Serves a Crowd

Ricotta and Chive Gnocchi

by:
January 31, 2010
4.3
3 Ratings
Ricotta and Chive Gnocchi
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

Gnocchi is easily my favorite type of pasta, and I've been dying to make it at home since I first came to appreciate these little doughy morsels. I decided to make my very first attempt at gnocchi for a dinner party (risky, I know), so I wanted them to have a little something special. I added some creamy ricotta which gave them an incredibly subtle flavor and slightly more dense texture, as well as some chives since they're a natural with potatoes. After I boiled them, I sauteed them in butter to improve the flavor just a bit and give them a more dynamic texture. (I can't get enough of that brown crust right out of the pan.) But the best part of gnocchi, as I discovered, was that they are a total blast to make. For a Millennial of Spanish, Turkish, German and English descent, I felt like a total Italian grandmother from the old world. And I loved every minute of it. —theicp

Test Kitchen Notes

In this gnocchi recipe, The Internet Cooking Princess has re-imagined the classic sour cream and chive-topped baked potato in the most ingenious way: she swaps in ricotta for the sour cream, lightening the dough and lending it a faint sweetness, and sautes the gnocchi in olive oil and butter for a most addictive golden crust. A few tips: we used a ricer to mash the potatoes to ensure that they were perfectly smooth; scored an "X" onto each end of the potatoes before boiling so they were easier to peel afterwards; and shaped the gnocchi by rolling them down the back of a fork, because we're fancy. After sprinkling some chives and grated parmesan on top, we helped ourselves to bowl after bowl. -A&M —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 3 russet potatoes
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup ricotta
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1/3 cup chives
  • 2 cups flour (making sure you have extra on hand for rolling them later)
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt and pepper
Directions
  1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the russet potatoes. Boil for 45 minutes, draing the water through a colander, and let the potatoes cool.
  2. Once the potatoes have cooled down, remove and discard the skins. In a large bowl, mash the potatoes. The mixture needs to be as smooth as possible, so use an immersion blender or hand mixer if that helps. Then, add the eggs and stir into the mixture. Once the eggs have been incorporated, stire in the ricotta, parmesan, and chives.
  3. At this point, the mixture should be very thick, but it needs to be as thick and maliable as dough. Add the flour and stir together until you get that consistency. The mixture will still be a little sticky, that's ok. Take a handful or two of flour and scatter it on a smooth surface. Place your dough on the flour and roll around until it's more dough-like and doesn't stick to everything in sight.
  4. Begin rolling with your hands as if you're forming a large snake. You will end up getting a very large tube of dough, about two feet long. Cut this into quarters, and continue rolling each individual segment until you form rolls that are no bigger than a quarter in circumference. (Any bigger and you'll have difficulty cooking them.)
  5. From the skinnier rolls, take a knife or pinch off little sections and roll them around in the palm of your hand to make the gnocchi. You may need to continue dredging them in a little flour as you go, which is fine. Set all the finished gnocchi on a large plate to the side.
  6. Once all the gnocchi have been formed. Dump them into a boiling pot of hot, salted water. Boil the gnocchi for five minutes to ensure their centers are nice and dense. (They will automatically start popping up to the top of the pot once they're cooking, but make sure you give them a little extra time in the water.)
  7. Drain the boiled gnocchi through a colendar. Then, in a very large saute pan over medium high heat, add two tablespoons of oil and butter. Add just enough gnocchi to the pan where they have enough space to get a light, brown crust around them. Add more oil, butter, and gnocchi when the first batch is done. Lightly season the gnocchi with a little kosher salt, parsley, or extra chives.
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33 Reviews

oussamasi
oussamasi June 18, 2023
Amazing, thanks for sharing
 
Transcendancing
Transcendancing October 6, 2015
This was an awesome recipe, I also used about 2 pounds (or 900 grams) of Dutch Cream potatoes and it was a great mix. Gnocchi was soft enough, had the right amount of texture and bite! Delicious! I didn't fry mine this time, but instead made a mushroom sauce to go with them which was fantastic. There was so many leftover from feeding 4 of us, so next time I'll definitely try frying them - and maybe pairing with a brown butter and sage sauce.
 
jslade
jslade June 3, 2014
Gnocchi is sooo good but can be difficult to make. I find that if you bake the potatoes instead of boiling them you get a better dough, since potatoes can retain water. Also, since russet potatoes can vary in sizes I find it best to make gnocchi with 2 LBS of russet potatoes.(bella s.f.) Makes the dough more consistent every time I make it. I love the browning in butter idea. I can't wait to try it. I usually shock them in ice water before placing them in individual serving bowls and covering them in sauce. It makes them firm enough to handle the sauce and stops the cooking.
 
