Potato Gnocchi: authentic, best and fool-proof recipe, firm outside with a delicate and soft texture inside, not chewy, not soggy… simply delicious!

Stop looking elsewhere. Here you’ve found the best and fool-proof Gnocchi recipe ever. Yes, now you can make authentic Italian Gnocchi like a fine restaurant (or even better) with no fuss, I promise. (comments below can confirm that)




Potato Gnocchi best italian soft firm tender not chewy

If you don’t know what they are, Gnocchi (nyoh-k-kee) are a typical italian pasta, they can be prepared with different flours like semolina but the most popular are those made with potatoes.

Here in Italy you can easily find good quality fresh Gnocchi at the grocery store, but making them at home it’s always comforting…. especially when you’re stuck at home with your son ill and you have only some potatoes and eggs in your pantry, like me today 😀 .

I don’t like gum-like Gnocchi, they are too chewy for me, and I like to make them little, so when you eat them you can taste the sauce better, but they’re easy to make so you can choose the size you want – little Gnocchi are also called “Chicche” (kee-k-kay).

Have a try at them because is not the hardest pasta to make if you follow my instructions (as instead many people say that). Those which haven’t been successful in making gnocchi is just because they were in lack of information, trust me!

parmigiano reggiano discount

So here is my best version for delicious Potato Gnocchi!

Difficulty: easy
Preparation: 30-40 minutes Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 6-7 servings

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs / 1,4 kg raw potatoes not peeled, suitable for gnocchi (starchy or old potatoes not waxy)
  • 2 egg yolks (medium)
  • 3 tbsp / 30 grams / 1 ounce potato starch
  • 2/3 cup / 50 grams / 1.8 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese (finely grated)
  • 2 tsp / 15 grams salt
  • a pinch of ground nutmeg (optional)
  • 1 cup / 130 grams / 4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (sifted) plus more to put on the working area

Gnocchi Ingredients

Instructions:

Rinse, peel and cut potatoes into little pieces and put them in a microwave steamer for about 15 minutes. For me this is the best cooking method because most of the water will evaporate in the cooking process and this will prevent to use too much flour in the dough thus avoiding rubbery Gnocchi.

If you don’t have a microwave just rinse potatoes, leave the peel (so they don’t absorb too much water) put them in a pot filled with water and boil until fork-tender. While still warm, peel the potatoes.

Mash potatoes with a fork or a potato masher and put them in a big bowl.

Let them cool a bit.

(If you cook potatoes in a pot with water wait the next day to make gnocchi or try to dry them a bit in the oven)

Add egg yolks, potato starch, Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Cheese, a pinch of grated nutmeg (if you like), salt and flour.

Knead gently until a nice pliable ball is formed, do not over knead. It has to be soft and not too much sticky. If it’s still a bit damp add some more flour, not too much though!

Immediately dust with flour your working area, take a piece of the dough at a time and gently roll each out to form 3/4 inch – 2 cm in diameter ropes.

Cut the ropes into about 1 inch / 2,5 cm pieces (it depends on what size you want your Gnocchi), lightly press and roll each pieces into the tines of a fork or a gnocchi board with the tip of your thumb to make a small indentation (this is a bit difficult to explain with words but there a lot of videos on the Web so you can watch them until I have time to make one by myself) or you can skip this passage and leave gnocchi as is.

potato gnocchi rolls

Put Gnocchi, divided from each other, over a well floured plate to avoid from sticking together.

Let them rest for 15 minutes.

potato gnocchi best authentic

If you want you can freeze them with the plate and once frozen you can put them into a freezer bag to leave more space in the freezer.

To cook Gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil and add a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil to avoid them from sticking while cooking.

Drop Gnocchi (both fresh or frozen), a few at a time, into the boiling water, make a little stir.

When they rise to the surface, immediately remove and drain them with a slotted spoon and put onto the serving dish.

Put pasta sauce over them and serve immediately.

If you don’t serve them immediately, remember to sprinkle Gnocchi with a little bit of olive oil and give a little stir. When you want to serve Gnocchi just put your favourite sauce in a pan, heat up and put them in to combine for less than 30 seconds.

potato gnocchi ragu bolognese

As shown above, I used my Ultimate Best Authentic Bolognese Sauce but they’re really good too with just a melted butter and sage sauce like I did for my son.

potato gnocchi butter sage

Potato Gnocchi: firm outside with a delicate and soft texture inside, not chewy, not soggy... simply delicious!
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Best Authentic Italian Gnocchi recipe, fool-proof, easy and super delicious.
Author:
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 3 lbs / 1,4 kg raw potatoes not peeled, suitable for gnocchi (starchy or old potatoes not waxy)
  • 2 egg yolks (medium)
  • 3 tbsp / 30 grams / 1 ounce potato starch
  • ⅔ cup / 50 grams / 1.8 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese (finely grated)
  • 2 tsp / 15 grams salt
  • a pinch of ground nutmeg (optional)
  • 1 cup / 130 grams / 4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (sifted) plus more to put on the working area
Instructions
  1. Rinse, peel and cut potatoes into little pieces and put them in a microwave steamer for about 15 minutes.
OR
  1. Rinse potatoes, leave the peel (so they don't absorb too much water) put them in a pot filled with water and boil until fork-tender. While still warm, peel the potatoes.
  2. Mash potatoes with a fork or a potato masher and put them in a big bowl.
  3. Let them cool a bit.
  4. Add egg yolks, potato starch, Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Cheese, a pinch of grated nutmeg (if you like), salt and flour.
  5. Knead gently until a nice pliable ball is formed, do not over knead. It has to be soft and not too much sticky. If it's still a bit damp add some more flour, not too much though!
  6. Immediately dust with flour your working area, take a piece of the dough at a time and gently roll each out to form ¾ inch - 2 cm in diameter ropes.
  7. Cut the ropes into about 1 inch / 2,5 cm pieces (it depends on what size you want your Gnocchi), lightly press and roll each pieces into the tines of a fork or a gnocchi board with the tip of your thumb to make a small indentation or you can skip this passage and leave gnocchi as is.
  8. Put Gnocchi, divided from each other, over a well floured plate to avoid from sticking together.
  9. Let them rest for 15 minutes.
  10. To cook Gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil and add a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil to avoid them from sticking while cooking.
  11. Drop Gnocchi (both fresh or frozen), a few at a time, into the boiling water, make a little stir.
  12. When they rise to the surface, immediately remove and drain them with a slotted spoon and put onto the serving dish.
  13. Put pasta sauce over them and serve immediately.

