Home Cook Uses Only Dollar Tree Ingredients To Make A Hearty Soup

One of the best things about eating out may be later trying to recreate part or all of that restaurant food in your own kitchen. Whether you go to your local fast food joint or somewhere fancier, a homemade version of that meal can be every bit as delicious — if you track down the right ingredients. Now, there's a lot to know about Olive Garden, but one inventive home cook took its creamy chicken and gnocchi soup and gave it her own spin, using Dollar Tree food products.

Rebecca Chobat, better known on TikTok as Dollar Tree Dinners, revealed how a shopping trip around DT enabled her to make enough of the warming, hearty soup to feed four people. Her ingredients were a carton of chicken broth, two cans of chicken, one block of cream cheese, some Parmesan, a bag of frozen seasoning blend, canned spinach, and a packet of gnocchi. At the time of her purchase, all that cost just $10 — though Chobat threw in some garlic Texas toast for an extra $1.25.

@dollartreedinners

Dollar Tree Creamy Chicken & Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden Inspired!) You will need: 1 package of gnocchi $1.25 2 cans of chicken $2.50 1 carton of chicken broth $1.25 1 block of cream cheese $1.25 1 bag of frozen seasoning blend $1.25 Canned or frozen spinach $1.25 Parmesan cheese $1.25 Total cost $10 (With garlic toast, optional, $11.25) I added a tablespoon or two of oil and our seasoning blend vegetables. And I let these sautee for a few minutes, I like to do this with frozen vegetables, and next we are going to add our entire block of cream cheese, cut into cubes so it will melt faster, and I also added in ¾ of a cup of water. You'll want to melt the cream cheese fully before moving onto the next step. Now in goes ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese, stir that into the melted cream cheese base, and then pour in the entire carton of chicken broth. I also added in my 2 cans of chicken or you can use about 1 cup of leftover cooked chicken. For seasoning I added some pepper and red pepper flake for a little spice but you can choose to leave that out. Bring this up to a boil before adding in your gnocchi and let it continue to boil until the gnocchi starts to float to the top, about 2 to 3 minutes. At the very end I added in some of my spinach, I did about ¾ of the can. And that is how to make creamy chicken and gnocchi soup with ingredients from Dollar Tree. Serve the soup with toasted garlic bread on the side for dipping. #soup #gnocchisoup #dollartreegroceries #dollartreerecipes #dollartreedinners #chickenandgnocchi #gnocchirecipes #souprecipe #fallsoup #bestsouprecipes #olivegarden #olivegardenrecipes

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Ironically, while scarfing down her rich and creamy soup, Chobat admitted she had never tried the Olive Garden recipe on which her dish was based. That didn't stop commenters from enthusing about the results, though some were astonished that Dollar Tree sold food at all. As one wrote, "I just go there for toothpaste and greeting cards!"

Although clearly not everyone is aware of the culinary goodies sold at Dollar Tree (check out our list of the store's must-have frozen foods to start), some are making the switch to the low-cost retailer. Many customers are surprised by the quality of the groceries, while vegans and those with gluten sensitivities can also stock up their pantries for less. There is much debate on social media about whether DT foods offer as much value by weight compared to stores such as Aldi, Costco, and Lidl, however. Ultimately, personal preference, as well as cost, has a role to play in where people choose to shop.

However, in the endlessly cutthroat business of selling food to consumers, Dollar Tree has taken a leaf out of its competitors' books. Working with bigger brands and producing its own lines are just two reasons why DT is so cheap, and it's apparently been a recipe for success. Dollar Tree is the fourth most popular department store in the United States, according to YouGov. From spices that are a total steal to an array of snacks that won't break the bank, more people than ever could be filling their carts with food from DT.