• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sprinkles and Sprouts

Great food with grocery store ingredients

  • Recipe Index
  • About
  • Contact Me
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
Home > Meal Type > Pasta Recipes > Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi

Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi

Updated: Nov 12th 2020 • Published: Apr 24th 2020 • Leave a Comment

Jump to recipe button JUMP TO RECIPE
JUMP TO VIDEO
PIN IMAGE - a fork digging into a rustic bowl of gnocchi
PIN IMAGE - overhead close up shot of gnocchi with text overlay
creamy tomato gnocchi with text overlaid
a linen cloth with a rustic bowl of gnocchi and text overlaid
an overhead shot of sun-dried tomato gnocchi with text at the bottom

This Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi is the best kind of comfort food! Rich, creamy, and delicious! It is easy to make, cooks in one pan, and is ready in under 20 minutes!!

The creamy Tuscan sauce is a mixture of sun-dried tomatoes, cream, garlic, and spinach. All cooked together in the same pan as the pillowy gnocchi. 

You can serve this vegetarian gnocchi recipe as a main course or side dish; it is excellent served with chicken or some sauteed shrimp. The perfect midweek dinner for the whole family!

a rustic bowl on a grey table with a grey linen napkin and an old fork

Jump Menu

  • Making a sun-dried tomato cream sauce
  • Dried Gnocchi
  • Ingredient Substitutions
  • Recipe Adaptions
  • Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi

Making a sun-dried tomato cream sauce

This creamy Tuscan inspired sauce is so simple to make and has so much flavor! The key is the julienned sun-dried tomatoes! You can buy then already chopped up or cut them up yourself. You don’t need to get them all the same size or thickness, just roughly slice them up. (julienned just means cut into thin strips)

These give the tomato cream sauce a really intense flavor, so your sauce tastes like it has been cooking for hours when in fact, it needs just 10 minutes! 

When using sun-dried tomatoes (whether julienned sun dried tomatoes or the larger ones), make sure you use the oil. That is packed with tomato flavor too! In this recipe, we use it for cooking off the garlic. But it is excellent for pan-frying chicken or shrimp!

To make the sauce, we saute off some garlic (in the gorgeous red oil!), add in the julienned sun dried tomatoes, a little tomato paste or canned tomatoes, some dried herbs, heavy cream, and then finish it with some fresh spinach. 

Finish with a little fresh parmesan and some basil and this fabulous sauce takes store-bought pre-packed gnocchi and turns it into something fabulous!

overhead shot of a bowl of gnocchi sprinkled with parmesan and basil

Dried Gnocchi

You can buy pre-packed shelf-stable gnocchi in the pasta aisle! It is usually vacuum packed and lasts for several months in the pantry or cupboard. It is quick to cook and can be added to the sauce straight from the packet! 

Dried gnocchi takes around 4 minutes to cook, and while it isn’t as plump or as soft as homemade gnocchi, it is still delicious! Like little fluffy pillows, smothered in a tomato cream sauce. Mmmmm.

a fork on the right of a bowl of sun-dried tomato gnocchi

Ingredient Substitutions

Onion – You can use any onions you have available. I usually use a small brown onion, but red or white onions will work just as well. Or substitute in two shallots. Avoid green onions or spring onions as they don’t work for this dish.

Vegetable Broth – If you have chicken broth on hand, then that will work just as well here. 

Italian herbs – You can use dried basil or dried oregano instead.

Heavy Cream – If you are watching calories, you can substitute half and half or milk. The sauce won’t thicken as much, so you might want to use extra flour (I would suggest another tablespoon of flour)

Gnocchi – The recipe has been tested with store-bought gnocchi, and the excess flour on the gnocchi does help to thicken the sauce. If you are using fresh homemade gnocchi, then cook the gnocchi separately. You may find you need to thicken the sauce with more flour (see above under heavy cream)

Fresh Spinach – Kale would be a great substitution as would arugula. Or add in any green vegetable, be sure to blanch larger vegetables first, so they are cooked before you add them to the sauce.

a silver fork dipping into a rustic bowl of the gnocchi

Recipe Adaptions

Make it meaty – This is a great vegetarian gnocchi recipe, but you could add some shredded chicken, salmon or shrimp to this. I would suggest 2 cups of protein.

Make it spicy – This is a soothing creamy sauce, to give it some heat add 1/2-1 tsp of red pepper flakes.

Make it a soup – Add an extra 2 1/2 cups of broth (plus more seasonings) and turn this into a sun-dried tomato gnocchi soup! Some crispy parmesan croutons on the top would be amazing!

a rustic bowl of the gnocchi sat on a linen napkin

Enjoy x

You may also like these Gnocchi recipes:

  • Creamy Chicken Gnocchi with Spinach
  • One Pot Creamy Tomato Salmon Gnocchi
  • Baked Pumpkin Gnocchi with Thyme and Parmesan
  • Gnocchi with lemon & chive pesto (BBC)

RECIPE NEWSLETTER

Signup and get my FREE soup cookbook.

