A delicious creamy chicken gnocchi soup with carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and spinach for a twist on the classic that can be enjoyed for dinner on a weeknight. This post is sponsored by Loblaws.
Soups were something that my family ate on a weekly basis when I was growing up. My mom made everything from scratch; one of our favourites was her tortellini and tomato soup. A big part of what made me into the food lover that I am today is from cooking with my mom.
So, when Loblaws asked me to “modernize a family classic”, I knew it had to be a delicious and creamy fall soup inspired by my mom, but I wanted it to also have elements that represented my dad as well.
My dad loves gnocchi, so I knew that would have a place in this soup. The gnocchi plays a similar role to the tortellini from my mom’s recipe in here, or the role of a noodle in any kind of noodle soup.
I knew that I wanted to modernize the chicken and gnocchi soup recipes that are already online (like the infamous Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup). So, I met with Emilia, Loblaws’ in-store dietitian, to get her take on what she would do to modernize this dish.
We shopped my local Loblaws store together, looking for local, in-season produce and talking about different ingredients to add–she suggested eggplant, but I’m not a huge eggplant fan, so I ended up adding potatoes and other local vegetables like carrots and mushrooms.
If you’d like to meet with a dietitian to get some advice and counselling about diet, food and nutrition, you can visit bookadietitian.ca to find services at your local Loblaws.
How to thicken chicken gnocchi soup?
Emilia suggested using a combination of flour, olive oil and a little bit of half & half to thicken this soup. I cook the flour along with the vegetables before adding the liquid ingredients, this allows the soup to thicken as it cooks both from the flour and from some of liquid evaporating as it simmers.
It isn’t quite as thick and creamy as some of the other copycat chicken gnocchi soup recipes because I only use ¼ cup of half & half.
Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 slices bacon, sliced into lardons
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- Pepper to taste
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 yellow potato, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ 227g package white button mushrooms, sliced
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 ½ cups shelf stable gnocchi
- 2 cups chopped spinach
Instructions
- Heat large pot over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and bacon. Cook until lightly crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Season chicken with ¼ tsp salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan, cook until browned on both sides, about 4 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add remaining olive oil, onion, carrot and potato. Sauté until onion is translucent and aromatic, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms and remaining salt. Cook another 2 minutes until garlic is fragrant and mushrooms have begun to release their liquid. Add flour and cook another 2 minutes.
- Add chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Return chicken, bacon and fresh thyme to pot. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
- Remove chicken and shred with two forks. Meanwhile, add gnocchi to soup and cook another two minutes. Stir in chopped spinach and return chicken to soup.
Notes
Let me know if you give this creamy chicken and gnocchi soup in the comments below.
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