Elise:
For a delicious and lighter version, you can substitute Ricotta in place of potatoes. I was doubtful until I tried it and my very Italian family all loved the lighter taste. We also use our regular marinara or meat sauce with gnocchi.

I love gnocchi, all kinds of them. Has anyone tried carrots or sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes? What is the wildest mix you have made?

You can use pureed carrots, sweet potatoes (I made sweet potatoes & cinnamon ones once as a dessert, with coffee and chocolate sauce), spinach, pumpkin, ricotta, red pepper (pimiento), and almost anything. You just need something creamy, with the same consistency of mashed potatoes.

I've never used egg on the mix, I think your problem is with the kind of flour. In my country we eat gnocchis every 29th, with some money under our dishes. If you eat the whole serving, you're supposed to have a great month (on the money side).

I have made both potato and ricotta gnocchi and the consistency of the mixture is different so be sure to try a recipe specifically for ricotta.

Yes! The old potato is a secret of old-time Italian cooks like my late grandmother. So glad you printed that.

Very interesting post. This is one of the things I've always loved in restaurants but never tried making myself. (And not very South Beach friendly, but the ricotta version mentioned by Francine sounds interesting!)

This sounds like a lovely recipe! Is there a way to make it without the potato ricer?

Recipe looks great, as do the variations. Question: if one doesn't have a potato ricer, how much of a difference will it make, and are there other options?

Oh, I love gnocchi! Thanks for the tip about baking the potatoes. I'll have to try that next time I make some from scratch. From what I can tell, they're one of the easier pastas to make.

The only thing better than eating gnocchi is making them (then eating them). I've tried several recipes, and I prefer eggs in the dough as they create a firmer consistency. I completely agree with you about baking the potatoes and using a ricer. Baking makes forming the dough much easier. I've been planning on making gnochhi and posting about it. Thanks for this great post!

I love reading this blog, and I will definitely have to try this gnocchi recipe. I love gnocchi anyway, and when we went to Rome a few months ago, I got to eat some proper Italian gnocchi in carbonara sauce. DELICIOUS!

I have used Ore-Idaho frozen mashed potatoes, instead of starting from scratch, for the gnocchi. It eliminates guessing the amount of flour used after a couple of attempts. It seems their potatoes are more consistent in texture and water content.

Perfect timing, I was planning on trying my hand at gnocchi this weekend. Thanks for the primer on it!

For those of you that don't have a potato ricer, I highly suggest getting one if you like smooth mashed potatos. It lets you eliminate all lumps without over beating the potatos. Plus my husband who hates the kitchen even asks to help when it is time to use it. It reminds us of the playdough gadgets! They cost less than $10 at target.

Had some tonight, though I must confess to buying them in my Italian deli rather than making my own.

Longtime lurker here...:-) I love gnocchi! I watched a cooking show years ago with Lidia on it and she demonstrated the technique of making them which included running the gnocchi over the back of a fork to get the little ridges... but I like your little indentations better. They are a fun kitchen project---I might get my kids involved. Thanks!

We love gnocchi here at home and I think this is great to get kids involved in kitchen too. Interesting how you bake the potatoes instead of cooking them, this might explain the reason the gnocchi fails sometimes when we boil the potatoes. Thanks!

Elise,
Good tip on the "older potatoes" I've made gnocci before with Rich's grandmother's recipe. I used a fork to push it down and roll each one of the little critters out with, to give them something for the sauce to hold on to. It's the same idea as the little dimple you gave yours.

Hello, it is my first time here, I love gnocchi, I always make it and I have another 2 tips I've learned a long time ago, to share with you,first, you can put the potatoe with the skin in the potatoe ricer because the skin will remain in the in the container ( if you know what I mean, it separate itself ) and also, after doing this wait until the potatoe gets cold to add the other ingredients, because sometimes you need to add more flour ( usually ) when the potatoe is hot...

