Chicken Gnocchi Chowder
Olive Garden's cream soup rebuilt out of a dry bag: potato flakes, powdered milk, and a foil pouch of chicken.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Shelf-stable gnocchi | 5 oz | vacuum-sealed, from the pasta aisle |
|---|---|---|
| Foil pouch chicken | 1 pouch (about 3 oz) | |
| Whole milk powder | 3 tbsp | |
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 2 tbsp | the thickener, in place of a flour roux |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | |
| Dried mirepoix | 3 tbsp | onion, carrot, celery; freeze-dried or dehydrated |
| Dried spinach | 1/4 cup loosely packed | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/4 tsp | |
| Black pepper and salt | to taste | |
| Olive oil or butter powder | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Drop in the bouillon, mirepoix, spinach, garlic powder, thyme, and pepper.
- Simmer five minutes with the lid on. The vegetables need that time to come back; the gnocchi does not.
- Add the gnocchi and cook two to three minutes, until the pieces float and give under a spoon.
- Kill the heat. Wait thirty seconds, then whisk in the milk powder. Boiling water plus milk powder curdles and looks wrong.
- Stir in the potato flakes a pinch at a time until it coats the spoon. Add the chicken and the oil, put the lid back on for two minutes, then eat.
The restaurant version is built on a butter-and-flour roux finished with heavy cream, none of which travels. Potato flakes do the same job in a fraction of the weight, and whole milk powder carries the fat that cream was there for. The result is thinner than a roux soup for the first minute and then sets up, so stop adding flakes before it looks right.
Order matters more than anything else here. Dried vegetables need a real simmer, gnocchi needs almost none, and milk powder needs the pot off the boil or it separates into grit. Cook them in the same sequence the ingredients are listed and it holds together in one pot.
Packing
Everything dry except the chicken and oil goes in one quart bag. Milk powder and potato flakes can share it. Keep the gnocchi in its sealed pouch until camp, it is the only thing with moisture in it.
Variations
- Swap the milk powder for coconut milk powder if dairy is a problem. It reads sweeter but thickens the same.
- A packet of parmesan in the last stir pushes it closer to the restaurant version.
- No shelf-stable gnocchi in reach: use 1/2 cup of small pasta and add three minutes.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/web-stories/secret-recipe-olive-garden-chicken-gnocchi-soup