Creamy Chicken Italian Sausage and Gnocchi Soup

Jillian Blair
Oct 17, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Jan 1, 2024

Like Olive Garden but better (but I love you Olive Garden)

I love soup. I love cooking soup. I make so much soup that when I invite someone over for dinner, they ask if it's soup -- or pasta or some form of rice and gravy, but that's another series.

"Wow, this soup is great for soup season!!" - ME

Alas, I love all-you-can-eat soup at Olive Garden. Can you guess what I get? That's right: chicken and gnocchi soup. You're so smart. This is a more homemade, gourmet version, I guess. Unfortunately, it was not bottomless and there were no breadsticks.

CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND GNOCCHI SOUP

Ingredients

As always, feel free to mix it up and cook with your heart!

2-3 pre-cooked chicken Italian sausage links, sliced
1/2 onion, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups of chicken stock (broth, water with bullion)
1 cup of spinach, chopped
Season to taste (I used about a teaspoon of garlic powder and onion powder, half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1/4 of a teaspoon of white pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.)
1 16 oz package of gnocchi
1 cup of half-and-half or heavy cream
Basil and parmesan to top (optional)

Directions

Dice the onion and celery, mince the garlic, slice the sausage links and lightly chop the spinach.
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pot. Sauté the sliced sausage on medium heat until lightly browned. Remove the browned sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pot.
If needed, add more olive oil. Salt and sauté the onion, celery and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add in chicken stock (or broth), spinach and seasonings. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add in gnocchi and cooked sausage and simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until the gnocchi is cooked to package instructions.
Pour in 1 cup of half and half (or heavy cream). Lightly simmer until thickened.
Serve with Parmesan cheese and basil. (Optional)