Creamy Crockpot Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Crockpot Chicken Gnocchi Soup is dreamy comfort food made slow cooker simple for busy days and nights. It's packed with tender veggies and flavorful chicken, dotted with pillowy gnocchi, and all wrapped up in a velvety soup that may have you scraping the bowl.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 3-4 medium whole carrots peeled and chopped
- 1-2 stalks celery chopped
- 1/2 medium yellow or white onion chopped
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley flat or curly, chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- salt and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Better than Bouillon chicken seasoning base optional, read recipe closely
- pinch red pepper flakes optional
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock or broth
- 1 cup cream or half and half
- 1-2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 pound potato gnocchi
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 4 slices cooked bacon optional for serving
Instructions
- Place the chicken, carrots, celery, onion, parsley, garlic, Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon table salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a large slow cooker.
- Add the Better than Bouillon paste and red pepper flakes, if using. (If you are not using Better than Bouillon, you will most likely want to add extra salt to the soup - probably around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon on top of the 1/2 teaspoon already in there - but you can always do this to taste at the end to be safe.)
- Pour chicken stock or broth on top and give everything a gentle stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- While keeping the slow cooker turned on, take the lid off and shred the chicken using two forks to gently pull pieces apart. (If you find it easier, you can take the chicken out and do this on a cutting board or in your stand mixer, then return it to the pot.)
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the cream (or half and half) and 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch. Pour this mixture into the soup, then add the gnocchi and spinach and stir well. Put the lid back on the slow cooker and be sure it is turned to the high setting. Let cook for another 30-45 minutes.
- Uncover the pot and give the soup a good stir. If you would like it to be thicker, whisk together up to 1 more Tablespoon cornstarch plus an equal amount of cool water, then stir this extra slurry into the soup. It should thicken more over the next 5 minutes or so.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, as desired. (You will probably want to add extra salt if you only added 1/2 teaspoon earlier and did not use Better than Bouillon. Be generous with the salt until the broth has a really good flavor. You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten up the flavors, fresh slivered basil, more red pepper, etc.)
- Ladle soup into bowls and top with crumbled cooked bacon, if desired. Enjoy!
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Notes
- Better than Bouillon: This is a simple paste that is really helpful to keep in the fridge as a shortcut to making broth in a hurry or mixing into soups in a small amount. It's very concentrated and adds a lot of extra flavor to the soup but also a good amount of salt; read the recipe carefully, and if you're not using the Better than Bouillon, be generous with the extra salt to compensate.
- Slurry Matters: If you’re trying to thicken the soup further, resist the temptation to add more cornstarch directly to the soup. Adding the powder directly to a hot liquid leads to clumps and a gritty texture that’s hard to whisk out. Use the slurry of cornstarch plus cool water, or you can also use more cool cream or half and half.
- Too Thick? If at any point the soup becomes too thick for your taste, add water or extra chicken broth, 1-2 Tablespoons at a time, stirring well to incorporate slowly.
- Reheating: This soup keeps really well in the fridge for 3-4 days. It will look really thick as you first transfer it from storage containers to bowls, but will thin back out to the original consistency once warmed in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- Recipe Evolution: The original version of this recipe used evaporated milk to make the soup creamy, inspired by a technique popularized by The Kitchn. We loved it, but after years of reader feedback, I finally concluded that this technique was just not reliable. Maybe it was a matter of the ratios, seasonings, or variance in slow cooker temperatures, but for every reader who liked the soup, there was another who found it bland or thin. All reviews written prior to November 8, 2024 pertain to that old recipe, for better or for worse. If you want that old recipe, which is no longer published here, please leave a comment and I will email it to you directly.