Gnocchi are simple potato dumplings made by mixing cooked potatoes with flour and egg. They are often served as a pasta, and are simultaneously toothsome and fluffy while expertly soaking up any sauce.
Gnocchi are thought to have origins even older than pasta itself. Originally these dumplings were made simply and cheaply with only flour and water. On a 2018 trip to Italy we learned how to make them in exactly this way. We mixed flour into boiling water to make simple potato-free gnocchi. But when potatoes were first imported to Italy in the 16th century, these starchy tubers were added. This gave gnocchi the fluffy body we know them for today. They get their name from the word “gnocco” meaning “node.” referring something hard like the knuckles of your hand.
While gnocchi are now found all over Italy, and therefore in almost all Italian restaurants in the US, they are most heavily associated with northern Italy. Each region of northern Italy has their own way of serving them. In Piedmont they are tossed in a simple sauce of butter and parmesan. In Verona you’ll find them swimming in a rich tomato sauce. With my Italian ancestry coming from the south, gnocchi were not really a staple dish of my childhood. But that doesn’t stop me from making them and loving them today.
Gnocchi embodies what I love most about Italian cooking: simple but high quality ingredients can be transformed into an outstanding dish. From the outside, gnocchi are as simple as it gets, using only three ingredients. Potato, flour, and egg (some gnocchi recipes don’t even call for egg; we like to include it because it helps hold them together).
While they may sound simple…
Gnocchi definitely take a little bit of tender loving care to make. The potatoes are first baked as opposed to boiled, so that they retain less moisture. They’re then pushed through a ricer instead of simply mashed, making them as light and fluffy as possible. The egg yolks are mixed in and here’s where time and love enters: flour is slowly added, incorporated into the dough bit by bit, until it reaches the perfect consistency. It should be airy and retain some of the potato’s starchy stickiness, but not be sticking to the countertop or your fingers. It should roll out firmly into a cigar shape without falling apart under your fingertips. And slice through easily leaving little pillow-shaped dumplings that are slightly puckered in the center.
Potato Gnocchi Tips and Tricks
- Bake potatoes instead of boiling them ensuring less moisture in your dough.
- Use a potato ricer for the airiest possible potatoes. A very gentle mash with a potato masher works too.
- Use a pastry scraper to cut and fold the dough instead of kneading it by hand for lighter dumplings.
- Boil just until they float to the surface about 3 minutes, to guarantee light and fluffy gnocchi.
- Boil them in batches so that the gnocchi won’t stick together. Oil them well as soon as they come out.
One of the most beautiful things about gnocchi is that they perfectly soak up any sauce you serve them with. Many serve theirs in a simple sauce made with Parmesan cheese and pasta water or cream. This makes the potato the star of the dish.
But if you choose to ridge your gnocchi, these ridges become perfect for a hearty meat sauce or bolognese to cling to. We chose to pair ours with a hybrid “chicken saltimbocca marsala” (recipe coming soon). Marsala sauce lends the perfect balance to these gnocchi. It is both light enough in flavor to not overwhelm the taste of the gnocchi themselves, but thick enough in texture to make a nice hearty dish. And the chicken saltimbocca – a seared chicken breast covered in prosciutto and mozzarella cheese – adds some protein and heft. But no matter what you serve them with, the pillowy yet firm gnocchi truly are the star of the plate.
To ridge or not to ridge?
You’ll often see gnocchi that have tiny ridges in them (in fact you can see from my photos that we ridged a few of ours). These ridges are achieved by rolling the gnocchi against a pasta board or the tongs of a fork. They work to create more texture for a sauce to cling, but it sure is time consuming to ridge a pound of gnocchi. They will be just as tasty without ridges, so I leave it up to you to decide if you’re feeling up to the task.
Potato Gnocchi
Equipment
- 1 Potato Ricer optional
Ingredients
- 3 lb potatoes
- 1 1/4 – 2 cups flour
- 2 egg yolks beaten
- 1/2 tsp salt plus more for potatoes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- olive oil as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven or air fryer to 375. Prick holes in the potatoes to allow steam to release and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Bake, flipping halfway through, until easily pierced with a knife, 40 minutes to 1 hour. Remove and slice open to allow them to cool.
- Once potatoes have fully cooled, scoop out the insides and press through a ricer or gently mash. Fold in egg yolks, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
- Pour potato mixture out onto a floured work surface. Dust with 1 cup of flour and begin incorporating flour using a bench scraper to cut and fold the dough. Add more flour in 1/4 cup increments as needed until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands and work surface, but is not dry or crumbling apart. You can knead lightly towards the end to fully incorporate flour.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment. Divide the dough into 8 even pieces and roll out each piece into a rope about the thickness of your finger. Cut into one inch pieces. At this point you can use a pasta board or fork and roll each gnocchi against it to create ridges that will better hold a sauce, but this is not necessary. Place gnocchi on parchment paper until ready to boil.
- Oil another sheet pan. Boil salted water over medium high heat. Cook gnocchi in batches (about 4 batches) just until they rise to the surface, 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon or strainer basket and place on the oiled sheet pan. Drizzle with more olive oil and toss to coat. Repeat with remaining gnocchi. Toss in your favorite sauce and serve.
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