Gnocchi

Tender, soft, pillowy, and savory Gnocchi are a must-make recipe. This recipe is made with only 4 ingredients and is fantastic enjoyed with almost any pasta sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 15

Total Time 45

Servings to 6 servings

Calories 389kcal

Author John Kanell

Ingredients

3 medium russet potatoes (about 1 pound/450g)
2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting (240g)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon kosher salt divided

Instructions

Peel and chop the potatoes into large pieces and place them into a large pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, 5 to 10 minutes
Drain the potatoes and let cool for 10 minutes. Push potatoes through a ricer into a large mixing bowl. (you can also press through a sieve with the back of a spoon.) Let the potatoes cool completely.
Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly sprinkle with flour.
To the cooled potatoes, add the flour, eggs, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together with a fork until a shaggy dough starts to form. Continue to knead the dough in the bowl by hand until it forms a ball and no longer sticks to your hands.
On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 6 portions, shape into balls, and cover with plastic wrap. Working with one ball at a time, roll the dough into a log about ½ inch thick. Cut the loge into ¾-inch long pieces.
Roll each small dough piece over the back of a fork by pressing and rolling it forward with your thumb. Place on the prepared pan in a single layer. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat, and season with the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt.
Working a handful at a time, add the rolled gnocchi to the boiling water. Cook in water until gnocchi floats to top, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon and place into a heatproof bowl. Let the water come back to a rolling boil and repeat with the remaining gnocchi.
To serve, toss the hot gnocchi in tomato or marinara sauce, pesto, melted butter and grated parmesan, or serve as desired.

Video

Notes

Cool the potatoes completely before making the gnocchi dough. Plan extra time for the potatoes to cool, as the pasta dumplings works best with room-temperature riced potatoes.
How to speed up potato chilling time. To speed up the cooling process, spread the riced potatoes out on a dinner plate or baking sheet and lightly drape them with plastic wrap before moving the plate to the refrigerator to chill.
Knead the dough until smooth. You can do this in the bowl, or on the lightly floured work surface, if desired. Work the dough until it no longer sticks to your hands and has a smooth surface. Be careful not to use too much flour while kneading to dry out the dough.
Variation: Use a gnocchi board. Also known as a gnocchi paddle, you can also use the board to roll out the pasta instead of a fork. Simply push and roll the small pieces of dough down the paddle to shape.
Variation: Skip the sheet pan. You can also shape the pasta and place it directly into the boiling water, omitting the step of placing the shaped pasta on the sheet pan before boiling. If shaping directly into the pasta water, however, you will want to work quickly and carefully to avoid splashing the hot water and to ensure that the pasta cooks evenly.
Heavily salt the pasta water. Salting the cooking water is a surefire way to enhance all of the flavors in the pasta. Add at least 1 teaspoon of salt for every quart of water you boil.
High altitude adaptation: if you live at a high altitude or somewhere the air is typically very dry, you can add an additional egg yolk to the dough if it is too dry to cohere together or form a smooth dough.

Nutrition