Creamy Gnocchi Soup

Creamy Gnocchi Soup is perfect for those nights when you want something warm, cozy, and filling for dinner but can’t decide between pasta or soup! This soup has it all – lots of vegetabless, a thick and creamy broth, soft and pillowy pasta, and parmesan too!

I may have said this when I shared a previous soup recipe, but I really do think this will be the last soup recipe I’ll share this winter. We are nearing the end of March and the cold, winter weather is easing and spring is right around the corner. But, just becuase it may be the last soup this winter, it is most certainly not to be considered a last resort recipe. Creamy Gnocchi Soup is anything but last; anything but mediocre!

If you’ve been reading posts from Lord Byron’s Kitchen for a while now, you will know that we love soups and stews in the colder months. Go back and re-read some of those posts, and no doubt you will find that I have a few favourites. I think I say that about all soups. But, this one just might be the favourite of all favourites! For real, this time, Dear Reader!

A MEATY ALTERNATIVE

If you want to add meat to this Creamy Gnocchi Soup, I would recommend using Italian sausage. Here’s how I would do it! Remove the Italian sausage from the casing. Discard the casing. If you have ground Italian sausage, you will skip that step. Next, add just a touch of olive oil to your pot and add the sausage. Cook the sausage over medium heat, using a wooden spoon to break up the sausage as it cooks.

Once the meat is no longer pink, remove the sausage from the pot and drain the grease. With the sausage meat set aside, follow the recipe as written in the recipe card below. When you add the gnocchi to the pot, add the cooked sausage too and continue to cook as per the recipe card.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Olive Oil
• Butter
• Onion – I use yellow, white, and sweet onions interchangeably.  Either of them will do just fine.
• Carrots 
• Celery – I know many people who don’t care for celery in soup, but the flavour is needed here. If you prefer, add big chunks of celery and remove them before serving.
• Garlic – Use fresh garlic whenever possible. Even the pre-minced stuff in the jars is better than garlic powder or granulated garlic in this recipe.
• Flour – All-purpose flour is used here.
• Seasonings – You will need dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme, paprika, salt, and ground black pepper. I also added a pinch of dried red chili flakes for heat, but you can omit those.
• Vegetable Stock – If you are using store-bought, use low sodium. Some of them can be overly salty!
• Canned Diced Tomatoes – Add the tomato juice into the soup as well. I always make my own and have them stocked in my pantry for whenever I need them. So much better than store bought!
• Milk – I always use whole milk.
• Spinach – I’m using fresh spinach here, but you can use frozen spinach too. Be sure to thaw it completely and gently squeeze out the excess water before adding it to the soup.
• Gnocchi – Use store-bought, fresh gnocchi to make it easy.
• Parmesan Cheese
• Parsley – For freshness, colour, and garnish.

HOW TO MAKE CREAMY GNOCCHI SOUP

Add the olive oil, butter, onions, carrots, and celery to a large heavy-bottomed pot. Over medium heat, cook the vegetables for 8 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and stir into the vegetables. Add the flour and stir to incorporate. Cook for two minutes, continuously stirring.

Stir in the oregano, basil, thyme, chili flakes (if using), paprika, salt, and ground black pepper. Add the vegetable stock one cup at a time, stirring well into the vegetable and flour mixture after each addition. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes.

Stir in the canned diced tomatoes, milk, spinach leaves, and gnocchi. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the spinach leaves are wilted and the gnocchi is cooked through. Once cooked, turn off the heat and stir in half of the parmesan and the chopped parsley. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the remaining parmesan and more chopped parsley. Serve and enjoy!

WHAT IS GNOCCHI?

If you’re not familiar with gnocchi, it’s basically a form of pasta made from a combination of semolina, regular wheat flour, eggs, cheese, potatoes, breadcrumbs, cornmeal, or other ingredients. Sometimes, the gnocchi is seasoned during the preparation process, but mostly the seasoning is added during the cooking process.

Once the dough is made, it’s rolled out into a long cylinder shape about half an inch in diameter. Then the dough is cut into small lengths just short of an inch long. Each length is then meticulously pressed and rolled with a fork to create the familiar ridges you see in your favourite gnocchi dish.

Gnocchi is not only limited to a pasta-type dish – although, it is my favourite way to eat it! Gnocchi works very well in soups in place of pasta. A soup with lots of broth works best because the gnocchi can cook well in the broth. I think in most cases, gnocchi is prepared much like this Sheet Pan Tomato Gnocchi – in a simple way with as few ingredients as possible.

THE HOLY TRINITY OF A GOOD SOUP

Have you ever heard of a mirepoix? Sometimes, it’s referred to as the Holy Trinity of cooking. It is a flavour base made from diced vegetables cooked in some type of fat, usually, butter or oil. The veggies are sometimes cooked for a long period of time on very low heat. The goal is not to brown the veggies. Other times, they are cooked on a higher heat to bring out the natural sweetness. This is usually the case in soups.

A mirepoix is most often found combined with tomatoes or tomato paste. This creates a darker, brown mixture called a pincage. It is a long-standing cooking technique in French cuisine. Mirepoix is widely used to flavour a variety of Western dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.

In Italian cuisine, the onions, carrots and celery are chopped to form a battuto. It is slowly cooked in butter or olive oil, becoming soffritto. It is used as the base for most pasta sauces, such as ragu, but occasionally it can be used as the base of other dishes, such as sautéed vegetables. Most of the time, the Italian version will also include garlic, shallots, or even leeks.

LEFTOVERS AND/OR FREEZING

This Creamy Gnocchi Soup recipe does make about four hearty servings, which might be too much or too little, depending on the size of your family. The recipe can easily be halved or even doubled. Just be sure to use a really big soup pot if you’re doubling this recipe! Once everyone has had their fill, you might have some leftovers. If so, you can transfer the cooled soup to a food-safe container and store it in the fridge. It will keep for at least 2 days. Otherwise, you can freeze it and it will last for 3 months.

If you do refrigerate or freeze the leftovers, you may need to add a bit of water to the soup when reheating. Start with just a few tablespoons of water at a time to avoid turning the soup into a broth! Of course, if you add more water, you will need to re-season as well.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!