Three Cheese Gnocchi Bake

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 30

Servings: servings

Calories: 513cal

Author: Ashley Fehr

Three Cheese Gnocchi Bake is the ultimate comfort food, made with tender gnocchi pasta, flavorful beef, and Italian sausage in a tomato sauce with bites of melty cheese throughout!

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Ingredients

Sauce

½ lb lean ground beef
½ lb Italian sausage (ground or casings removed - 225 grams)
1 onion (finely diced)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3 cups jarred tomato pasta sauce (about 1.5 jars)
⅓ cup water

Gnocchi Bake

1 lb gnocchi (I use shelf-stable gnocchi from the pasta aisle)
2 cups fresh spinach (roughly chopped)
½ cup ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese

Instructions

Meat Sauce:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
(Tip: if you use an oven-safe skillet, you can make this in just one pot!)
In a large skillet, cook ground beef, Italian sausage and onion until browned, stirring often. If there is a lot of fat in the pan, drain it before continuing (you can use a paper towel to soak it up).
Stir in garlic, salt and Italian seasoning and cook 1 minute.
Stir in pasta sauce and water. Remove from heat. (This can also be made in advance and refrigerated up to 4 days or frozen up to 3 months)

Gnocchi Bake:

To the sauce in the pan, add the uncooked gnocchi and spinach. Stir.
If using an oven-safe skillet, you're good to go! Otherwise transfer to a lightly greased baking dish (2.5-3 quarts).
Dollop the ricotta cheese over the top by tablespoons. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parmesan.
Cover and bake for 20 minutes, until gnocchi has puffed and is tender.
Uncover and broil if desired just until the cheese has browned slightly.

Video

Notes

Ingredients and Substitutions:

Sauce: yes, you can make this recipe with just a jar or two of marinara sauce and skip the meat and onion for a vegetarian dish that's short on prep time.
Meat: you can use 1 lb of ground beef, or 1 pound of Italian sausage in this recipe if that's what you have. If you are using only ground beef (or ground turkey, chicken or pork) you will want to increase the seasonings to add flavor.
Gnocchi: I have only tried this recipe with dried, shelf stable gnocchi as that's what's available to me. I suspect it would work great with fresh and/or frozen, but I have not yet tested it.
Cheese: add the cheese with your heart! If you don't have ricotta, you can skip it and add more mozzarella. If you want to try something different, go for it!

Prep ahead instructions:

This recipe can be made ahead in a few different ways:

make the sauce ahead: you can make the sauce in advance and refrigerate for 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
you can prep everything up to the point of baking, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.
I do not recommend freezing this recipe as the gnocchi tends to get mushy.

Storage

Store: Store leftover gnocchi once it has cooled completely in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. When you're ready to enjoy it again, you can reheat it in the oven, on the stovetop, or in the microwave until it's heated through.
Freeze: Place gnocchi in a freezer-safe container or Ziploc bags and freeze for up to three months. When ready to reheat, allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat it until piping hot.

Nutrition