Creamy sausage gnocchi is a simple 30-minute, one-pan recipe that tastes like a dish from a fine dining restaurant! The recipe features basic ingredients found in most pantries, including the basic tomato sauce for pasta, spinach, and Italian sausage.
Creamy sausage gnocchi - main ingredients:
This one-pan meal combines creamy tomato sauce with spicy Italian sausage, garlic, spinach, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes. The recipe uses basic ingredients such as store-bought gnocchi and tomato pasta sauce.
- Gnocchi. I used store-bought potato gnocchi, Delallo brand, made with 85% potatoes.
- Sausage. Crumbled spicy Italian sausage works the best. You can also use Italian sausage links (casings removed, sausage links sliced). Or, use mild or sweet Italian sausage - and add some spice to it!
- Tomato sauce for pasta. Use your favorite tomato sauce - it can be a store-bought pasta sauce or marinara sauce. Any flavor will work: traditional, tomato basil, arrabbiata, or garlic tomato sauce.
- Greens. I use fresh spinach to add some veggies to this recipe. You can also use frozen spinach - thawed and drained of any liquid. Or, use kale instead.
Why make this recipe?
Sausage gnocchi is a simple and quick dinner (only 30 minutes of your time!) which makes it a perfect choice to make on a busy weeknight. This dish is so comforting, creamy, and flavorful - it will become your new favorite comfort food! Another thing I love about this one-pan meal is that for such a small amount of effort you get a beautiful dish that tastes and looks like an entree from a high-end restaurant! I do hope you give this recipe a try and let me know in the comments if you liked it!
If you like sausage pasta recipes, be sure to check out this delicious sausage tortellini soup with spinach or this popular recipe on my site: skillet mac and cheese with sausage and bell peppers
One-pan 30-minute meal
In this recipe, everything is cooked in one skillet: sausage, spinach, tomato cream sauce, and even gnocchi! The clean-up after dinner is minimal - only 1 cooking dish to clean! Because of the simplicity of this recipe and how tasty it is, this recipe might become one of your family's favorite weeknight dinners!
What type of gnocchi to use?
I used potato gnocchi, a Delallo brand, made with 85% potatoes. They work beautifully in this recipe.
Do you need to pre-cook the gnocchi?
You don't need to pre-cook the gnocchi for this recipe. Just add the uncooked gnocchi directly to the sauce (heavy cream + chicken broth). The gnocchi will cook in the same pan with the sauce and the sausage. This saves you one more pan to clean and minimizes the cleanup. Also, as you cook the gnocchi in the sauce, the starch from gnocchi is released which helps to thicken the sauce. What you have in the end is the sauce of a very nice, thick consistency. I use heavy cream in this recipe, but half-and-half can be used instead.
What type of sausage to use with gnocchi?
- Crumbled Italian sausage. I used 15 oz of crumbled spicy Italian sausage. I love spicy sausage, and because it is used with pasta, the spiciness of the final dish is actually pretty mild overall since the sausage is mixed with gnocchi, the tomato cream sauce, etc.
- Italian sausage links. You can also use Italian sausage in casings. I would remove the casings and slice the sausage.
- Sweet or mild Italian sausage. You can also use sweet or mild Italian sausage - in this case, I do recommend adding some spice, such as red pepper flakes.
Storage and reheating tips
Because the sauce is made only with heavy cream, chicken broth, tomato pasta sauce, and without any cheese, this recipe is very easy to store and reheat. You can also easily make this ahead.
- Fridge. Store creamy sausage gnocchi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer. Freeze it in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
- Reheat in the microwave oven. Reheat the refrigerated sausage gnocchi in a microwave oven for about 1 minute. Taste and reheat for 30 seconds more, if needed.
- Reheat on the stovetop. Reheat this dish in a large, high-sided skillet on the stovetop on low-medium heat. When using this method, add a small amount of heavy cream, or half-and-half, or milk to thin out the sauce when reheating.
What to serve with sausage gnocchi
- Bread. Serve this easy recipe with something equally simple, such as a slice of store-bought, warm Italian bread, garlic bread, or olive bread loaf. Breadsticks are great, too!
- Simple salad. Because the sausage gnocchi dish is made with a rich and luscious cream sauce, a fresh salad is a great choice. I would suggest a basic spinach or arugula salad, probably sprinkled with toasted nuts, a small amount of shredded Parmesan or crumbled goat cheese, and dressed with your favorite salad dressing!
Other creamy sausage pasta recipes you might like
- Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
- Creamy Mozzarella Pasta with Smoked Sausage
- Creamy Sausage Tortellini with Spinach, Tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese sauce
Creamy Sausage Gnocchi - One-Pan, 30-Minute Meal
Ingredients
- 15 oz Italian sausage spicy, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 16 oz potato gnocchi
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning or Herbs from Provence
- 13 oz tomato sauce such as tomato pasta sauce or marinara
- 5 oz spinach fresh
- salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
- red pepper flakes to taste
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat in a large, high-sided skillet.
