Malfatti means “badly formed” in Italian. These rustic spinach ricotta gnocchi-like dumplings may look a bit wonky, but they taste incredible – the very definition of the perfectly imperfect!
Malfatti – rustically delicious!
I love being proven wrong when it comes to food.
As I dubiously fished the totally unimpressive-looking, slippery dumplings from the poaching liquid and plonked them in tomato sauce to pop into the oven, I was mentally preparing for what I could do to save the dish if it came out as bland as I was expecting. Bury in cheese and stick it back in the oven, I thought to myself. Cheese’ll save anything!
How very wrong I was about Malfatti! This is one of the most delicious things I’ve made all year. (Yes, yes, I know I’ve said that a few other recipes I’ve shared this year, but this time*, I really mean it!!) Those plump little gnocchi-like balls are delightedly savoury, ultra-soft and incredibly juicy on the inside. They’re often paired with a tomato-based Napoli Sauce like here, and finished with a shower of parmesan.
Like all addictively tasty things that come in bite-size packages, they’re dangerously difficult to stop popping them in your mouth once you start. One, two, three, five, ten …
* I really meant it the other times I declared this as well. There is room in my life for more than one “most delicious thing I’ve made all year”. I have a big appetite!!
What exactly are Malfatti, anyway?
Malfatti are traditional Italian dumplings made out of spinach and ricotta. They’re bound together with a little flour and egg, and flavoured with parmesan and basil.
Meaning “badly formed”, the name malfatti is an affectionate jibe at their rough and rustic looks. They’re also known as gnudi in other parts of Italy, which means “naked” – a reference to their appearance like pasta-less ravioli.
They are often served with a tomato-based Napoli sauce, though you also see it with other sauces such as brown butter and sage.
Here’s an up close and personal look at the inside of Malfatti. Looks good, eh? 🙂
Boiled like gnocchi, baked in the oven
Malfatti are cooked much like gnocchi in boiling water. Like gnocchi, the most common way serve them is also just like that – simply drained, and topped with the sauce.
Sometimes however you see baked versions, where the Malfatti is placed in the sauce and finished in the oven and is my preferred way of making them. Baking them “sets” the surface of the dumplings so they don’t seem soggy (they’re quite wet and slippery straight out of the boiling water). Plus, you get the benefit of a little browning on the edges of the Napoli Sauce which has a change to meld with the dumplings.
I’d be interested in opinions on this (even bold?!) statement from any Italians reading this!
Ingredients in Malfatti Dumplings
Here’s what you need to make the dumplings.
Ricotta (dry and crumbly = good!) – The key ingredient here! Whereas ordinarily ricotta-based recipes will call for the freshest, softest and creamiest ricotta you can find, for Malfatti, we are after drier ricotta so the mixture is firm enough to shape into dumplings.
Rule of thumb – If you can spread the ricotta like butter, it’s too wet and needs to be drained to remove excess water (just set over a colander or wrap in tea towels, see recipe notes). If you can virtually crumble it with your hands, it’s perfect!
Emergency fix: If you decide to proceed anyway with a ricotta that you suspect is too wet and find the mixture is so loose you can’t form dumplings, just add the minimum amount of flour required to thicken the mixture (I did);
Garlic and eschalot (US: Shallots) – For flavour and sweetness. If you don’t have eschalots, use 1/2 a red onion instead. (PS. Eschalots are the little tear-drop shaped alliums sometimes labelled as “French Onions” here in Australia);
Parmesan – Much of the seasoning (flavouring and salt) for Malfatti. It also helps to firm up the mixture;
Flour – Just 1/2 a cup, far less than most dumplings. Required to bind the mixture;
Egg – The universe’s natural food glue, this is what holds the dumplings together! We use one whole egg as well as one egg yolk because one egg alone is not quite enough to make the Malfatti hold together. Bonus: An extra yolk makes them just that little bit richer and delicious!
Basil – Just a handful, for its lovely fresh flavour. If you don’t have fresh basil, just leave it out rather than substitute with dried basil (dried basil really has no flavour)
Ingredients in Napoli Sauce for Malfatti
One of the most popular sauces for Malfatti is a classic Italian tomato sauce called a Napoli Sauce (after the city of Naples, capital of the region where tomatoes and basil are staple flavours). Here’s what you need:
Onion and garlic – Classic foundation flavourings;
Tomato paste – For a small boost in tomato intensity, and to thicken the sauce slightly (the sauce for Malfatti is typically thick and chunky, rather than loose and runny);
Basil – Please pretend the basil sprig pictured here has been picked! 😂 The leaves are used in the dumplings, while we use pop the stem into the sauce to give it a small hint of fresh basil flavour.
