Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
Comfort food.Ha.Quick and easy to cook. Hearty and filling.Delicious.
Made this in the crock pot and I’d say it’s just as good as Olive Garden, and with one little addition: I added a little corn starch slurry at the end to thicken it and that pushed it over the edge to “even better than Olive Garden”
Love this recipe, it has become a staple in our household.
I have made this soup 2 years in a row for Holiday family get together. Family loves it!
So disappointed! I ate the soup at Olive Garden last week. I loved it so I looked for a copycat recipe. Unfortunately, this was more like chowder not at all the creamy goodness from Olive Garden. It didn’t have near enough broth or liquid. And it had too much chicken. I used two large chicken breast that I cooked and it was twice as much as I needed. You should give a cup amount of chicken. I think it also had too much gnocchi.
The real secret to making this taste just like Olive Garden‘s version is use this recipe but add 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon of chicken bouillon crystals
Loved this recipe, except it should say something like 8 servings instead of 4. It makes a lot! More leftovers for me!
It made more than 4 – one cup servings . It was a tad too thin for me. Since I didn’t have any whipping cream as an added option I added about a 3 ounces or so of cream cheese to thicken plus about a cup of fresh grated Parmesan. it made it thick and creamy(: I did take someone else’s idea an added one tsp of poultry seasoning . Very good soup
Very good soup for a cold winter day, we used heavy cream and it was fantastic.
Best soup ever! Will be making again soon!
I love this recipe. My dish was perfecto and tasted wonderful.