- Add crumbled sausage and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, crumbling it.
- To the same skillet with sausage, add uncooked potato gnocchi, chicken broth, heavy cream, minced garlic, Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil on medium heat and stir everything well. Cover with lid, and allow the gnocchi to cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat, while the sauce boils.
- Add tomato pasta sauce and stir it well. Add fresh spinach, and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently for 5 minutes until the spinach wilts to your liking. Cook longer if you would like a thicker sauce.
- Mix everything well. Remove from heat.
- Season with salt, freshly ground coarse black pepper, and red pepper flakes, if you like.
- Tip: use your best judgment about the salt. If the sausage is salty enough, you might not need to add any extra salt.
Notes
- Chicken broth is used in this recipe. However, you can also use white wine, red wine, or water instead! Frankly, I've used water in this recipe, too, and there was no loss of flavor!
- Tomato sauce. It can be a store-bought pasta sauce or marinara sauce. Any flavor will work: traditional, tomato basil, arrabbiata, or garlic tomato sauce.
- Sausage. I used crumbled spicy Italian sausage. Italian sausage links can be used, too, with casings removed and sausage links sliced. You can also use sweet or mild Italian sausage (add some spice in this case!)
- Italian seasoning of Herbs from Provence. The mix that I used contained dried rosemary, thyme, parsley, tarragon, marjoram, basil, and sage.
- Cook gnocchi right in the same pan! Gnocchi releases the starch, which actually helps to thicken the sauce without adding any cheese or cornstarch. This also minimizes a clean-up since you're using only one pan for the whole recipe!
- Heavy cream or half-and-half - either can be used!
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This is such a great, easy
and delicious recipe and yet it is so gourmet that it is my go to dish for entertaining!!!
I am so happy to hear that, Maria! ❤️
I made this last night and it was a huge hit with all! So quick to put together and absolutley delicious!
I am so glad everyone loved it! 🙂 Thank you for your review, Gina. 🙂
Love these one pan meals. This one is so creamy and lots of flavor
Aww, thank you, Maddie, glad you're enjoying my recipes!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe exactly the way it is. It is rich and creamy; works well for a dinner party with a nice red wine, baguette & salad, a family meal or lunch leftovers. I often get recipe requests and I send the link straight to this website.
Thank you so much!
Thank you, Deb, for your wonderful review - it really made my day! And thank you for spreading the word about my site. 🙂
Used a chopped onion (instead of garlic), ground beef and beef broth instead of sausage and added some mozzarella at the end. So good!
Thanks for sharing your tweaks, Andreea! They sound delicious!
This was definitely tasty, but it was so rich with the sausage it was too rich for us. I’ll use chicken or tofu next time. Super easy to make.
Thank you for your feedback, Marijka! For a lighter version, you can also try it with turkey sausage or chicken sausage.
My husband and I love this recipe. I made it exactly as written other than adding chopped artichoke hearts. It was quick, easy, and so tasty. This will definitely go into regular rotation, and the leftovers were just as good as fresh. Thanks so much for sharing.
So glad the recipe turned out well! Thank you for such a nice review! 🙂
This was such an easy and quick recipe to prepare. I typically have all the ingredients needed. The only change was that I used arugala instead of the spinich, as I was out of spinich. The dish is delicious and I will making it again! It's a real keeper!!
Thank you, Judy, for your review - so glad you loved it! 🙂
This was a very easy recipe to put together. It required ingredients that are typically in my kitchen! The only change I made was substituting the spinich with arugala. Delicious combination of flavors! It's a keeper!!
Arugula works great in this recipe!
I've made this recipe several times and it is super easy and very delicious! Add a simple salad and dinner is ready.
So glad, you've enjoyed this recipe many times, Kelly! 🙂
I made this last night and it was delicious! I'll be visiting your website in the future for other recipes.
Thank you, Tony, I am glad this recipe was a success!
This is such a good meal! I made mine with maple sausage (it’s all I had) and I was nervous about it not coming out right but the sweet taste was so good!
Highly recommend making!
Thank you, Kasandra, for such a great review and the feedback about the sweet sausage. 🙂
Has anyone made this in advance and left on a warm burner until serving? I'm thinking of making about 90 minutes in advance of serving. Thanks for your guidance.
I made this for dinner last night and it was very good! It is rich though, not in a bad way, but in a “have to be in the mood for it” way. My husband and I both enjoyed it very much. I had a 14.5 oz of gnocchi and 16 oz of sausage, and eyeballed the tomato sauce. I think some nice crusty bread would be good with it (help cut the richness and add some crunch). Overall, very good though and will make again 🙂
Gina, thank you for your thoughtful review!! ❤️ I agree - this rich creamy tomato sauce would be great for dipping with a crusty slice of bread!