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Loaded Gnocchi Soup is ready in 30 minutes and it has all the cozy, cheesy flavor of potato soup without peeling or chopping potatoes! Rich, creamy, and perfect for a chilly night.
This recipe is part of our Weeknight Rescue series, where we share easy, comfort food favorites that are ready in about 30 minutes with minimal prep and no stress! Don’t miss a Weeknight Rescue recipe – join here.
I love this for you.
Something about a pot of cheesy potato soup bubbling away on the stove (or, let’s be honest – in the crockpot or Instant Pot) just makes everything feel right and good.
Of course, the lead up to that – peeling and chopping potatoes, ugh – is not something I want to deal with on a busy night.
Enter a box of shelf-stable gnocchi. Those little potato dumplings were absolutely made for drowning in a rich, creamy broth that’s loaded with melty cheddar cheese and little chunks of crispy bacon.
It’s basically potato soup without all the work! Similar flavor but instead of potato chunks, you get little potato pillows. Heaven, I tell you.
♥ 3 Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe:
Ready in 30 minutes. You can get this soup prepared and on the table in just half an hour. That’s perfect for busy weeknight dinners!
Flavors. You’ve got potato soup flavor going on in this recipe with the gnocchi in place of the chunks of potato. It’s rich, creamy, and cheesy! And of course there’s all that bacon.
Family approved. No suspicious vegetables or offensive chunks to be found. This is creamy comfort food that is always well received.
Ingredients, Swaps, & Tips:
- Gnocchi: The dry/shelf stable kind of gnocchi is what we’re using here. No need to make it from scratch on a busy Tuesday night.
- Bacon: We prefer to use thick cut bacon here for hearty chunks. Ham is a good alternative if you add in some extra butter or oil to make up for the fat from the bacon.
- Cream Cheese: Softened cream cheese will melt nicely into the soup and give it some extra body.
- Loaded Soup: Sour cream, shredded cheese, and green onion are the classic way to load a potato and that’s what we like to top our soup with.
Step by Step:
Dice the bacon into bite-sized pieces and fry until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the grease behind.
Add flour and seasonings to the grease and cook for a couple of minutes. Whisk in the broth and bring to a boil.
Add the gnocchi and cook according to package directions. Reduce the heat and stir in the cheese until melted.
Return half the bacon to the pot, taste and season with salt and pepper. Dish it up and top with extra cheddar, bacon, and green onions.
Serving Suggestions:
The great thing about soup is that it’s such a versatile dish! You can serve it as an appetizer, a main course, or a side. Our favorite thing to serve with soup is some crusty jalapeno cheddar dutch oven bread, beer bread or breadsticks. Perfect for soaking up the soup!
A simple side salad is another classic pairing to go with soup. Especially with our homemade Italian dressing or this creamy easy garlic dressing.
Storage:
Fridge: Let the soup cool and store in an airtight or well covered container for about 3 days.
Reheat: Soup can be reheated on the stove over low heat. You may need to add a little broth or cream to thin it back out while reheating.
Freeze: We don’t recommend freezing this one.
Loaded Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound potato gnocchi shelf stable or refrigerated
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar plus more for garnish
- 3 green onions chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dice the bacon into bite-sized see pieces and add it to a large pot. Turn the heat to medium and cook until the bacon is crispy.
- Remove the bacon from the pot with a slotted spoon, leaving the bacon grease behind in the pot, to a paper towel lined plate and let drain.
- Add the flour, garlic powder, and onion powder to the bacon grease left behind in the pot. Whisk constantly for 2 minutes to cook the flour a bit.
- Pour in the chicken broth, whisking constantly, until smooth. Bring to a boil.
- Once the soup is boiling, add the gnocchi to the pot and cook according to package directions, around 2-3 minutes for refrigerated gnocchi and 3-4 minutes for shelf stable.
- While the gnocchi is boiling, heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. It should be very soft and melty. If it’s too cold it will clump in the soup.
- Once the gnocchi is done cooking, turn the heat to low and stir the cream cheese and cheddar into the soup. Continue stirring until the cheese has melted fully.
- Turn the heat off, add half of the bacon to the pot along with half of the green onions. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Dish into bowls and sprinkle the top with the remaining bacon and green onion, along with some extra cheddar cheese, if desired.
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