Baked Ricotta Gnocchi

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.

Course Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 15

Total Time 45

Servings

Calories 435kcal

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.

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.