Try this Easy chicken gnocchi soup recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 cup sliced or shredded carrots
- 3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded (or use rotiss
- 1 (16-ounce) package mini potato gnocchi
- 1-2 cups chopped spinach
- Carbohydrate 18.1048276743056 g
- Cholesterol 14.400000012173 mg
- Fat 6.6615698533602 g
- Fiber 0.514494979210165 g
- Protein 12.3534327801108 g
- Saturated Fat 1.6716848791512 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -6 serving (512g)
- Sodium 861.722105825301 mg
- Sugar 17.5903326950955 g
- Trans Fat 0.433190688115454 g
- Calories 186 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
- Add the chicken, chicken stock, whipping cream, salt, pepper and thyme.
- Heat to boiling and then add the gnocchi.
- Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down and simmer for 10 minutes, or until it has reached desired thickness.
- Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy while warm!
Can leftover roasted poultry perform better than freshly poached meat inside a simmering pot? Pre-cooked chicken breasts or rotisserie birds already underwent cellular contraction during their initial cooking phase, meaning their muscle fibers are tightly wound and firm. Introducing them to chicken stock early allows those proteins to absorb ambient moisture and dissolved fats from the broth without tightening further, yielding a tender bite rather than a dry one. Dice or shred the poultry uniformly so each spoonful receives an equal distribution of protein.
Building the flavor base relies on sweating the diced onion, carrots, celery, and minced garlic in olive oil over medium heat for three to five minutes until the onions turn translucent. This duration drives off excess water content within the vegetables while allowing natural sugars to caramelize mildly through Maillard reactions. Fat acts as a thermal conductor here, ensuring heat distributes evenly across the mirepoix so the garlic avoids burning and developing bitter compounds.
Pouring in heavy cream alongside chicken stock introduces dairy lipids and milk proteins that interact structurally with the starchy exterior of potato dumplings. As the mini potato gnocchi boil gently for four minutes before simmering for ten minutes, starch molecules leach out into the liquid, binding with the milk fat globules to thicken the broth naturally without requiring a separate flour roux. Monitor the simmer closely because dairy solids scorch easily if the heat exceeds a gentle bubble.
Stirring in chopped spinach during the final one to two minutes preserves the bright green chlorophyll pigments by halting thermal degradation before dull olive tones emerge. Serve this rich potage alongside a crusty, high-hydration sourdough bread to balance the heavy dairy fats through lactic acid notes. Leftovers keep safely in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days, though the potato dumplings will continue absorbing liquid as they sit.
