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Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

The Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi is known for being hearty. Filled with potato gnocchi, this is a rich soup that can be made into a meal. This warm bowl of goodness features roasted chicken, potato gnocchi, carrots, celery, and spinach. Soup warms the soul, and this is no exception. When you put out these bowls, they are going to come back empty.
This is an easy to prepare recipe, but it is going to taste like you spent hours at the stove making your family a delightful chicken and potato gnocchi soup. You can find the gnocchi in a couple of different places in your supermarket; my local stores sells shelf stable potato gnocchi in the dry pasta section. In higher end grocery stores, I have seen this sold in the fresh sections where you would pick up a prepared meal. 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.

chicken and gnocchi soup

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

  • Author:
  • Recipe Type: Copycat Restaurant Recieps, CopyKat Recipes, Soup Recipes
  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Serves: 8
Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

You can make Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi soup just like the Olive Garden does. Just a few ingredients and you can enjoy this famous soup at home.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1 quart half and half
  • 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
  • 1 cup onion, finely diced
  • 2 minced garlic cloves
  • 2 14 ounce cans of chicken broth if you enjoy thick soup, use one can
  • 1 cup carrots, finely shredded
  • 1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
  • 1 package gnocchi, cooked  (you can find these in gourmet/pasta section of the grocery store - you may want to cut the gnocchi in half if it is large, or purchase the mini size if available)
  • 1 cup of fresh spinach coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Instructions

Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil over medium heat until the onion becomes translucent. Add the flour and make a roux. Let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half. Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Into the roux, add in the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick, add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasoning; simmer until soup is heated through.  Before serving season to taste by adding additional salt.

Print Recipe

Comments about this recipe: You can add more chicken if you like.  While you could use leftover cooked chicken breasts, I really think using the rotisserie chicken that are found in many grocery stores is the best way to get the optimal flavor of this soup.  If you want to make the soup lower in calories, you can use milk instead of half and half.  Half and Half does taste better though, and it also reheats better than milk does.
Now that I have shared one of my favorite dishes from a restaurant when I go out to eat, what is  your favorite soup to eat when you go out?
You can find more Olive Garden Recipes at CopyKat.com, the web's most popular destination for copycat restaurant recipes.

  • Anonymous

    Me and a friend went to Olive Garden last week and had the soup, salad, and breadsticks lunch.
    We tried this soup and I loved it so much I thought I’d try the find a similar recipe. I found this site and tried it for dinner last night and I couldn’t tell the difference!! It is so good, I told my other friends about it. It is very quick and easy but tastes like you were cooking all day!! Thank you for the recipe : )

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  • Anonymous

    I thought it was good, but not identical to olive garden. Definitely needed more salt! Good replica though.

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      That’s the beauty of cooking at home, you can always season to your heart’s desire.

  • Sparkle1617

    im making this for dinner now! can’t wait to taste it!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      I hope your dinner turned out great.

  • Deb

    Made your soup and it was exactly like Olive Garden’s, wonderful!! My whole family loved it and and we ate it two night’s in a row. The only thing I did differently was use a half pkg. of the gnocchi and halved the pieces because they were large. I bought the precooked fajita chicken and that worked really well. Thank you so much, this is a fabulous recipe, can’t wait to try more of yours!!

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      I liked your idea about cutting the gnocchi in half! Sometimes packaged gnocchi is very large.

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  • Lisa

    I can’t thank you enough for this recipe! It’s so good, we can’t even eat it at Olive Garden anymore…it just doesn’t compare! It’s a great way to get the kids to eat their spinach also! And they do! Even asking for seconds! I make this now at least once a week because there’s a request for it, and we never, ever have left overs. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

  • Crzred64

    This soup is AWESOME! I found it on pinterest and crave it all the time now.

  • Arnee

    I made this soup with fat-free half and half and used a little corn starch to thicken. It was delicious. We ate every bite!

  • Anonymous

    Hi! I’m going to make this next weekend, but I’m a bit curious, in the video you only put one can of broth but the recipe calls for two. Which is correct? Thanks!

