi Soup, darn it. And no one and no pants with a zipper and a button were going to stop me. Luckily, I had some gnocchi in the freezer and the rest of the ingredients on hand (it’s like I unknowingly prepared for this exact moment).
The rest, they say, is Olive Garden recipe history. The soup was delicious, no one had to go anywhere, and — most importantly — there were plenty of leftovers.
HOW DO YOU MAKE GNOCCHI?
Gnocchi is made from potatoes, flour, and eggs. I’m not sure what genius came up with this combination, but I am forever grateful. Making gnocchi is fun and rewarding, if you have the time and inclination. I’ve made it before but it’s been a while and now I just tend to use the store-bought varieties, as I find they work well in most recipes. If you want to try your hand at your own homemade gnocchi, allow me to refer you to this recipe. I hope you enjoy it and that it turns out perfectly.
WHAT KIND OF PRE-COOKED CHICKEN SHOULD I USE?
For this recipe, I suggest you use boneless, skinless chicken that’s already been cooked and diced because it makes this recipe come together more easily. To do this yourself, I recommend dicing the chicken before cooking it, as it will cook quicker that way. You can cook it in a little bit of olive oil until it’s just done. Add a little salt and pepper to it if you like.
Another option is to buy pre-shredded, cooked chicken at your grocery store. It tends to be more expensive, but can be worth it. The only drawbacks are that you’re going to have shredded chicken instead of nice, little, bite-size cubes in your soup and sometimes I think that this kind of chicken tends to have a little bit of a chewier texture than when it’s been more recently cooked.
CAN I MAKE THIS IN A SLOW COOKER?
Yes, yes, you can make this soup in a slow cooker. Here’s what I would change though, in this recipe. I would still definitely use cooked, diced chicken. So have that at the ready. Also, go ahead and saute the veggies and garlic. THEN put the chicken and veggies all together in the bottom of your slow cooker. Add the liquids and all the other ingredients except the gnocchi, half and half, and spinach. Cook on low for three to four hours, adding the gnocchi in for the last hour of cooking. Before serving, add the half and half and spinach and stir to combine. The spinach should wilt quickly. Serve. Enjoy. And try not to eat it all in one sitting.
What people are saying about this Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
“Easy to make and delicious. It ended up like a whole dinner in a bowl. Next time I might try using a rotisserie chicken.” – Don
“This soup is so delicious! It’s so easy and flavorful. I love to top it off with some grated parmesan cheese.” – Erin
“I made this with my Thanksgiving turkey left overs and it turned out fantastic! Thank you so much for the recipe!” – Krystal
Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
- 1 stalk of celery, chopped
- ½ white onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 16 ounces potato gnocchi
- 2 cups half and half, see note
- 1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add celery, onions, garlic, and carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes until onions are translucent.
- Add chicken, chicken broth, salt, pepper, and thyme, bring to a boil, then gently stir in gnocchi. Boil for 3-4 minutes longer before reducing heat to a simmer and cooking for 10 minutes.
- Stir in half and half and spinach and cook another 1-2 minutes until spinach is tender. Taste, add salt and pepper if needed, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Awesome recipe! I halved the thyme, since that spice can be overbearing. Will make this again! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I reallly loved this! My WHOLE family loves this recipe! Thank you for sharing this delicious dish!
That’s great! 🙂 Thank you so much for you review!
Absolutely delicious! Not the quickest recipe, but an excellent way to use up leftover cooked chicken breasts. I followed the recipe but used more gnocchi (two 12.5oz packages), stirred in a butter/flour roux, and added some grated parmesan at the end. Makes at least 6 generous servings. Husband said it ranked among his most favorite meals I’ve made.
Even though I had to improvise on a couple ingredients this was thumbs up make it again good!
I have made thos a few times. Very good. Every time I make it there is nothing left. I am going to make it this weekend when I visit my mom. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you for your kind review! 🙂 Hope your Mom enjoyed it as well!
Delicious and definetly a must try!
Loved it! I almost doubled the gnocchi and added wayyyy more thyme plus parsley and Italian seasoning. I cooked my own chicken breasts n coated that with those seasonings. Would definitely make again! Thank you! I don’t think it tastes like olive garden but it is still delicious, also it says prep time is 10min, yea not for me I cut all the fresh veggies garlic,onion, celery, and carrots as well as the chicken omg took over an hour.
I have some sensory and texture issues that make it so hard for me to eat that I’ll just not eat for days on end, this soup literally has saved me on so many occasions because I can get carbs, protein, veggies, some fats and LOTS of vitamins just in this soup. I cannot thank you enough for posting this it’s so delicious, it’s the only soup that makes me want to have like 5 bowls of it. Also if you use a whole rotisserie chicken, once you get the chicken off you can take the bones and make chicken broth for the soup! Which makes it even better for you!! Seriously thank you so much.
Wow, I’m so happy to hear that you’re able to eat and enjoy this soup so much! And using the bones for the broth does help in making delicious soup! great tip! 🙂
Good and basic recipe. It lacked some flavor for me and the richness of actual Olive Garden soup; I don’t know if it’s the recipe or my current pregnant palette but I made some tweaks and with some Parmesan and extra garlicky/buttery breadsticks it did the trick!
I made this a little bit for healthier and a lot more creamer. I added plant based heavy cream from wal-mart, country crock plant based butter w/ avocado oil and cream cheese. I also did my own seasonings because I don’t just use salt and pepper and thyme I need way more seasonings then that.