White Bean Gnocchi (ONE Skillet!)

This White Bean Gnocchi combines aromatics, smoked sausage, savory white beans, tender gnocchi, fire-roasted tomatoes, and baby spinach for an explosion of flavor and textures! This nutritious and hearty meal can be prepared in less than 30 minutes and is all made in one skillet!

We love easy one-skillet meals. Try some other favorites next time like this Sweet Potato Burrito Bowl, cheesy Tuna Pasta, or this Chicken Tortellini Bake.

White Bean Gnocchi

This warming, hearty, nutritious, Tuscan-inspired meal is one you’ll feel great eating. It’s packed with good-for-you ingredients, it’s satisfying, and it’s total comfort food!

While the ingredient photo shown below may seem like there’s a lot going on, you’ll be amazed at how quickly everything comes together. Most ingredients need no more prep than opening a can or package! The process of making White Bean Gnocchi is simple — just a little bit of veggie sautéing and then everything gets combined in the skillet and baked to cheesy perfection.

Let’s chat gnocchi

First off, if you aren’t familiar, gnocchi is a traditional Italian type of pasta. They’re soft, pillowy, thick, and fairly small. Gnocchi are typically made with semolina, white flour, or a mix of both, but the main ingredient remains consistent — they’re always made with potatoes! Gnocchis are tender, light, and taste like a mix between dumplings and pasta. Although the main ingredient is potato, they don’t taste overwhelmingly like a potato — in fact, plain gnocchis don’t have a very strong flavor at all. This is what makes them so versatile and excellent for carrying other flavors in surrounding ingredients or sauces.

For this recipe, you’ll need one package of your favorite shelf-stable gnocchi. While no store-bought gnocchi can ever compare to homemade, the seasonings and other ingredients in White Bean Gnocchi infuse it with lots of flavor. Additionally, as the gnocchi bake they get deliciously tender. To decide what gnocchi to purchase, here is a list of the top sellers on Amazon and a list of taste tester’s favorites. My local grocery store doesn’t have a huge selection, but Gia Russa® Gnocchi is typically my go-to.

Once you’re hooked on gnocchi, browse through and bookmark some other recipes to try them in:

• Chicken Gnocchi Soup an Olive Garden “copycat” recipe
• Chicken Gnocchi Pasta made in one skillet
• Baked Gnocchi with vegetables on a sheet pan
• Sausage Gnocchi with mini sausage “meatballs”

White Bean Gnocchi Tips

• Prep everything before you start cooking. This is a dish where the cooking goes pretty quickly, so you want to make sure to have everything ready to go before starting. Once the onion, garlic, and sausage are sautéed, everything can be added into the pan and baked.
• Top with freshly grated cheese. To avoid a grainy or greasy topping, I recommend using freshly grated cheese on top of this white bean gnocchi. Pre-shredded cheese has a cellulose coating (which keeps it from clumping in the bag), and affects the way it melts and integrates into this dish.
• Cook this dish in an oven-safe skillet. This way you can directly transfer from stovetop to oven — no additional dishes needed. If you don’t have an oven safe skillet, I’d recommend a 9×13-inch pan for baking after assembling.
• Seasonings. This dish doesn’t have a lot of salt and pepper because the chicken stock, the Parmesan cheese, the sausage and the white beans are all fairly salty on their own. That said, you still might need a pinch extra at the end — don’t be afraid to add more salt and pepper until the flavors sing.
• Add more cheese. If you love things extra cheesy, feel free to add more to the skillet or top individual bowls with more at serving time.
• Take time sautéing the onion, garlic, and sausage. We’re adding layers of flavor here and if you don’t want crunchy bites of onion, you’ll want to take time getting them tender at the start — they don’t soften much more throughout the cooking process.

