I was pretty excited for this theme, and look forward to checking out what everybody brings to the swap today. Will it be a homemade version of your favorite canned soup? Will it be a recreation of your favorite restaurant's signature soup? Maybe it'll even be a soup you've only heard of, but never tried (but can now!).
I actually had a whole list of copycat soups I wanted to try out, but narrowed it down to two. The first was a childhood favorite, Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger Soup. Campbell's Chunky line was HUGE when I was a kid. I don't know if they had just been released, or if there just happened to be a big marketing campaign around that time, but we ate them a lot.
My second choice was one of the most popular Olive Garden soups—Chicken & Gnocchi Soup. Now, you may not know this about me, but I have a soft spot for the Olive Garden because I worked there for about 6 months before starting culinary school way-back-when. It's where I learned to make Chicken Alfredo from scratch, and the most awesome Roasted Rosemary Pork tenderloin with veggies. I chopped fresh parsley by the bucketload and learned the perfect saute pan wrist-flip.
Plus, who among us hasn't gone there just for the Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks when were low on cash but wanted to eat out with the girls?
These pictures don't do it justice (one day I may re-shoot them and update), but I really hope you'll give the recipe a try! If you want to see all of the other copycat soup recipes made by the Saturday Soup Swappers, be sure to scroll down past the recipe for the entire lineup.
Yield: serves 4-6
Copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
prep time: 10 MINScook time: 20 MINStotal time: 30 mins
Rich and creamy soup with chicken, gnocchi, and spinach that tastes like the popular menu item at Olive Garden.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium carrot, coarsely shredded
- 1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 large stalk of celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 16 ounces mini (or small) gnocchi
- ~2 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken (~1 pound)
- 2 cups packed baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
- 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Set a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat; add olive oil and butter. Once hot and butter has melted, add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, or until the veggies have just begun to soften, but haven't gotten any color on them.
- Sprinkle the flour evenly over the veggies and stir for 1 minute, allowing the starchy flavor to cook out. Add salt, white pepper, nutmeg, and chicken stock to the pot. Turn the heat up to medium-high, then let it come to a boil. Add the gnocchi to the boiling soup and let cook for 3-4 minutes (or longer if you're using larger gnocchi). The soup should have thickened up a bit by now.
- Stir in the shredded chicken and chopped spinach, reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook for 5 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream, stirring the whole time, until tiny bubbles start to form in the soup; remove from heat, then stir in the parsley and time. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Notes:
- I used unsalted chicken stock in this recipe. If you use salted broth, put in half the amount of salt to begin with, and then adjust season to taste once the soup is finished.
- To get one pound of cooked chicken, I started with just over 1.25 pounds of raw, boneless, skinless chicken. I then poached it gently in chicken stock before shredding. You could use any type of leftover cooked chicken that you have, or even the meat from a rotisserie chicken.
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