Soft, tender pillows of gnocchi enveloped in a full-flavoured cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, spinach, parmesan and fresh basil. All cooked in one pan!
THE ultimate comfort food! Even if you don’t particularly like creamy sauces, you will fall in love with this one pan gnocchi recipe. Quick and easy to make, ready on the table in less than 15 minutes, you will even impress yourself!
GNOCCHI RECIPE
You’ve loved our Tuscan flavours on shrimp, salmon and chicken. NOW it’s time to let gnocchi SHINE. Leave people wondering if there is a hidden chef in your kitchen with this for dinner. An easy to make and filling meal!
But Tuscan? I know, this is NOT a traditional recipe form Tuscany… BUT it is a popular recipe from Olive Garden.
HOW TO COOK ONE PAN GNOCCHI
You’re going to:
FRY your gnocchi in garlic butter first. Use uncooked dry gnocchi found with the dry package pastas in your supermarket. Fresh or homemade gnocchi will not work and may turn to mush in the sauce.
ADD the sun dried tomatoes and let them release flavours.
POUR in chicken broth, cream and herbs. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan — browned bits equal flavour!
MIX everything together, reduce heat to medium and cover pan with lid
COOK for 5 minutes. The starch released from the gnocchi thickens the sauce while cooking.
WILT the spinach leaves in the sauce. Stir through parmesan.
SIMMERÂ until gnocchi is soft and the sauce has thickened.
Serve immediately.
*The sauce thickenes as it cools. If not serving immediately, add extra cream or chicken broth just before serving to thin it out a little*
WINE SELECTION
I choose a white wine to go with this. A light Chardonnay or Pinot Gris pairs really well. For a sweeter wine, choose a Riesling or a Sparkling Moscato.
SOME TIPS:
- Remember to use dry gnocchi and add it uncooked!
- Heavy cream, thickened cream or half and half work well in this recipe. is an American product, made from equal parts light cream and milk. Feel free to use half light cream and half 2% milk (or full fat if not worried about calories and fat counts), in place of half and half. Alternatively, use all light cream if you wish.
- I use sun dried tomato strips in oil. When draining them, reserve about 2 teaspoons of the jarred oil for added flavour when cooking.
MORE GNOCCHI RECIPES
Slow Cooker Gnocchi Sausage Kale Soup
Creamy Buttery Tuscan Gnocchi Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter, (or olive oil)
- 1 brown shallot, chopped (or 1 small onion)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound (500 g) uncooked potato gnocchi, (the dry packaged gnocchi -- not fresh)
- 1/2 cup jarred sun dried tomato strips in oil, (reserve 2 teaspoons of the jarred oil for cooking)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, (thickened cream or half andf half)
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil, (or parsley)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and sauté shallots until transparent, about 2 minutes. Sauté garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the gnocchi and let sear in the butter for a minute. Add the sun dried tomatoes and reserved oil. Cook for a further minute to release flavours into the gnocchi.
- Pour in the chicken broth, cream and Italian herbs. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together and reduce heat to medium. Cover pan with lid and let cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the spinach leaves and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
- Stir through parmesan cheese and chopped basil. Let simmer for a further minute or until gnocchi is soft, cooked through and the sauce has thickened to your liking.
- Season with a little extra salt & pepper, if needed, to suit your taste.
- Serve immediately.*
Matt Smith says
I make this recipe often, the problem I usually have is in the 5 min cook stage, or reheating leftovers in the microwave, the cream sauce can break, causing it to be very greasy. To avoid this, juice a lemon, neutralize the acid with baking soda until it stops fizzing, and mix this neutralized lemon juice to the cream before adding it to the sauce. This acts as an emulsifier (sodium citrate) that prevents the cream sauce from breaking.
Ash says
Extremely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and let me tell you, I did NOT want to share. Will be a regular for dinner. Thank you! Try this, you won’t be disappointed
Tricia says
Absolutely delicious. So quick and easy. I typically tweak all my recipes but I didn’t need to change anything. The whole family loved it.
Scoot says
Loved it, I would modify it some our tastes. Would add a little more broth and a little less cream. Also I would use a little less sun dried tomatoes but this is nit picky. Over all a great dish and very rich.
E says
I love making this dish. I usually add sliced sausage or shredded rotisserie chicken to make it more of a hearty one dish meal.
Cajun Cook says
Very good recipe, thanks! My entire family enjoyed it, even the pickiest eater. I was short on time so added less cream and used a bit of bouillon for flavor instead of broth that would add more liquid and need to be reduced. We plan to make this again, quite rich so best to serve with a steamed vegetable or something else simple.
Traci says
This was amazing next time I will add some prosciutto for added flavor. Thanks for another great recipe to add to my nightly rotation.
MC says
Made some basic basic changes, added chicken strips I sautéed earlier. Complete meal!
Cher says
This is soooo delish!!! We used a heaping tsp of basil pesto, since we didn’t have fresh basil (worked wonderfully). A hefty amount of fresh-ground black pepper gave it a nice pepperiness. Also, we cooked up some crisp bacon to add as a topping. On the side we had cucumber salad (made with chunks of cucumber, tomato, black olives, and home-mixed Italian dressing) — this was a refreshing accompaniment to have with the gnocchi. We’ll definitely make this again!
Jennifer says
My family loved this. I will do a better job next time of draining the sun dried tomatoes and only using the 2 tsp. Ours was a little oily, but still delicious. I also added extra parmesan because we are cheese junkies. Have everything ready to add so you don’t overcook your gnocchi.