Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
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The cozy chicken and gnocchi soup is so dreamy and creamy! With a velvety chicken broth, shredded chicken, veggies, and pillowy gnocchi.
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Why you’ll love chicken and gnocchi soup
- Perfect for cozy soup season. This was just made for those blustery winter days after shoveling all the snow in the driveway. It’s warm, soothing, cozy, and simply just a big hug-in-a-bowl warming you from the inside out. And there’s just no better excuse than to bake and use up all the crusty bread to go alongside this.
- Repurposes leftovers. Use up that leftover rotisserie chicken in this luscious, velvety soup with all the tender, pillowy gnocchi and crispy, crumbled bacon on top. It’s truly a match-made in heaven.
- Sneaked-in veggies. We have all the veggies and sneaked in leafy greens for extra nutrition, a huge plus for picky eaters and toddlers.
- Freezer-friendly soup. This gnocchi soup is amazingly freezer-friendly, making it so convenient for meal prepping or whipping up a ready-to-eat meal on super busy weeknights.
WHAT IS GNOCCHI?
Is gnocchi pasta? There’s actually mixed reviews on this and it really depends on who you ask. Nonetheless, gnocchi is essentially a potato dumpling typically made of three ingredients (flour, egg and potato) and is perfect in a soup recipe like this. It will absorb all the flavors, and the tiny, soft pillowy goodness will leave you so happy and cozy on a chilly night.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: cooked and shredded rotisserie chicken or diced chicken breast
- Gnocchi: homemade or store-bought
- Vegetables: mirepoix of chopped onions, carrots, and celery
- Liquids: white wine (for deglazing), chicken stock, heavy cream, and red wine vinegar
- Greens: baby spinach (or any other leafy greens)
- Toppings: crumbled bacon and chopped fresh parsley
How to make chicken and gnocchi soup
- Cook the bacon. Dice the raw bacon into small pieces, then add the bacon to a hot Dutch oven over medium hight heat, cooking until golden brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon crumbles to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Sauté the aromatics. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat in the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Sauté the onion, carrots, and celery in melted butter until tender, then stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning until fragrant.
- Add the flour. Stir in the flour until browned to remove the raw, starchy flour taste. The flour will help thicken the soup into a velvety, creamy consistency.
- Deglaze the pot. Stir in the wine, lifting up the browned bits (fond) stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Simmer. Stir in the chicken stock, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer to allow the flavors to marry, about 10 minutes.
- Combine. Stir in the shredded rotisserie chicken and gnocchi until the gnocchi is tender.
- Finish. Stir in the spinach, heavy cream, vinegar, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pro tip: hold off on the heavy cream if freezing.
- Garnish and serve. Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with the crumbled bacon, and serve warm.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH GNOCCHI SOUP
Tools For This Recipe
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover rotisserie chicken is a great option as it serves as a quick, convenient, flavorful shortcut, adding towards the end of cooking time just until warmed through.
Shelf-stable, refrigerated, or homemade gnocchi will all work very well here.
Russet potatoes (simmered a little longer until cooked through) or fresh tortellini would be great substitutes!
Additional chicken stock can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, gently reheating on the stovetop with a splash of milk or stock until warmed through.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the heavy cream (cream soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags. To reheat, thaw overnight and gently reheat on the stovetop, adding heavy cream when serving.
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
Video
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups leftover shredded rotisserie chicken
- 1 (9-ounce) package gnocchi
- 3 cups chopped baby spinach
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium hight heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; drain excess fat, reserving 1 tablespoon in the stockpot, and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium; add butter to the stockpot, stirring until butter has melted, about 1-2 minutes. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and Italian seasoning until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in chicken stock and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until flavors have blended, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in chicken and gnocchi, and cook until gnocchi is tender, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in spinach, heavy cream, vinegar and parsley until the spinach has wilted, about 2-3 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with bacon.
Equipment
Notes
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Deglaze the pot. Lift up the caramelized brown bits (fond) stuck to the bottom of the pot – this will add maximum, deep flavor to the soup.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your soup. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Repurpose leftovers. Save time by repurposing leftover rotisserie chicken, dicing or shredded, and adding towards the end of cooking time to keep the meat tender.
- Avoid soggy gnocchi. Cook the gnocchi just until tender and fluffy, about 5 minutes. The longer it cooks, the soggier it gets.
- Add in leafy greens. This is an excellent recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Add the cream slowly. Always add the heavy cream at the very end, pouring very slowly to prevent curdling.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread or garlic parmesan knots for dipping, sopping and dunking.
Did you make this recipe?
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Ahhhhmazing. I could eat this every night. Every part of this is fulfilling and I want more of every bite!! Do yourself a favor and make it!!!
Used as a base recipe with left over turkey and turkey stock. Absolutely delicious! As always, doubled because soup needs to last a few days
Delicious and easy, even the kids enjoyed it!
I used Evaporated milk, not condensed milk, in place of the cream.
This is amazing! I used condensed milk instead of heavy cream but followed everything else exactly. This will definitely be on my winter menu again!
Lovely soup! I had everything but the wine. Forgot it on my shopping list. It’ll work without it, but I missed it. If you don’t have wine, I’d leave out the red wine vinegar. You could skip the bacon, but definitely don’t skip the wine! I’m sure it’s there to balance the flavors.
Tried this for the first time last night and it is delicious! I will definitely make this again!
I have made this soup multiple times – literally my favourite soup!!! I do add a couple sprigs of fresh thyme ..other than that follow to T! Thanks !! Love all your recipes
So good! Rich and tangy comfort food 🙂
I skipped the wine because I didn’t have any on hand and the bacon because I don’t eat pork and didn’t feel like going out of my way for the high quality beef bacon I like. Recipe still turned out amazing and I shared this link with my sister!
Thanks Chungah!
Made this for dinner tonight. It was delicious!!! It will be a staple in our house!
My family loved this!
Very satisfying and warming on a cold winter’s night! I used half and half instead of heavy cream and it was perfect. Thank you.
Made this without the bacon and substituted heavy cream with coconut cream (top of full fat coconut milk can) to make it dairy free and it was delicious!! My husband loved it as it was really hearty.
Thank you for the tip! Coconut cream worked great.
Delicious I will make it again and again
Really delicious, hearty and healthy soup- perfect for a cold winter’s night!
Damn Delicious!!!!!!!
What could’ve subbed for bacon and heavy cream to cut back on saturated fats?
Can I freeze it?
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the heavy cream (cream soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding heavy cream when serving.