Transcendancing
Transcendancing October 6, 2015
Thanks for the the 2 pounds mention, that was really helpful for us making this :)
 
bgebbqfanatic
bgebbqfanatic May 12, 2014
Yum the best sauce for gnocchi is crispy sage in brown butter, you can't beat it.
 
molly Y.
molly Y. May 8, 2014
made this yesterday and it was SO GOOD!
 
bella S.
bella S. May 7, 2014
Seeing this post reminded me about my question concerning this recipe. I hope that this doesn't sound snippy, but I asked four years ago, and again over 2 years ago, for a clarification on the size of the russets used. To call for "3 Russet potatoes", is a bit broad. I never got a response to my question. Perhaps if someone responds to Barcelona, they can address this also. A metric weight for the potatoes would be fine. Thanks!
 
molly Y.
molly Y. May 8, 2014
hi bella! ok so this isn't my recipe, so i don't know for sure, but i made this yesterday using only two potatoes because they were quite big, and it turned out really well!
 
barcelona
barcelona May 7, 2014
could someone please give a metric conversion for this recipe? THX :-)
 
Renee B.
Renee B. February 13, 2014
What's a good gluten-free flour substitute? I've found a few of them to have an unpleasant iron taste. Any brands that would be fine enough and work well enough?
 
Jessica T.
Jessica T. October 19, 2013
Just made them yesterday and they were just soft pillows that were crunchy on the outside. First time I've made gnocchi and it was a success! I would suggest some kind of sauce to go with them though.
 
Juliette07
Juliette07 April 2, 2012
Does low fat ricotta work as well?
 
bella S.
bella S. January 4, 2012
Texas Ex, I would like to know that also. Below, I asked the same question a year ago, but never got a response. This recipe appears in the wonderful Food52 Cookbook. There the recipe calls for 3 medium russet potatoes, but one woman's/man's medium can be far bigger or smaller than the next one's (so to speak). In most recipes this would not be a problem. I know how big I would want a medium onion to be in a dish, for example. However, with gnocchi, I would like to have an approximate weight. it could make the difference between pillows and hockey pucks. Perhaps we can get a clarification. I would really like to make these pups.
 
Texas E.
Texas E. January 4, 2012
Absolutely delicious--used some of the gnocchi for a gratin with gorgonzola. Looking forward to using the remainder!
One quick question--any ideas about the weight of the potatoes? First time making gnocchi, but I understand the proportions need to be correct, and potatoes can obviously vary drastically in size.
 
bottomupfood
bottomupfood March 2, 2011
This was delicious, but it sure was a lot of work! The leftovers were fantastic, though, and there were a lot because the recipe makes a lot.

Also, I wanted to put more on it than just salt and parmesan. Any ideas for an appropriate sauce, beyond the obvious sage browned butter and tomatoe options?
 
runsnmx
runsnmx May 22, 2011
I use spinach and basil pesto with these. It is a great blend of flavors!
 
Hilarybee
Hilarybee May 21, 2010
This looks wonderful. I've had ricotta gnocchi without potato and potato gnocchi sans ricotta. These look divine. Can't wait to try it!
 
bella S.
bella S. April 17, 2010

Help please on size (or weight) of potatoes. Russets come in so many sizes.
Thanks!
 
arielleclementine
arielleclementine March 29, 2010
ICP! we had these for dinner tonight and they were oh-man so fantastic! i'd never made gnocchi before and had so much fun doing it. thanks for the great recipe!
 
theicp
theicp April 5, 2010
So glad you liked!!
 
monkeymom
monkeymom March 8, 2010
Finally had a chance to make these just now. They were addictive...light and slightly chewy with that crispy fried exterior. Fun to make too! Thanks for the recipe.
 
applesnonions
applesnonions February 21, 2010
After too many failures, I'm afraid to try gnocchi again...but by the looks of these, I might have to risk it!
 
Sonali A.
Sonali A. February 18, 2010
Congrats! I love gnocchi and this looks absolutely delicous!
 
Sodium G.
Sodium G. February 18, 2010
Lucky for me I have a whole tub of ricotta in the fridge. I am so excited to make this recipe and it is so easily transformed into a low sodium dish. Thank you ICP and congrats!