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20-Minute Ricotta Gnocchi

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 The easiest homemade gnocchi recipe — made with just 4 main ingredients in 20 minutes (no potatoes required!), and just as light and delicious as ever!

20-Minute Ricotta Gnocchi

Love potato gnocchi? Allow me to introduce you to its quicker-and-easier-to-make, ultra-light-and-pillowy, arguably-even-more-delicious cousin…

…ricotta gnocchi. ♡♡♡

After having been a big fan of this classic potato gnocchi recipe for years and years, a friend recently made the intriguing suggestion that I give ricotta gnocchi a try instead. She promised that it was just as light and chewy and flavorful as the potato-based variety, but that it could be made in impressively half the time.  Also, with fewer dishes to wash.

Needless to say, I was intrigued. So we gave it a try and turns out — she was right!

Ricotta gnocchi is so delightful, you guys!

Also, stunningly quick and easy to make. You literally just stir four simple ingredients together, season with salt and pepper, roll out and cut the dough into bite-sized pieces, boil for a few minutes — and voila! — the most delicious gnocchi can be ready to go in basically the amount of time it takes to bring your big pot of cooking water to a boil. We love tossing ours with a brown butter sage sauce, some fresh pesto, a spicy marinara, or making a cozy batch of gnocchi “mac” and cheese. But of course, there are a million other delicious ways that you can serve these little guys too, so get creative!

Bottom line — whether you’re a beginner with making your own homemade gnocchi, or if you’re a potato gnocchi pro and are just looking for a quicker method, I highly recommend giving the ricotta version a try. I think you’re going to love them!

Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe | 1-Minute Video

How to drain ricotta with paper towels

How to make gnocchi with ricotta cheese

Ricotta Gnocchi Ingredients:

To make this ricotta gnocchi recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

  • Whole milk ricotta cheese: Try to buy the best-quality brand available. We will then drain the ricotta quickly on paper towels to remove some of its excess moisture.
  • Flour: I love making this gnocchi recipe with “00” flour, which makes them extra light. But normal all-purpose flour will also work great as well.
  • Egg yolks: Three of them!
  • Parmesan cheese: Freshly-grated for maximum flavor.
  • Salt and pepper: Of course. :)

Ricotta Gnocchi Equipment:

This recipe doesn’t require any special equipment! You will just need a:

I also highly recommend using a kitchen scale to accurately measure the ingredients by weight instead of volume. But that said, if you don’t have a kitchen scale, measuring cups will work well too.

How to make gnocchi

How To Make Gnocchi:

Alright, moving onto how to make gnocchi! With ricotta version, you don’t have to mess with the extra time and dishes required to boil and peel potatoes. Instead, just simply:

  1. Drain the ricotta: I learned this trick from Serious Eats. Instead of waiting 30 minutes for your ricotta to drain through a strainer, simply sandwich it between a few paper towels (sort of like how you drain tofu) and gently press so that the paper towels soak up the excess moisture.
  2. Mix your dough ingredients. Stir the drained ricotta and eggs together, then mix in the flour, Parm, salt and pepper until combined.
  3. Roll out and cut the dough. Shape the dough into a round disk with your hands, then transfer it to a lightly-floured cutting board and sprinkle the dough with lightly with flour. Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into eight even pie wedges. Then using your hands, gently roll out each wedge out into an even log, approximately 3/4-inch wide. Cut each log into individual bite-sized little gnocchi squares. Lightly dust the gnocchi with flour once more and give them a quick toss so that they are all lightly coated with flour. (This will help prevent them from sticking together.)
  4. Boil the gnocchi. Carefully transfer them to your pot of boiling water. Then once they float — usually after about 30-60 seconds — they’re ready to go!
  5. Serve. Serve immediately, tossed with your favorite sauce and whatever other ingredients sound good! ♡

Easy gnocchi recipe

How To Serve Gnocchi:

There are endless ways that you can serve gnocchi! I typically like to either:

  • Toss gnocchi with a good sauce. Anything from a good tomato sauce, to a cream sauce, fresh basil pesto, brown butter sauce, or whatever sounds good to you!
  • Make gnocchi “mac” and cheese. I also love subbing gnocchi in for pasta to make a batch of “gnocchi and cheese”.
  • Toast (fry) your gnocchi. If you would like your gnocchi to be a bit crispier, just boil and drain them as usual. Then pan-fry them in a few tablespoons of oil or butter for a few minutes until their edges are browned and crispy.
  • Add them to a soup. Gnocchi are also work great as little dumplings in soups of all kinds! Feel free to add them (uncooked) directly into your soup broth. Or you are welcome to cook the gnocchi first in a separate stockpot, and then add them to your soup.