Crushed or diced tomato – As always, the better the quality, the better the sauce;
Sugar – 1/2 a teaspoon, to soften the tartness of the sauce a touch. It’s a shortcut for this sauce, which we only simmer for 20 minutes. If you have the time to simmer on a very, very low heat for 1 hour or so to let the flavours really develop and the sauce to sweeten naturally, feel free to skip it. 😇
How to make Malfatti
The key thing here is to NOT get too hung about about perfectly perfect dumpling shapes. Remember, Malfatti means “badly formed”. Stick to the spirit of the name, a licence for imperfection!
Part 1: Remove water from spinach
Firstly we need to remove the excess water from the spinach otherwise it makes the Malfatti mixture too loose.
Sweat spinach with salt to remove water – Sprinkle spinach with a little salt and leave for 20 minutes. The salt will draw some moisture out of the spinach, which makes it easier to squeeze out the water;
Wring out water – Put a handful of spinach on a clean tea towel. Gather up the the corners of the tea towel and twist it firmly to squeeze out the water;
Roughly chop – Not too finely. We don’t want minced spinach dumplings!
Sauté lightly – Lastly, we sauté the garlic and eschalots, then add the spinach in and toss it through.
Finally, cool the spinach before stirring into the ricotta mixture.
Part 2: Make the Malfatti dumplings
Malfatti mixture – Once the spinach is cool, add it into the bowl with the remaining Malfatti ingredients. Then gently mix until combined;
Form dumplings (wonky or neat!) – Use two dessert spoons to form “football” shaped dumplings. Remember the name and don’t get too hung up about perfect shapes!!
Boil – The Malfatti are cooked in boiling water, just like other dumplings. Bring a pot of water to the boil and carefully lower 4 to 6 dumplings in. Don’t crowd the pot, you don’t want the Malfatti bashing into each other;
Cook until they float (~2 minutes) – You’ll know exactly when the Malfatti are cooked because they float to the surface! Don’t worry about whether they’re fully cooked through because remember we finish them in the oven. 🙂
Use a slotted spoon to fish them out and place onto paper towels to drain.
Part 3: Making Napoli Sauce and baking the Malfatti
The sauce is as simple as a sauté, a stir and a simmer. As the sauce takes 20 mins, I typically start the sauce while I’m sweating the spinach.
Make the sauce – Nothing ground breaking here! The usual sauté garlic and onion → add tomato → simmer 🙂 This sauce is only simmered for 20 minutes, but long enough for it to thicken and develop some flavour. If you’ve got the time, add a bit of extra water and simmer it on super low heat for 1 hour. This will make the sauce even more delicious!
Baking time! – Pour the sauce in a pan and top with Malfatti. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for just 15 minutes, long enough to just give the surface of the Malfatti the faintest hint of gold blush. More importantly, it gives the Malfatti a light crust, rather than being slippery and wet straight out of the boiling water;
Baked Malfatti result – In the photo above, you can see how the Malfatti is very lightly browned compared to the photo in Step 2. The other benefit of baking is that you get some tasty sauce caramelisation around the edges of the pan; and
Finish with parmesan – Give the Malfatti a generous dusting of parmesan and sprinkle of fresh basil. Then dish it out!!
How to serve Malfatti
Initially, I was confused about how to serve Malfatti. Over pasta? Over polenta?? Slop it up with bread??
Nope. Think of it like gnocchi. So just like you do with gnocchi, serve yourself a big bowl of Malfatti just like that.
There’s a fair amount of vegetables in this dish in the form of the spinach and tomato. But if you want to add more, add a big leafy salad tossed with Italian Dressing, or a simple Balsamic Dressing.
I also would not turn down a side of garlic bread, normal or cheesy. But hey, that’s just me! 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Malfatti (Italian Spinach Ricotta Dumplings in Napoli Sauce)
Ingredients
Napoli Sauce:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1/2 onion , very finely diced
- 800g / 24 oz crushed tomato (or diced)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 basil stem (leaves kept for the Malfatti)
- 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Spinach for Malfatti:
- 300g / 10oz baby spinach (~6 tightly packed cups, Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Malfatti:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic , finely minced
- 1 eschallot (large), finely chopped (or 1/2 red onion)
- 500g / 1 lb ricotta (must be dry type, not wet and spreadable, Note 1)
- 1/4 cup (lightly packed) basil leaves, finely sliced (use stem for sauce)
- 1 egg (Note 2)
- 1 egg yolk (Note 2)
- 1 cup parmesan , finely grated
- 1/2 cup flour , plain / all-purpose
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Serving:
- 1/4 cup parmesan , finely grated
- Basil leaves , small (optional)
Instructions
Napoli Sauce:
- Saute garlic and onion: Heat oil in a small pot or large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook for 3 minutes until onion is softened.
