Soft pillows of pasta, homemade gnocchi is very simple and one of my favorite recipes. Top the gnocchi with your favorite sauce or add it to soup for a cozy, filling meal.
I started working on this recipe a few months back, my goal being to make a soup a little more filling and exciting. I love adding dumplings, noodles, or some type of grain to a soup. It just makes it more filling and delicious.
On this particular day, I added gnocchi to a rich and creamy soup, and it was divine. Truly, homemade gnocchi are perfect bite-sized pieces that act as a vessel for other yummy things, highlighting the rest of the dish and adding a satisfying texture and depth. Serve fluffy gnocchi with homemade creamy gnocchi sauce, simple marinara, fresh pesto, or add them into homemade creamy and gnocchi soup for a dinner that the whole family will love.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy – This easy gnocchi recipe comes together with simple steps and only seven simple ingredients. It is an impressive homemade pasta without the lengthy work and process.
Versatile – This dish is delicious and can be enjoyed in so many ways. Top it with your favorite pasta sauce like marinara or fresh pesto. Pop it in a soup to add some heartiness. There’s really no wrong way to enjoy this pillowy gnocchi.
Crowd pleaser – I don’t know many people who don’t love a good pasta dish, and this homemade gnocchi recipe is definitely a winner!
Ingredients
Potatoes: Baked. Baking rather than boiling leaves the potatoes with less moisture, which can help prevent mushy gnocchi.
All purpose flour – I sometimes like to use einkorn flour instead of all purpose flour. This flour is an ancient grain and has more health benefits and is easier to digest, so it’s a great alternative to all purpose flour.
Ricotta cheese: Use full fat for better texture.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Tools You May Need
- Cheese grater
- Bench scraper or knife
How to Make Homemade Gnocchi
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash two large potatoes. Using a fork, poke the potatoes multiple times.
Step 2: Place whole potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put into the preheated oven. Bake until fork tender or about 45 minutes to an hour.
Step 3: Once baked completely, take out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Scoop out the baked potato into a large bowl. Mash well with a potato masher or a fork.
Step 4: Add ricotta, freshly grated parmesan, egg, flour, salt, and pepper to the mashed potato.
Step 5: Mix together with your hand until all the ingredients are completely combined and have formed a ball.
Step 6: Lightly flour a clean work surface and place the gnocchi dough on top. Cut into 4 equal-sized pieces (a regular knife or bench scraper will work just fine).
Step 7: Roll each piece into a long rope about an inch wide.
Step 8: Cut each piece into about 1 inch by 1 inch equal pieces.
Step 9: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salting liberally. Working in three small batches, add uncooked gnocchi to boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to be sure they aren’t sticking together.
Step 10: Add to a strainer or use a slotted spoon to take out gnocchi and set aside.
Add sauce to gnocchi or use in soup. If not using it right away, store, cooked, in an airtight container for up to 3 days for best results.
Tips
- Allow the potatoes to cool a bit so you don’t burn your fingertips off (kidding, not kidding).
- Use a gnocchi board if you want to achieve the classic shape of this pasta. It is not necessary, but it is said that creating the ridges helps to hold sauce when serving.
- Do not over-knead the dough or you will end up with doughy and tough gnocchi rather than light and fluffy gnocchi.
Recipe FAQs
You can use gnocchi like any other pasta. Pair it with your favorite tomato sauce, Alfredo sauce, or a delicious garlic, butter sauce with fresh herbs. Top it with cheese or add your favorite meat. You’ll have a hard time going wrong here. I even love adding it to soup!
A starchy potato like russets are the best potatoes to use when making homemade gnocchi.
I feel like this is comparing apples to oranges. While, yes, they are both in the pasta family, there are so many variations of pasta that it’s really hard to compare. This from-scratch gnocchi recipe is made from real food ingredients, healthy fats, and carbohydrates, which — to me — is healthy.
Store, cooked, in an airtight container for up to 3 days for best results. To help prevent sticking, you can toss them with either a little bit of melted butter or olive oil. Alternatively, if you don’t want to cook the gnocchi right away, you can lightly dust the dough pieces with flour, place in an air tight container, and store in the refrigerator for a few hours.
More Dinner Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Stromboli
- The Best Homemade Meatloaf Recipe
- Easy Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
- Sourdough Fried Chicken
- Best Chicken Pot Pie
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
How to Make Homemade Potato Gnocchi
Equipment
- Bench scraper knife
Ingredients
- 2 Russet potatoes
- 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash two large potatoes. Using a fork, poke the potatoes multiple times.