Ricotta gnocchi

How To Freeze Gnocchi:

To freeze gnocchi, spread them out in an even layer on a lightly-floured baking sheet. Then pop the sheet into the freezer for an hour or two, until the gnocchi have frozen. Remove and transfer the gnocchi to a sealed storage container or ziplock bag. Then freeze for up to 2 months.

To cook frozen gnocchi, simply add them to the boiling water straight out of the freezer and wait for them to float. They will take an extra minute or two to cook, but the texture is still great in the end.

Gnocchi with brown butter sauce and sage

Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter Sauce

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20-Minute Ricotta Gnocchi

20-Minute Ricotta Gnocchi

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 88 reviews
  • Prep Time: 19 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 3 -4 servings 1x

Description

The easiest homemade gnocchi recipe — made with just 4 main ingredients in 20 minutes (no potatoes required!), and just as light and delicious as ever!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 cups (one 15-ounce container) whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 cup (about 4 ounces‘00’ flour or all-purpose flour*
  • 3/4 cup (about 1 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

Instructions

  1. Prep the water: Bring a large stockpot of generously-salted water to a boil over high heat.
  2. Drain the ricotta: While your water is heating, place 3-4 paper towels on a large plate and spread the ricotta on the paper towels in an even layer.  Place another layer of 3-4 paper towels on top of the ricotta.  Then press down gently to let the excess moisture soak into the paper towels, trying to soak up as much of the excess liquid as possible.  Transfer the ricotta to a large mixing bowl.  (If it sticks to the paper towels, just use a rubber spatula to scrape it off.)  The drained ricotta should now weigh about 12 ounces.
  3. Mix your dough ingredients. Add the egg yolks to the ricotta and stir briefly to combine.  Add in the flour, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and stir until evenly combined.  Avoid over-mixing.  The dough will be a bit moist and maybe a bit sticky, but it should be holding together well.  If it feels too wet, just add in another few tablespoons of flour.
  4. Roll out and cut the dough.  Shape the dough into a round disk with your hands, then transfer it to a lightly-floured cutting board and sprinkle the dough with lightly with flour.  Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into eight even pie wedges.  Using your hands, gently roll out each wedge out into an even log, approximately 3/4-inch wide.  Cut each log into individual bite-sized little gnocchi squares.  Lightly dust the gnocchi with flour once more and give them a quick toss so that they are all lightly coated with flour.  (This will help prevent them from sticking together.)
  5. Boil the gnocchi. Carefully transfer the gnocchi to the boiling water to cook.  Then once they float — usually after 30 seconds or so — drain the gnocchi.
  6. Serve.  Serve immediately, tossed with your favorite sauce and whatever other ingredients sound good!

Notes

*I really recommend weighing your flour for accuracy.  But if you are using a measuring cup, just be sure to use the scoop the flour into the measuring cup (versus scooping the measuring cup into the flour) to ensure that you don’t accidentally use too much flour.

Recipe slightly adapted from Serious Eats.

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167 comments on “20-Minute Ricotta Gnocchi”

  1. This recipe is to die for!

    We had it with a brown butter sage sauce, lobster tails and roasted brussel sprouts and I was in heaven.






  2. So, so good! I like gnocchi baked so put them in the oven for 15 minutes. Lovely! And doable for a weeknight too!






  3. Outstanding! I made this along with your Alfredo recipe and tossed them both together with grilled chicken strips and served it with a salad. These gnocchi melted in my mouth! Thank you for the recipe.