- Simmer sauce: Add remaining ingredients plus the stem of basil. Bring to a simmer, then reduce stove to low and cook, stirring every now and then, for 20 minutes. It should be fairly thick rather than a loose runny sauce.
Malfatti:
- Drain ricotta, if needed: The ricotta should be the dry and fairly crumbly type rather than wet, soft and almost spreadable. If it's wet, see Note 1 for removing excess water (wet ricotta makes Malfatti hard to shape and cook!)
- Sweat spinach: Toss spinach with 1/2 tsp salt in large colander. Leave for 20 minutes. Roll up in tea towel and squeeze tightly to remove excess liquid. Roughly chop.
- Sauté garlic, eschalot and spinach: Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and eschalot, cook for 1 minute until translucent. Add spinach and cook until just wilted. Transfer to large bowl, allow to cool.
- Malfatti mixture: Add ricotta and all remaining Malfatti ingredients into the bowl. Mix well to combine. It should be too wet to roll with hands without sticking, but still firm enough to shape into dumplings.
- Form dumplings: Using 2 dessert spoons, scoop up about 1 1/2 tablespoons of mixture then shape into a football (quenelle) using the two spoons. Place on a paper-lined tray. You should get about 24-30.
- Boil dumplings: Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then carefully put 6 dumplings in. Cook for 2 minutes, they should float to the surface. Remove with slotted spoon on to paper towel lined tray. Repeat for remaining Malfatti.
Baking:
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- Assemble: Pour Napoli Sauce into a baking dish, then top with Malfatti. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
- Bake 15 minutes or until the Malfatti has a faint blush of gold on the surface (Note 3).
- Serve! Sprinkle baked Malfatti with parmesan and basil leaves (tear large leaves). Spoon into bowls and served as-is. No starchy side is required, think of these as like gnocchi. Just add a leafy green salad with Italian Dressing or Balsamic Dressing!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More meatless Italian
Life of Dozer
When Dozer came shoe shopping. I live in a VERY dog friendly area!!!
(PS In case you re wondering, he is anti stilettos and pro sneakers. Something about me not being able to play with him in heels. 🤷🏻♀️)
Pauline Clancy says
I made theses dumplings this weekend. They were absolutely delicious and with all Nagi’s hints and explanations you can’t go wrong. A big hit .Thanks Nagi
Lyn says
I made these tonight, they took me forever ( a lot more than 25 minutes to prepare) but OMG – they were absolutely amazing ! I can quite honestly say they were the nicest thing I have had in ages. Never tasted anything like them before – they were phenomenal! We had them with a rocket and peach salad ( in honey mustard dressing) the sweetness of which complimented them perfectly. And garlic bread. I shall certainly being making these again 😀Yumm
Barbara youmans says
Thank you so much my mom made them, been looking for recipe. Remind me of my child hood. Thank you so much.
Nagi says
You’re so welcome Barbara, I love precious food memories like this!! ❤️
Liz says
I made these wonderful little dumplings…delicious 😊substituted flour with coconut flour for gf and no sugar in sauce and I can’t wait to make again. Thank you Nagi❤️
Nagi says
That’s great to hear Liz!! N x
Druce Batstone says
Also made my own ricotta and used Warrigal greens from my garden instead of spinach. My wife and I loved the meal.
Karen says
Made these for dinner last night using silver beet instead of spinach. Added a little grated lemon zest and nutmeg. So light and delicious.
Thank you,Nagi
Tony Oates says
Nice taste and creamy texture. I made my own ricotta cheese. Easy to control the texture.
Rowena says
We cooked these tonight and they’re just beautiful. Took a bit longer due to first time cooking this recipe but will be a favourite in our house.
Julie says
Hi Nagi. I made this last night and it was delicious! I didn’t have ricotta from the deli – just a container of whole milk. I did what you recommended to remove as much excess water from the ricotta. Next time will find the dry ricotta to taste the difference.
