About Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
With October only a stone’s throw away, I’m slowly starting to tune my culinary goals toward cold weather foods – something I sort of missed out on last year. Back when I first started this blog, I hardly paid any attention to the time of year or the season. I was just so excited to post and to (finally!) be taking the first steps toward cooking that I just went with whatever felt good that day. And while that certainly made the blog fun for me at the time, it ended up leaving quite a few holes what I like to call my “recipe arsenal” – or just my recipe archives, if you want to get all technical.
However, it was always my goal to feature a full variety of recipes on this blog, and I’ve spent the past few months trying to plug up the holes.
Slowly but surely, I’m getting there.
Which brings me to one of the biggest voids I have:
Soups.
This blog is seriously hurting in the soup department. I made some headway a few weeks back with Lasagna Soup, and there was also that post for Potato Soup that went up last spring, but that was all I had to offer – until today. Now that fall has officially arrived I’m really looking to feature more recipes like the delicious chicken and gnocchi soup you see below.
When it comes to soup, there are a few food power struggles in our house that I have to work with:
1. I’m not a big fan of meaty soups. I know, what in the world is wrong with me? I do better with ground beef, but even then I’ll find myself hunting for all the noodles and veggies by the time I near the bottom of the bowl.
2. An old friend of mine likes meat in all his foods, especially soups.
3. I like ultra thick and creamy soups. The watery soups are great when you’re not feeling well, but for the day-to-day I need a soup that’s going to tide me over for a few hours. When left to my own devices, I tend to simmer a soup so long that it’s practically a chowder. And it’s awesome.
4. An old friend of mine likes all soup, but according to our Costco purchases, the 24 pack chicken noodle soup says he leans toward the watery ones.
This Chicken and Gnocchi soup ended up being a great compromise between both his tastes and mine. An old friend of mine got to have a plethora of chicken in his soup, especially since I did my best to fish out all the chicken pieces I could find for him. And I got to have my ultra-creamy soup with almost nothing but soft, tender gnocchi and veggies.
See?
Compromise!
While we were eating, I looked over to him and asked him if he liked it. He gave me a quick and simple “yeah,” which typically translates into “SO GOOD CAN’T TALK EATING.” But after he took a few more bites, he looked thoughtful, then turned to me and said: “You know what would go great with this? Corned beef.”
I guess I’ll have to take his word on that, because I’ve never tried corned beef before… but now my curiosity is piqued. Is corned beef any good?
Is it easy to make?
Come to think of it, my recipe arsenal is pretty low on beef recipes, too… I might just have to research a few recipes and answer all those questions myself! And make this soup again when I do!
More great chicken recipes
Other tasty soups
Recipe Details
Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients
Instructions
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In a large, deep saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic, celery, and onion to pot and cook until onion and celery are translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
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Whisk in flour and cook for another minute, stirring constantly.
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Add half and half to half to pot and whisk with flour and vegetables. Allow sauce to simmer until it begins to thicken, another 3-5 minutes.
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Pour chicken broth in the pot, whisking again until combined. Allow sauce to simmer again until desired thickness is reached. If you'd like a thinner soup, move on to the next step as soon as soon as the sauce seems thoroughly combined and has the consistency of heavy cream. If you'd like a thicker soup, continue to cook and stir for an additional 5-10 minutes.
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Add salt, thyme, parsley, carrots, spinach, chopped chicken, and gnocchi to soup. Allow soup to simmer until heated through and gnocchi are soft, another 2-5 minutes.
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Taste test soup for seasoning and add more salt if desired. Serve immediately with more fresh parsley for garnish.
Holy yum!!! this looks awesome! Definitely saving your site!
Laura
http://www.theaverygrace.com
Thanks Laura! 😀
I love creamy soups. I crave them all winter long! Definitely keeping this recipe handy for when the weather starts to cool down a bit more!
Thanks J! 😀 I’m with ya – I can’t wait till the weather gets a little more chill to it so I can snuggle up on the back porch with a bowl of this.
This looks like the perfect comfort meal for fall! Another amazing recipe!
Thank you Florian! 😀
This soup looks so good! I love Olive Garden’s Chicken & Gnocchi soup and crave it at home – now I have this recipe to turn to!
Perfect Brittany! If you make it, I hope it tastes just as good as at the restaurant 😀
holy cow, this looks SOO delicious! I am loving everything about this!
Thanks Kristen!
This looks hella delicious! I also really like thick luxury soups so this is right up my street! I’ll have to give it a go.
Lottie xx
http://www.lottielamour.co.uk
Thanks Lottie! If you make it, I hope you like it 😀
I have soup jealousy now, I have made one this morning, but something was off, it didn’t turn out amazing. It was edible lol but definitely not worth sharing! yours looks perfect!
I know exactly what you mean – food blogger problems, right? I was so happy when this soup turned out so well.
This looks amazing – I love a thick soup, too! And you know, compromise is always good 🙂
😀 Totally! Thanks Patricia!
Looks delicious this thick soup!! I love creamy soup!! Perfect for fall!!
Thanks Ludmilla!
I’m signed up to your newsletter, and although I’m a vegan, I do enjoy looking at beautifully photographed recipes!! That’s why I love your site – and this recipe looks gorgeous as usual! 🙂
Thank you Levan! That’s a very big compliment 😀 I have plans to start introducing more vegan friendly foods here – it always amazes me how creative the dishes are. I just signed up for your newsletter as well, hopefully some inspiration will rub off on me!
I’m also suffering from a shortage of soups! This looks like a delicious one to add to my arsenal! Yum!
Thanks Sabrina! Hopefully fall will give us plenty of opportunity to fill up the soup stables 😀
This looks really delicious. I will have to try.
Rosie
http://www.therosedogblog.me
Thanks Rosie!
This has my name written all over it ! I mean, come on Gnocchi soup ? How genius is that !
I know, right? Everything is better with gnocchi 😀
Oh my goodness! This recipe looks so creamy and delicious. It’s absolutely perfect for the cooler days of autumn. I’m pinning this Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup recipe to Pinterest to save it for later. 🙂
Hi Chrisy, I love your recipes and try them all the time. I was wanting to try this soup but was wondering what half and half was. I’m from NZ and some terms Google helps ? But other times not so much
Hey Danielle! Thanks so much for writing in (and for reading! 😀 ) From what I understand, you should be able to make your own half and half by mixing regular milk and cream (50/50 ratio).