If you love classic Chicken and Dumplings, you’ll love our healthy twist using pantry staples like dry gnocchi in place of traditional dumplings. This recipe also gets an additional fiber and protein boost from an unexpected source: blending white cannellini beans and stirring into the broth close to the end of the cooking time!
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast poached and shredded
- 1/2 cup frozen or fresh celery chopped
- 12 ounces frozen peas and carrots
- 1 cup yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic finely minced
- 32 ounces low sodium chicken broth
- 15.5 ounces unsalted cannellini beans rinsed and drained
- 8 ounces potato gnocchi
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 leaves bay
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoons black pepper
- Begin with a clean prep area and poached chicken breasts, cooled and shredded. Set chicken aside on plate.
- In a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, add olive oil to heat. Stir in chopped yellow onion, then add chopped frozen celery and frozen peas and carrots into the pot, and saute until they begin to soften (around 3-4 minutes).
- Add thyme, bay leaves, parsley, salt and pepper in with vegetable mixture, stirring to coat. Continue sauteing an additional 2 minutes.
- Add minced garlic cloves and sauté an additional 30 seconds, stirring carefully to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Add poached shredded chicken into the pot with vegetable and seasoning mixture. Pour in chicken broth, and stir well.
- Bring soup mixture to a low boil; reduce heat and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes to let flavors combine.
- While soup is simmering, add drained and rinsed cannellini beans into a high speed blender with 1 cup of water. Blend until well pureed.
- In the last 5 minutes of cooking time, add cannellini bean puree into soup mixture, stirring to combine well.
- Stir potato gnocchi into pot, and continue cooking until gnocchi dumplings float to the top. Serve hot, and enjoy!