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Gnocchi alla Sorrentina is a delightful one-pan meal that’s as easy to make as it is delicious! This recipe is so yummy that it’s sure to become a regular in your dinner rotation.
No need to stand over the hot stove while you simmer the sauce. No need to pull out a large pot and boil the gnocchi. The oven does all the work, making this rustic sauce! Simply stir together the ingredients, pull the dish from the oven with its deliciously bubbling, and your work is done!
This dish is rooted in Italian tradition and has become increasingly accessible due to the availability of store-bought gnocchi found in most supermarkets. They’re generally found in the refrigerated or frozen sections, making it simple for even novice cooks to whip up Gnocchi alla Sorrentina without hours of homemade gnocchi making!
Who can resist gnocchi recipes? These little pillowy potato dumplings are the stars of the dish. The rich sauce features two types of tomatoes for an extra tomatoey flavor, complemented by generous amounts of creamy cheese, a touch of dry seasoning, and fresh basil. This combination ensures a dinner that everyone will love!
If you love quick, Italian-inspired quick recipes, I hope you’ll try my one pan gnocchi and sausage, marry me chicken pasta, spaghetti with ground beef recipe, and one pan chicken tortellini next.
WHAT IS BAKED GNOCCHI ALLA SORRENTINA
A traditional Italian comfort food recipe that comes from the town of Sorrento. It’s a dish typically made of potato gnocchi, tomato sauce, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese. Thank you, Sorrento!
GNOCCHI ALLA SORRENTINA INGREDIENTS + NOTES
- Fresh Grape Tomatoes: I love the addition of these fresh tomatoes in the sauce. We start by roasting the grape tomatoes in a hot oven, then remove the baking dish and add the gnocchi and the remaining sauce ingredients. The oven essentially makes the sauce for you.
- Canned Tomatoes: It’s essential to use high-quality tomatoes. We use pureed tomatoes to create a smooth sauce. Pureed tomatoes help distribute the sauce flavor more evenly throughout the sauce and quicken the time it takes for the sauce to come together. Most Italian cooks use tomato passata, but I’ve created this recipe with more readily available ingredients.
- Garlic: Please only use fresh garlic. The minced garlic that comes in a jar is suspended in an awful-tasting liquid that ruins the garlic flavor.
- Sugar: I often receive questions about why I add sugar to many of my tomato-based sauces. The reason I do is that canned tomatoes are more acidic than fresh tomatoes. The small amount of sugar helps balance the acidity of canned tomato products, making them taste more like fresh tomatoes.
- Cheese: I love how the fresh mozzarella melts into the dish. I used a large ball and sliced it to layer it on top of the pasta, then mixed smaller balls in the dish. Feel free to use regular shredded Mozzarella if you’d prefer.
- Seasoning: You’ll notice that rather than adding salt, pepper, and sugar to the sauce, we add them to the can of crushed tomatoes. Since the sauce is cooked in the oven without the benefit of stirring, as you would in a stovetop sauce recipe, stirring it into the crushed tomatoes allows it to mix in evenly and begin to disperse throughout.
- Want It Spicy? Add red pepper flakes to taste!
STORING + FREEZING
- How Long Can You Keep This in The Fridge? Leftovers should be kept in an airtight container for up to four days in the fridge.
- Can You Freeze This? No, this doesn’t freeze well.
- Reheating: The dish can be gently reheated in the microwave oven or on the stovetop.
- Food Safety: For more information on food safety, please visit this link.
SERVING RECOMMENDATIONS
This rich comfort dish is lovely with our Mediterranean salad, grinder salad, Portillo’s chopped salad, house salad with our homemade balsamic vinaigrette or red wine vinaigrette, pizza salad, or 1905 salad.
My garlic bread, pull-apart garlic bread, or Olive Garden breadsticks make the meal deliciously complete!
HOW TO MAKE GNOCCHI ALLA SORRENTINA
MORE DELICIOUS QUICK MEALS
- Balsamic Chicken
- Marry Me Chicken Tortellini
- One Pot Chicken And Rice
- Marry Me Chicken Orzo
- Chili Mac
- American Goulash
- Ground Beef and Potatoes
- One Pot Spaghetti
- Pasta Alla Norma
- Macaroni And Tomatoes
- Cajun Shrimp
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Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina
Ingredients
- 1 (16.5-ounce) container grape tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (28-ounce) can pureed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1 heaping tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
- 1 cup fresh basil, gently packed when measuring, not firmly like brown sugar
- 1 (8-ounce) bag fresh mozzarella pearls
- 1 (16-ounce) package potato gnocchi
- 1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella, sliced into about 6 slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF (218ºC).
- Add grape tomatoes (16.5 ounces) to a 9X13-inch baking dish. Toss with olive oil (2 tablespoons). Place in the preheated oven and roast until the skins split and blister. Remove from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 375ºF (190ºC).
- While the crushed tomatoes roast, add sugar (1 1/2 teaspoons), salt (1 teaspoon), and black pepper (1/2 teaspoon) to the (28 ounces) can pureed tomatoes and stir to combine.
- Pour seasoned crushed tomatoes over roasted tomatoes. Add water (1/4 cup), Italian seasoning (1 tablespoon), garlic (1 heaping tablespoon), basil (1 cup), mozzarella pearls (8 ounces), and gnocchi (16 ounce). Stir until evenly combined.
- Top the gnocchi mixture with slices of fresh mozzarella (8 ounces). Bake in oven until sauce is bubbly and cheese is beginning to brown. Serve!
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