Ricotta Parmesan Gnocchi

January 26, 2022

Gnocchi are soft little pillows of happiness. With the texture of a super light dumpling and flavors that pair well with a wide variety of sauces, it is not surprising that gnocchi is so popular worldwide.

There are two main types of gnocchi – potato based and ricotta based – and within these categories, there are many different variations. The potato based gnocchi are more common, but take a bit longer to make. Ricotta based gnocchi can be ready in just a few minutes and tend to be a little lighter than ricotta with potato in the dough.

Today, we are making ricotta parmesan gnocchi… aka my ultimate gnocchi. You are going to love them.

Let’s get started…

Begin by gathering 15 ounces of whole milk ricotta, 3 egg yolks, 1 cup of finely shredded parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, plus a little extra on the side for kneading.

Start by lining a small bowl with several layers of paper towels and add the ricotta over the paper towels. Let it sit for a few minutes to allow the paper towels to absorb the excess moisture in the ricotta.

In a large bowl, whisk 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and 1 cup of finely shredded parmesan. Do not use bagged pre-shredded parmesan or the grated stuff in a shaker for this ricotta. Pick up a small wedge of parmesan and finely shred it right before you make your ricotta. It will make a huge difference… definitely worth the effort.

Remove the paper towels from the ricotta and whisk in 3 egg yolks until they are fully incorporated. Add the flour and parmesan mixture and mix until fully combined.

Transfer the super soft gnocchi dough onto a generously floured surface. The dough needs to be lightly kneaded, but there are a few things to consider before getting started.

You want to bring the dough together, but with as little flour as possible. Incorporating more flour into the dough will make your gnocchi heavy and dense, so we want the flour to stay on the outside of the dough. It is just there to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
To bring the dough together, you’ll want to fold the dough over and gently press down, instead of pulling and pushing firmly like you would with bread dough or traditional pasta dough. Gently folding will help bring the dough together, but work it enough that gluten is formed. We do not want gluten formation in the gnocchi dough, because we want it to be very light and delicate.
Brush excess flour away as often as possible. If you are about to fold the dough over itself and there is a bunch of flour inside the fold, brush it away before pressing the dough down, so you avoid working that extra flour into the dough.

Only work with the dough enough to bring it together, this typically takes less than a minute. Form the dough into a rectangle and cut the rectangle short wise into thick strips (photo above).

Gently roll one of the strips of dough into a long rope. This is when you will decide on the side of your gnocchi. Traditional gnocchi is approximately a 1 inch square, but the size is not as important as making sure that they are all the same size. This will ensure that they all cook evenly.

Roll your gnocchi dough into a 1 inch thick rope and use a dough cutter or sharp knife to cut the rope into 1 inch portions as in the photo above.

The next step is totally optional, but traditional in gnocchi forming. Using either a stiff fork or a gnocchi board, gently roll a single gnocchi down the lines of the fork or board to form ridges on one side of the gnocchi. As you push the gnocchi down the lines, it will sort of curl the gnocchi into a cylinder with ridges all around. These ridges will help to grab the sauce you toss your gnocchi into ensuring that every bite is perfect.

Lightly flour a cutting board and transfer the cut and rolled gnocchi onto it. Let them relax there while you work with the remaining dough. If you aim for 1 inch gnocchi, this recipe should give you about 60 of them, which is 4 servings.

Once the gnocchi is all cut and shaped, you can either bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook them or you can transfer the cutting board into the freezer for 2 hours and then place the frozen gnocchi into a ziplock bag to stay frozen until you are ready to cook them.

Cooking gnocchi is super easy. Once a large pot of water is boiling, add a big pinch of salt and about half of the gnocchi. Do not add all of them into the pot at once. Gnocchi only takes about 2 minutes to cook and will float to the surface when they are ready to be transferred into a warm sauce, so give them enough space in the pot that they all have room to float.

Be sure to have the sauce warm and ready for the gnocchi before you begin cooking them. You can use your favorite tomato sauce like my spicy arrabbiata sauce, this flavorful parmesan garlic sauce or my pancetta cream sauce, which is always my choice for this ricotta parmesan gnocchi.

I am so excited for you to make these fluffy little gnocchi, because I know you will love them…

Print Recipe