Tomato Basil Gnocchi
Delightful, light pillowy gnocchi coated with creamy and flavorful red tomato basil sauce, topped with lots of parmesan cheese. You guys. I love this Tomato Basil Gnocchi to pieces and cannot get enough of it!
Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce
Carbs are my weakness. Whether it is in the form of sweets, bread, pasta..or better still, pasta with a side of bread…it had me from the very beginning.
As for this Tomato Basil Gnocchi dish…trouble is what it is. Trouble for my waistline and everything waist down, because let’s be honest here, that’s where all my carbs go.
These soft and pillow-y gnocchi pasta are coated in a creamy tomato sauce cooked with burrata cheese and infused with fresh basil. Each delicious bite simply melts in your mouth, is packed with amazing flavors, and is so darn addictive.
But I still indulge, in appropriate amounts. Because life is short. And amazing gnocchi in creamy tomato sauce are necessary…for survival and for enjoyment.
Everyone needs a little Tomato Basil Gnocchi in their lives. 🙂
Love a good pasta dish? Also check out some of my other favorites on the blog: Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta, Classic Lasagna with Béchamel Sauce, Lemon Garlic Parmesan Pasta and Creamy Tomato Pasta with Italian Sausage.
What is Gnocchi
Gnocchi is a form of pasta typically made out of potatoes and flour. It is soft and is a lot like dumplings.
But think Western dumplings like chicken and dumplings, not Asian dumplings which are usually filled with meat and vegetables.
Gnocchi is typically served tossed in a sauce, and sometimes with meat and veggies.
It is delicious! Also happens to be a pretty kid-friendly pasta that your whole family can enjoy.
My favorite way to make Gnocchi is to smother it with a thick and creamy tomato sauce. In other words, THIS Tomato Basil Gnocchi recipe.
Simple, basic, but yet so delicious.
How to make Tomato Basil Gnocchi
Tomato Basil Gnocchi is a simple, 30-minute recipe from start to finish and there are two primary components to this recipe:
- Tomato Basil Sauce (red sauce)
- Gnocchi
Tomato Basil Sauce (Red Sauce)
Red sauce is my favorite, and this easy creamy homemade Tomato Basil is what I am cooking up and coating those soft pillow-y gnocchi with.
This red sauce is full of flavor, creamy, and made with fresh and simple ingredients:
- Canned San Marzano tomatoes – best kind of canned tomatoes, truly
- Fresh basil – because they bring the best flavors! You can use dried basil but they just aren’t as flavorful
- Fresh garlic – avoid substituting with garlic powder. It just doesn’t taste the same!
- Burrata – a gorgeous cheese that is basically fresh mozzarella filled with cream. This is used to thicken and cream the sauce.
- Salt, black pepper, sugar – seasonings that will open up and enhance the flavors in the tomato basil sauce.
Start by prepping all the red sauce ingredients.
Mince fresh garlic and cut the fresh basil leaves into tiny pieces.
Fresh basil is a must! Don’t substitute with the dried ones. Just like the the garlic, use fresh! Fresh, fresh, fresh is the best way to go for this Tomato Basil Gnocchi dish.
Sauté a little bit of garlic in olive oil for 30 seconds in a medium/large pot, be careful not to burn garlic.
We are sautéing the garlic in order to release the gorgeous garlic flavors into the olive oil. A subtle but very nice touch to the red sauce overall.
Remember to pack your tablespoon with minced garlic, even use more than called for if you like, because it really does bring gorgeous flavors to the sauce. Don’t skim on the garlic.
Next, add San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes, made with the juiciest, sweetest, most tomato-ey (is that appropriate to describe tomatoes?) tomatoes ever.
They are grown in San Marzano, Italy, thus the name, San Marzano tomatoes. 🙂 Target and Trader Joe’s typically carry these San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes.
The canned San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes have basil in them. If you end up using a regular canned peeled tomatoes, and not the San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes, add more basil leaves than what is called for in this recipe.
Add basil and fresh burrata into the red sauce. I like to break the burrata to release the cream prior to adding it into the sauce. Then break it further and stir once you add it into the sauce.
Bring to a boil, and then cook under medium low heat for 20-30 minutes to thicken the red sauce.
