Freeze This Homemade Gnocchi Recipe for an Instant Dreamy Meal (2024)

FAQs

Does homemade gnocchi freeze well? ›

However, you can easily freeze gnocchi. Once they've been formed into dumplings, lay them in a single layer on two baking sheets, cover with cling film and freeze until solid, then transfer to sandwich bags and keep for up to 2 months.

My Gnocchi Are Falling Apart When I Cook Them

This means there isn't enough flour and your dough is too wet.

Don't overwork the dough: When making gnocchi dough, it's important not to overwork it. Overworking the dough can make the gnocchi tough and chewy. Mix the ingredients together just until the dough comes together, and then stop mixing! You're not kneading bread here.

Your gnocchi may be mushy because of any or all of the following reasons: boiled the potatoes instead of baked them. used waxy new potatoes with too much moisture in them. not used eggs to help texture.

Do not thaw them before cooking or they will stick together. To cook them, throw the frozen gnocchi directly into the boiling salted water without thawing. Their cooking time will be slightly longer than unfrozen but their preparation should be completed in the same manner as with fresh gnocchi.

In the Fridge for a Few Days

You can store raw, uncooked gnocchi on a lightly floured tray, covered with a clean tea towel in a cool and dry place for just a few hours. If you need to store them longer, then cook or freeze them. If you want to serve your gnocchi the day after they are made, you should cook them first.

Let the gnocchi air dry for 30 minutes on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a clean kitchen towel dusted with semolina or all-purpose flour. Make sure the pieces aren't touching. Transfer the baking sheet to the freezer. Freeze the gnocchi, uncovered, for 1 to 2 hours, until completely firm.

If you're having pasta as your main meal, we'd suggest the following quantities: 100g of dried pasta per person. 120g of fresh pasta per person. 130g of gnocchi per person.

When cool enough to handle, scrape off the skins and push the potato through a ricer or food mill, then, while still warm, start working your dough on a floured work surface. (Here, Davies offers up another tip to fight the mush: “Spread out the mash to cool; the escaping steam will further take away any moisture.”)

Egg yolk added to your gnocchi dough helps improve texture, and keep it together while cooking. Gnocchi is traditionally made with eggs in Veneto and no eggs in Piedmont, the two Northern Italian regions famous for gnocchi. We vote for egg yolks at the rate of 1 per (500g) 1 lb of uncooked potatoes used.

Which flour is best for gnocchi? ›

Some gnocchi recipes recommend floury potatoes instead, such as Idaho potatoes or Russet potatoes, but I don't always agree. They're too mealy. Tipo 00 Flour is a soft, fine milled flour from Italy. It's a must-have for light and tender gnocchi and homemade pasta.

Nutritional Value

Believe it or not, regular pasta is actually more carb-heavy than gnocchi, coming in at around 2 times the amount of carbs per serving. Gnocchi is also notorious for having a lot more sodium, with over 200 grams of it per serving. Regular pasta doesn't have nearly as high of a sodium content.

Flour: This will 'make or break' your gnocchi. Too much and the gnocchi will be chewy with a rubbery consistency. Too little and the gnocchi will not come together and will fall apart when boiled. So start with 3/4 of the recommended flour and once it's all mixed in, slowly incorporate more (bit by bit).

Indeed, resting your cut-and-shaped gnocchi prior to cooking helps individual gnocchi pieces keep their shape. If you add them to a pot of boiling water too soon, you risk the starch falling apart. All that effort to make homemade gnocchi could go, quite literally, down the drain.

The secret to the lightest, most tender potato gnocchi is to bake the potatoes instead of boiling them. A baked potato is dryer than one that has been boiled, which means you avoid having to add more flour to the dough to account for excess moisture, a practice that leads to over-kneaded, tough gnocchi.

Cook the gnocchi, pack as airtight as possible and freeze. Defrost and reheat in microwave or in boiling water.

To refrigerate cooked gnocchi, one should place them in an airtight container to prevent them from absorbing odors and moisture from the refrigerator. They should be consumed within 3 to 4 days to ensure quality and safety. The texture may soften over time, so it is best used as soon as possible.

Freezing and Thawing

Fresh gnocchi can be frozen for about one month, and when storing in the freezer, ensure that they are in an airtight container or a sealed bag to prevent freezer burn.

You can buy ready made gnocchi in supermarkets and delicatessens, which can be fresh or frozen or dried, usually found in or around the pasta section of the shop.