Easy Chicken Gnocchi Soup Recipe
Chicken Gnocchi soup is so comforting and tasty. Tender fresh vegetables, juicy chicken, soft and delicate gnocchi, flavorful broth, fresh herbs, and a squeeze of lemon all make up this wonderful soup.
Chicken gnocchi soup has a great combination of flavors and comfort. You start with the base of onion, carrots, and celery. I also throw in some leeks to variate onion flavor and add a little something extra.
As far as the chicken, you can cook chicken thigh meat or chicken breast meat right in the broth with vegetables. Chicken will take on a lot of soup flavors this way.
If you’re in a time crunch, you can always use rotisserie chicken.
Enhance the soup with homemade chicken stock, fresh herbs, and a squeeze of lemon juice. There is something about fresh herbs and lemon juice that turns plain ole’ soup into something magical. I have many friends who still thank me for this tip.
This soup is easy to make GLUTEN FREE simply by using gluten free gnocchi.
You can made this soup the best it can be with homemade chicken stock and homemade gnocchi. If you like this recipe, you will love my classic chicken noodle soup too.
How To Make Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Sauté vegetables first in a preheated Dutch oven with a little oil. When the vegetables are soft, smash, mince, and add garlic. Stir and cook it until garlic is fragrant and then add chicken stock.
Bring it to simmer and add chicken meat. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover loosely with a lid and cook until chicken is tender.
Take chicken out when it’s ready and shred using two forks. Stir in the seasoning and herbs to the soup and add back the shredded chicken.
Raise the heat back to medium, bring to simmer and add gnocchi. Cook gnocchi in soup until it floats to the top. Give it another minute and take off heat. Mix in fresh squeezed lemon juice and serve right away.
Make Ahead Tips
All components of this soup, you can make homemade ahead of time and save for later. Homemade always tastes so much better so if you’d like to take that route, make your own chicken stock and gnocchi.
I often make a batch of gnocchi and freeze it in portion bags to use through the week. It takes away so much dinner worry and ready in only a few minutes. The same goes for chicken stock. I keep homemade chicken stock in the freezer because unfortunately, it doesn’t last more than a day or two in the fridge.
You can save the chicken meat from cooking homemade chicken stock and freeze it separately, in a freezer friendly bag or container. Use this chicken to make soups later.
When you have all these components on hand, this soup will only take about 40 minutes to make.
Quick and Easy Substitutions
- Use rotisserie chicken – rotisserie chicken is a great way to make fast and easy soup and it’s already so flavorful. Choose lemon pepper chicken if available, it will go great in this soup. If you don’t have access to rotisserie chicken, you can use cooked and shredded chicken that you may have made ahead.
- Pre-made chicken stock – wonderful thing about homemade chicken stock is that you can make it ahead and freeze it. If you don’t have any homemade, it’s easy to grab low sodium chicken stock at the store.
- Ready Gnocchi – much like chicken stock, you can make a big batch of homemade gnocchi and freeze it uncooked, in portions. Any time you want to make a fast and easy dinner, simply pull out a bag of frozen gnocchi and add it to soup. If there is no homemade gnocchi in your freezer, simply grab a package of prepared ones in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.
Will gnocchi still be okay after storing it in soup?
Yes, store-bought gnocchi will be able to hold its shape while being store with soup for a couple of days. It will be softer though, but still be completely good to eat.
Note that store-bought gnocchi will hold its integrity a little better than homemade. Homemade gnocchi are also fine to store in leftover soup but will be a little softer.
More Comforting Soup Recipes
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Chicken Gnocchi Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 leeks
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 celery ribs
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1.5 lbs chicken thigh meat can also use chicken breast meat
- 8 cups homemade chicken stock can also use store-bought
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes more or less to taste
- 2 tsp fresh thyme
- 2 tsp fresh rosemary
- salt
- pepper
- 16 oz gnocchi* homemade or store-bought from refrigerated section
- 1/2 lemon – juice only
Instructions
- Dice onion, leek, carrots, and celery. (Use only the white parts of the leek, discard the green stalks.)
- In a large Dutch oven, add oil and preheat over medium heat.
- Add onion, leeks, carrots, and celery to the pot and saute until vegetables are softened.
- Smash and mince the garlic and add it to the pot. Stir and cook until garlic is fragrant.
- Pour in the stock and bring to simmer.
- Add chicken meat and lower the heat to medium-low, cover loosely with a lid, and let the soup cook until chicken is tender.
- Take chicken out into a separate bowl and shred it using 2 forks.
- Stir in red pepper flakes, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Taste to make sure there is enough salt. Add shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Raise the heat again to medium and bring everything to a gentle simmer.
- Add gnocchi and cook until gnocchi is done and float to the top. (Gnocchi is usually ready in about 5 minutes but if using frozen gnocchi, it might take a couple extra minutes.)
- Stir in fresh squeezed lemon juice and serve right away.
Video
Notes
Stored properly, this soup should be good for about 3-4 days. Reheating: You can reheat the individual portions in the microwave. If you need to reheat a lot at the same time, do it on stovetop in the Dutch oven over medium heat until warmed through. Freezing: This soup will freeze very well but without gnocchi. Freeze soup in an air-tight freezer container and don’t fill the container all the way so there is room for soup to expand as it freezes. You can also freeze it in zip-lock freezer bags. Cook gnocchi in thawed soup while reheating.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in February 2020.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
When is the lemon juice supposed to be used?
Made this dinner this weekend and my family loved it plus it made great leftovers for lunches.
I’m not sure, if my rating shows on my previous comment.
I wanted to make chicken and gnocchi soup, but not the creamy one. This was perfect, very tasty. My 3 year old granddaughter loved it too. Thank you for the delicious recipe! Definitely a keeper 😊
Thank you so much for your kind words! It’s wonderful to know that it was a hit with both of you. Your feedback means a lot, and I’m glad the recipe is a keeper for you! 😊
This soup was so comforting and bright with the lemon and herbs. I used boneless chicken breasts and cooked the gnocchi separately because I was using chic pea gnocchi for the first time. Besides that I followed the recipe to a T. It was delicious!
Really enjoyed this. Used store bought gnocchi, home made broth & fewer pepper flakes because of a little one for lunch.
I am so glad you liked it, Sharon!
This soup was so good and really easy to make!
Thanks, Victoria! Glad you liked it!
I have made this 2 times with my preferences.. For others….I do not see where the amount of oil is definitized. thank you for clarifying and a great soup recipe.
This was delicious! The first time I made it with homemade broth and rotisserie chicken, and the second time with store bought broth and rotisserie chicken. Would highly reccomend.
I am so glad you liked it! 🙂