I do love gnochhi, though I haven't tried making my own...maybe I will now with this recipe. I also love them with pesto.

Another way to make gnocchi is with instant mashed potatoes. Use a 50% mix of flour and instant mashed potatoes.

Wow, I never realised gnocchi was such an easy pasta to make! It's one of my brother's favourite things, so I'd love to make it for him the next time I see him. However, since I'd like to be able to eat it with him and that requires it being gluten-free, what are your thoughts on alternative flours? I'm thinking it could work well with glutinous (white) rice flour or sorghum flour.

Opinions from the peanut gallery? Would it be necessary to add baking powder and/or xanthan gum to the flour?

Just to let everyone know you can pick a potato ricer up at Target for $7. Might as well just grab one. =D They make wonderful mashed potatos as well. ;)

Do you have to freeze the gnocchi before cooking it? If not, are the instructions the same? I have a small, full, freezer and don't really have room for a cookie sheet.

Nice recipe - I like the alternative gnocchi shape. But I would suggest you par-cook the gnocchi before freezing because it sets the dough properly. Basically, you drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and when they rise to the surface, you take them out and drop them into an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Then you can freeze them for a few weeks - either way, however, frozen gnocchi are WAAAY worse than fresh ones. Why? Potatoes don't freeze well; their structure breaks down.

My $.02

PS - for those without a ricer or a food mill (ever rarer in today's kitchen) I would push the potatoes through a metal colander set over a bowl.

Oh thank you SO much for a Gnocchi recipe. I think I tried to make gnocchi once but failed and have always wanted to try again. You recipes are always so great. And than all the comments following you learn even more. Thanks.

Your recipes are always fantastic! I make a gnocchi sauce with gorgonzola and cream as well. My aunt (from the Friuli region in Italy) always boils her potatoes with the skin on, then peels them right after cooking (hands of steel). Her results are always incredible! Great job as always!

I've never made gnocchi before and took the suggestion of using sweet potato. Although I found I had to add a lot more flour due to how moist they were, they turned out really well. I'll have to try potatoes sometime too.

Actually on the previous comment I would suggest not precooking them. The ice crystals that form will turn them to mush and as you mentioned spuds don't take well to the cold as it is.

Great recipe though I've never though of making gnocchi but I do make a fantastic red sauce, thank you for the inspiration!

In forming the gnocchi, I always use a combination of what people have suggested above: both thumb and fork. If you sit the fork on the table with the tines curving up, you can take the gnocchi (gnoccho?) and push it onto the tines with your thumb. Presto! Ridges on one side, dimple on the other. Shamelessly stolen from Lidia Bastianich, but it works well.

Another crazy suggestion that just might work is to use your garlic press if you don't have a ricer. I say this because I have a large press that was great for demolishing the larger chunks of potato but eventually I gave up and I didn't get every lump out, prehaps if I had been more methodical (cut the potato in the chunks to begin with and riced them all with the garlic press systematically) it might have worked.

I left out the egg yokes to make it Vegan. Came out very well. Very easy to make and so I have told several people already.

Surprising how delicious and easy this was. Froze really well. Great with a tomato cream/parma rosa sauce.

This was fantastic! Perfectly light and tender, and not too difficult to make. The dough came together much more easily than previous recipes I've tried, all of which morphed into The Blob. Thanks!

Hi great site thanks for all the wonderful tips I also used to make gnocchi with my grand mother and she used her thumb or finger and made the perfect dimple and made them like lightning or like a machine, but to help me she had me use a cheese grater I would run the gnoccho gently over the cheese grater that also works great and today I do it her way with wonderful memories. Thanks.

Wow. I tend to cook late at night, and this turned out to be the perfect recipe to use up the 2.5 pounds of red-skinned taters I bought. These are going to last me a LOOONG time (or maybe not, depending on if I can restrain myself from eating them all in one or two goes!)

Yummy! I didn't have tomato sauce on hand so I went with my standard -- olive oil, basil, a bit of salt.