This comforting and vegetable packed Italian dish is ready in under 10 minutes. Spinach and Mushroom Gnocchi tastes far more indulgent than it actually is. Simple comfort food at its finest, and a great way to enjoy mushrooms more.
Perfectly cooked, light and pillowy gnocchi, covered in an easy homemade creamy sauce and packed with meaty mushrooms and spinach for a green boost. A quick weeknight meal that is nutrient dense and comforting too. If you are trying to eat more vegetarian meals, then this is a good one to start with.
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Why should you try it?
- Quick and easy comfort food
- Takes just 10 minutes
- Easy to adapt with different vegetables
- You could add a protein to it
What you will need
- Gnocchi - We used a good quality store bought gnocchi to save some time. However if you have a little extra time, then you could make your own.
- Mushrooms - The key to this dish being the best it can be, is to use a selection of mushrooms. They add so much amazing texture. To make this a budget friendly meal, you could just use the cheapest mushrooms you can find.
- Shallots - These add a nice sweetness to the mushroom gnocchi. You could swap them for half a small onion if you prefer.
- Spinach - A great way to add a green boost to this dish. You could use chopped up kale instead.
- Creme fraiche - This is how we make a simple creamy sauce. You can use reduced fat to save some calories.
- Parmesan - Added to the creme fraiche and it makes a deliciously cheesy sauce. Any cheese that melts well, like cheddar, will work well.
- Mustard - This adds a nice pop of flavour to the sauce. You could use dijon instead.
Step by step
One: Add the gnocchi to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Drain once cooked.
Two: Heat the oil to a pan. Add the shallots, garlic and mushrooms and gently cook for 5 minutes.
Three: Add the spinach and drained gnocchi and cook until the spinach has wilted.
Four: Add the creme fraiche, parmesan and mustard. Stir so that all the gnocchi is coated and serve.
What mushrooms to use
Mushrooms add lots of texture to this dish, so it's important to use a selection of different ones. You could just use one type, but a mixture of mushrooms will really take this dish to the next level. We like to use chestnut, shiitake, baby portobello and oyster. It makes the dish look more appetising too.
Creamy sauce
When it comes to Italian dishes, you can't go wrong with a creamy sauce. However, creamy sauces doesn't have to be full of calories and fat. We make a lighter creamy sauce by using reduced fat creme fraiche with a little cheese melted in and some wholegrain mustard. It takes seconds to put together, but it is full of flavour.
We used reduced parmesan, but you can swap it it for mozzarella or reduced fat cheddar, or any cheese that melts well. You could add some cream cheese too.
How to adapt it
This is an easy dish to adapt, and you could swap in any vegetables that you have on hand. We used spinach because it cooks quickly, however you could sauté kale and use that instead.
Try to only use quick cooking veg, rather than root vegetables that would take longer. Bell peppers and courgettes work well in this, or you could fry some broccoli for an extra green boost. Artichokes go really well in it too.
To make this a really quick and easy meal, we used store bought gnocchi in a packet. However, you could make your own gnocchi which is far easier to make than you might think. We will have a recipe for that soon.
If you don't want a creamy sauce, then you could swap the creme fraiche, mustard and parmesan for our Easy Tomato Pasta Sauce instead. You can also just stir some pesto in.
What to serve it with
Garlic bread of course! Gnocchi and garlic bread are such a delicious match. Either buy some ready made, or make your own easy garlic bread by cutting up some French stick and spreading it with a mix of butter, crushed garlic and dried herbs. Then pop it in the oven for 10 minutes.
We like to serve this with a big green salad too. Because, you can never have too many greens in your life, right?
FAQs
This dish is so quick and easy to make, that you can just make it from fresh. However, if you end up making too much then it does reheat well. Just add it to a hot pan and then cook until warmed through.
You could always chop up all the vegetables in advance and then keep them in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.
No, you can actually skip this step and save yourself some time. You can sauté the the gnocchi in the pan with the mushrooms and it makes then nice and crispy.
Yes, you can easily make this gluten free. Just make sure to use gluten free gnocchi and make sure all the other ingredients that you are using are gluten free too.
We used store bought gnocchi to make this a super quick and easy meal, however you could use your favourite homemade gnocchi recipe for this too. Have you tried our Leftover Mashed Potato Gnocchi?
Extra tips
- If you wanted to add meat to this, then leftover shredded chicken or some chopped cooked bacon would work.
- If adding other vegetables, make sure they are quick cooking softer vegetables.
- You can use any cheese that melts well in this recipe.
- Swap the wholegrain mustard for dijon mustard if you prefer.
- Top it with some fresh herbs, extra cheese and a sprinkling of pine nuts.
- A little bit of the starch water from the pan added to the sauce makes it lovely and silky, so don't drain all the water.
- If you don't have gnocchi, you could make this recipe with any pasta sauce instead - it's a great pasta sauce. It's also a good sauce to pour over chicken or salmon too.
More Italian recipes
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Recipe
Spinach and Mushroom Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 500 g gnocchi
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 250 g mixed mushrooms sliced
- 2 shallots diced
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 80 g spinach
- 4 tbsp 0% creme fraiche
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 50 g Parmesan grated
Instructions
- Add the gnocchi to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Drain once cooked.
- Heat the oil to a pan. Add the shallots, garlic and mushrooms and gently cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the spinach and drained gnocchi and cook until the spinach has wilted.
- Add the creme fraiche, parmesan and mustard. Stir so that all the gnocchi is coated and serve.
Notes
- If you wanted to add meat to this, then leftover shredded chicken or some chopped cooked bacon would work.
- If adding other vegetables, make sure they are quick cooking softer vegetables.
- You can use any cheese that melts well in this recipe.
- Swap the wholegrain mustard for dijon mustard if you prefer.
- Top it with some fresh herbs, extra cheese and a sprinkling of pine nuts.
- A little bit of the starch water from the pan added to the sauce makes it lovely and silky, so don't drain all the water.
- If you don't have gnocchi, you could make this recipe with any pasta sauce instead - it's a great pasta sauce. It's also a good sauce to pour over chicken or salmon too.
Beth
This sounds so tasty and looks so great! I can't wait to make this soon! My family is going to love this with our dinner tonight!
Natalie
Oh yum! What a nice dinner idea. I will make this tomorrow. My boys going to love this. Thanks!