Sheet Pan Gnocchi

At a glance

What stands out: Sheet pan gnocchi is a complete meal on a baking sheet, with Italian sausage, veggies, and crispy, golden-brown gnocchi. Once you try roasted gnocchi, you’ll never boil it again!

How long it takes: 50 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: rimmed sheet pan, approx. 18 x 13 inches
Servings: 4

Pin this now to find it later

Pin It

Pillowy, tender gnocchi always feels like a special dinner (like this gnocchi soup!), but when you roast it in the oven, it absolutely transforms that familiar favorite. It’s still fluffy and pillowy on the inside, but the outside is crispy and golden, and the whole package is just a little bit chewier than when you boil it.

We absolutely love gnocchi this way—and when you bake it in the oven, you can also include the protein and veggies, making your entire dinner on a single sheet pan!

Sheet Pan Gnocchi Dinner

A one-pan meal. If you love a sheet pan dinner recipe, this one is sure to become a favorite. Like our sheet pan shrimp fajitas and sheet pan Italian sausage, polenta & broccoli, it’s speedy and straightforward. Oven-roasting makes every component of the recipe rich!

Includes a sauce. Even sheet pan gnocchi needs a sauce, so we toss a pint of grape tomatoes onto the pan. The tomatoes get fantastically jammy and as they roast, their flavor gets sweeter and more concentrated. (If you lean more toward creamy sauces, be sure to try our creamy sheet pan gnocchi!)

So versatile. You can add or substitute your favorite veggies and protein to make this sheet pan gnocchi your own. Don’t be afraid to get creative!

satisfying. Between the sausage and the gnocchi and all those beautiful veggies, this is a dinner that is sure to satisfy even the hungriest appetites.

Colleen Said:

“we made the sheet pan gnocchi last night and it was speedy, straightforward, and soooo rich!! Thank you for a great recipe!”

See More Reader Reviews

What goes in

• Shelf-stable or refrigerated gnocchi: There’s no need to boil the gnocchi first! The oven does all the work for sheet pan gnocchi. If you only have frozen gnocchi, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.
• Raw ground Italian sausage: You can use bulk sausage or links, but either way, you want the sausage to be uncooked so it doesn’t dry out in the oven. We prefer pork sausage for this recipe because the higher fat content helps crisp everything up and adds flavor, but use whatever you prefer.
• Veggies: We use a colorful mix of broccoli florets, bell pepper (any color is fine!), red onion which mellows in flavor and gets crisp edges, and grape tomatoes. You can easily substitute veggies you happen to have on hand but we wouldn’t recommend leaving out the tomatoes. They add a saucy texture to the sheet pan dinner.
• Olive oil & seasonings: Along with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, straightforward pantry ingredients season the veggies and gnocchi. We like a blend of garlic powder, dried oregano, kosher salt, and ground black pepper.
• Parmesan cheese: The shredded cheese adds salty, nutty flavor to bring everything together. Shredded cheese works better than grated Parmesan for this recipe.

How it comes together

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 425ºF. If you’d like, you can line your sheet pan with parchment paper for straightforward cleanup. (Cooking directly on the pan will give you crispier gnocchi, so it’s a trade-off. Sometimes we want the crispier gnocchi, other days, we don’t want to scrub the sheet pan!)

Break up the sausage. Form the sausage into 1-inch portions, like loosely packed meatballs. Place the sausage “balls” on the baking sheet.

Finish assembling. Add the gnocchi, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, olive oil, and seasonings to the pan, and toss to coat. Use a light hand; you don’t want to crush or break up the chunks of sausage. Spread everything in an even layer.

Roast. Set the pan in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Stir, make sure everything is evenly distributed again, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until the broccoli is tender and beginning to crisp up on the edges, and the sausage is cooked.

Make it cheesy. Add the Parmesan cheese and place the pan back in the oven for a minute, just enough to melt the cheese.

Serve. Divide the contents of the sheet pan onto plates or into large shallow bowls, and serve with additional Parmesan, if desired.

Straightforward Recipe Variations

• Switch up the veggies. Swap in a small cauliflower for the broccoli, or toss in Brussels sprouts or zucchini instead. Feel free to use what’s in season. (Butternut squash is excellent with sheet pan gnocchi in the fall!)
• Make it meatless. Use your favorite plant-based sausage or add a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas instead of the Italian sausage. (Pat the chickpeas dry with a towel and they’ll get crispy in the oven!)
• Add fresh herbs. Once everything’s done baking, chop up a small handful of fresh basil or parsley to sprinkle on top.

What to Serve With Sheet Pan Gnocchi

• Salad. A green salad dressed with a light vinaigrette like our balsamic vinaigrette or red wine vinaigrette recipe pairs evenly with this dish. A classic house salad is always a good idea. Lately, we’ve been loving this carrot salad, too, especially since it can be made ahead.
• Bread. Italian-inspired dinners are always a good occasion to make Texas toast garlic bread! For sopping up the caramelized tomato juices from the pan, we love these Parker House rolls. From-scratch beer bread is straightforward to mix and would go well with this meal.

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate: Store any leftover sheet pan gnocchi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Freeze: This dish can be frozen, but the texture of the gnocchi may change slightly and the vegetables will be quite soft. If this doesn’t bother you, freeze leftovers in a zip-top freezer bag with the excess air pressed out, or in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.

Reheat: Reheat leftovers in the oven at 350ºF for about 10 minutes or until heated through, on the stovetop in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, or in the microwave.

• Yield: 4
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 35 minutes
• Total: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 16 ounces raw ground Italian sausage (or raw Italian sausage links, up to 19 oz., see note)
• 16 ounces shelf-stable or refrigerated gnocchi, uncooked
• 1 head broccoli (see note)
• 1 red bell pepper
• ½ large red onion
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Cut the broccoli into small florets. Rinse well and dry as much as possible. Cut the red pepper and onion into 1-inch chunks. Rinse the tomatoes (f they're cherry tomatoes, slice them in half).
3. On a rimmed sheet pan (18 x 13-inches), form the sausage into small chunks (about 1-inch in size), similar to meatballs but more free-form. See notes and video if you’re unsure.
4. To the same sheet pan, add uncooked gnocchi, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Toss everything well to coat evenly, being careful not to break up the sausage. Spread the mixture out into an even layer.
5. Place the sheet pan in the oven and roast for 15 minutes, stir, and then continue to cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until the sausage is cooked through, and the broccoli is tender with crispy edges.
6. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese. Return to oven for 1 minute to melt cheese.
7. Serve warm with extra Parmesan on the side, if desired.

Notes

Sausage: Use raw sausage for this recipe, since it cooks with the vegetables and gnocchi the entire time. If you buy ground Italian sausage, form it into loose, free form meatballs/chunks, as instructed above. If you buy links, squeeze chunks of the meat out of the casings. They don’t have to be reliable, but you’ll want them to be somewhat uniform in size. Pork sausage is forgiving because it has a fairly high fat content and doesn’t dry out easily.

Broccoli: Look for a smallish head of broccoli, so your pan isn’t over-crowded. We tested the recipe with a head of broccoli that had three crowns, and also tested with one that had two crowns and the test with two crowns worked better for this recipe. Save the larger stems for another use.

Vegetable swaps: Try using halved Brussels sprouts or sliced zucchini.

Make it vegetarian: Substitute plant-based sausage or chickpeas.