Add salt, black pepper and sugar to enhance the flavors of the red sauce. Salt really brings out the flavors, in addition to adding some saltiness to our Tomato Basil Gnocchi.
Gnocchi
While the tomato sauce is cooking, boil water in a separate pot and cook the gnocchi according to package instruction.
Cook until gnocchi is soft, then toss cooked gnocchi with tomato sauce, garnish with shredded fresh parmesan cheese (use good quality!), and serve.
The measurements I provided yields a slightly more saucy gnocchi as I tend to like lots of sauce in my pasta. So for you sauce lovers out there, fear not, there will be lots of sauce to go around!
When Tomato Basil Gnocchi is done, here’s what you will find: pillow-soft pasta smothered with a juicy, sweet, basil-infused, garlicky tomato-based sauce.
I am a tomato girl (i.e. love tomato-anything), and this is making my heart happy!
What I love about this Gnocchi with Tomato Basil Sauce dish is how simple and yet absolutely delicious it is. The quality of the ingredients (fresh basil, fresh garlic, fresh burrata, fresh parmesan cheese, San Marzano tomatoes) is the secret behind the loveliness of the dish.
What to serve with Tomato Basil Gnocchi
We eat this Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce dish by itself a lot of the times, but we also love serving Tomato Basil Gnocchi with these!
- Add some yummy protein to it, such as Lemon Balsamic Grilled (or Pan-Fried) Chicken, Lemon Butter Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops, Pork Milanese, or Breaded Chicken Cutlet
- A crusty bread or some Cheesy Garlic Rolls on the side!
- Appetizers such as Bruschetta and Caprese Salad
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Most soft mild cheeses that melts easily should work! I also like using mascarpone, cream cheese, mozzarella, or even heavy cream!
Cook it on medium low heat and stir continuously until it reaches desired thickness. Depending on the type of canned tomatoes used, you may need to cook it longer than what it calls for in order to thicken sauce.
Yes! Make sure to bring it to a complete defrost before heating Tomato Basil Gnocchi in the microwave.
Grab a fork and dig into a bowl (or two) of this creamy and delicious Tomato Basil Gnocchi….because my friend, YOU MUST.
DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE? Please comment below and give us a 5-star rating! This will help others find this recipe on Google and Pinterest. We very much appreciate your help! 🤍
Other delicious Pasta Dishes
- Creamy Tomato Pasta with Italian Sausage
- Lemon Garlic Parmesan Pasta
- The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
- Roasted Tomato Pasta
- Trenette al Pesto (by Home Cooked Harvest)
Tomato Basil Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1-2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 28 oz San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes
- 17-20 fresh basil leaves chopped
- 4 oz burrata
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 1/4 lbs gnocchi
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese shredded
Instructions
- In a medium large pot, saute garlic in olive oil for 20-30 seconds or until fragrant. Do not burn garlic.
- Add tomatoes (including juice) into the pot. Then add basil leaves (see Note 1), burrata and sugar. Break the burrata and stir into the sauce. Bring to boil.
- Once the sauce boils, bring to medium low heat and cook for another 15-20 minutes to thicken sauce. Then add salt and pepper to taste.
- While waiting for the sauce to cook, bring water to boil in a separate pot and cook gnocchi based on package instructions. I cooked mine for 3 minutes once it comes to a boil.
- Drain water from gnocchi and toss gnocchi in sauce. (See Note 2)
- Garnish with shredded parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!
This is so light and fluffy yet full of flavor!! I made two batches:)
Fantastic! I’m so glad to hear, Jennifer! 🙂
We LOVED this recipe!! It’ll be in our regular rotation from here on out!
I’m so glad to hear that!!
So simple and easy! Perfect for our weekend dinner.
Great to hear you enjoyed it!
Turned out perfectly, made these for a dinner party and the plates were licked clean. Loved the simple sauce and I adore San Marzano tomatoes.
Thanks for sharing Kathi! Happy that you all enjoyed it. Love Sam Marzano tomatoes too…yum!
Such a delicious and easy dinner to make! Our whole family LOVED this!
Yay! Glad to hear that, Erin!
We loved these pillowy little gnocchi, definitely making again!
Wonderful to hear! 🙂