Pasta and rice are staple carbs to go with your meal and a particularly nice alternative is gnocchi or potato dumplings. Homemade gnocchi is pretty straight forward to make and you can also find it ‘ready to go’ in the refrigerated section at your grocery store, usually beside the fresh pasta. This is a simple one pan dish that combines chicken and gnocchi with a tasty lemon, butter and garlic cream sauce. One-pan dishes are always nice and this one starts with cooking the chicken in butter before adding onions and garlic. Chicken broth forms the base of the sauce and the gnocchi is cooked in it before adding some cream along with parmesan cheese, and some baby spinach. Capers, lemon and fresh parley finish the dish off, adding a nice bright freshness that goes so well with the butter and garlic!
Chicken Gnocchi in a Creamy Lemon and Caper Sauce
Chicken and gnocchi (aka potato dumplings) in a creamy lemon, butter and caper sauce!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts (or thighs), cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 pound gnocchi
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese), grated
- 4 cup baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
directions
- Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat, add the chicken and cook until lightly golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.
- Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add 1/4 cup of the chicken broth and deglaze the pan by scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon as the broth sizzles.
- Add the remaining broth, the capers and gnocchi, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the cream, parmesan, and baby spinach and cook until the cheese has melted and the spinach has wilted, about a minute.
- Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix in the parsley and enjoy!
Option: Use cooked and shredded or sliced chicken such as rotisserie chicken, skip cooking the chicken in step 1, and add it along with the gnocchi.
Option: Add 1-2 tablespoons white miso paste just before removing from the heat.
Chicken Piccata
Halibut Piccata with Baby Artichokes on Quinoa
Skinny Chicken Saltimbocca
Colombian Chicken and Corn Soup (Ajiaco)
Chicken Marsala
Chicken Saltimbocca
Honey Lemon Chicken
Pan Seared Chicken Breasts in a Mushroom, Tarragon and Mustard Pan Sauce
Chicken in a Creamy Parmesan and Sundried Tomato Sauce
Tilapia Piccata
Cuban Picadillo
OMG, this looks so very nummy! I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for fixing the link.
I made this tonight and it was Excellent! I made some of my sweet potato gnocchi but it didn’t make a pound .
Not a problem though.
Please forgive me but I made a few changes.
I subbed the first 1/4 c broth with some white wine and I did add the red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp. Plus some lemon zest. Can’t wait to make this again! But Next time I will make the gnocchi ahead of time so I don’t have to do it on the same day!
I made this recipe tonight. I love the combination of chicken, gnocchi, and spinach. I didn’t have cream so I used goat cheese to flavour the broth and added a bit of thickener (cornstarch in water). I also had some mushrooms so I those in at the beginning. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you!
This was easy and very tasty. I added peas as we enjoy lots of veggies at our meals. I had ground chicken on hand which cooked up nicely. I did thicken the sauce as it felt a bit watery but the taste was great! Fresh parsley is a must – it adds a lot of flavour.