Chicken Gnocchi Pasta (ONE Skillet!)

This restaurant-quality creamy Chicken Gnocchi Pasta with mushrooms and spinach can all be made in ONE skillet!

We love easy one-skillet dinners! Try some other popular one-pan meals next like this Creamy Tuna Pasta, Sweet Potato Burrito Bowl, or this sheet pan Italian Sausage and Veggies.

Chicken Gnocchi Pasta

This is a meal dressed to impress with relatively little effort. The total hands-on prep time you are looking at is about 20 minutes, especially with some short-cuts I’ll share more about below.

Chicken Gnocchi Pasta all starts with some quick sautéed veggies, a ridiculously simple cream sauce, and then everything else gets added in the skillet and baked. Easy enough right?!

This dish is ultra creamy, totally comforting, and deeply savory — it’s like this Chicken Gnocchi Soup in casserole form!

Recipe Shortcuts

• Use pre-sliced produce. Most grocery stores sell already sliced mushrooms and finely diced yellow onions in the produce section of the store. Pick these two ingredients and you won’t need to do any veggie chopping!
• Buy jarred garlic or a garlic press. Instead of mincing your own garlic, use jarred to save time. Alternatively, a garlic press gets you fresh minced garlic in a fraction of the time that hand mincing takes.
• Bring home rotisserie chicken. It’s the big time-saving “secret” for Chicken Gnocchi Pasta! Instead of cooking and chopping chicken, get a seasoned rotisserie chicken from the store and all you need to do is chop it up for this recipe (or see the “quick tip” box below).

Ingredient Tips

• Use high-quality stock or broth. The better the stock, the richer this meal will taste. We love Swanson’s Chicken Stock® best (not sponsored).
• Pick whole milk. While 1% or 2% milk will work, I highly recommend whole milk in this recipe — we don’t find it creamy or flavorful enough with lower fat percentages of milk. I have not personally tried dairy alternatives in this recipe, but again, I doubt it would be creamy enough.
• Choose your favorite shelf-stable gnocchi. While no store-bought gnocchi can ever compare to homemade, the cream sauce does infuse it with lots of flavor. As the gnocchi bake, they get deliciously tender. To decide what gnocchi to purchase, here is a list of the top sellers on Amazon and a list of taste tester’s favorites. My local grocery store doesn’t have a huge selection, but Gia Russa® Gnocchi is typically my go-to.
• Buy a well-seasoned rotisserie chicken. This recipe doesn’t have a lot of seasonings, so we’re definitely depending on flavorful seasoned chicken.

Chicken Gnocchi Pasta Tips

• Prep everything before you start cooking. This is a dish where the cooking goes pretty quickly, so you want to make sure to have everything ready to go before starting.
• Coarsely chop the baby spinach. While the spinach doesn’t have to be chopped it does integrate better in the dish. Plus, you’ll get spinach in more bites and the smaller pieces are easier to eat.
• Use a block of Parmesan cheese and grate it on the small holes of the cheese grater. Measure loosely. I don’t recommend jarred or canned Parmesan cheese — the flavor will be overpowering and too salty.
• Cook this dish in an oven-safe skillet. This way you can directly transfer from stovetop to oven — no additional dishes needed. If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet, I’d recommend a 9×13-inch pan for baking after assembling.
• Broil. High heat at the end gives the gnocchi a slightly crisp texture which is divine! Watch carefully when broiling — everything can go from perfectly golden to burnt in a matter of seconds.

Chicken Gnocchi Pasta Side Dish Suggestions

Another nice thing about this recipe is that it’s really got everything you need in one skillet — veggies, protein, and carbs! It’s a great, well-balanced meal. That said, here are some side-dish serving suggestions:

• Crusty bread or dinner rolls for mopping up leftover cream sauce — yum!
• A quick garden salad like this Italian salad or Olive Garden salad.
• Roasted veggies — Roasted Asparagus cooks up very quickly and at the same oven temperature as Chicken Gnocchi Pasta

Storage

Because of the amount of dairy in this dish, it is not a great candidate for freezing and thawing. It will become grainy when thawed.

Overall, Chicken Gnocchi Pasta is best enjoyed the same day it’s made. Leftovers get a bit mushy — the gnocchi continues to absorb the sauce and bloats.

More ways to use rotisserie chicken

• Rotisserie Chicken Tacos with crispy taco shells
• Chicken Pot Pie Pasta made in one pot!
• Chipotle Chicken Salad with a sweet chipotle-lime vinaigrette
• Chicken and Rice Soup with sweet peas
• Chicken Shawarma Wraps with a quick yogurt sauce

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4.94 from 33 votes

Chicken Gnocchi Pasta

By Chelsea Lords

This restaurant-quality creamy Chicken Gnocchi Pasta with mushrooms and spinach can all be made in ONE skillet!

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 2 cups sliced mushrooms (We like cremini)
• ▢ 1 small yellow onion, finely diced (1 cup)
• ▢ 1 and 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (~2-3 cloves)
• ▢ 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 1/4 cup white, all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ Fine sea salt and pepper
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional (only add if you like heat!)
• ▢ 2 cups whole milk Note 1
• ▢ 1 and 1/4 cups Swanson's chicken stock Note 2
• ▢ 1 package (16 oz.) gnocchi
• ▢ 2 cups prepared rotisserie chicken, chopped
• ▢ 2 cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (plus more for topping individual bowls if desire)
• ▢ Optional: fresh parsley

Instructions 

• PREP: Move a rack in your oven to the upper third of the oven and then preheat to 425 degrees F (218 degrees C).
• ONION, MUSHROOM, AND GARLIC: Place a large oven-safe pan (I use a deep 12-inch cast iron skillet) on the stove over medium-high heat. Pour in the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the diced onion and sliced mushrooms. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the onion is transparent and mushrooms are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and stir for another 30 seconds. Transfer this mixture to a bowl or plate and set aside.
  
• CREAM BASE: Keeping the heat at medium-high, add the butter in the skillet and melt. Once melted, add in the flour and whisk until smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly for about 1-2 minutes. Add in the chicken bouillon, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste (I add 1/2 teaspoon salt & 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Add cayenne pepper if desired.
  
• CREAM BASE CONT.: Very gradually whisk in the chicken broth and then the milk, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth. Continue to whisk until the mixture thickens (about 5-7 minutes). If using a cast iron skillet, the cream base can settle on the bottom and not thicken properly, so be sure to scrape the bottom and whisk near constantly.
  
• BAKE: Add in the chopped chicken, uncooked gnocchi (break apart any that are stuck together), cooked mushroom and onion mixture, and coarsely chopped spinach. Stir until everything is coated in cream sauce. Top with Parmesan cheese and place in the oven. Bake for 18-25 minutes. If desired, broil for 1-2 minutes for a delicious crispy top. Watch closely -- it can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds!
  
• ENJOY: Remove from the oven, gently stir, and let stand for about 5 to 10 minutes to slightly cool and thicken. (It's very creamy right out of the oven, but thickens as it stands.) Taste and add any additional salt/pepper as needed. Top with fresh parsley if desired. Serve and top individual bowls with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.
  

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Recipe Notes

Note 1: Milk: While 1% or 2% milk will work, I highly recommend whole milk in this recipe — we don’t find it creamy or flavorful enough with lower fat percentages of milk. I have not personally tried dairy alternatives in this recipe, but again, I doubt it would be creamy enough.

Note 2: Chicken stock: The better the stock, the richer this meal will taste. We love Swanson’s Chicken Stock® best (not sponsored).

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 586kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 42g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 120mg | Sodium: 1178mg | Potassium: 915mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 7965IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 436mg | Iron: 6mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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