  • Kelly

    Wow…..delicious. I substituted the 1/2 & 1/2 for evaporated milk (less fat). It was delicious!!!! Thank you!!!

  • Lilmtngal2002

    This is the best soup…we fell in love with it at the Olive Garden and wanted to be able to make it ourselves. That you CopyKat Recipes…made it last night and it was spot on.

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      Thanks for your comment. Now just think you don’t have to leave home to have this soup!

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  • Odalis_carrera

    Love it! Thank u!

  • Wendy Pierce

    This recipe is PHENOMENAL!!! Matches Olive Garden soup perfectly! Thank you!
    ~Wendy Pierce~

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      Wendy, thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed the soup!!

  • Amy M

    I made this the other night – I halved the recipe, which was great for about 3 people. I kept the chicken portion the same, as to keep the protein aspect, and used about 3/4 of the gnocchi package. DELISH!

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  • Elizabeth

    Is it 1 or 2 cans of chicken broth? You state 2 in your recipe but in the video you only say one, doesn’t look like there would have been room for 2 in your pot.

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      It is two. I believe the second can was cut in the editing of the video. My video editor doesn’t cook much, and sometimes we have a disconnect here.

    • Stephanie Manley

      Let me just say that sometime there is a disconnect between editing the video, filming the video. I need to do a better job in working with my editor to ensure everything is fully noted. My editor is fabulous, but she doesn’t cook a lot, and so I think the 2nd can got cut, and sometimes minor things get cut so we can keep the videos short. It is a learning process on my part, and I hope to improve as we continue to shoot videos for y’all.

  • Guest

    My boyfriend and I made this last night and it was amazing! The soup didn’t thicken as much as we’d have liked for some reason but it was still delicious and I will definitely be making it again. Thanks for the recipe!

  • NoMoneyOnTip

    YAY!!! I love going to Olive Garden for Soup, Salad and Breadsticks but my husband and I have made it our mission to save money and 1 aspect of this is by not eating out. I just finished making this and I am super excited for our very own Soup Salad and Bread Sticks dinner tonight, w/o having to tip anyone!!! The only thing I did different was use whole wheat flour b/c that is all we have, left out the parsley b/c for some reason I don’t have any and after done cooking I put everything in the crockpot on “warm” since I made much earlier than dinner will be served….. also I am hoping this will soften up the carrots a little more. Thanks for making copy kat recipes for people like me that our too scared or not kitchen savvy enough to try it themselves!

  • flows

    I made this the other night and had some of the same problems other posters had. My gnocci was REALLY big (I know that’s not your fault at all) so it was kind of hard to eat. The kids hated that part. Mine ended up being a lot thicker and more bland then what I remember the soup tasting like at Olive Garden. My husband thought it was good but needed more seasoning. When I reheated the leftovers, I cut the gnocci in half, added broth to thin it out and a ton of pepper and some salt. It tasted so much better. Because my husband liked it, I might make it again with those changes. I might just add some shaped pasta instead of the gnocci next time for the kids. Thanks for posting this though. My husband loves it at OG and now I have a good base! :)

  • Ms.Fletcher

    I just wanted to let you know how wonderful this is! I am making it for the 2nd time tonight! Thank you so much for what you do!!

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  • sandymc

    I am making it right now with leftover grilled chicken. Something tastes funky. I don’t know if I added too much thyme (which I don’t believe I did). I’ve added a ton more garlic, a little parmesean, salt. I have had to thin it quite a bit. I used a whole 15 oz jug of broth. I’m now adding water. It’s been so long since I’ve made my own cream-based soup…not sure what else I can do to “fix” it.

    • http://www.copykat.com Stephanie

      I am not sure what is going on there. There really isn’t a “funky” ingredient in there, you are describing a funky taste, but then trying to get it to taste differently by adding more liquid.