By clicking submit, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Pin this recipe for Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi. Pin it here.

overhead shot of creamy tomato gnocchi in a rustic bowl
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi

This Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi is the best kind of comfort food! Rich, creamy, and delicious! It is easy to make, cooks in one pan, and is ready in under 20 minutes!! The creamy Tuscan sauce is a mixture of sun-dried tomatoes, cream, garlic, and spinach. All cooked together in the same pan as the pillowy gnocchi. You can serve this vegetarian gnocchi recipe as a main course or side dish, or it is excellent served with chicken or some sauteed shrimp. The perfect midweek dinner for the whole family!
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Total Time20 mins
Course: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 4
Calories: 618kcal
Author: Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts
For more great recipes follow me on PinterestFollow @sprinklessprout
Need Metric Measurements?Use the options below to toggle between cups and grams (if relevant)

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes – see note 1
  • 3 tbsp oil, from the sundried tomato jar – see note 2
  • 2 tbsp AP flour
  • 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 2 tsp tomato paste – see note 3
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 tsp Italian herbs
  • 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper, more to taste
  • 1 lb store-bought potato gnocchi – see note 4
  • 1 cup fresh spinach
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I like fresh)
  • fresh basil to serve
  • extra parmesan to serve

Instructions

  • Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic.
    1 onion
    4 cloves garlic

  • Slice the sundried tomatoes into thin strips (unless you have bought julienned sun-dried tomatoes – see note 2)
    ½ cup sundried tomatoes

  • Place a deep skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil.
    3 tbsp oil (from sundried tomato jar)

  • Add the onions to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
  • Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir to coat.
    2 tbsp flour

  • Slowly pour in the vegetable broth, stirring constantly.
    1 ½ cups vegetable broth

  • Add the sliced sun-dried tomatoes and tomato paste, then stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 5 minutes.
    ½ cup julienned sundried tomatos
    2 tsp tomato paste

  • Add the heavy cream, Italian herbs, salt, pepper, and gnocchi to the pan. Stir to combine, then cover the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 6-7 minutes until the gnocchi is cooked.
    1 cup heavy cream
    ½ tsp Italian herbs
    ¼ tsp salt
    ¼ tsp pepper
    1 lb potato gnocchi

  • Stir in the parmesan and spinach.
    1 cup fresh spinach
    ½ cup grated parmesan

  • Cook for a minute to allow the spinach to wilt.
  • Taste for seasoning then serve with fresh basil and more parmesan.

Notes

  1. You can buy sun-dried tomatoes already cut into strips – called julienned sun-dried tomatoes! Either buy them already chopped up or cut them up yourself. You don’t need to get them all the same size or thickness, just roughly slice them up. (julienned just means cut into thin strips)
  2. When buying sun-dried tomatoes, buy the ones in oil, that oil is packed with flavor. Here we are using it to fry off the onion.
  3. You can use two teaspoons of tomato paste or swap for one tablespoon of canned tomato/passata.
  4. Look for the long life shelf-stable packages; you will find it on the pasta aisle at the grocery store.

Nutrition

Calories: 618kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 712mg | Potassium: 667mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 2040IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 246mg | Iron: 6mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @sprinklesandsprouts or tag #sprinklesandsprouts

Find me on:
Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook 
Let’s share the food love and make the world a tastier place 🙂

Jump to recipe buttonFacebook share iconPinterest share icon

Filed Under: All Recipes, Main Dishes, Pasta Recipes

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I’m Claire,

Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts

I believe cooking for those you love should be stress free and simple.

Here on Sprinkles and Sprouts you will find delicious meals all made with easy to find grocery store ingredients. Family friendly mains, sensational sides and delicious desserts. Plus a great selection of party food and appetizers.

Read More

RECIPE NEWSLETTER

Signup and get my FREE soup cookbook.

By clicking submit, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Readers’ Favorites

Small close up of pasta in chicken broth braised celery in an oval white dish
a silver spoon dipping into a white bowl of hallandaise sauce tube pasta with a creamy steak sauce in a grey bowl
homemade flour tortilla on a sheet of baking paper close up on a chicken portion coated in peri peri seasonings
a small bowl of red salsa on a blue table close up on a sliced chicken breast with garlic spaghetti
small white bowl filled with linguine topped with shaved black truffle Beef and broccoli takeout style in a white bowl

Footer

All content, recipes and photographs are copyrighted to Claire McEwen and are the property of Sprinkles and Sprouts.
THEY MAY NOT BE REPUBLISHED IN PART OR WHOLE WITHOUT PERMISSION AND PROPER CREDIT.
Contact me to see republishing and syndication rights.

2014-2020 Sprinkles and Sprouts

  • Home
  • About Sprinkles and Sprouts
  • Recipe Index
  • Contact Me
  • Disclosure and Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Cravings Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in