The worlds’ most easy homemade gnocchi – by using ricotta instead of mashed potatoes, you can make gnocchi from scratch in just 30 minutes. The gnocchi is light and fluffy, like mini pillows of ricotta goodness. Toss ricotta gnocchi in a simple browned butter sauce or a tomato sauce – you choose!
EASIEST homemade Gnocchi recipe
Pillowy soft gnocchi is a thing of beauty. And while nowadays, we can get great store bought gnocchi, there is something so satisfying about making it at home.
So what if I told you that you can make homemade gnocchi from scratch in 30 minutes?
Start to finish, including cooking. With no special equipment required and very little mess!
This method I’m sharing today is a ricotta gnocchi. A much easier way to make gnocchi than the traditional mashed potato method, ricotta gnocchi is faster and virtually foolproof.
Anyone can make ricotta gnocchi, even beginner cooks. On the other hand, potato gnocchi is a recipe for capable cooks, requiring a deft hand, a gentle touch and a good feel for dough.
Ricotta gnocchi has both a similar texture and flavour to traditional potato gnocchi!
How to make really easy Homemade Gnocchi
Ricotta is the secret ingredient for this really easy homemade gnocchi. I call ricotta gnocchi “Italian fast food” – because it’s so quick to make!
Here’s what you need:
Ricotta
Parmesan
Flour
Eggs
Salt and pepper
Just mix them together, then use your hands to bring it all together into a soft dough.
Roll into ropes then cut into bite size pieces.
How to cook Gnocchi
Gnocchi is cooked in the same way as pasta – in boiling water. Fresh homemade gnocchi only takes a minute or two. You will know when gnocchi is cooked because they rise to the surface!
Then just drain and toss in your sauce of choice.
Best sauce for gnocchi
The classic sauce for gnocchi is butter sauce. I love butter sauce because it really let’s the flavour of gnocchi come through.
But sometimes, I like my gnocchi to be nice and saucy like pastas. On such days, I make a tomato pasta sauce instead.
Both are lovely, so you choose because both sauce options are provided! 🙂
Making gnocchi ahead of time
Gnocchi freezes brilliantly! Just freeze the uncooked gnocchi, then just cook from frozen. Imagine how smug you will feel if you have a stash of homemade gnocchi in your freezer!
Serve this gnocchi with a fresh garden salad tossed with Balsamic Dressing or Italian Dressing. If you want to go all out, add a side of Garlic Bread! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This is the recipe video for Ricotta Gnocchi with Creamy Mushroom Sauce which is a newer recipe published after I started doing tutorial videos for all my recipes! So this video doesn’t include the sauces but it shows how to make the gnocchi which I think is helpful. 🙂
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Easy Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi
Ingredients
Gnocchi
Browned Butter Sauce
- 4 tbsp / 60 g unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt (omit if using salted butter)
- Black pepper
Tomato Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely diced
- 28 oz / 800 g canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tbsp mixed dried Italian herbs (or any combination of dried parsley, basil, oregano and thyme)
- 1 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Garnish
- Freshly grated parmesan
- Fresh parsley , finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
Homemade ricotta gnocchi
- Mix – Put all the gnocchi ingredients in a bowl except the flour. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix until combined (smear up the wall if needed, to help cream the ricotta).
- Add flour – Add 3/4 cup of flour and mix until just combined so it is a very sticky dough that will hold its shape in a mound, but is not runny and stir-able like a batter (see video for consistency). Stickier dough = softer gnocchi! Use the remaining flour, 1 tbsp at a time, if needed, but try to stick with 3/4 cup. (Note 3)
- Logs – Sprinkle a work surface with flour then scrape the dough out onto it. Sprinkle the surface lightly with flour then use your hands to bring the dough into a disc about 2.5cm/1" thick. Do not knead it, it's too sticky. Cut it into 8 wedges.
- Roll and cut – Roll each piece into a log 25cm/10" long, about 1.25cm / 1/2" wide. Cut into 1 1/2 cm / 3/5" pieces (I cut 4 logs at a time).(Can freeze at this point – Note 4)
Cook gnocchi
- Boil – Bring a large pot of water to boil. Tumble the gnocchi in and cook for around 2 1/2 minutes, or until the gnocchi is floating on the surface for around 30 seconds.
- Drain – Reserve 1 mug of cooking water. Then drain and add the gnocchi into the frypan with your sauce of choice (you only need one of them, not both). Follow the instructions below.
Browned Butter Sauce
- Melt the butter in a large fry pan over medium high heat. Let it bubble until it turns brown. Add the salt and pepper. If the gnocchi isn't ready yet, remove from the stove until ready.
- Add gnocchi – Pour the cooked gnocchi into the fry pan along with 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water. Gently stir, coating the gnocchi in the melted butter, cooking for 1 minute. This is the step when the butter and starch in the water emulsify so the sauce coats each piece of gnocchi.
- Do a taste test and add more salt if required. Serve immediately.
