Meet your new favorite comfort food dinner: baked gnocchi ! It features a simple tomato sauce, cheesy mozzarella and fresh basil. The whole family will devour it!
What are Gnocchi?
Gnocchi are Italian dumplings made with potatoes, flour, eggs and sometimes cheese. They’re similar to pasta, but they’re not theoretically pasta!
Store Bought Gnocchi vs Homemade
You can easily find them in the pasta section at the grocery store. They’re either fresh or frozen. The cooking time will vary between 2 to 5 minutes. You simply need to boil them in hot water, just like pasta.
How to Make Baked Gnocchi?
- First, cook your gnocchi according to package instructions. You’ll need to cook them in boiling water for a few minutes. Reserve some pasta water.
- Then, prepare the sauce. In a large pan, sauté the onion for a few minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients: garlic, tomato sauce, sun-dried tomato pesto, cream cheese and fresh basil.
- Gently fold the cooked gnocchi in the sauce.
- Garnish with mozzarella cheese and bake for 20 minutes.
- Add fresh basil on top and enjoy!
Ovenproof Skillet for Baked Gnocchi Recipe
We will be making the sauce directly into the pan with the cooked gnocchi and put it in the oven to make sure the cheese melts. To do so, I recommend using a big ovenproof skillet (11 inches ideally). If you don’t have one, you can simply transfer the gnocchi with the sauce into a rectangular oven dish.
Baked Gnocchi with Tomato & Basil
6
servings15
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minutesMeet your new favorite comfort food dinner: baked gnocchi ! It features a simple tomato sauce, cheesy mozzarella and fresh basil. The whole family will devour it!
Ingredients
2 packages of store-bought gnocchi (500g each) or 1 lb of homemade gnocchi
1 yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp of unsalted vegan butter (Le Grand)
2 garlic cloves, minced
A pinch of red pepper flakes
Half a package of Le Grand’s sun-dried tomato pesto
2 ½ cups of tomato sauce
4 tbsp of vegan cream cheese (Le Grand)
¼ cup of chopped fresh basil and more to garnish
250g-300g of shredded mozzarella cheese or vegan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F and place the rack in the middle.
- Cook the gnocchi in boiling water according to the package instructions. Reserve ½ cup of cooking water. Rinse the cooked gnocchis with cold water.
- In a big oven proof skillet (about 11 inches), sauté the onion with butter for 6-7 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for another minute. Season well. Add the sun-dried tomato pesto, tomato sauce, cream cheese, cooking water and fresh basil. Stir to combine and cook for 2 minutes. Gently fold the cooked gnocchi.
- Garnish with mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Top it with fresh basil leaves.