21 thoughts on “Potato Gnocchi: authentic, best and fool-proof recipe, firm outside with a delicate and soft texture inside, not chewy, not soggy… simply delicious!

  1. Yes, I agree. You are a ROCKSTAR!!! I am a very experienced cook. For years, I’ve tried to get a tender gnocchi with no luck. I must have tried 30 recipes, some better than others but all chewy and heavy. My search is over, these gnocchi were light as air. I used cornstarch but followed the recipe exactly otherwise. Thank you for posting it ! Buon Natale and please, post more!!!

  2. You are a rock star. I have tried 6 different Gnocchi recipe’s. This turned out perfect. Microwaving is how i used to make baked potatoes. I used that method again thanks do you. I am so pleased with the final result and so was the family. My wife thought I was being lazy and ordered in and threw in on a plate. She still did not believe me until I brought her here. Last nights supper was a success. Thanks so much for sharing this

    • Thank YOU Robert for your really kind words!
      I’m so happy that your supper was a success!
      Tell your wife that she’s very lucky to have a great husband like you that doesn’t give up on finding best recipes for his family!

    • Yes Cristian, you can use corn starch but since this thikens less than potato starch, I would use 4 tbsp of cornstarch instead of 3.
      If you don’t have any of these starches, just replace it with plain flour. Gnocchi will result just a bit more heavy, but not so noticeable.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      • thank you so much for your answer regarding the different starches … I never used potato . .. always corn, but I will try for sure …
        cannot wait to try your gnocchi recipes…
        grazie
        p.s. do you have a quick recipe for a white sauce for gnocchi ?
        Buon Natale

        • A white sauce? Well if you were in Italy I would suggest you some cheese sauces, such as Gorgonzola (my favourite with gnocchi plus pieces of cooked pears) or Taleggio or Fontina cheeses (put some butter and little dices of cheese in a pan with 3/4 of milk or cream -3/4 of the cheese quantity-, adjust with salt and pepper, serve the melted cheese sauce over your cooked gnocchi).

          You could make double cream and sausage sauce: put pieces of skinned sausages in a pan, sprinkle with some white wine, let it evaporate, cook a little bit then add double cream and cook for few minutes.

          Or you could cook some vegetables, like zucchini, with garlic and e.v. olive oil, then toss them as this over cooked gnocchi or add them with double cream.

          Butter and sage is always the quickest and a delicious sauce for gnocchi and if you have some grated smoked cheese to add on top would be soooo good! (here we use grated Ricotta Affumicata – smoked ricotta).

          Keep in mind that all the sauces for gnocchi have to be quite liquid, not too thick, so you won’t end up in a soggy mess 😉 .

          I don’t recall any other “white” sauces for now so, I wish you a Buon Natale to you!

  3. My husband and I would like to try home-made fresh pasta but it’s never happened. With your detailed recipe, I think we’ll give it a try next Friday. I’ll let you know the result from a novice 😉

      • Hi. We did on Friday and it came out well. I’ve never ordered gnocchi in a restaurant so I have no idea if our gnocchi can be called good or not but definitely the recipe worked and we had fun.
        We did a slight difference here, we used the whole egg instead of only egg yolk (just didn’t want to waste the egg white). We had little problem with the rest of cooked gnocchi because they stuck together. Should I have them in cold water so it stopped cooking?

        • Thank you so much for letting me know how it goes!!! You made my day!
          I think that if you made that for the first time you did a really great job!!!

          The whole egg doesn’t bother the final result so much, only gnocchi turn out a little tough.
          About the rest of the Gnocchi, did they stick in the boiling water or after you drained them?

          If they stick in the boiling water did you put a little olive oil in there and give a little stir after plunge Gnocchi in there?

          When they rise you have to drain them immediately and if you don’t eat them straight away you have to sprinkle a little bit of olive oil over them and well combine (I forgot to write this passage in the post… I will make an update).

  4. My Italian friend suggests not cooking in boiling water, but just cooking them in the sauce. I haven’t tried it, but then I have only made gnocchi once many years ago…and not very well.

    • If you cook a home-made gnocchi in a sauce you will have a really gluey mess because gnocchi will stick together due to the starch contained in them and the flour you put outside after the rolling process that come out and remain in the sauce.
      You can cook fresh store-bought gnocchi in a watery sauce because they’re a bit pre-cooked and they’re oily throughout so they will stick less. I tried that but I didn’t like them because they were too thick and gluey for me.
      Maybe your italian friend has a recipe that provide a lot of flour in the recipe so they turn out to be gummy and they stay better in shape.
      If you have friends for dinner and you want to cook gnocchi ahead of time (no more than 12 hours before) you can cook them in boiling water and put in a plate with a little bit of olive oil so they don’t stick toghether.
      When your friends arrive you can give gnocchi a quick stir in a pan with your favourite sauce.

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