Skillet Gnocchi plus Chicken and Tomato Sauce

Cozy and comforting, this skillet gnocchi with chicken and tomato sauce is on your table in under 30 minutes — reliable for busy nights!

Leading up to Thanksgiving, we shared a couple great one pot/pan/dish recipes including vegetarian lasagna soup, one dish Italian chicken and rice bake, and baked chicken Parmesan with broccoli, and we have a couple more coming this week, from-scratch hamburger helper and from-scratch hot pockets. Your kids will love the hot pockets, and we have to admit, the adults in our household love them, too!

About this skillet gnocchi

• One pan: There is such joy and beauty in making only ONE PAN dirty at dinnertime. Am we alone on this? Nothing makes us happier than a small stack of dishes after dinner. One of the great things about this skillet gnocchi recipe is the gnocchi cooks right in the sauce. Thus making it one pan. See how that works? For another rich skillet gnocchi recipe, try Gnocchi with Kale & Sun-Dried Tomatoes. So good!
• 30 minute meal: Thanks to some handy shortcuts, this recipe is done in 30 minutes.

What goes in

Cooked Chicken Breasts: For this simple recipe, we use chicken breasts that we had already cooked (read about our method here), keeping this recipe to 25 minutes. You could easily cook the chicken in the pan before adding the sauce — it would only add a few more minutes to the cooking time. It would also work great with that rotisserie chicken that we know you have in your fridge at least once a week. If you prefer using chicken thighs, go for it.

Mozzarella: We used rounds of fresh mozzarella, but you could also use shredded mozzarella if you prefer that.

Whole Wheat Gnocchi: Whole wheat gnocchi can be hard to find. You can easily use traditional gnocchi instead. If you’re a gnocchi fan (or even if you’re not!), try one pan vegetarian Gnocchi with Kale & Sun-Dried Tomatoes. It’s so good!

Pasta Sauce: This recipe used jarred marinara, making it speedy and straightforward. If you’d prefer to make your own, try our spaghetti sauce recipe.

How to Pronounce Gnocchi

Our mom actually won’t order gnocchi in a restaurant because she knows she’ll say it wrong. It sounds like this: nee-oan-kee. The “oan” part you kind of say in your nose.

• Yield: 6 servings
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 20 minutes
• Total: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 jar (24 oz) tomato basil pasta sauce (we like Rao’s Homemade or any type with a short ingredient list)
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 16 oz whole wheat potato gnocchi (we use Delallo)
• 3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced or shredded (about 3 cups diced chicken)
• 6 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
• Fresh parsley or basil for garnish (optional)

Method

1. In a large high-sided skillet, heat pasta sauce and tomatoes over high heat until they come to a simmer (about five minutes).
2. Reduce heat to medium, add gnocchi and stir to combine and make sure that gnocchi are covered with sauce.
3. Cover and cook for five minutes over medium heat.
4. Add chicken and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for five minutes, remove cover and stir.
5. Sprinkle cheese on top; cover and cook for five more minutes.
6. Serve topped with fresh basil and/or parsley if desired.