Recipe Shortcuts

• Get pre-sliced produce. Most grocery stores sell diced yellow onions in the produce section of the store. Alternatively, frozen diced onions are often sold by other frozen veggies and can be used in this recipe.
• Use jarred garlic or a garlic press. Instead of mincing your own garlic, use jarred to save time. Or, a garlic press will get you fresh minced garlic in a fraction of the time that hand mincing takes.
• Buy bagged, pre-washed baby spinach. Not having to wash and dry spinach for this White Bean Gnocchi is a big time saver! See “quick tip” below

White Bean Gnocchi Ingredient Tips

• Use high-quality stock or broth. The better the stock, the richer this meal will taste. We love Swanson’s Chicken Stock® best (not sponsored).
• Choose your favorite smoked sausage. We love smoked turkey sausage best in this dish. We’ve also used Italian-flavored chicken sausage and thoroughly enjoy that. Smoked beef sausage also works great in this meal. Use your favorite type of smoked sausage! As long as it’s pre-cooked, it should work.
• Fire-roasted diced tomatoes. The tomatoes make a big difference flavor-wise in this dish so I recommend good-quality fire-roasted tomatoes. This type of tomato is charred over a flame before being diced and canned. Contact with the flame brings out the tomato’s sweetness and gives a distinct smoky flavor; essentially you’re getting more flavor without any extra work!

White Bean Gnocchi Side Dish Suggestions

Another nice thing about this recipe is that it’s really got everything you need in one skillet — veggies, protein, and carbs! It’s a great, well-balanced meal. That said, here are some side-dish serving suggestions:

• Crusty bread, dinner rolls, or garlic bread 
• A quick garden salad like this Italian salad or Olive Garden salad
• Roasted veggies — this Roasted Broccoli cooks up very quickly and at the same oven temperature as the gnocchi.

More Dinners with Smoked Sausage

• One-Pan Italian Sausage and Veggies with zucchini, carrots, red peppers, potatoes, broccoli 
• One-Pan Jambalaya with shrimp, rice, and smoked sausage
• Tin Foil Sausage and Veggies Dinner with sweet corn
• Sausage Kabobs with peppers, onions, and mushrooms
• Honey Mustard Chicken Sausage and Veggies made in the air fryer!

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4.97 from 51 votes

White Bean Gnocchi

By Chelsea Lords

White Bean Gnocchi is a flavor-packed, one-skillet wonder! With smoky sausage, tender gnocchi, savory white beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, and fresh spinach, it’s a hearty meal you can whip up in under 30 minutes.

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Equipment

• Large oven-safe skillet or a large pan and 9 x 13-inch baking pan

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 medium onion finely diced, 1 cup
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 1 (13-ounce) package smoked turkey sausage coined
• ▢ 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth or water; I like Swanson’s
• ▢ 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ 1 (15.5-ounce) can white kidney beans or cannellini beans
• ▢ 1 (16-ounce) package gnocchi shelf-stable
• ▢ 1-1/2 cups fresh baby spinach coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese plus more for serving
• ▢ 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving
• ▢ Fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley finely chopped, optional

Instructions 

• Move a rack in your oven to the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425℉. Prep ingredients before starting—cooking goes quickly. Dice onion, mince garlic, cut sausage into coins (~1/2 inch thick), drain, rinse, and dry off beans, coarsely chop spinach, and grate cheeses.
• Place a large oven-safe skillet (I use a deep, 12-inch cast-iron skillet) on the stove over medium-high heat. Pour in olive oil and when hot, add diced onion. Sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until onion is transparent and becoming golden, about 5–7 minutes. Add garlic and stir for another 30 seconds. Add coined turkey sausage. Cook until lightly browned, about 3–4 minutes.
• Add in stock, undrained diced tomatoes, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, beans, uncooked gnocchi (break apart any that are sticking together), and spinach. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I add 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.) Stir until well combined. Top with grated mozzarella and Parmesan.
• Bake 17–23 minutes. If desired, broil 1–2 minutes for a delicious crispy top (watch closely—it can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds!)
• Remove from heat, and let slightly cool before tasting for any additional seasonings. Top with fresh parsley and enjoy hot! If desired, top individual bowls with more cheese—yum!

Video

Recipe Notes

Storage: This dish is best the same day it’s made. Leftovers are still tasty, but they get a little mushy (gnocchi continues to absorb liquid). This dish does not freeze and thaw well; the gnocchi becomes bloated and mushy.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 780kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 2073mg | Potassium: 767mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 9061IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 547mg | Iron: 11mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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