  4. I wish I never made this recipe because now my partner will talk about nothing else ! Thank you, it was lovely, andni enjoyed reading the whole post. A perfect recipe






  5. THE BEST! I think these taste better than potato gnocchi. Super easy recipe and taste amazing when tossed in with pesto sauce. Thank you for this amazing recipe! So happy!






  6. A rare thing — a recipe that lives up to the hype! This one does! Delicious! Fast! Easy! Made a one-third batch (1/2 cup ricotta, 1 yolk, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup parmesan) and it was perfect as a side for two. Thank you for this recipe.

  7. I’ve been searching for just the right gnocchi recipe and, thanks to this post, I found it! Followed the recipe to the letter. Turned out perfectly. THANK YOU! :)






  8. Can the dough be made ahead of time before boiling off? Like an hour or so?

  9. What is “00” flour and where can you buy it? what stores sell it like Vons or target or amazon??






  10. You can aldo leave out the eggs….. perfect texture.

    • Great recipe I always add a very tiny bit of freshly grated nutmeg, as they do in Italy, whether they tell you they do or not…they do to many homemade pastas, it gives it that Umami flavor that people ask…why is this so delicious!






  11. Delicious! My family rates these gnocchi as the best they ever had. Served both with butter and sauce. Had the opportunity to get fresh unpasterized ricotta goat cheese from my friend Lyndy Lou. Incredible.

  12. This recipe is Devine!!! Such a luxurious dough to work with. My hubby loves this with a rich Italian style red sauce. Yummo! 🧡






  13. I don’t know about 20 minutes, but it is fairly easy and this recipe is for sure a keeper. I made a double batch, froze them, and they cooked up light, fluffy and delicious. I used good Pecorino instead of Parmesan and it gave the gnocchi a slightly sharper, more robust flavor.






  14. AMAZING. Soft, pillowy, and simple. I tossed mine into a soup. I was concerned they would disintegrate, but they held up beautifully and only get tastier the longer the they’re in the broth. A new favorite recipe!






  15. First time I’ve tried making gnocchi and these came out great! I sauteed some onions and assorted sliced mushrooms in olive oil with garlic and oregano, mixed in the gnocchi and some grated Parmesan – fabulous. Also, I refrigerated the prepared gnocchi for a while before boiling them and that worked fine.






  16. Why do you not show the size and number of servings yielded
    from the ricotta gnocchi recipes? Please forward this info so that
    one knows how to purchase ingredients. Thaks so much.

  17. I used some leftover low fat ricotta which I had purchased earlier by mistake. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written. Served with home made marinara sauce. Tender and delicious. Will replace a previous recipe I have used with this one.






    • I recently had ricotta gnocchi at “The Purple Pig” in Chicago. They serve it with a pork neck bone red gravy, it was fantastic! I wanted to replicate it at home. Got the gravy right, and these gnocchi are the bomb!!! I think my dish was just as good as Chicago. Thank you!!!






  18. Taste is delicious. Quite frankly I skipped a few steps. I just took some dough out and rolled it on my floured surface and then sliced. There was no need to form it into a disk and cut in triangle shapes and then roll out.
    Also I made these and refrigerated the uncooked ones and cooked up fresh the next night. Just as delicious!
    Had these with a Gorgonzola sauce. Going to try this week in Olive Garden gnocchi soup using these! Thanks for the delicious recipe !






    • Totally agree about the shaping directly into logs. I don’t get why all the extra steps were needed to shape them. We just grabbed a portion and make logs. Much easier






  19. Easy and most important: delicious.






  20. Tender lite and fluffy! Most delicious gnocchi ever and going to make again and again! We did weigh the 00 flour and the ricotta – worked perfectly!






  21. Wow this was quick and delicious! Will be making this again!






  22. This recipe is amazing and very easy to follow. Simply delicious.
    I have always been intimidated to try and make gnocchi but thanks to you it was so easy to follow.
    I made a butter, garlic and parsley sauce and it really brought out the flavour of the parmesan cheese.
    Question: Has anyone tried gluten free? My son used to love gnocchi but now has major dietary restrictions.
    Thanks agsin.
    Barb






  23. These were perfect. Even my picky kids ate them all. Woot!






  24. My story is a little funny. I am quite a “traditional” Italian cook!!! But potato gnocchi have always been “difficult” and “tricky”. But this recipe is easy and turns out great every time. I made them for my sister when she had her husband’s adult nephew among the dinner guests. On a trip to Italy last September, the nephew texted his mom and told her to make sure that I make my ricotta gnocchi!!! I will never go back to making potato gnocchi!!!!!






