Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

after talking to the waitress for an hour I got her to get the cook to write it down for me… I left her a 25.oo tip so enjoy … I will :smiley:

Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sugar
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
2 cups prepared potato gnocchi (about 11 ounces), thawed if frozen
2 cups frozen peas (8 ounces)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken, (about 1 large chicken breast)
Freshly ground black pepper
Hunk of good Parmesan

Instructions

Put chicken broth, garlic, butter and sugar in a large
saucepan over medium-low heat, bring it to a simmer, and cook, uncovered until the garlic is tender, about 2 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and continue to simmer until almost tender, 2 minutes. Bring to a full boil, stir in gnocchi and, cooking until the gnocchi are al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in frozen peas and chicken and turn off the heat. Season with salt —take into consideration that Parmesan cheese is salty,
and a generous amount of pepper, to taste. Ladle the soup into warmed shallow bowls and shower each with freshly grated cheese.

Gnocchi
Kosher salt
1 pound russet potatoes
3 to 4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon gray salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting board and dough

Directions
Preheat the oven
to 425 degrees F.
Spread a layer of kosher salt on a baking sheet and arrange the potatoes on top (see Cook’s Note). Bake until a bit overcooked, about 45 minutes. Let sit until cool enough to handle, cut in half, and scoop out the flesh.
Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer or grate them on the large holes of a box grater. You should have about 2 cups. Make a mound of potatoes on the counter with a well in the middle, add 3 of the egg yolks, thecheese, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mix in the potatoes and mix well with hands. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the flour over the potatoes and, using your knuckles, press it into the potatoes. Fold the mass over on itself and press down again. Sprinkle on more flour, little by little, folding and pressing the dough until it just holds together, (try not to knead it.) Work any dough clinging to your fingers back into the dough. If the mixture is too dry, add another egg yolk or a little water. The dough should give under slight pressure. It will feel firm but yielding. To test if the dough is the correct consistency, take a piece and roll it with your hands
on a well-floured board into a rope 1/2-inch in diameter. If the dough holds together, it is ready. If not, add more flour, fold and press the dough several more times, and test again.

Keeping your work surface and the dough lightly floured, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 1/2-inch in diameter. Cut into 1/2-inch-long pieces. Lightly flour the gnocchi as you cut them. You can cook these as is or form them into the classic gnocchi shape with a gnocchi board, ridged butter paddle, or the tines of a large fork turned upside down. Rest the bottom edge of the gnocchi board on the work surface, then tilt it at about a 45 degree angle. Take each piece and squish it lightly with your thumb against the board while simultaneously pushing it away from you. It will roll away and around your thumb, taking on a cupped shape – with ridges on the outer curve from the board and a smooth surface on the inner curve where your thumb was. (Shaping them takes some time and dexterity. You might make a batch just for practice.) The indentation holds the sauce and helps gnocchi cook faster.

1 Like

half-and-half or Alfredo sauce ?

I asked what made the soup look white they told me its the flour from the gnocchi. I asked … and I never heard of alfredo sause in a soup maybe a pasta sause but a soup??? well im in california may be different recpt for other states but thats the one i got … maybe i should not share anymore in fear of getting blasted for getting a recpt from a restraunt…:cry:

Linda in California

Alfredo sauce, half-and-half, or not; either way this still looks to be a very good soup and I am planning to cook this for the family.

if you read the post it said " I got the waitress to get the COOK or if you prefer the correct term " CHEIF " to write it down for me… either way make it dont make it I just thought it would be nice to share my great gift i got for a great soup… and I gave her a big tip because she had the cheif come to my table thats hard to do and she got him to come out.
dont worrie not going to share no more in fact I guess i will find a better place to get so recpt to have. guess ron will enjoy losing people due to his meators telling someone that wasnt there asking for the recpt. that it is wrong. I havent seen this recpt on here anywhere but see post after post of the same recpt but different ways to make it…

no wonder your called "Kitchen Witch’’ you must be the bad witch …

on the og web site under the nutrition information if it did have half and half or even Alfredo sauce the Calories would be way more than 250 for one serving go to their web site and see…Chicken & Gnocchi Soup (One serving)
250/Calories
8/Total Fat
3/Sat. Fat
1180/ Sodium
29/Carbohydrates
2/ Fiber

here so it dont make you have to see. If you are the great cook you are you should know cream and Alfredo sauce would add to the total calories , fat, carbs… and it would be eay more than 250 per serving. and the other point is the soup is not thick in fact I think its a little watery.

FOOT NOTE: I did go to the OG web site and did copy the nutrition information to post to this to make a point. Sorry to offend anyone in any way for this posting. I just dont like being called a lier unless you were with me when i got the cook to give me the information. all you have to do is ask and they will or will not give it to you. also being on special diets they do have to tell you if you ask if any thing in the food. thats california law…

I cook for taste and nothing else.