- Place whole potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put into the preheated oven. Bake until fork tender or about 45 minutes to an hour.
- Once baked completely, take out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Scoop out the baked potato into a large bowl. Mash well with a potato masher or a fork.
- Add ricotta, freshly grated parmesan, egg, flour, salt, and pepper to the mashed potato
- Mix together with your hand until all the ingredients are completely combined and have formed a ball.
- Lightly flour a clean work surface and place the gnocchi dough on top. Cut into 4 equal-sized pieces (a regular knife or bench scraper will work just fine).
- Roll each piece into a long rope about an inch wide.
- Cut each piece into about 1 inch by 1 inch equal pieces.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salting liberally. Working in three small batches, add uncooked gnocchi to boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to be sure they aren’t sticking together.
- Add to a strainer or use a slotted spoon to take out gnocchi and set aside.
Notes
- Allow the potatoes to cool a bit so you don’t burn your fingertips off (kidding, not kidding).
- Use a gnocchi board if you want to achieve the classic shape of this pasta. It is not necessary, but it is said that creating the ridges helps to hold sauce when serving.
- Do not over-knead the dough or you will end up with doughy and tough gnocchi rather than light and fluffy gnocchi.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hey Lisa,
I’m wondering if you could give me an approximate weight for the baked potatoes? I’m using yukon goldens because that’s what I can find organic.
Also wondering if you’ve tried making them & freezing to cook later? If so, how did that turn out??
Thanks!
I haven’t personally weighed them. If your potatoes are a bit smaller, I would just add a couple more.
When you say einkorn are you talking about whole grain einkorn or all purpose einkorn? I am a little confused. Thank you. I love your recipes. So far the ones I’ve tried worked out beautifully
This recipe worked extraordinarily well when I used it to make an OG Copycat Chicken (Turkey) / Gnocchi Soup last week for Thanksgiving Dinner. I used All-Purpse Flour and doubled the recipe. And I used the Soup recipe from this site. Not a drop was left! My Nana used to make Gnocchi relatively often. These were better (sorry, Nana, lol). I think it was the addition of the Ricotta cheese. I don’t remember Nana including any cheese other than Parmesan in her recipe (she’d use homogenized Milk). I used All-Purpose Flour. I will most assuredly be making these again. I can’t wait to try making this Gnocchi with Sweet Potatoes (or possibly a mix of the 2). I’m also thinking I might add Scallions to the Gnocchi recipe and reduce the amount of Onion from the Soup recipe. While I’m not yet ready to serve these Gnocchi as a “side”, I can see how I will be including them in many of the Soups I will most assuredly be making this Winter.
At what stage can you freeze for use later?
After shaping, before boiling
I did a batch last night but didn’t mash the potatoes well. Turned out tasty but I wanted a more consistent texture. Made it again for lunch today & got a more consistent texture but much of it fell apart in the pot. It was pretty crumbly to work with but cut fine so I didn’t add any moisture. Should I have let it rest longer before rolling out & cutting? I basically went straight from mixing to rolling out & cutting. I used freshly ground whole einkorn both times.
Sounds like it just needs a little more flour. If it was freshly out of the mill it could have been really airy, so each cup of flour was actually a little less, if that makes sense.
Can these be froze for feature use?
I don’t see why not. I would suggest freezing them on a parchment lined baking sheet not touching and then transferring to a freezer safe ziplock.
I’d love to know how to make this into sourdough gnocchi if you’ve tried!
I have not tried that yet, but I should!
I’ve made this a few times now and it just pairs so well with any kind of soup. I’ve had success replacing ricotta cheese with a small amount of cream, yogurt or even milk. I’ve even used a mix of sweet potatoes and russet! It turns out perfect Everytime. It’s really such a flexible thing to make. I never thought I’d be making all these wonderful things from scratch. So thank you Lisa for making it so easy to follow!
Wow
How much cream do u sub for the ricotta? I never buy ricotta.
My dough did not set up well at all. I know Einkorn takes longer to soak up moisture, but this was so wet. I also used yukons instead of russets. What did I mess up?
That looks wonderful. There is not ricotta cheese where I live, do you think cottage cheese would work?
Online it says feta is an alternative. I am cooking this right now.