This baked gnocchi was delectable! Creamy, rich, and versatile enough to be served as either the main course or as a side dish, this is surely a recipe I’ll be making again in the future.
You’re going to begin by getting your oven and baking dish ready to go. Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 9×13 inch casserole dish. Now, you’re ready to get cooking!
Veggies and Sauce
You’re going to start by sauteing some onion and mushrooms, adding garlic after everything softens up. Now, I cheated and used canned mushrooms because I was in a hurry, but I would always recommend fresh over canned whenever possible.
After sauteing the veggies, you’re going to create a roux and make your cream sauce. You’ll add flour to the veggie mixture and them mix in your chicken broth. A very easy way to turn this into a fully vegetarian dish is to use vegetable broth instead. After whisking the vegetables, you’re going to pour in your cream and seasonings and reduce heat to low.
With fresh parsley and fresh basil, the sauce is so fragrant and flavorful. You’ll want to reserve some for the top too, so you’re only going to use half in the sauce along with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
After adding the seasonings and whisking everything together, you’re going to add half of an 8 oz bag of Italian blend cheese to the sauce, mixing well to make sure it doesn’t clump in one spot.
Gnocchi Bake
One of the best things about this recipe is that you don’t have to pre-cook the gnocchi before you bake it. You seriously just dump the sauce over the top of the gnocchi and mix it all together. Easy peasy. And I know that it’s already looking great, but it gets even better when you top it with the rest of the cheese.
So now that it’s covered and smothered, you’re going to pop the casserole into the oven for 25 minutes. While it bakes, you’re going to mix up the breadcrumb topping. When the gnocchi is finished, you’re going to spoon the breadcrumbs over the top and broil them until golden brown to give the top just a little bit of crunch. You’re then going to evenly distribute the remaining herbs over the top, and that’s it! Voila!
4 Cheese Baked Gnocchi with Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- cooking spray, for greasing baking dish
- 5 tbsp butter, divided
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 cans mushrooms, sliced and drained can also use 4 oz fresh sliced mushrooms
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt, divided
- 1 1/2 tsp pepper, divided
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning, divided
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped and divided
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped and divided
- 1 8 oz bag of Italian blend cheese, divided
- 3 12 oz packages Rana Skillet Gnocchi
- 1 cup Italian seasoned panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and use cooking spray to grease a 13×9 inch casserole dish.
- Melt 3 tbsp of butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- Add onion and mushrooms, stirring and sauteing until veggies are softened, 5-7 minutes.
- Add garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning, stirring well to combine with the onion and mushroom.
- Add in flour stirring to coat all ingredients to form a roux. Allow to brown without stirring 1-2 minutes.
- Whisk in broth, ensuring you scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- After broth and roux are fully combined and have started to thicken, add in cream, whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low.
- Add remaining salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to the sauce. Add 1/2 of the parsley and 1/2 of the basil. Whisk well to ensure seasonings are evenly distributed throughout.
- Add in 1/2 of the bag of cheese and mix well to avoid large clumps of cheese in the sauce.
- Put uncooked gnocchi into prepared casserole dish and pour sauce over the top. Mix thoroughly to ensure all gnocchi are fully covered.
- Top gnocchi mixture with remaining cheese and bake for 25 minutes or until gnocchi is soft and pillowy and cheese is melted.
- While the casserole is baking, melt the remaining 2 tbsp of butter and mix with the panko breadcrumbs, ensuring all breadcrumbs are covered with butter.
- When the casserole is done baking, remove gnocchi and switch the oven to the broil setting. Sprinkle spoonfuls of the breadcrumb mixture over the top of the gnocchi mixture and broil until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and crispy.
- Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes. Sprinkle remaining herbs on top.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
We decided to serve this with Italian sausages, but this would be great with a side of veggies, chicken breasts, or even by itself. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below! If you enjoy this recipe and want more, feel free to check out my other recipes found here.