Serving freshly made gnocchi with a homemade sauce is an easy but impressive labor of love and they take less time to make than traditional potato gnocchi. Our Ricotta Gnocchi in a delicious homemade sauce is the Italian comfort food you and your family have been craving.
Cooking gnocchi isn't nearly as hard as one might think. I've always thought making homemade pasta was too difficult until I tried this. It's a lot like rolling out play dough snakes with a preschooler. In fact, you can let your kids help!
Ricotta Gnocchi Ingredients
Making the Gnocchi
- Whole Milk Riccota Cheese: Don't skip on lower fat versions as that is just not the point of this recipe.
- Unbleached All Purpose Flour: you may one to try 00 flour which is finer and makes the gnocchi have a lighter texture
- Eggs
- Parmesan Cheese
- Salt
- Olive Oil: add to the boiling water
Sauce Ingredients
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Onion
- Cloves of Garlic
- Grape or Cherry Tomatoes
- Large Tomatoes
- Salt
- Pepper
- Aleppo pepper. Or red pepper flakes. This ingredient adds heat and is optional.
- Dried Oregano
- Fresh Basil Leaves. Chopped. You can often find a basil plant with roots but no soil at your local grocery store, which is perfect for harvesting fresh basil in winter when you can't keep a pot outside.
How To Make Gnocchi
You will begin by making draining as much water as possible out of the ricotta. This will prevent you from using too much flour which will make the gnocchi dense and heavy.
Then, combine the drained ricotta, flour, and eggs, parmesan, salt, garlic powder, and oregano in a bowl and mix them to form a dough until just combined. Then let the dough rest for five minutes.
On two prepared flour surfaces, roll the dough and place the finished gnocchi pieces. Next, fill a large pot with water, and a little salt and olive oil. Heat it to a boil while you roll the dough.
Roll the dough into thick ropes, and cut them into 1-inch pieces, or whatever size you prefer for your potato gnocchi. Drop these into boiling water. If you prefer, use a slotted spoon to lower them gently into the water.
When the gnocchi float to the surface, they can be removed and drained, and kept in a heat-proof bowl. Drizzle these with olive oil so that they don't stick together while you prepare the sauce.
To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large and deep skillet. Next, add the onion and garlic to heated oil and cook for five to seven minutes until the onion is translucent or mostly clear. Add tomatoes, salt, peppers, and oregano.
Cook for thirty more minutes until the tomatoes are softened and thoroughly cooked. Add the gnocchi and basil to the tomato sauce and stir it all together gently.
How To Serve Gnocchi
Plan to serve your ricotta gnocchi with crusty Italian bread, garlic bread, or focaccia. You may also have it with a simple Fatoush, Tabouli, or Caprese salad for a true Mediterranean dinner. Serve the dish hot and right away so the gnocchi won't have time to stick together. I recommend having parmesan and coarsely ground Italian black pepper available on the table.
How To Freeze Gnocchi
You may freeze gnocchi uncooked. Place the individually cut pieces on a sheet pan and let them freeze for a couple of hours before placing them into a freezer bag or airtight container for long-term storage. When you are ready to cook the frozen gnocchi place them straight from the freezer into the boiling water. You will need to allow a bit more time to boil the pasta, but not much.
Making Gnocchi Ahead of Time
As mentioned above you can certainly freeze gnocchi. You can make the dough and let it rest in the fridge until ready to shape and cook, but no longer than 24 hours. You can even shape the gnocchi, spread them on a baking sheet, and store them covered with plastic wrap in the fridge until ready to boil. Don't do this more than 24 hours in advance.
Ricotta gnocchi can also be dried in a dehydrator or low-temperature oven for short-term storage. We haven't tried this method, since we don't own a dehydrator but we've read it works. Let us know if you've tried dehydrating gnocchi before.
While leftovers may certainly be kept in the refrigerator, we do not recommend making the gnocchi and keeping uncooked or cooked gnocchi in the refrigerator prior to your first meal. It is best when served fresh from the pot or cooked from frozen or dried.
Tips for Perfect Ricotta Gnocchi
- Drain as much water as you can out of the gnocchi. This way you will use less flour and the gnocchi will not be heavy and dense they will be light and pillowy
- Using 00 flour which is finer than all-purpose will yield lighter gnocchi
- Do not overwork the gnocchi dough, mix until the ingredients are just combined.
