Home › All recipes › Homemade Potato Gnocchi

Homemade Potato Gnocchi

Felix Intelegando Updated All recipes

Gnocchi are small Italian potato dumplings, cooked the way you cook pasta: dropped into a pot of lightly salted boiling water until they float. This recipe uses just four ingredients – potatoes, wheat flour, parmesan and one egg – and serves four. What sets gnocchi apart from pasta is the mashed potato in the dough.

Ridged potato gnocchi coated in green basil pesto with shaved parmesan and small basil leaves on a cream plate, beside a fork, knife and a small bowl of grated cheese
Jump to recipe

Last updated

Ridged potato gnocchi coated in green basil pesto with shaved parmesan and small basil leaves on a cream plate, beside a fork, knife and a small bowl of grated cheese

Recipe

Gnocchi

Prep
45 mins
Cook
10 mins
Serves
4

Ingredients

Method

  1. Peel the potatoes and cook them in so much water that it covers them completely.
  2. Let the potatoes cool and mash them.
  3. Blend mashed potato, flour, parmesan and egg together into a uniform, smooth dough and let it rest for half an hour.
  4. Put a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling.
  5. Roll the dough to form sausages, cut the sausages into pieces of 2-3 cm and press each piece with a fork.
  6. Boil gnocchi – possibly by several rounds – for 3-4 minutes. They reach the surface when they are finished.

Step by step, in pictures

The six moves in the recipe card, from boiling the potatoes to lifting out the finished gnocchi.

  1. Line drawing of a saucepan on a gas burner with five peeled potatoes in waterBoil the peeled potatoes
  2. Line drawing of a potato masher pressing mashed potato in a mixing bowlMash the cooled potatoes
  3. Line drawing of two hands shaping a ball of dough on a floured surface, beside a small bowl of grated cheese and a cracked egg shellKnead the dough, then rest it
  4. Line drawing of a large pot of boiling water on a gas burner with its lid tipped open and a small dish of salt beside itBring salted water to the boil
  5. Line drawing of a rope of dough cut into short pieces with a knife on a floured board while a fork presses ridges into one pieceCut the ropes and fork-press
  6. Line drawing of a slotted spoon lifting ridged gnocchi out of a pot of boiling waterLift out when they float

What is gnocchi, and where does the name come from?

Gnocchi are soft dumplings, eaten in Italy since Roman times. According to Wikipedia, the name may come from the Italian nocchio, a knot in wood, or nocca, a knuckle – and with a little imagination the small ridged pieces do look like either.

The early versions contained no potato. One ancient Roman recipe was a semolina, porridge-like dough mixed with eggs. Potatoes only went into gnocchi after the potato had reached Europe, in the late 19th century according to the same source. Today there are as many variations of gnocchi as there are regions in Italy.

What is the secret to light, tender gnocchi?

Most of it comes down to the potatoes and the flour:

  • Choose russet potatoes. Several of the top-ranking gnocchi recipes call for russets; Yukon Gold or red potatoes are offered as swaps.
  • Add the flour gradually. Stop when the dough is soft and smooth but no longer sticky, then let it rest for the half hour the card gives.
  • Press each piece with a fork. The back of a fork (or a cheese grater) gives the classic ridges.
  • Cook in batches and watch for floating. They are done when they rise to the surface, after 3–4 minutes. Lift them out and add the next batch.
  • Use leftover potatoes. If you have cooked potatoes left over from dinner, mash those and skip the boiling – it makes gnocchi even quicker.

What sauce goes best with gnocchi?

Serve gnocchi like pasta: tossed in a sauce or with the sauce poured over. A Neapolitan marinara or a classic tomato sauce is a good choice. In the photo they are served with basil pesto and a splash of good olive oil. Melted butter with sage is another common pairing.

More from this kitchen