The Olive Garden’s Chicken Gnocchi soup is one of the most popular Olive Garden soup recipes. This rich soup has This warm bowl of goodness features roasted tender chicken, soft pillowy gnocchi, shredded carrots, celery, and fresh spinach. Hands down, this is one of my favorite Olive Garden copycat recipes of all time.
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Easy Homemade Soup
This is an Olive Garden favorite, but this soup is so good you are going to want to make make a double batch of this soup every time you make it.
The Chicken and Gnocchi soup is going to taste like you spent hours at the stove making your family a delightful chicken and potato gnocchi soup. You can make this soup in about 30 minutes.
Everyone Loves Chicken and Gnocchi soup
Hands down this has been one of my most popular recipes at CopyKat.com. You can read through the comments and you can see how many people just love this soup. It is easy to make and it tastes great.
Actually, all of my Olive Garden Recipes are pretty popular. Most people seem to just love the Olive Garden menu items.
A lot of people ask me if you can freeze this soup. Yes, you can. So go ahead and make up a batch of this soup and store the extra in your freezer.
You will soon fall in love with this delicious soup. Don’t forget to make some salad and breadsticks to go with this classic dish from the Olive Garden.
Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup Ingredients
I love this delicious recipe is made with simple ingredients. In no time at all your entire family is going to fall in love with this soup that you made in the comfort of your own home.
- Butter – you can use either salted butter or unsalted butter
- Olive oil
- White onion – I like the white onion for this recipe, it tends to be a bit sweeter and has less heat than yellow onion.
- Celery
- Fresh garlic
- All-purpose flour
- Half and half – I recommend using half and half instead of milk, it reheats better, if you want something completely decadent swap the half and half for heavy cream.
- Low sodium Chicken broth – if you have homemade broth, I would recommend this
- Dried thyme
- Dried parsley flakes
- Ground Nutmeg
- Shredded carrots
- Cooked chicken breast – if you have leftover rotisserie chicken I would suggest this, the Olive Garden does not use this, but it is an opportunity to drive up the flavor. Also, this recipe can be made with cooked chicken thighs as well.
- Potato Gnocchi – my keto friends will swap out the gnocchi for cauliflower gnocchi, Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi is a favorite. If you can find it some people really love this with mini gnocchi.
- Spinach – regular spinach is fine but my personal preference is for fresh baby spinach
Should you use storebought or homemade gnocchi?
Storebought gnocchi is perfect for this recipe. You can take the extra step in preparing homemade gnocchi, but premade potato gnocchi works well. You can find gnocchi in a couple of different places in your supermarket.
- My local stores sell shelf-stable potato gnocchi in the pasta isles.
- In higher-end grocery stores, I have seen this sold in the fresh sections where you would pick up a prepared meal.
- I have even found it available in the frozen section of the grocery store as well.
Either type of gnocchi will work well. Your family will really love this. Have a hard time finding gnocchi? Make your own homemade potato gnocchi.
How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi
It is very simple to make this Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi soup recipe, you will find that all of the ingredients are very common in your average grocery store.
First you will sauté the vegetables in butter over medium-high heat, and then add some flour and cook that through. You will then add in the half-and-half and chicken broth. Bring it to a low boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Cooked chicken and gnocchi get added to your seasoned broth and vegetables. You can then adjust your seasoning and you will be ready to serve this soup in less than an hour.
Can you use a Crockpot for this recipe?
Yes, you can. I personally like to saute the vegetables first before I prepare the soup. You don’t need to do that if you like.
Simply place all of the vegetables with the exception of the kale, chicken, seasonings, and stock into the crockpot. Cook on low for 4 hours. Shred the chicken, add in the remaining ingredients, and cook for another hour.
If the soup is too thin for you, make a cornstarch slurry of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the soup and turn the crockpot on high and stir until the soup has thickened.
How to Store and Reheat Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Refrigerate any leftover soup for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
- Reheat – this creamy soup is best reheated in a large pot on the stove over low heat. This way the creamy broth won’t break down.
Can you freeze copycat Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup?
Yes, you can freeze this soup. The soup stays well in the freezer for a couple of months when stored in an airtight container. Thaw the soup in the refrigerator overnight.
More Olive Garden Recipes
- Asiago Tortelloni Alfredo with Grilled Chicken
- Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara
- Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
- Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo
- Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
- Olive Garden Dressing
- Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
- Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli Soup
- Olive Garden Salad Recipe
- Zuppa Toscana
Popular Soup Recipes
Love soup? Be sure to check out these soup recipes and try one of my great dessert recipes to complete your meal.
Take a look at more of my copycat Olive Garden recipes to make your favorites at home.
Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 1/2 cup finely diced celery
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 quart half-and-half
- 28 ounces chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
- 1 cup carrots finely shredded
- 1 cup spinach leaves coarsely chopped
- 1 cup chicken breast cooked, and diced
- 16 ounces package ready-to-use gnocchi
Instructions
- Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent.
- Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the half-and-half. Simmer until thickened.
- Whisk in the chicken broth. Simmer until thickened again. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, thyme, parsley, nutmeg (if using), shredded carrots, spinach, chicken, and gnocchi.
- Simmer until the soup is heated through. Before serving, season with additional salt, if necessary.
Video
Notes
- You can use leftover roitisserie chicken for extra flavor
- You may want to use less thyme than suggested
- Some gnocchi is very large, you can cut these pieces in half
- You may want to add additional salt to the final soup, this soup does not have a lot of salt in it, especially if you use low-sodium chicken broth
Monica
I make this soup but I make homemade gnocchi. It is easier than you think. Delicious recipe! Thank you! 😋
Elaina
I followed it exactly except I left out the nutmeg. This was really good, taste pretty close to OG’s. I used about 3 tablespoons of cornstarch to get the consistency I prefer. I also added extra salt. Anyone suggest a good gnocchi? The one I used just wasn’t great.
Deanna
I use DeLallo Mini Potato Gnocchi. I know the nutmeg seems weird, but I’ve found it’s the one spice that makes it taste truest to the Olive Garden version.
Carol Burnett
I keep reading these comments and have a though……..Just cook the carrots in microwave until done and add at the end……
Lisa
My absolute favorite soup! Love this recipe!
Rebekah
This was delicious! I did add more chicken and spinach than what recipe called for, and a touch more salt at the end. Everyone loved. Will use this recipe again. Thanks!
Vicky Schlieper
I made this tonight, and it is delicious.
Desiree
Something with the flavor is not quite right compared to Olive Garden.
Stephanie Manley
You might want to add more salt.
Rebecca
Made this last night for my son, who loves Olive Garden’s soup. He absolutely loved it. He had 3 bowls of it and is having it again tonight.
Louise
Do you have a suggestion for making this dairy free? My family can have butter but not the half and half. I think that coconut milk would be too sweet and almond would be too nutty. Have you tried this with anything else?
Stephanie Manley
I would consider trying oat milk or another nut milk so that you get the fattiness and creaminess this soup needs.
Scosh
I made this today and it is perfect. Tastes exactly like the olive garden soup!!!! Love it!
Mary Hope Roseneau
I made it today and my husband LOVED it. Used the mini gnocchi and it worked well. Going to try crockpot next. May add more chicken and less onions next time, but it was still delicious!!!
Rachel
It is not thickening up for me ! 🙁
Stephanie Manley
Then you should turn up the heat a bit, and that will help the thickening.
Holly
I doubled the recipe for 2 families. I didn’t follow the step by step instructions. I made homemade nocchi. I think the store bought is terrible. It turned out fabulous. Just as good as Olive Garden. So happy to have found this recipe online. Thank you!
Susie C.
I made it for the first time today for my son since we love Olive Garden and it was delicious! Will make again for sure!
Jacob
Everything was good, except, I would definitely add the carrots when cooking the onions, carrots don’t have time to cook at the end
Stephanie Manley
If you use shredded carrots they cook very quickly.I find that if you add the carrots too early in the process the soup turns very orange.
sy
Yes! Thank you! 100%. Came here to post the exact same comment. Shredded carrots weren’t soft enough.
Stephanie Manley
If the carrots weren’t soft enough, cooking the soup for a little longer would have cooked them and made them softer.
kathleen
Thank you for the excellent recipe. We have made it several times now, and it doesn’t disappoint. We started making homemade gnocchi and they were so good with this delicious soup. Thank you.
Sharon
Excellent
Jill
The video doesn’t match the printed recipe. The video says 14 ounces chicken broth. Printed says 28 ounces. Big difference!
Stephanie Manley
You are right, I am very sorry about that, it is written differently in the instructions here on this page, and it is written differently in the notes section as below the video on Youtube. I will make a point to reshoot the video very soon.
Charlotte
So is it 18 or 24?
Kathey
I made the several times it is delicious each and every time but I do prefer Frozen gnocchi instead of the dried ones I like the texture better
Joanna Baker
It was awesome it is now one of our go to soup on these wintery days. When we would go to olive garden I always ordered soup and salad and breadsticks. I made home made gnocchi with my granddaughter (so easy) and made plenty to give to my mother-in-law. Everyone loved it. Thank you
For this wonderful, crowd-pleasing recipe. Now to master the art of Breadsticks..