  • FloridaRon

    I just thought you’d like to know that we ate at Olive Garden last night and remarked how much we loved the chicken and gnocchi soup. Then it hit us: “We could make this its own meal. But how?” We found your site and your YouTube video and made a meal out of the soup by adding a little bit more meat. We complemented it with French bread (which our 6-year-old son loved “painting” with butter before it went into the oven). We loved it so much that we just bought your book over on Amazon. Thank you for making dinner an international experience tonight for us. The house smells great! — The Dupont Family

    • Anonymous

      Thank you for the glowing testimony! I am so glad your family could recreate your favorite meal in your home. There are lots more recipes available online, and new recipes are coming out on Youtube all of the time.

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  • Neatfreak2415

    dumb question but what kind of spinach? frozen?

    • Anonymous

      Use fresh spinach.

  • Gagirl

    Definately needs salt and pepper. Tweeked it based on what I had in the kitchen! I used onion and garlic powder as well as celery salt since I didn’t have the fresh stuff. Spinach wouldn’t be an option with my boys so I added a few canned green peas for color. I also used canned carrots, left over turkey and milk since I didn’t have half/half. It was nice change of dinner menu for our family. Will make again!

  • Diamondpenny

    my sister and I go to Olive Garden every other week and have soup ( Cnocchi ) and Salad. It is the best soup ever. My grand children have nana and pap take them there every other week to. they love the place

  • Lorgain

    I just made this soup. Wow! For anyone with a milk allergy, here’s my substitute for the half and half. 2 cups of raw cashews + 2 cups of water. Blend into a cream. Voila! Non-dairy half and half. Even if you’re not allergic to dairy, the cashew cream is an incredible substitute for a variety of reasons, just one being the yummy taste. No one would have a clue that the soup I made is non-dairy unless I told them.

  • tina

    taste exactly and i was done in 1/2 hour

  • CookingMama

    I just wanted to thank you, for this amazing recipe..I love Olive Garden and their soups and just NEEDED to find the recipe..I’ve made this soup a couple of times in these cold winter days and my family loves it..I’m making this soup for my sister’s baby shower tommorow as an appetizer an I’m sure it will please :) ..Thanks so much for taking the time to give us these wonderful recipes!! I’ll be sure to keep getting more!!

    • Stephanie Manley

      Thanks for your kind review. I am glad to hear that you and your family have enjoyed this recipe.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_32QUIRJ7LE67WK3OGBIDRPCE4I Amy

    My mother and sisters and I love this soup, we always get it when we have a girl’s date at OG. I am looking forward to trying this recipe tomorrow and to see how it turns out. I was wondering since I will probably boil my chicken breast, if I made the gnocchi in the chicken water if that might give the gnocchi a richer taste. Does anyone know if gnocchi is like pasta in that you have to salt your cooking water or you never get a good salt taste?

    • Stephanie Manley

      I always salt the water when making pasta or gnocchi, it seems like you can’t salt it properly if you try to do is after it is cooked.

  • April

    So the lady that replaced everything with anything, it’s not longer chicken and gnocchi soup. It’s potato and hamburger soup. LOL I’m going to make this tomorrow. Can’t wait!

  • blkenigma

    I made it today and it was delicious… except for the fact that I had to add A LOT just to make it so. I followed the instructions and it came out so bland. I added a lot more seasonings and 2 boullion cubes. And I made my own gnocchi from scratch (which are much better than store bought)

  • nordin

    I had the Olive Garden recipe and was truly disappointed. 1 stinking gnocchi! Hope this recipe is much better. I would not order this soup again.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t know how you ended up with only 1 gnocchi, I promise you will have lots of gnocchi with this recipe.

  • Sitedanathy

    Just translated the recipe to portuguese in my page! I made the soup yesterday and it was amazing! Thanksss
    http://www.sitedanathy.com you can seee the recipe if you translate the page.

  • Painfullyaddicting

    Could you make this in a crock pot??

    • Anonymous

      I haven’t tried it, the gnocchi may get mushy if you do, I would add in the gnocchi just before serving.

  • http://twitter.com/ifionlyhdabrain Lori Faris-Huffer

    This is awesome~~thanks so much for posting & showing us how each step of the way! YUM!

