When’s the last time you went to Olive Garden? If you’re like us, Olive Garden is a favorite because it’s a family-oriented place, the food tastes good and it’s all relatively cheap. There’s also the added bonus of unlimited soup and breadsticks which is a deal that’s pretty tough to beat. Still, even eating out at Olive Garden too frequently can start to add up. Any time we can find shortcuts to going out to eat, we might as well take them—which is why we have an awesome recipe for you today.
Today’s recipe is a quick and easy take on an Olive Garden favorite, namely the chicken gnocchi soup. If you’ve ever had this soup, you know exactly what we’re talking about. It is rich, creamy, salty and packed with chicken and tasty noodles.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 cup of diced onion
- 1/2 cup of diced celery
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- 2 cups of half-and-half
- 1 14-ounce can of chicken broth (use two cans for a thinner soup)
- 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme
- 1 cup of shredded carrots
- 1 cup of fresh, chopped spinach leaves
- 1 cup of diced, cooked chicken breast
- 1 16-ounce package of potato gnocchi
- salt
- pepper
Here’s what you do:
1. First, get a large pot going over medium-high heat and add in your butter and olive oil. Once it’s hot enough, sauté your onions, celery and garlic until they’re nice and tender. Throw in your flour to create a roux and keep cooking the mixture for about another minute.
2. Once the roux has come together, gradually start adding in your half-and-half along with the chicken broth and keep stirring the entire thing so that the base thickens.
3. Next, throw in your thyme, carrots, spinach, chicken and gnocchi and stir it all up to combine. Let the soup simmer for about five minutes, or until the gnocchi are cooked through and the soup is thickened. At this point, you can also decide whether or not you want to add a second can of chicken broth to lighten it up! Finally, add salt and pepper and you’re ready to serve!
As you can see, this recipe is actually incredibly easy to duplicate assuming you cut a few corners by buying pre-made gnocchi—you can save even more time by buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding that rather than preparing chicken breast on your own! Once you taste this soup, however, you’ll be instantly reminded of how Olive Garden does it. All you need now are some nice breadsticks to dip in it and you’ll be all set! Make sure to salt them excessively just like Olive Garden does, though.
Have you tried this recipe out for yourself? Let us know how it went in the comments below.
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