Tomato Sauce
- Sauté – Heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and onion. Sauce for 3 to 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 10 minutes. Do a taste test and adjust saltiness to taste.
- Add the gnocchi and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water. Cook for 1 minute, stirring gently. The olive oil and starch in the water will emulsify to thicken the sauce so it clings to the gnocchi better.
To Serve
- Serve immediately as the gnocchi will start to harden after about 15 minutes as it cools. You can reheat in the microwave to soften.
- Garnish with freshly grated parmesan and parsley, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
Nutrition assuming 3 servings with Browned Butter Sauce (left) and Tomato Sauce (right).
More gnocchi and gnocchi-type things
Is the ricotta used the one in the basket?
That’s the one I used and it worked perfectly! As a bonus my Coles had it marked down from around $13 to under $3 as was near the best before date. Bonus!
Had some leftover ricotta in need of using up, this was a quick delicious lunchtime creation! I mistakenly used self-raising flour, cooked them anyway and they turned out so light and fluffy – a mistake I might need to make again!
I have finally perfected ricotta gnocchi and using the gnocchi board. Took a while to achieve the right amount of pressure to get the ridges but not flatten them out. Served gnocchi with my homemade sauce/gravy/sugo to my Italian friend yesterday and she raved about it. SCORE!! Thank you!!
I have made potato gnocchi for decades but this is a game changer. It is light and airy and so fast. Truly from start to table in less than 30 min. The flavor and texture are superb. I served it to Italian friends last week and they raved! Thanks.
I never thought I’d be able to make melt in your mouth gnocchi……until now. I had a tub of ricotta leftover from Christmas & had a craving for Gorgonzola sauce. Match made in heaven! The gnocchi was easy & fuss free to make. Light & pillowy as described. Was perfect with Gorgonzola sauce. Great recipe, make it!
These are my daughter’s favourite food. We make them every few weeks, delicious.
These were delicious little pillows of delight. I normally feel so heavy after having potato gnocchi, but these were so light. They were so simple!
Great result. The gnocchi was light and fluffy. I made double and will freeze the cooked gnocchi that was left over. My daughter just loved it. A top Friday night meal.
So delicious and so easy!
Can’t believe how quick it was to make. Will be making again, however I will make the sauce first so it has longer to simmer.
Made this last night. I had doubled the recipe and put in 1.5 cups as suggested, but found it too dry. I think it was because my ricotta was quite dry (I made it and squeezed out loads of liquid). So I just added some whey/milk until it was the consistency I thought it should be. Also made it with whole meal flour and…. used a bag parmesan from aldi since I didnt have fresh parmesan, I put it through the processor first to break it up! It was pretty tasty, I imagine if I followed the recipe more closely it would be even tastier!
Fabulous ! It was like eating food at a good Italian restaurant 😋 thank you for all your recipes. I don’t make recipes from other websites any more. X
These are the best gnocchi I have, now making another batch.We loved them thanks for sharing
This was so easy and the texture was amazing.
Would it be okay to omit the parmesan cheese from the gnocchi next time? It’s quite expensive!
whats the best flour to use? Pasta \bread /tip00 or normal?
I prefer 00 but all purpose is a good substitute. I’ve made it both ways.
Great Recipe! I made this for the first time instead of making potato gnocchi, and it came out wonderful. The texture was better than potato gnocchi and it was easier to prepare. My wife was very pleased with the results. I opted for the tomato sauce over the butter sauce. This will be my ‘go to’ recipe for gnocchi from now on. Thank you!
Woo hoo Tim! That’s amazing!! I am so glad you both enjoyed it! N x
Wonderful recipe Nagi! Had gluten free guests and made the gnocchi using gluten free flour. I would advise only using half the amount of regular flour as stated in the recipe, and add more if necessary. It was a triumph! Everyone absolutely loved it. Thank you
This was awesome, and so easy! Full disclosure: I only made the gnocchi and used marinara I had on hand, but I will try one of the sauces the next time since I am definitely making it again! I doubled the recipe and it fed four of us…but there was absolutely nothing left over. I would probably make more the next time. Thank you Nagi, for sharing your incredible talent. The whole family loved it!
Thanks AMF!! I am so glad that you liked it!! N x
Can’t wait to try this. Whole milk or part skim ricotta?
Whole milk Beth! N x
Thanks!
Hi Nagi
Love your recipes! Just a quick question. I have just made these (doubled recipe) and the mixture seems very dry, not at all sticky. I used the ricotta that comes in a basket from the supermarket and I only used 220g flour. I feel like I could have used less. Just wondering what you think might have happened.
You put too much flour. Only need 112-150g of flour, but you put 220g.
she said she doubled the recipie
I found mine dry too, I used ricotta I had made and most of the liquid was out. Just added milk until it was the consistency I assumed it was meant to be
Gnocchi was a winner.
I see from some of the comments your readers were confused which ricotta to use, tub or fresh. I used fresh, the dry crumbly type and it worked like a dream. If you could amend your instructions please.as they a bit confusing. Love your food blog.