Pan Fried Gnocchi in Brown Butter Sauce
This delicious, vegetarian gnocchi recipe takes just 10 minutes to cook!
My love affair with gnocchi started when I was in college. Pre-packaged gnocchi was my go-to dinner for many long nights. All I had to do was boil the gnocchi, drain it, and heat it on the stove with a bit of ready-made pesto for the easiest dinner in the world.
I graduated from college a long time ago, but my taste for delicious gnocchi has always stayed with me. I absolutely love this recipe for pan fried garlic butter gnocchi, and it really does come together in about 10 minutes. For me, it takes a wee bit more prep since I prefer to make my butternut squash gnocchi from scratch. Homemade butternut squash gnocchi is actually very easy to make, and also easy to make vegan. If you’ve ever been intimidated by making pasta at home, gnocchi is a good place to start. Gnocchi is not pasta, but the idea of working with your own dough, boiling it, and tossing it in a sauce is a good first step if you’ve never attempted homemade pasta before.
I like to make make my own butternut square gnocchi at home since it is so easy. I’ve included step-by-step instructions on my homemade gnocchi recipe below. Once you’ve finished the gnocchi, boil them until they start to float, and drain the water. Meanwhile, prepare this quick brown butter sauce that’s seasoned with lots of garlic and sage. Toss the gnocchi in the sauce, and allow them to cook together for about seven minutes until the gnocchi crispy.
Voila. Just like college.
You can totally use any pre-made gnocchi with this recipe, though, but I find that the garlic brown butter sauce pairs really well with butternut squash gnocchi. The subtle sweetness of the butternut squash and the saltiness of the butter is a match made in Italian heaven. This easy brown butter sauce would also pair perfectly with cheese ravioli!
How do you make homemade butternut squash gnocchi?
Making gnocchi at home is SO EASY. If you want to have some fun and make your own gnocchi, here’s how to do it.
Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes
2 c flour
Pinch of salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Rinse and dry your sweet potatoes. Place them in the oven and bake for about 1 hour, until the potatoes are soft when you squeeze them with a mitten.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool.
Peel the sweet potatoes and mash the insides in a large bowl using either a fork, or a potato masher (once they’re cool, you can also just squeeze them through your hands). You want the potatoes to be smooth and not lumpy.
Add in the flour a little bit at a time, mixing it into the sweet potatoes with a fork. You may need more or less flour depending on how large your sweet potatoes are. Add enough flour to form a dough that’s not too sticky. Gnocchi is forgiving, so don’t worry if it’s a little too much.
Flour your counter and knead the dough for a minute until it’s smooth and comes together. The dough shouldn’t be sticky.
Divide the dough in half, and divide each half into four sections. You should have eight pieces of dough now. Roll each piece, one at a time, on the floured counter until it forms a long snake about as wide as your thumb.
Flour a knife and slice the dough into 1” pieces. Repeat with the remaining dough.
At this point, you have gnocchi! You can cook them fresh, or freeze them. They keep very well in the freezer.
To cook the gnocchi, add them to a pot of boiling water and cook for 2-4 minutes, or until the gnocchi floats.
Any tips for the brown butter sauce?
I have just one tip you’ll want to keep in mind while making the brown butter sauce:
Be careful not to burn the butter. There’s a fine line between brown butter and burned butter. Once the butter is dark brown and starts to smell toasted, it’s browned. At this point, you’ll want to turn down the heat or remove it from the heat entirely so it doesn’t burn. Once the gnocchi is added to the brown butter sauce, you can worry less about burning it since the temperature will naturally come down.
Recipe
Active Time: 15 mins / Cook Time: 10 mins / Yield: about 3 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 lb gnocchi
4 tbsp butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
fresh sage leaves
sea salt, to taste
DIRECTIONS
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the gnocchi and cook for about 2-4 minutes, or until the gnocchi starts to float. Drain the gnocchi and set aside.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sage leaves and cook until the garlic is crispy and fragrant, about one minute. Don’t worry if you don’t get every garlic piece. Remove the garlic from the pan and set aside - don’t discard them!
At this point, the butter will be browned and have a toasty aroma. Congrats, you’ve made brown butter! Adjust the temperature of the stove if the butter starts to smoke. You don’t want it burn.
Add in the gnocchi, and cook for about 5 minutes, tossing it on all sides so it can evenly fry.
Add the garlic back to the pan. Turn off the heat and give everything another good stir so it’s all combined.
Serve with a sprinkling of sea salt, to taste.