FYI that is 100% NOT the recipe for olive garden chx gnocci soup. As it calls for peas and there are NO peas in the soup at OG. I have a terribly allergy for peas and eat this soup all the time.

That is not the real recipe because the soup doesn’t have peas in it it has spinach or something like that. I have purchased this soup by the quart because the kids love it but there are no peas.

This is definitely not the Olive Garden recipe. At OG, there are no peas in the soup. However, there is spinach, thyme and either half and half or heavy cream as it is a creamy soup. I have made the version on Food.com without the optional cornstarch and it is like the soup at OG.

Obviously the person who posted this was and idiot. Either they don’t really eat at Olive Garden, or they have no idea what they are eating. The description for this soup on the menu clearly says that it has spinich in it. There is no mention of peas. I eat this soup everytime I visit OG and I can honestly say, if there were peas in it, I wouldn’t eat it!

WOW! Would it be possible to kick this person in the behind a little more? Hey, we all make mistakes and if she says she got this from the chef at OG then we should believe that. Who says the Chef gave her the actual recipe? May it was his version of the recipe. We will never know. It’s hard enough out there with the economy and people just trying to get by without the community knocking her down over and over. Try the recipe and if you don’t like it, don’t cook it again.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Easter.

I know this is an old post but I wanted to mention that Olive Garden used to have peas in their Chicken and Gnocchi soup. I noticed the change since I’ve been eating it for years. I won’t say it’s better with or without the peas but it has changed. My guess was that there were enough of those pea haters out there that they changed it to spinach :). Either way it’s a great soup and I can’t wait to try this recipe.

I am annoyed by the post that claims the “CHIEF” as they spelled it, gave the recipe out to just any customer. First of all it’s not even close. Luckily most of us can quickly spot the flaws and know better than to waste our time. Is it really that important for you to have a story or feel special that you would waste someone’s entire day attempting this hoping they would actually get the same soup that OG serves??..sounds kinda like the Nieman Marcus cookie recipe to me!!

To HTBG247

The soup was delicious, Iam 67 years old and I have found it doesn’t matter what other people think. The soup is delicious , Thank You:D

I understand this is an old post, and I’ve read every post on here. I am very aggravated because the “user” has specified that they asked a waitress and the “chief” came out, yada yada. Well, my daughter asked if I could find a recipe for this soup, as its her favorite. I googled the name, and the recipe that came up from the Food Network test kitchen was this EXACT recipe, down to the “hunk of parmesan” as the last ingredient. Why the person who posted this originally went above and beyond to lie, and tell such a ridiculous story is mind boggling. I understand that these restaurants don’t publicize their recipes because they are THEIR recipes. So if someone is playing around in the kitchen and stumbles across a recipe (or their own concoction) and they post, we are all appreciative. But don’t post a blatant lie, there’s no reason for that. And FYI, the Food Network makes NO MENTION of the OG,or the soup being a knock off…it wasn’t meant to be, it was just a recipe.

Here’s a Tomato based Gnocchi from the Olive Garden website from 2002 as archived on Archive.org - Wayback Machine:

Olive Garden Gnocchi with Spicy Tomato and Wine Sauce

Total Time: 1 hr.

prep: 30 min(s)
cook: 30 min(s)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb(s) Gnocchi potatoe dumplings
2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
6 clove(s) Fresh garlic
1/2 tsp Chili flakes
1 cup(s) Dry white drinking wine
1 cup(s) Chicken broth
2 14 1/2 oz. cans Tomatoes
1/2 stick(s) Sweet cream butter, 1 inch cubes chilled
1/2 cup(s) Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Freshly chopped basil (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Freshly crushed black pepper (to taste)

Procedures:

SAUCE PREPARATION

Place the olive oil, garlic and chili flakes in a cold pan.

On medium heat stir and cook the olive oil, garlic, chili flakes until garlic turns slight golden brown.

To this mixture add the white wine and chicken broth simmer about 10 minutes.

Reduce the wine and broth by half, add the tomatoes, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.

Puree the sauce in blender with the butter and Parmesan cheese.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

PASTA PREPARATION

Prepare pasta when sauce is complete.

Use a large pot to boil pasta.

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until they float. (Approx. 3 minutes or 160 degree F internal temp.)

Remove pasta from boiling water and lightly mix with sauce.

PLATING SUGGESTION:

Place sauced pasta on serving plate, top with Parmesan and Basil.

