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Yield: 6
Ready In: 8 hours 15 minutes
I always make this easy chicken gnocchi soup when we have a cold and busy day ahead of us – it cooks all day in the slow cooker, then you'll finish it with a few ingredients just before dinnertime rolls around. This is just as good as going out to Olive Garden for dinner (but if you ask my kids, they'll tell you this homemade one is even better!).
Recommended Equipment:
Ingredients
- ½ medium yellow onion (diced)
- 2-3 medium carrots (shredded)
- 2-3 sticks celery (sliced)
- 1 pound boneless (skinless chicken breasts)
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- ½ teaspoon dried garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup(12-oz) can evaporated milk
- 1-2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 17.5-oz package gnocchi
- 2-4 cups baby spinach
Instructions
- Slow cook: Place onion, carrots and celery at the bottom of the crock. Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and sit on top of vegetables. Combine broth, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary and minced garlic in measuring jug, then pour over chicken and vegetables in crock. Cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours, or on LOW for 7-8 hours.
- Shred chicken: Open lid of slow cooker and remove chicken to a wooden board, then shred chicken with two forks. Whisk cornstarch into evaporated milk, then stir into soup together with gnocchi and shredded chicken. Cover and cook for another 45 minutes on HIGH.
- Finish soup: Stir spinach into soup until wilted. Check for seasoning and serve immediately.
Step by Step Recipe Video
Nora’s Tips
Ingredient Notes:
Chicken: You can also make this with boneless, skinless chicken thighs for a more economical dinner. The cooking time stays the same. Gnocchi: I you can’t find any gnocchi, it’s just as good with cheese tortellini or with wide egg noodles! Spinach: Feel free to leave out the spinach if your family isn’t a fan of leaves in their dinner (my kids were very opposed a couple of years ago, but now that I’ve convinced them it’s what Rebecca Rabbit eats, they find it fun, ha!). Evaporated milk: You can also use cream or half-and-half in place of the evaporated milk.Cooking Tips:
Make sure the chicken sits on top of the vegetables so it doesn’t burn to the bottom of the crock. Some of the veggies will float up when you pour the broth on top, that doesn’t matter! As long as you place the vegetables in the crock first, then the chicken second and finally the broth. If you like a very thick soup, try cooking it without the lid for the final 45 minutes. Just make sure no pets or kids can get to it!Side Dishes:
This is a nice and hearty soup all by itself, but if you want to serve something on the side, we LOVE my Garlic Parmesan Mini Monkey Breads with this recipe. You can also use canned biscuits in place of the homemade dough the recipe asks for. Plain biscuits are also delicious, and so is a hearty No Knead Bread!Nutrition
Calories: 345kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 65mg | Sodium: 509mg | Potassium: 756mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 4553IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 199mg | Iron: 4mg
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melissa chandler says
This was good. I subbed cashew milk and made the slurry with flour rather than cornstarch due to allergies. Also used my homemade gnocchi. I topped it with flaky sea salt and a drizzle of good olive oil.
Renee K. says
Delicious! This was very good. I used Jimmy Dean sausage instead of chicken. So the added flavor from worked really well.
Carla Bakken says
I made this for dinner last night and it was absolutely amazing! I never comment on recipes that I make, but this was so good! I used a rotisserie chicken instead of the chicken breast to cut down the cook time, but I don’t believe that changed the taste of the soup. I am definitely going to make this again. Maybe even tomorrow.
Nora says
So happy you enjoyed the soup, Carla! Great tip with the rotisserie chicken, too.
Sharon VC says
I do not have a crockpot. Would I have to make any adjustments if I cooked it on the stove?
Nora says
Sharon, if you’re cooking it in a pot on the stove, I would make the following adjustments:
– Cook onions, carrots and celery in a tablespoon of oil and a pat of butter over medium heat, for 5-10 minutes until starting to soften.
– Then stir in seasoning, and finally the broth, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
– Bring to a boil, then add the chicken breast and simmer on medium to medium-high heat until the chicken is cooked, about 15 minutes (can be shorter or longer depending on the size and thickness of the chicken)
– Once cooked through, shred the chicken as directed in the recipe.
– Combine the cornstarch and evaporated milk, whisk it into the soup until fully combined. Add the chicken and the gnocchi, stir, then simmer until the gnocchi are done.
– Stir in the spinach, check for seasoning and serve.
Hope this helps!
Nikki says
Question- how does this do for leftovers? We are having a soup pot luck for work and would love to make this the day before
Nora says
I generally don’t like reheating chicken, I always find it comes out dry. However, since it’s sitting in soup, it might be fine. If making it ahead on purpose, I would prepare the recipe up to shredding the chicken, then cool it down and refrigerate. The day of serving, finish the recipe as directed. (Refrigerate in a separate bowl, not the crockpot insert – if it goes from cold to hot too quickly, it may burst.) You may need additional evaporated milk, as the chicken will soak up some of the liquid.
Nicole R says
Hi Nora! I’m making this tomorrow morning but I will be using our frozen gnocchi from our favorite Italian store. Should I partially cook the gnocchi before adding it in or do you think it will cook fine following directions? thank you and I can’t wait to try it!
Nora says
To my understanding, the USDA does not recommend using frozen food in a crockpot. I think personally, I would thaw them before adding. If you think they’ll become soggy while thawing, I would blanch (boil for 30 seconds) before adding them.
Ali Fisher says
So excited to make this tonight! Just wondering why shredded carrots instead of carrots cut in chunks? Thanks!
Nora says
Because that’s closest to what OG uses 😉
Hannah says
Hey! Excited to make this. Quick question, I couldn’t find fresh spinach unfortunately at our local grocery, but they did have frozen spinach, will this work?
Nora says
Hannah, frozen leaf spinach will be fine. Just don’t use frozen chopped spinach, I did that once and it turned the soup into a huge mess. Hope this helps 🙂
Mariam says
my 14 year old daughter saw your YouTube video and asked if we could make this, and it turned out so well! hoping she’ll watch more cooking videos instead of all those beauty tutorials in the future, haha. thank u!
Nora Rusev says
Haha, I hope so too, Mariam! Thank you for coming back to leave a review, I appreciate it.