Josie says
This looks great! Do you think I could substitute with GF flour with no issues? Thanks 🙂
Jody says
I made this yesterday and substituted for gluten free flour and they turned out beautifully (& so light n fluffy, I was surprised as g/f flour can make things a little ‘gluggy’).
*The only thing I suggest is doubling the amount of flour.
Hope this helps, good luck xx
Nagi says
Hi Josie, I’m not sure how they would hold up unfortunately as it will change the texture. I’d love to know if you give it a go!!! N x
Jody says
This is amazing!!
I’d rate them 10 stars if I could.
So light fluffy (even though I had to use G/F Flour).
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
I will definitely make them again.
The whole family loved them!
Nagi says
I’m so happy to know it worked just as well with gluten free flour Jody, that’s wonderful!! N x
Mary Jane says
I made these last night! Definitely a delicious meal, they were like little heavenly clouds. Some observations: This recipe is time-consuming. It’s more of a Sunday afternoon project than a Monday evening project. I could only find the creamy ricotta (I’m in Norway) so I drained it all day and squeezed it out. I was able to form the dumplings but they definitely “melted” a bit in the water. I think next time I would form them, then set them in the fridge for an hour to “set”. Also in future I will just use frozen spinach, squeezed out. I made the Napoli sauce without the sugar and let it simmer for about an hour, adding a little more water to compensate for the long cooking time. I have spent a lot of time in different parts of Italy, but never noticed “malfatti” on a menu! But now I will look for them, and will continue to make them at home 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Beck Reid says
Great feedback Mary Jane. Thankyou. Beck in Australia!
Nagi says
Hi Mary Jane, yes the “melting” of the dumplings is due to the ricotta, it’s just too wet really. I’ve updated the recipe notes that YES you can use frozen spinach too! N x
Mary Jane says
I really didn’t lose that much in the melting, but if I can possibly find dry ricotta that’s what I will use next time. Thanks for adding in the note about frozen spinach, that’s very helpful! Fab recipe.
Isabel says
Oh my God. U know I will be making this little recipe very, very soon. Thank u.
Nagi says
Enjoy Isabel!!! N x
Linda Guy says
Made this tonight. I added chopped eggplant and zucchini and chilli to the sauce. Delish.
Gloria B. Torres says
Thanks for the recipe. Can’t wait to try it.
Nagi says
You’re so welcome Gloria!! N x
jen says
Hi Nagi ,the dumpling recipes look so good will give it a try .
Like you mention they have good food and music at the Dark Moto festival , and that was the reason to go, I was curious so I read about it online and it looks so creepy almost evil with all that’s stuff , hope you come back in one piece ha ha !!
Nagi says
It’s absolutely fantastic Jen, promise I’ll be back in one piece!! N x
Leslie kerr says
Looks like you’re having a Great holiday!! You deserve it. And Dozer too with all his buddies. Thanks for sharing your vacation pics! Looks Fun!! The recipe looks delicious. A must try!
Nagi says
Thanks so much Leslie!! N x
Kris says
Delicious !
Nagi says
Thanks so much Kris!! N x
Walle Earles says
Lovely fork pictured in the recipe. Oh! I forgot, I’ll try this recipe when my basil is ready from the garden.
Nagi says
Fresh basil – there’s nothing better Walle! I hope you love it! N x
Sandra Cemulini says
Brava!
So well explained, in Florence we do call them “Ravioli Gnudi”, like you said, only we’ve always added grated nutmeg to the mixture. Love your pictures and videos*****
Nagi says
YUM! Absolutely beautiful Sandra!! N x
Lorraine says
Hi Nagi, this sounds absolutely delicious and I’m very keen to make the Gnudi. I was wondering if it would be possible to freeze them after they were boiled please, and if so, would I bake them from frozen and for how long?
It’s nice to see you enjoying Tassie, but I’m sure Dozer will be happy once you’re back home in Sydney!
Nagi says
Hi Lorraine, yes freeze once in the tomato sauce. When ready to cook, thaw and bake. I hope you love them Lorraine! N x
Kim says
Hi Nagi I was just going to ask this as well as I ended up getting 35. So a bit too many fir 2 people fir 2 nights (4 meals) glad to know I can freeze the left overs
Lorraine says
Thanks Nagi😊👍🏻
Lorraine says
Ahhh, thanks Nagi. I was thinking about having to freeze them separately to the sauce for some silly reason. But this is much more sensible!🙄🤣
Lori says
Any substitute for the ricotta??
Nagi says
Unfortunately no Lori – it’s the base of this dish!! N x