This 5-Minute Romesco Gnocchi Sauce Recipe is loaded with flavor. Serve with wrapped gnocchi for a quick and easy dinner recipe in just 15 minutes!
If you know our Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook, you know that Alex and my philosophy is about 5 minutes this and 10 minutes that. Why? When quick cook time is the most important thing in a recipe, it cheapens the cooking process. It seems like cooking is all about finding the super-fast magic recipes, not investing time in flavor-enhancing skills.
However, sometimes life calls for a quick dinner. Many requests arrive in our inbox, like this one from reader John: “I’m having trouble getting dressed healthy on the table every evening. I’d like to see a roundup of some of your favorite quick meals. His plea is behind this 5-Minute Gnocchi Sauce Recipe: and it turns into a dinner recipe in 15 minutes. Read on for the gnocchi sauce recipe.
Related: Easy vegetarian recipes for beginners | Homemade ricotta gnocchi
How to make romesco sauce for gnocchi
In the spirit of “Healthy recipes at lightning speed” here is our recipe for gnocchi sauce in 5 minutes! It goes well with gnocchi in just 15 minutes. I know what you’re thinking: Does it really take 15 minutes? Well, it depends on your cooking style. But here are the facts.
I made this recipe for gnocchi sauce all alone between 5:54 a.m. and 6:09 a.m. on a Thursday evening. True story. It requires no chopping and minimal “cooking”. The gnocchi sauce recipe takes 5 minutes to mix and the wrapped gnocchi cook for 3 minutes. Since we wanted to add leafy greens to this recipe to add nutrients, we added a “tip” that we like to use to save time! Instead of cooking the spinach, we use the pasta’s hot water to quickly collapse it as the pasta drains. Combine wilted spinach with gnocchi sauce and cooked gnocchi and you have dinner!
Although this recipe only takes 15 minutes, we recommend serving it with a salad, which would mean a few minutes of prep time. Stretching the portion size might help, too: We found it left me, Alex, and Larson with no leftovers, so we’d say the portion size is modest. You can also make the gnocchi 1.5-2 times since the gnocchi sauce is enough for a double recipe. Another great 15 minute gnocchi meal is ours Easy Creamy Gnocchiwhich we also highly recommend!
Related: This recipe is included in our 28-Day Healthy Meal Plan
What are healthy recipes?
declare healthy? For us, healthy recipes are wholesome meals from our own kitchen. Gnocchi are Italian “noodles” made from potatoes and flour. Pasta isn’t generally considered a healthy food, but good news: A new study has found that pasta may actually help you lose weight. Italian researchers have found that pasta, in moderation, can be part of a healthy diet.
As mentioned above, we added colorful veggies to the pasta: spinach and a romesco sauce for gnocchi made with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and almonds. This recipe is an all-plant-based vegan dinner because the feta crumbs are optional. It’s also gluten-free if you can find gluten-free gnocchi, or you can use gluten-free pasta. As above, we recommend serving with a green salad.
Want more with almonds? We have 15 amazing almond recipes for you to try.
This recipe is…
This 5 Minute Gnocchi Sauce recipe is vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free (edit below), plant-based, and dairy-free.
The description
This 5-Minute Romesco Gnocchi Sauce Recipe is loaded with flavor. Serve with wrapped gnocchi for a quick and easy dinner recipe in just 15 minutes!
For the gnocchi sauce (recipe requires 1 cup)
- 1 cup roasted almonds
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 151 ounce fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 large roasted peppers in a jar
- ½ tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the gnocchi
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, seasoned with about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt.
- Prepare the gnocchi sauce: peel the garlic. In a blender or food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth. Taste and add more spices if you like.
- Once the water is boiling, add the gnocchi and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, line a colander with spinach leaves. When the gnocchi are cooked, pour them into the colander with the spinach so the boiling water will soften the spinach. Then return the gnocchi and cooked spinach to the pan, stirring several times to distribute the spinach evenly.
- Add 1 cup Romesco sauce to the pan and stir. (Reserve and refrigerate the remaining 1 ½ cups for up to 1 week.)
- Garnish with freshly ground black pepper for vegans. Garnish with black pepper and crumbled feta cheese for vegetarians. Add a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
- Category: main course
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: Italian
Keywords: Gnocchi Sauce Romesco Recipe for Gnocchi Sauce Italian Vegetarian Vegan Gnocchi Quick
Looking for quick and easy dinner recipes?
Aside from this 5-Minute Gnocchi Sauce Recipe, here are some of our favorite quick and easy dinner recipes on A Couple Cooks:
