Pan-fried gnocchi with kale and Parmesan cream is a delicious, easy gnocchi recipe that makes a great quick meal and it's delicious.
This gnocchi recipe is one of my favorite quick meals. It is made with pre-packaged, shelf-stable gnocchi and the cream sauce for this Italian gnocchi is a Parmesan cream sauce infused with some lemon and Parmesan.
This is one of my favorite go-to quick meals once the weather starts to cool and I can start making slightly heavier meals like gnocchi.
For this recipe, there are very few ingredients and all really simple steps to make this.
The Parmesan cream sauce is so good and the perfect velvety and creamy sauce to coat the gnocchi and kale beautifully.
I like to roast the kale in the oven to crisp it up and to make sure the kale does not flavor the Parmesan cream sauce. In total, this meal is ready in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients Needed
- Gnocchi (shelf-stable gnocchi)
- Kale
- Heavy Cream
- Parmesan cheese and the rind
- Lemon
- Kosher salt. I always use kosher salt but if you do not have this, regular table salt is fine. Just half the amount in the recipe.
- Olive oil
- Garlic powder
Notes about the ingredients
Best Kale To Use
I like using lacinato kale for this pan-fried gnocchi recipe which is a smoother variety of kale. I use this type of kale for my kale and carrot salad, chopped kale salad, and sausage and kale pasta. I just prefer it to other types of kale.
The creamy gnocchi sauce
Parmesan cream is a little different from an Alfredo sauce. Same ingredients except the Parmesan cream is made with a little lemon.
The lemon helps add a little background flavor (just a bit) and it also helps thicken the cream. Try not to skip this ingredient.
Best gnocchi to use
We use shelf-stable gnocchi for this recipe. If you are not familiar with this, it is gnocchi that is in a vacuum-sealed package that is found in the main isles of your grocery store. You can also use fresh gnocchi if that is what you have on hand.
How to make
Step 1: The first thing you want to do is fry up the gnocchi in a frying pan with a little oil. Frying the gnocchi will crisp up the gnocchi and give it a nice bite. There is no need to precook the gnocchi before doing this.
Step 2: Make your gnocchi cream sauce: After you fry up the gnocchi, you remove them from the pan and start on the gnocchi cream sauce. This is the Parmesan and cream. If you have the Parmesan rind, I like to use that too.
To make the cream sauce just add the cream, lemon and Parmesan and stir until the cheese is melted into the cream. You only need to stir for about 1 minute before this happens.
You will not need any salt because the Parmesan will add to the sauce.
Because there is still so much cheese on the parmesan rind, it is a great addition to the sauce. If you do not have the rind, it will still taste great.
Step 3: Roast your Kale: Roasting the kale in the oven then adding to the fried gnocchi and cream sauce keeps the kale crisp until you are ready to serve it.
The kale, cream, and gnocchi pair so well together. To roast the kale add the kale to a large sheet pan, drizzle with a little olive oil, garlic powder, and salt, and massage the ingredients into the kale.
You want to roast the kale until it is nice and crispy.
Step 4: Mix it all together in the pan: Once you have fried the gnocchi, roasted the kale, and made the gnocchi cream sauce, it is just lightly toss it all together in the pan and then serve. This fried gnocchi really is an effortless meal.
Tips for making this pan-fried gnocchi in cream sauce
- Make sure you sauté the gnocchi until it is just starting to brown. This will give it a nice bite.
- Allow the gnocchi and kale to sit in the Parmesan cream for at least a minute, stirring often so the gnocchi gets a chance to pick up some of that sauce.
- Make sure you cut your kale into bite-sized pieces. This will help ensure that you can pick up a little kale and gnocchi with a fork with each bite.
Faqs:
You do not need to boil your gnocchi first when pan frying gnocchi since you are cooking them in a pan.
Gnocchi is actually not pasta. It is made from flour, eggs, Parmesan and potatoes
You can find shelf-stable gnocchi in the International food section of your grocery store.
Pairing Ideas
Here are some of my favorite things to pair with this pan-fried gnocchi:
More Italian Recipes:
Pan Fried Gnocchi with Kale and Parmesan Cream
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Ingredients
- 16 ounces gnocchi shelf stable about 1 package
- 8 cups finely chopped curly kale About 2 bunches of kale. Rinsed, dried and chopped into bite sized pieces
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated fine plus the rind
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- ½ lemon
- â…› teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Cut the leaves of the kale off of the stem and cut into bite sized pieces.8 cups finely chopped curly kale
- Add your chopped kale to a large sheet pan.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons of your olive oil over your kale.4 tablespoon olive oil
- Now sprinkle ½ teaspoon of kosher salt and the garlic powder over the kale.¾ teaspoon kosher salt, ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- With your hands, rub the the kale until all the seasoning is coating the kale evenly.
- Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the kale is cooked and just beginning to crisp up on the edges.
- Remove the kale from the oven and squeeze the lemon over the top then set aside½ lemon
- In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add your remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Now add your gnocchi to the pan making sure not to overlap them.16 ounces gnocchi
- Let the gnocchi cook for about 5 minutes gently shaking the pan and tossing the gnocchi.
- Once the gnocchi start to crisp up a little bit, remove from the pan and on to a plate. Set aside.
- Scrape off any gnocchi bits left behind in the pan then place the pan back on the stove.
- In the same sauté pan over medium low heat, add your cream and mix well.¾ cup heavy cream
- Now add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt, half of your grated Parmesan and the Parmesan rind and mix again.½ cup Parmesan cheese
- Bring to a gentle simmer then reduce heat to low and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Taste the Parmesan cream for any additional salt needed.
- Now add your gnocchi and kale into the Parmesan cream and turn off the heat.
- Gently toss the gnocchi and kale into the sauce for about one minute until everything is evenly coated in the Parmesan cream.
- Serve immediately with the additional Parmesan cheese for topping.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
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Kevin says
Very good!