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
These sound delicious going to try these tonight with baked cauliflower and chorizo.
Addicted to My Kitchen Rules Australia. So much so that when I went on holiday – 9 weeks touring France and Spain, that I set my Sky box to record them. Only trouble was when I got back, 66 episodes to watch but in the process they had over recorded all the previous programmes I had saved. Oh well sure to pick up some good tips.
Ha ha ha!! I had to laugh – sorry – the same happened to me with masterchef!!! I do hope you enjoy them! <3
You are a girl so after my own heart Nagi!! ANd these ricotta gnocchi look fabulous! I can make out how soft and pilowy they must be from the dough itself. I did attempt the potato gnocchi once..but they weren’t even worth putting up on my blog.. and the time they took!! Dear God.. Too much after a long day’s work. This on the otherhand looks and sounds like a perfect mid week dinner!! Can i use cottage cheese by any chance in place of ricotta or am I bonkers here?? As for the cooking shows.. Masterchef AU is ADDICTIVE !! even my 3 yr old knows not to bug mommy durin that 1 hr .. oh.. and did you ever watch Top Chef?? I used to enjoy that too! Pinning of course!!
I know right?? Potato gnocchi is HARD!! 🙂
Just finished eating this delightful meal. It was SO good! I’ve never had gnocchi before…they were like little pillows of wonderfulness. And the homemade tomato sauce was so awesome – I’ve never found one that worked for me. I’ll be using this as my standard sauce for pasta going forward.
So easy, and fun, to make. Looking forward to wowing company with it!
I’m so glad you loved this!!! Little pillows of wonderfulness is bang on… 🙂 Thank you for coming back to let me know you loved it!! <3
I love gnocchi but I usually buy it rather than making it as I hate all the potato preparation. So this easy ricotta version is something I have to try. Genius!
Thanks Thalia! <3
Oh these sound delicious! I am just beginning to make my own cheeses and ricotta is something that can be made from the whey of every batch of another cheese… so I think I will have enough to make delicious “other stuff”. I’ve never attempted gnocchi because they always looked really complicated, but now I shall give them a try. I am also a food-show junkie and have been fascinated with the various “MasterChef” shows and how different they each are. But the one I really enjoyed the most was the MC Junior show. The kids were always so real… well, except one or two who had watched far too many US “reality” shows. LOL That and “The F Word”. I learned a lot from that show! Anyway, thanks for this wonderfully interesting recipe. I’ll try to remember to come back and let you know how mine turn out after I make some ricotta. 🙂
Oh I love the F word!!! I can’t help it 🙂 Gordon Ramsay is so talented, I love all his recipes I have ever tried. I love that you make your own cheeses, how fantastic! I dream of moving to the country one day and being (almost) fully self sufficient. 🙂 (I say almost because…well…meat…you know!)
Nagi…. your gnocchi photos have got me pinning this recipe! Although I’m not a big fan of gnocchi, Juan (my bf) is! I think I might try this ricotta gnocchi with gluten-free flour since he’s Celiac, and also because making mashed potatoes just takes up so much more time!!
i remember making gnocchi from scratch and took me hours on end, i am definitely trying this one out!
Yes, do! It’s amazing!
Nagi,
I can relate so well to the shouting at the contestants on TV:)
The gnocchi looks amazing- soft and fluffy and droolicious!
Ha! Glad to hear it, I don’t feel so much like a mad foodie now!! I’m glad you like the look of this chicken 😉
How fantastic, Nagi! I’m delighted by this recipe and cannot wait to try it. 🙂
Hope you do Krista! 🙂
I get so mad at those contestants and frequently shout at the TV:-) But this gnocchi is a totally different reason for shouting that is shouting for joy!
Rachel, I just had a vision of you and I on the couch, yelling at the TV like blokes do with rugby…..we would bring down the house!!!
These little pillows of wonderfulness look like such a treat! 30 minutes, wow now I must try this. I sometimes watch Asian Food Network (that is what we get over here) but it does not grab my attention like some of the discovery channels that host chefs traveling and eating with the locals in the area-love food and culture combo. You know I am the same way I make dishes at least 3 times, sometimes even more before posting it, however, it is a really good thing as so many thing you can freeze and enjoy on another day. I know my boys will love this recipe!