- When boiling the gnocchi, make sure to add olive oil and salt as per the recipe.
- When boiling the gnocchi add only 15-20 gnocchi at a time and cook just until they float to the top.
- Gnocchi is actually really good fried and slightly crispy. Toss it with a little hot extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet after it finishes boiling to get that perfect creamy and crispy bite.
- Use a ricotta cheese brand that contains only real ingredients, without any fillers, preservatives, etc. Since this is a 4 ingredient ricotta gnocchi recipe, the quality of the ingredients matters.
- You can also serve these ricotta gnocchi with store-bought marinara sauce, pesto, creamy bechamel or butter sage sauce, or cream sauce
More Pasta Dishes You May Enjoy
- Penne Pasta With Vegan Cauliflower and walnut Kale Pesto
- Pea and Artichoke Pasta
- High Protein Spinach Pasta Bake
- High Protein Pasta Puttanesca
If you enjoyed this recipe, it would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe? Do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.
PrintRicotta Gnocchi
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 60 gnocchi 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Serving freshly made gnocchi with a homemade sauce is an easy but impressive labor of love. Our Ricotta Gnocchi in a delicious homemade sauce is the Italian comfort food you and your family have been craving.
Ingredients
For the gnocchi
- 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 cup 00 flour or unbleached all-purpose flour, if 00 flour is not available
- 1 large eggs
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dry oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil (to be added to the water used to boil the gnocchi)
For the sauce
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1-pint of assorted grape or cherry tomatoes
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes (optional)
- ⅓ tsp dried oregano
- 12-14 fresh basil leaves chopped
Instructions
- Prep your ricotta cheese. Place the ricotta cheese in a cheesecloth and let it drain as much as possible. We like to hang it from the knob of the kitchen cabinet with a bowl or the ricotta container at the bottom to catch the excess water. This will take a couple of hours. See the images above for guidance.
- Combine drained ricotta, flour, egg, cheese, garlic powder, oregano, and salt in a bowl and mix to form a dough (do not overwork it, mix until the ingredients are just combined). Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. In the meantime, prepare 2 floured surfaces, one to roll the dough and the other one to place the gnocchi.
- Fill a large soup pot with water. Add the salt and olive oil and bring to a boil (you can use less salt if you prefer, but this is your only chance to salt the gnocchi)
- Roll the dough into ropes and cut them into 1" pieces.
- Gently drop 15-20 gnocchi into the boiling water, being careful not to get splashed with the boiling water. Alternatively, use a large slotted spoon to lower the gnocchi into the water.
- Boil until they float to the surface, and quickly remove and place them in a heat-proof bowl. Repeat until all the gnocchi are cooked.
- Set them aside drizzle some olive oil, so they don't stick together, and prepare the sauce
For the Sauce
- Heat the olive oil in a large deep skillet. Add the onion and garlic, and cook over medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes or until the onion is translucent
- Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, Aleppo pepper ( if using), and oregano
- Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and cooked
- Add the cooked gnocchi and fresh basil and stir gently
Notes
- Using 00 flour which is finer will yield lighter gnocchi
- Do not overwork the gnocchi dough, mix until the ingredients are just combined.
- When boiling the gnocchi, make sure to add olive oil and salt as per the recipe.
- When boiling the gnocchi add only 15-20 gnocchi at a time and cook just until they float to the top.
- Gnocchi is actually really good fried and slightly crispy. Toss it with a little hot extra virgin olive oil in a skillet after it finishes boiling to get that perfect creamy and crispy bite.
- Use a ricotta cheese brand that contains only real ingredients, without any fillers, preservatives, etc. Since this is a 3 ingredient gnocchi recipe, the quality of the ingredients matters.
- You can also serve these ricotta gnocchi with store-bought sauce, pesto, or creamy bechamel
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 20 gnocchi with sauce
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 4.4
- Sodium: 960.6
- Fat: 19.1
- Saturated Fat: 8.2
- Unsaturated Fat: 9.9
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 35.9
- Fiber: 2.7
- Protein: 15.2
- Cholesterol: 73.2
Abby says
How many days can this be kept in the refrigerator?
Vicky and Ruth says
3-4 days