  • Ryan

    Great start to good soup but I thik the addition of 2 tsp of salt and and extra 1/2-1 can of broth was needed to thin it out. I think cutting the carrots down to 1/2 cup made it better. I prefer chicken base to broth as it adds more flavor depth.

  • Mylissa

    Thank you for the recipe! I read through the comments and followed the recipe exactly EXCEPT I used: 8 cloves of crushed, minced garlic; 2 cups (2 breasts) of chopped/ cubed chicken; to the 1 quart of half and half I added water to the top of the carton and then poured it in to roux; a full 2 cups (16 oz) of chicken broth which I made with chicken flavor granules (2 tsp.); Nutmeg- 4 shakes from the container to the pot before serving. My kids loved this recipe! Thank you again for posting this recipe- I will be making this again and again.

  • Mylissa

    Thank you for the recipe! I read through the comments and followed the recipe exactly EXCEPT I used: 8 cloves of crushed, minced garlic; 2 cups (2 breasts) of chopped/ cubed chicken; to the 1 quart of half and half I added water to the top of the carton and then poured it in to roux; a full 2 cups (16 oz) of chicken broth which I made with chicken flavor granules (2 tsp.); Nutmeg- 4 shakes from the container to the pot before serving. My kids loved this recipe! Thank you again for posting this recipe- I will be making this again and again.

  • Kadi Heath

    Oh my gosh! This is fantastic! I made a couple changes that I think turned out very well. I used 3 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp bacon grease, added a cup of mushrooms to saute with the onion, celery and garlic, doubled the (shredded) chicken, tripled the spinach and used 16 oz chicken broth. I also replaced half the thyme (1/4 tsp) with basil and added two pinches of nutmeg, one pinch of ginger, and one big pinch of ground red chili powder. It didn’t make as much as I thought it would, but it would be super easy to double the recipe. Wow, I think that about covers all the additions, haha! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!

  • Kadi Heath

    Oh my gosh! This is fantastic! I made a couple changes that I think turned out very well. I used 3 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp bacon grease, added a cup of mushrooms to saute with the onion, celery and garlic, doubled the (shredded) chicken, tripled the spinach and used 16 oz chicken broth. I also replaced half the thyme (1/4 tsp) with basil and added two pinches of nutmeg, one pinch of ginger, and one big pinch of ground red chili powder. It didn’t make as much as I thought it would, but it would be super easy to double the recipe. Wow, I think that about covers all the additions, haha! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!

    • Jessi27

      I made this with chicken sausage and added extra spices. It was out of this world!!! It’s my girlfriend’s favorite soup and she liked it better than the original! Thanks do much!

  • nascarandhorse

    I made this tonight and it is very good. I added the nutmeg like someone said and I did add more broth but it was to much and it was not thick like I wanted. I will change that next time. Otherwise this is so stinkin good!!! thank you for the recipe

  • Queenagina

    I actually found vacuum sealed gnocci at Dollar Tree! It was surprisingly good and one third the price of other stores.

    • Anonymous

      I saw these at Big Lots the other day.

    • Sdfghjkl

      Nice! I’m gonna look for that!

    • Sdfghjkl

      Nice! I’m gonna look for that!

    • Sdfghjkl

      Nice! I’m gonna look for that!

    • sheform

      I bought it at Aldis for $1.69 a package.

    • Kelley

      I, too us gnocci at dollar tree and got the same results for my soup. This recipe is divine.

  • Hambergermadeline

    I followed this recipe exactly, it was a little bland I added in 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp of nutmeg and 1 tsp of celery seed. Made a huge difference!:)P

    • Hambergermadeline

      I forgot also a dash of garlic and onion powder!! :)

  • Tessa Travis07

    Check olive Garden website, they have there actual recipe listed there under the recipes section!

  • Bloom_baby

    Looks amazing. I tried another recipe last night and it seperated somehow. The cream almost curdled. Not a pleasant outcome. I’m going to follow your video EXACTLY and hope for better results!

  • Janastasiow

    After adding the chicken broth and before adding the gnocchi and spinach I cover and simmer for about 45 min or however long it takes for the celery and carrots to soften. This also produces more liquid since the celery is finely chopped.