Asian Food Network? I would have thought the food would be INCREDIBLE!!! (Not sure would recommend you making this for your boys, you’ll have to make a quadruple batch just to serve one of them. Too labor intensive! Opt for food you can make multiple batches of with little extra effort!) 😉
Love how these are freezer friendly and can’t wait to try both sauces! My mouth won’t stop watering!!!
I know, right?? Nuts! Who knew??
OMGOMGOMGOMG. I love gnocchi! Though I usually buy it fresh from the pasta bakery and have yet to make it from scratch. I am so making this soon!
You must!! It is so crazy easy!
I just recently got this recipe, tried it, and LOVED IT!. Thanks for bringing us gnocchi without all the carbs! This much I cn handle.
Woah! That was fast! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, isn’t it incredible? I’m obsessed with these! 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know you loved it!!
One Word……YUM
I like that word…. 😉
Ok first of all, your description of yelling at food contestants on TV had me cracking up! And second, holy cow, ricotta gnocchi! I have never had nor heard of using ricotta en lieu of potatoes but it sounds like it would be totally amazing!!! I cannot wait to try this, this is pure genius! I love gnocchi – when it turn out well, they’re little cloud-like pillows. But when it doesn’t work out, they’re like little hockey pucks! I have made the same recipe for years, and like you said, it’s about a 75% chance they’ll turn out well. I like the odds of your ricotta gnocchi much better!
I know, right?? Seriously, the first time I made potato gnocchi, half the batch turned out black because I was so slow, the potato became discoloured.
And you know perfectly well if we were on the couch together, you’d be screaming at the contestants as much as I do!! 😉
Girl…. you know I would 😉 xoxo
I love ricotta gnocchi too. The last time I had this gnocchi it was beautiful. The sauce was made by sauteing a million chopped onions and garlic in a bathtub full of butter while in another pot, fresh broccoli was being steamed to well overdone. After what seemed a lifetime, he tossed the broccoli in with the butter and it just fell apart to make a sauce. He seasoned it and mixed it in with the ricotta. One man at the meal had 5 bowls of it. That’s how many bowls of yours I want. How gorgeous the tomato sauce looks!
Bathtub of garlic butter? OOOOHHHH….now THAT’S my kind of bath!! 😉
You and I are simpatico – I always make gnocchi with ricotta. The funny thing is that it’s the first gnocchi I ever tried and we liked it so well that I’ve never attempted potato gnocchi. But from what you say, apparently that’s a good bet anyway. My recipe is different and I can’t wait to try yours. The gnocchi look perfect. And then there are the sauce choices – yes please! I’ll have to make both.
I can’t bear those competition cooking shows – they completely stress me out! It’s kind of like watching improv comedy, I always feel so nervous for the people on stage that I have a hard time enjoying the show! 🙂
I know! I get so worked up!! And I feel nervous for the people I like! 🙂 Ooh, I’m popping over to see if you have a recipe on your blog. 🙂 After writing this, my mother reminded me of my first attempt at making potato gnocchi when I was a youngster. Half the batch went black – you know how potato becomes discoloured?? TOO FUNNY!! 🙂
But of course ricotta gnocchi are the best gnocchi ever ! Like i put ricotta in everything, have you noticed ?? I already know these are the Bomb, and now you see why you are a girl after my own heart. Ok so here’s the deal: you fly out to Cali and make these ricotta gnocchi, and I make ricotta muffins and ricotta meatballs, and ricotta tomato tart bahahha
All I have to say to that is this: why don’t YOU fly out here to SYDNEY?! 😉 N x
That is on my Bucket List, so yeah it’s gonna happen !! 😉
Thanks for the excellent simple recipe. I plan on trying it both ways. I’ll make a double batch so we can have some of each. My son is 6′ 210lbs. He always has two plates. 😉
Now this is a GREAT carb load up for your won! He clearly needs the fuel! Hope you do try it, would love to know what you think! I have another batch in the freezer, looking forward to having them tonight!! 🙂