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This light and fluffy homemade ricotta gnocchi that's baked in marinara sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese is the perfect way to eat gnocchi.
Yes you read that right - homemade ricotta gnocchi. I've been wanting to make my own ricotta gnocchi for years and just have never gotten around to it. Well that ended today. You may remember how I shared a story about seeing a dish from my favorite Italian restaurant in Baltimore, DiPasquale's, that was baked ricotta gnocchi in a brown butter marinara sauce. I immediately knew I had to make my own version, which is the reason I made my own brown butter marinara sauce.
The thing is though, I had never made my own ricotta gnocchi. Now I've made more traditional ones with potatoes, but none that were mainly ricotta. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty at restaurants. In general, ricotta gnocchi is super light and pillowy, yes pillowy. They just melt in your mouth and luckily my first try at these were no different.
So if you want a pretty simple dish that's entirely homemade, look no further than this baked ricotta gnocchi recipe. It's worth the extra work!
What Ingredients are in this Baked Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe?
- Ricotta cheese
- Eggs
- Parmesan cheese
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Marinara sauce (homemade or store-bought)
- Mozzarella cheese
- Fresh basil
How to Make Baked Ricotta Gnocchi
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Place four paper towels on a large plate and spread the ricotta on the paper towels in an even layer. Place another layer of four paper towels on top of the ricotta. Press down gently to let the excess moisture soak into the paper towels. Transfer the drained ricotta to a medium bowl. Add the eggs, Parmesan cheese and salt and mix to combine. (Please note in the pictures below I was making a double batch)
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Add the flour, ½ a cup at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula. Mix until just combined and you form a ball. Do not over knead, otherwise it will be tough. The dough should be sticky. If you need to add more flour, add 1 tablespoon at a time.
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Place the dough on a clean floured surface. Cut into 8 equal pieces.
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Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll and stretch the dough until it forms a long skinny rope, about 1" thick.
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Cut about 1" wide gnocchi.
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Transfer to a baking sheet, making sure each gnocchi is covered in flour so they don't stick to each other.
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the gnocchi until they float, which should be about 3-4 minutes.
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Use a spider strainer to drain and toss with some olive oil so they don't stick.
Do I Have to Make My Own Gnocchi and Sauce?
No you don't. Baked ricotta gnocchi is a very easy dish on its own if you buy the gnocchi and marinara sauce. I mean at that point it's like 4 ingredients and can be made in under 30 minutes. But while store-bought gnocchi is fine, you'll really notice the difference if you make it yourself. And no it's not hard at all. The big thing is just knowing when not to add anymore flour. You want to add just the right amount so you can roll out the dough but it won't be too dense. I've found 1 ½ cups works great.
As for the homemade marinara sauce, I won't fault you at all if you just want to buy some, but again the extra effort really makes a difference. Unless I'm mistaken you can't buy brown butter marinara sauce anywhere. So if you're going to make these, go all-out.
Do I Have to Drain the Ricotta Cheese?
Store-bought ricotta cheese is loaded with water which will make your gnocchi to wet with the current flour ratio in the recipe. By draining the ricotta of its excess water, the dough will be much more manageable to roll, but still light and fluffy when eating.
Tips for Homemade Gnocchi
- Add just enough flour. Let me be clear. While most times, you need 1 ¼ cups of flour for this recipe, there are times you need slightly more or slightly less. Use either a wooden spoon or your hands to mix in the flour until just incorporated and where the dough forms a loaf. It should be a soft dough.
- Don’t overmix. Just like anything with flour, if your overmix or knead too much, you’ll get a tougher gnocchi. It won’t be soft and pillowy. You want to mix until it just comes together.
- Don’t make them perfect. Gnocchi doesn’t have to be perfect shapes or have ridges. Mine never look exactly the same but they taste great! Also you can skip the ridges. It’s time consuming and not worth the effort.
- Sprinkle with flour when cutting and transporting. Gnocchi can get sticky if there isn’t flour sprinkled on it. As I’m rolling out the dough to cut and then cut into gnocchi and then transfer to a sheet, I sprinkle with flour to make sure it doesn’t stick. Learn from me as I didn’t do this in the past with this baked ricotta gnocchi.
- Boil until they float. When cooking gnocchi, boil it until they float and then remove and add to a sauce.
Other Gnocchi Recipes
- Pumpkin Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sauce
- Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Pesto
- Butternut Squash Gnocchi
- Sun-Dried Tomato Pistachio Pesto Gnocchi
If you’ve tried this Baked Ricotta Gnocchi or any other recipe on Chisel & Fork, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube to see more tasty meals and anything else I'm up to.
Baked Ricotta Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup marinara sauce (homemade or store-bought)
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella
- 4-5 fresh basil leaves, julienned
Instructions
- Place four paper towels on a large plate and spread the ricotta on the paper towels in an even layer. Place another layer of four paper towels on top of the ricotta. Press down gently to let the excess moisture soak into the paper towels. Transfer the drained ricotta to a medium bowl.
- Add the eggs, parmesan cheese and salt to the bowl with the ricotta.
- Add the flour, ½ a cup at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula. Mix until just combined and you form a ball. Do not over knead, otherwise it will be tough. The dough should be sticky. If you need to add more flour, add 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Place the dough on a clean floured surface. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll and stretch the dough until it forms a long skinny rope, about 1" thick. Cut about 1" wide gnocchi and then transfer to a baking sheet, making sure each gnocchi is covered in flour so they don't stick to each other.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the gnocchi until they float, which should be about 3-4 minutes. Drain and toss with some olive oil so they don't stick.
- Transfer gnocchi to a casserole dish and toss with marinara sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cook for 10 minutes and the turn broiler on for 2 minutes to finish browning cheese. Top with some fresh basil and serve immediately.
Notes
- Add just enough flour. Let me be clear. While most times, you need 1 ¼ cups of flour for this recipe, there are times you need slightly more or slightly less. Use either a wooden spoon or your hands to mix in the flour until just incorporated and where the dough forms a loaf. It should be a soft dough.
- Don’t overmix. Just like anything with flour, if your overmix or knead too much, you’ll get a tougher gnocchi. It won’t be soft and pillowy. You want to mix until it just comes together.
- Don’t make them perfect. Gnocchi doesn’t have to be perfect shapes or have ridges. Mine never look exactly the same but they taste great! Also you can skip the ridges. It’s time consuming and not worth the effort.
- Sprinkle with flour when cutting and transporting. Gnocchi can get sticky if there isn’t flour sprinkled on it. As I’m rolling out the dough to cut and then cut into gnocchi and then transfer to a sheet, I sprinkle with flour to make sure it doesn’t stick. Learn from me as I didn’t do this in the past with this baked ricotta gnocchi.
- Boil until they float. When cooking gnocchi, boil it until they float and then remove and add to a sauce.
Chris says
Love some gnocchi!
Vicki says
Would this work with gluten-free all purpose flour?
Ryan says
I haven't tried but I imagine yes it would work fine! Gluten isn't super important for these!