This Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup is everything you’d want in a warm, comforting soup, plus it's a lighter take on the Olive Garden version. Rich and creamy soup broth, hearty vegetables, soft gnocchi, chicken, and bacon. Serve with a side of your favorite bread for dunking.
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📋 About the Recipe
- One pot recipe. One of the best parts of making soups at home is they typically come together in one pot and this Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi soup is no exception. The bacon, chicken, soup, and gnocchi all cook in the Instant Pot.
- Soft and pillowy. If you love my other soups with pasta, you will love this gnocchi soup. There is nothing like fresh, pillowy gnocchi soaked up in the savory creamy soup. And for other soup ideas, try chicken minestrone soup or instant pot chicken rice soup.
- Ready in less than an hour. This soup is ready start to finish in about 55 minutes. This includes cooking the bacon, soup, chicken, and gnocchi! It’s much easier than you think.
🛒 Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- Bacon - If you’ve only ever had the Chicken Gnocchi soup at Olive Garden, you will love this version made with added bacon! In addition to adding crumbled bacon, we’re also cooking the vegetables in the leftover bacon fat for extra flavor. For the best results, buy the best quality bacon you can afford. Cheaper bacon is usually fattier and greasier.
- Chicken - This soup is made with skinless chicken breasts. I used 2 breasts weighing about 1 ¼ pounds. If you only have chicken thighs, you may prefer my Instant Pot Chicken Rice Soup or Instant Pot Matzo Ball Soup.
- Low-sodium chicken broth - Adds savory flavor to the creamy soup without being too salty.
- Gnocchi - Using refrigerated potato gnocchi is highly recommended. It is fresher, softer, and higher quality. However, if you can't find refrigerated gnocchi, the pantry gnocchi works too.
- Yogurt - Plain greek yogurt is a staple in my home kitchen. It not only makes a great, lighter heavy cream alternative, it also makes a good sour cream substitute in Blackberry Lemon Bread.
⁉️ Substitutions and Alterations
- Chicken broth substitute: Using low sodium vegetable broth is a great alternative.
- Greek yogurt substitutes: Heavy cream, sour cream, or full-fat coconut milk will all work well in place of the yogurt.
- Fresh spinach substitute: If you’d like to use frozen spinach, it will work fine but make sure to squeeze out the excess water before adding it to the soup. Frozen spinach is much higher in water content and will water down the richness of your soup.
📓 Instructions
- Start with cooking the bacon. Lay bacon in a single layer at the bottom of your instant pot. Do not overlap. You might need to work in batches if all the bacon doesn’t fit. It’s okay if the ends of the bacon have to go up the sides a little bit.
- Set instant pot to the “sauté” setting. Cook bacon for 5 to 7 minutes before flipping and cooking for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Crumble the bacon. Remove bacon from the Instant Pot and set on a paper towel lined plate to absorb any remaining grease. Crumble bacon into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
- Cook the onions, carrot, and celery. Still on the “sauté” setting, add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook in the bacon grease for 5 minutes, or until the onions start to turn translucent, scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pot.
- Add garlic. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Press “cancel” to turn off the sauté setting.
- Add chicken, broth, and spices. Lay the chicken breasts on top of the onions, carrot and celery. Pour in the chicken broth and season with bay leaf, rosemary, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper.
- Pressure cook for 9 minutes. Cover the Instant Pot with the lid. Set the valve to the “sealing" position and pressure cook on manual high pressure for 9 minutes.
- Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. When the timer is up, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes before switching the valve to “venting” and manually releasing any remaining pressure.
- Discard the bay leaves and rosemary. Remove the lid and discard bay leaf and stem of the rosemary sprig.
- Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken breasts to a plate or cutting board. Shred the chicken using two forks.
- Cook the gnocchi. Set the Instant Pot back to the “sauté” setting. Once the soup broth starts to simmer, add the gnocchi and stir. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until gnocchi is tender and floats to the top.
- Stir in chicken and cheese. Turn off the pot. Stir in shredded chicken and parmesan cheese. Stir in spinach just until it wilts.
