Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
Savor the ultimate comfort food with this creamy chicken and gnocchi soup. Packed with pillowy gnocchi, juicy chicken, and a medley of aromatic veggies, it’s a cozy, flavor-packed delight.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 65 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Soups
Ingredients
Scale
- 10 cups water, plus 2 cups more after the broth is cooked
- 3 chicken drumsticks (1 – 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken)
- 2 dry bay leaves
- 1/2 Tablespoon peppercorns
- 1.5 Tablespoons butter or oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 3–4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 2–3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 lb gnocchi (I used mini potato gnocchi)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon fresh herbs, to garnish (dill, parsley, green onion)
Instructions
- Place the chicken, bay leaves, peppercorns and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, season with salt and cook until the chicken is tender and the meat is falling off the bone, about 40-50 minutes.
- Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a cheesecloth or a paper towel. When cool enough to handle, take the meat off the bone. Set aside. You will have about 8 cups of broth and 1- 1 1/2 cups of meat. If you have chicken broth and cooked chicken on hand, you can save some time by using them instead of starting from scratch.
- Rinse out the same pot that you used to cook the broth. Melt the butter (or use oil) over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 7 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the flour and mix it in, until it’s absorbed completely in the vegetables, about 1 minute.
- Add the potatoes and reserved broth and bring the soup to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through. Add an additional 2 cups of water. However, if you like your soup on the thicker side with more of a stew consistency, you can choose not to add the additional water. I always add more water, sometimes even more than 2 cups, but it’s completely up to you. Keep in mind that the gnocchi will also soak up a lot of the liquid. Adjust the seasoning of the soup, adding more salt, if needed.
- Add the gnocchi to the soup, as well as the cooked chicken. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the gnocchi are cooked through.
- Pour in the heavy cream and add the fresh herbs, right before turning off the heat.