Creamy Spinach Gnocchi (20-Minute, One-Pan Meal)

Creamy Spinach Gnocchi is a consolation meals dish made in simply 20 minutes in a single pan! This fast and straightforward recipe makes use of store-bought, shelf-stable potato gnocchi. The creamy sauce is made with garlic, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, and pink pepper flakes. This flavor-packed dinner is bound to turn out to be a household favourite meatless primary course or a comforting facet dish to boost your favourite protein or meat dinners!

Creamy Spinach Gnocchi in a stainless steel pan.

20-Minute, One-Pan Dinner

This 20-minute family-friendly recipe makes use of solely 3 fundamental substances: shelf-stable potato gnocchi, spinach, and cream. What makes this recipe particular and further flavorful is the usage of spices: smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, garlic, pink pepper flakes, and, in fact, salt and pepper. The whole lot is cooked in a single pan, together with the gnocchi! Simple sufficient to make on a busy weeknight. Fancy sufficient to serve when entertaining firm. It is an ideal dish so as to add to your month-to-month dinner rotation! ! Serve it as a meatless dinner, or add protein to show this into an entire meal. Different 30-minute, one-pan gnocchi recipes that I like to recommend are creamy hen gnocchi and reader-favorite creamy sausage gnocchi with spinach.

Creamy Spinach Gnocchi - close-up photo.

What makes this recipe work

Fast and straightforward recipe. Spinach gnocchi is an easy 20-minute dinner that makes use of minimal substances. The whole lot is cooked in a single pan, together with the gnocchi! In the long run, there is just one pan to wash! It is a must-have to have in your rotation for busy weeknights.
Satisfying meatless dinner. The richness of the creamy sauce, the pillowy mushy gnocchi, and the wilted spinach along with spices create a flavor-packed dinner the place you’ll not miss any meat.
Add extra veggies. Spinach gnocchi is an extremely versatile recipe. You should use spinach, kale, or arugula, or a mix of those greens. Add some other veggies you want: mushrooms, roasted bell peppers, broccoli, inexperienced beans, tomatoes, roasted butternut squash, and so forth.

What kind of gnocchi to make use of?

Shelf-stable gnocchi. I used potato gnocchi, a Delallo model, made with 85% potatoes. They aren’t gluten-free, however this model additionally presents a gluten-free choice of potato gnocchi.
Refrigerated gnocchi – yow will discover these within the refrigerated pasta part of some grocery shops!
Cauliflower gnocchi offered by Dealer Joe’s may also be used on this recipe with out making any modifications.

Do you want to pre-cook the gnocchi?

You needn’t pre-cook the gnocchi for this recipe. Simply add the raw gnocchi on to the sauce (heavy cream + hen broth). The gnocchi will cook dinner in the identical pan with the sauce and the sausage. This protects you yet another pan to wash and minimizes the cleanup. Additionally, as you cook dinner the gnocchi within the sauce, the starch from the gnocchi is launched which helps to thicken the sauce. I take advantage of heavy cream on this recipe, however half-and-half can be utilized as an alternative.

Spinach gnocchi – primary substances

Gnocchi. I used store-bought potato gnocchi, Delallo model, made with 85% potatoes.
Greens. I used recent spinach. You too can use frozen spinach – thawed and drained of any liquid. Or, use kale or arugula as an alternative.
Heavy cream provides creaminess and richness to spinach gnocchi. You’ll be able to lighten it up by utilizing half-and-half as an alternative.
Rooster broth is mixed along with heavy cream to cook dinner the gnocchi. You too can use vegetable or beef broth (or inventory). Or, even water if you do not have hen inventory out there.
Italian seasoning provides a ton of taste to creamy spinach gnocchi.
Smoked paprika is one other spice that provides each colour and plenty of taste to this dish.
Garlic. I used recent minced garlic. It provides aroma and pungency to any dish.
Salt and pepper. Use these to style. I like to recommend utilizing freshly floor or coarse black pepper.
Purple pepper flakes will add warmth. Use these sparingly, to style, in order that they do not overwhelm the dish.

make spinach gnocchi

This straightforward recipe is completed in 4 easy steps.