  25. Can these be made with Almond flour or Coconut flour instead?

  26. Delicious and easy!






  27. I approached this recipe with trepidation. Nothing like working hard on something to watch it dissolve. As soon as I saw the first gnocchi float to the surface, I was ecstatic. They went from the boiling water to the sauce with no problem, and came out like beautiful, soft pillows. I love the black pepper addition, but I do wish I had stirred it into the ricotta and egg mixture, so it would have distributed a little more evenly. Totally recommend!!






  28. I love this recipe. But now I’m on a strict Keto Diet. What is s good keto alternative for the flour?

  29. Yum, yum, YUM!!!
    I have always wanted to try making gnocchi but was too intimidated to do it. This recipe is so easy! And delicious! I can’t believe I waited so long to try these!

    (I made a creamy mushroom sauce with them. DOUBLE, DOUBLE DELICIOUSNESS!!!)






  30. I made and loved this recipe but can’t endorse the “go ahead and freeze” suggestion. When I cooked these straight from the freezer, there was much more disintegration into the cooking water than when cooked fresh. Does anyone have any tips

  31. Amazing! I didn’t end up draining the ricotta as there wasn’t much liquid and the texture was perfect! I also added in lemon zest from 1 lemon and made a brown butter sage sauce with a splash of truffle oil. So good and super easy!!






  32. These were easy and fabulous, this recipe is a winner!






  33. Haven’t tried this yet but looks terrific. Question – what size egg yolks?
    thank you.






  34. We love the tenderness ofof ricotta gnocchi






  35. I made this with King Arthur gluten free flour and it turned out amazing! I was worried that the gf flour or just operator error would cause the gnocchi to disintegrate when boiled but they held their shape just fine. I did boil them longer in order to get to the floating point, maybe a minute to a minute and a half. They were perfectly tender and light and made about 4-5 servings.






  36. very good. I had some great sauce that I needed to use and these babies were the platform. I did quickly pan saute the gnocci because I tend to prefer them this way. The gnocci were very well flavored and light






  37. The measurements are confusing…. 1 cup = 8oz and not 4 oz and 3/4 cup is not 1 oz
    Please clarify
    Thank you

    • By VOLUME a cup is 8 fl oz. But this measurement is by WEIGHT. A cup of flour WEIGHS approximately 4oz. To get 3/4 cup of cheese you grate approximately 1 oz of cheese.

      Made these last night. Used 4oz of flour but then used more to actually make the gnocchi.

  38. Awesome. I made them with a gnocchi board to give those classic lines on them.. I wish I could add a picture. Served them with a wild mushroom and pancetta cream sauce. So very good.






  39. OMG!Made this for dinner tonight & it is truly gnocchi perfection.
    A few simple ingredients, quick to make & even quicker to cook. Light,fluffy little morsels of deliciousness.
    I served it with a basic tomato,onion,garlic & basil sauce but you could pair it with a range of sauces.
    Am never bothering with potato gnocchi again.
    Thank you for this recipe






  40. I typically make my ricotta gnocchi with whole eggs vs egg yolks. What’s the difference? I definitely want to try the 00
    Flour

  41. We boilded for about 30 seconds, then drained and put in a pan with melted butter,
    garlic, and rosemary to crisp up for about 10 minutes.
    They ended up crunchy and just perfect.

    Added burrata and roasted tomatoes for a beautiful Christmas Eve Dish.

    Thank You






  42. Phenomenal…As Guy Fieri “might” say, “Little pillows from the Flavor Town Hotel” !

  43. This was amazing! Made exactly as directed. When finished, I browned it for 30 seconds or so in butter/oil and added it to a carbonara sauce. I could eat this every day 😂






  44. So, so good. Light, pillowy, dreamy… made with mushroom cream sauce although brown butter is more than enough!