- Add greek yogurt. For a creamy soup, stir in the greek yogurt until fully combined.
- Serve. Serve soup warm with extra bacon and parmesan sprinkled on top.
❄️ How to Store
How long does chicken gnocchi soup last in the fridge? This soup will keep for up to 4 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Allow the soup to cool completely before transferring to a storage container and refrigerating.
Can chicken gnocchi soup be frozen? For best results, allow soup to cool completely before transferring to a freezer-safe container. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
How to reheat chicken gnocchi soup? This creamy soup will reheat best in the microwave, on the stovetop over low heat, or in the Instant Pot on the “sauté” setting. If using the stovetop or Instant Pot to reheat, stir frequently to prevent burning and make sure to use a low heat. High heats can cause the soup to separate and curdle.
🔍 Recipe FAQs
Once the gnocchi is added to the soup, this recipe is really best fresh because the gnocchi will continue to soften as it sits in the soup broth. If you’d like to make this soup ahead, I’d recommend following the recipe steps 1 through 10 and store the soup in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Then just before serving, place the soup back in the Instant Pot and turn on the “sauté” setting. Once warm again, pick back up with recipe step 11 and serve!
I like to keep it simple and pair this hearty and filling soup with a side of bread. A french baguette, rye bread, sourdough, or challah will all be delicious here.
This chicken gnocchi soup is meant to be more brothy than the Olive Garden version, but if you’d like to make it a bit thicker, stir together 1 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon all purpose flour and stir it into the hot soup. Or, stir in additional greek yogurt and parmesan cheese.
💭 One More Tip
Grate your own cheese! If you’ve made my Cheesy Ground Turkey Enchiladas or Air Fryer Nachos, you may know this tip already! Pre-grated parmesan cheese will work, but pre-grated cheeses are coated with an anti-caking agent to prevent it from sticking together in the bag or container. For the best melted parmesan, grate your own.
🍴 Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 cup diced yellow onion (about ½ an onion)
- ⅔ cup sliced celery (about 3 ribs)
- 1 cup sliced carrots (about 4 large carrots)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 garlic cloves)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 ¼ pounds)
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 17.6 ounces gnocchi (about 2 ¾ cups) I like to use the kind in the refrigerator section of the pasta aisle
- ½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
- 5 ounces (1 package) fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt
Instructions
- Lay bacon in a single layer at the bottom of your instant pot. Do not overlap. You might need to work in batches if all the bacon doesn’t fit. It’s okay if the ends of the bacon have to go up the sides a little bit.
- Set instant pot to the “sauté” setting and cook bacon for 5 to 7 minutes before flipping and cooking for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Remove bacon from the pot and set on a paper towel lined plate to absorb any remaining grease. Crumble bacon into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
- With instant pot still on the “sauté” setting, add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook in the bacon grease for 5 minutes, or until the onions start to turn translucent, scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pot.
- Add garlic and cook 1 more minute. Press “cancel” to turn off the sauté setting.
- Lay chicken breasts on top of the onions and other vegetables. Pour in chicken broth and season with bay leaf, the whole sprig of rosemary, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper.
- Cover instant pot with the lid. Set the valve to the “sealing" position and pressure cook on high pressure for 9 minutes.
- When the timer is up, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes before switching the valve to “venting” and manually releasing any remaining pressure.
- Remove the lid and discard bay leaf and stem of the rosemary sprig.
- Remove chicken and place it on a plate or cutting board. Shred chicken using two forks.
- Set instant pot back to the “sauté” setting. Once soup starts to simmer, add the gnocchi and stir. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until gnocchi is tender and floats to the top.
- Turn off the pot. Stir in shredded chicken and parmesan cheese. Stir in spinach just until it wilts.
- For a creamy soup, stir in the greek yogurt until fully combined.
- Serve soup warm with bacon pieces and extra parmesan sprinkled on top.
Notes
- For the best results, buy the best quality bacon you can afford. Cheaper bacon is usually fattier and produces more grease in the bottom of the pot.
- If you can't find refrigerated gnocchi, the pantry gnocchi works too.
Nutrition
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