If you know our cookbook Pretty Simple Cooking, you’ll know that Alex and my philosophy is against 5-minute this and 10-minute that. Why? If quick cooking time is the most important thing about a recipe, it cheapens the cooking process. It makes it seem like cooking is just about finding the magical super fast recipes, and not investing time in skills that deepen flavor. However, sometimes life necessitates a quick dinner. Many requests come into our inbox like the following from reader Jean: “I struggle to put something healthyish on the table at lightning speed every night. I’d love to see a round up of some of your favorite crazy-fast meals.” Her request is the impetus for this 5 minute gnocchi sauce recipe: and it comes together into a dinner recipe in 15 minutes flat. Keep reading for the gnocchi sauce recipe.
How to make romesco gnocchi sauce
In the vein of “healthyish recipes at lightening speed”, here is our 5-minute gnocchi sauce recipe! It comes together with the gnocchi in just 15 minutes. I know what you’re thinking: Does it really take 15 minutes to make? Well, it does depend on your cooking style. But, here are the facts. I made this gnocchi sauce recipe by myself between 5:54 and 6:09 on a Thursday night. True story. It requires no chopping and minimal “cooking.” The gnocchi sauce recipe takes 5 minutes to blend and the packaged gnocchi boils for 3 minutes. Because we wanted to add some leafy greens to this recipe to add nutrients, we’ve included a “trick” that we like to use as a time saver! Instead of cooking the spinach, we use the hot pasta water to quickly wilt it when draining the pasta. Combine the wilted spinach with the gnocchi sauce and cooked gnocchi and you’ve got dinner! Though this recipe takes only 15 minutes, we’d suggest serving it with a salad, which would add a few minutes of prep time. This could also help to stretch the serving size: we found it fed me, Alex and Larson without leftovers, so we’d say the serving size is modest. You could also 1.5 to 2x the gnocchi, since the gnocchi sauce makes enough for a double recipe. Another great 15 minute gnocchi meal is our Easy Creamy Gnocchi, which we’d highly recommend as well!
What are healthyish recipes?
Explain healthyish? To us, healthyish recipes are whole food meals prepared in your own kitchen. Gnocchi is Italian “pasta” that is made with potatoes and flour. Typically pasta isn’t considered health food, but good news: a new study found pasta can actually help you lose weight. The Italian researchers found that eaten in moderation, pasta can be part of a healthy diet. As noted above, to the pasta, we’ve added some colorful veg: spinach and a romesco gnocchi sauce made of tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and almonds. This recipe is a vegan dinner fully plant-based as the feta crumbles are optional. It’s also gluten-free if you can find gluten-free gnocchi, or you can use gluten-free pasta. Per above, we’d suggest serving with a green salad. Want more with almonds? We’ve got 15 great almond recipes for you to try.
This recipe is…
This 5 minute gnocchi sauce recipe is vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free (modification below), plant-based, and dairy-free.
Looking for fast and easy dinner recipes?
Outside of this 5 minute gnocchi sauce recipe, here are some of our favorite fast and easy dinner recipes on A Couple Cooks: No reviews
1 cup roasted almonds 2 garlic cloves 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes 2 large roasted red peppers from a jar ½ tablespoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar) 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the gnocchi
1 pound packaged gnocchi (our favorite gnocchi is vegan; for gluten-free, use gluten free gnocchi) 3 cups baby spinach leaves (or chopped standard spinach) 1 cup romesco sauce ¼ cup feta cheese crumbles, optional Kosher salt Fresh ground pepper
Vegan Pesto Pasta Thai Curry PizzaPasta PuttanescaSupremely Simple Refried Black Beans (serve in tacos or with eggs)5-Minute Pesto Arugula SandwichEverything Bagel PastaBroiled Salmon with Bourbon GlazeAll Easy Dinner Ideas!