CHEFS TIP:

Add Cream to sauce to add richness

Add vegetables of choice to sauce

Add sauteed chicken strips to sauce

Source: Olive Garden website, Italian Recipe Box page, 2002.

hi…my name is michelle. i am completely new to this site. i literally just signed on to look for exactly this recipe. first, i’d like to say that i also asked at olive garden what made the soup have a sort of white tint to it. i was also told that it was from the flour. this kitchen witch is wrong. i’ve made several soups and when u make the pastas from scratch the flour will in deed cause a bit of a white tint. excessive amounts of loose flour would indeed cause it to thicken, but common sense says if you add a white substance to an opaque liquid it will obviously tint it slightly white…duh. to the lady that says she got the recipe from the chef via the waitress…i’m sorry, i didn’t catch ur name before i started writing. don’t let one bad apple spoil you’re pie. meaning—don’t let this “kitchen witch” keep you from posting things for the rest of us to benefit from, please. if she doesn’t want to use them then thats her choice. i, on the other hand, agree with the one lady who said something to the effect of, “olive garden or no–this looks like an awfully good soup recipe and i’m making it for my family tonight…thank you!”

Olive Garden Style Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

3 or 4 chicken breasts , cooked and diced
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups half-and-half
1 stalk celery , diced
1 garlic clove , chopped
1/2 carrot , shredded
1/2 onion , diced
1 cup fresh spinach , chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper
16 ounces potato gnocchi
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)

Saute the onion, celery, garlic, carrot in the oil over medium heat until onion is translucent.

Add chicken, chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme. Heat to boiling, then add gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Add spinach and simmer for another 1-2 minutes until the spinach is wilted.

Turn up heat until soup is boiling and add cornstarch dissolved into 1-2 Tbsp water if a thicker soup is desired.

Serve warm.

This is an old post. I have a few comments based on my experience with Olive Garden since 1994. I live in Detroit Mich.

I used to freequent OG 1-2 times a week during the 90’s. and up til 2003. Live just 2.5 miles away,still went often untill about 2008 but go only a couple times a year now.

  1. Maybe OG has different dishes on the menu in different states. On June 18, 2011, BMazur stated that the soup used to have peas in it, but OG changed and put in spinach. Don’t remember what year Mazur mentioned, but I beleive it was quite a few years ago.
  2. I did not notice the chicken gnocci soup on the menu until 2009.
    3a. This recipe is definitely not the soup at the OG near me. It sounds like it would be somewhat opaque, watery soup…not creamy, since the recipe does not call for cream or flour.
    3b. Maybe OG’s chicken gnocci soup is/was not creamy at some locations or at an earlier time?
  3. Some of OG’s recipes “morph” into something different over time. My personal experience is with the Zuppa Toscana soup (my favorite). The first time I ordered it in the 90’s (probably 94) It was so thick and laden with potatoes, I thought it was a “potato” soup. Mind you, I was going once a week. The next time, It had 1/4 of the potatoes in it. Until this day, I have never gotten a bowl of soup to compare to the first bowl. I got in the habit of asking for “extra” potatoes. Even with “extra” potatoes, the potatoes got to be less and less. I finally talked to a Manager (years later) who advised me the soup was supposed to be thin with a touch of potatoes. I had been going to the restaurant longer than he had been employed there. I remember telling him, I personally thought that might be the case at the present time, but I felt OG changed the recipe for the soup, as they had on some other menu items. (chicken scampi , definitely has changed into a much milder, more mellow dish) The Kale in the soup also has diminished.
  4. Perhaps the Chef gave her an earlier version of the recipe? As some of us have stated, the posted recipe is not the creamy soup we recognize. It seems to me if she was at the restaurant and eating the soup we all recognize, then clearly she, too,should also have recognized this also. Sounds like she did have some doubt. She claims she questioned what made the soup white? She does not state if she made the soup prior to posting. I would think if she did, the soup definitely would not have been the creamy one and she would have not posted the recipe unless it looked and tasted like the one she ate? Somewhat opaque & watery? Creamy & thick?
  5. I made all these comments because I believe there is possibly a different explanation other than deliberately posting false information. We have all heard of Murphy’s Law: if something can go wrong, then it will). I am a constant “embodiment” of a form of it. Things don’t necessarily go wrong, but odd things always happen to me that would never happen to others. (Like closing the car door on my head… on 2 different occasions). Clearly Murphy’s law is in effect and something is wrong that is unknown to all of us, including the poster.

If you don’t want to use her recipe then don’t. I am actually cooking it right now. Although it does not list the 1/2 & 1/2, I put it in anyway. And although she listed peas instead of spinach I added both. It is cooking as I type this and it smells heavenly. In CA they may do it a bit differently then where you are. In Alabama it is not made with peas but I am willing to try it. Some of you need to learn some eitquette and manners.
Thanks for sharing your CA recipe and I will enjoy!