1) Cook dinner spinach. Begin by cooking spinach seasoned with salt and pepper in olive oil in a big high-sided skillet till wilted. Take away spinach to the plate.

2) Make the creamy sauce and cook dinner the gnocchi. Subsequent, to the identical, now empty, skillet, add raw potato gnocchi, hen broth, heavy cream, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and smoked paprika. Carry to a boil on medium warmth and cook dinner for about 5 minutes on medium warmth, whereas the sauce boils.

4) Meeting. Lastly, assemble the dish by including cooked spinach again to the skillet with cooked gnocchi and creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper, in addition to pink pepper flakes and extra smoked paprika.

Cooking Ideas

Use shelf-stable packaged gnocchi for greatest outcomes. Your subsequent best option is refrigerated gnocchi or cauliflower gnocchi. Home made gnocchi could be fragile and collapse within the sauce or flip into mush, so watch out if utilizing selfmade stuff.
The sauce will thicken as this dish cools. On this case, add a splash of additional heavy cream, half-and-half, milk, or hen broth to skinny it out earlier than serving.
Use a high-sided, heavy-bottomed skillet equivalent to a cast-iron skillet or a good-quality chrome steel pan. It will assist keep away from the burn spots and can guarantee even cooking with out meals getting caught to the underside of the pan.
Make this recipe gluten-free by utilizing gnocchi clearly labeled as “gluten-free”.

Variations, substitutions, and add-ins

Pasta. If you cannot discover gnocchi, you need to use short-cut pasta as an alternative. I like to recommend utilizing orzo, bow-tie (farfalle), fusilli, orecchiette, rotini, or rigatoni. If utilizing this type of pasta, you might need to cook dinner it as you’d usually cook dinner pasta – in a big pot of boiling water – and solely then add it to this recipe.
Use different greens. Swiss chard, arugula, or kale will work nice on this recipe apart from spinach.
Add some other veggies you want: mushrooms, roasted bell peppers, broccoli, inexperienced beans, tomatoes, roasted butternut squash, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, and so forth.
Cream. You should use both heavy cream for a wealthy creamy sauce or half-and-half for a lighter model.
Dairy-free choice. Strive utilizing unsweetened coconut milk. Or use almond milk, cashew milk, or oat milk and thicken it up with a roux of olive oil and flour (identical to you’d make a bechamel sauce).
Add sausage or hen. I like to recommend spicy Italian sausage, hen sausage, or skinless boneless hen thighs. You too can use plant-based sausage equivalent to Past sausage model.
Toppings. When serving, you may add grated Parmesan cheese (or Asiago, Romano, or Gruyere), recent herbs, chopped inexperienced onions, or chopped chives.

Storage and reheating suggestions

Fridge. Retailer the leftover creamy spinach gnocchi in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.
I don’t advocate freezing this dish. Creamy sauces are often not freezer-friendly they usually lose their texture when frozen and thawed.
Reheat on the stovetop. I like to recommend reheating the leftovers on the stovetop for one of the best outcomes. After being refrigerated, the creamy spinach gnocchi sauce will thicken. Reheat it slowly, over low-medium warmth in a big, high-sided skillet on the stovetop. When utilizing this technique, add a small quantity of heavy cream, half-and-half, milk, or broth to skinny out the sauce when reheating.
Reheat within the microwave oven. Reheat the refrigerated leftovers in a deep pasta bowl in a microwave oven for about 30 seconds. Style and reheat for 30 further seconds or extra, if wanted. You might need so as to add a small quantity of milk or cream if the sauce is just too thick, steadily add it, and stir it in.

What to serve with it

As a result of spinach gnocchi has a wealthy, luscious sauce, I like to recommend serving it with a light-weight and recent salad. Listed below are a few of my favorites:

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