6 Tips to Take Your Homemade Gnocchi to the Next Level

Skip the Egg

Gnocchi recipes usually call for an egg, but there's really no need. Egg helps ingredients bind together into a dough; but egg introduces extra moisture, and this makes for a dough that requires more flour, which isn't good. The less flour you use, the fluffier your final gnocchi. Skipping the egg lets you use less flour, making for a fluffier meal. (Don't worry: Ricotta holds the dough together.)

Don't Overdo With Flour

Use as little flour as possible—even when working without an egg. You want the dough to be just a little, tiny-bit sticky. If you use too much flour, the dough loses its stickiness and you'll be on a highway to denser gnocchi.

Nail the Basic Technique

Making gnocchi comes with fantastic creative possibilities. When forming dough, you can build flavor layers with additions: cheese. spices, anything you can dream. But before conjuring next-level flavorings, get comfortable with this basic, two-serving, ricotta gnocchi recipe:

• Whole milk ricotta (1 cup)
• White flour (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
• Grated Parmesan (1 tablespoon)
• Generous sprinklings of salt and pepper
  

Mix With Your Hands

Mixing with your hands lets you feel the dough's stickiness. Using as little flour as possible, you want the dough to be firm enough to easily shape the dumplings. Using a bit too much flour the first few times you make ricotta gnocchi is not a deal breaker. You'll get a feel for your flour threshold with experience.

Take Your Time When Shaping

Once you've massaged ingredients into a uniform ball, you're ready to shape your gnocchi. You don't have to knead the dough, simply lightly flour a work surface (for rolling dough) and a baking sheet or platter (for holding gnocchi). Let's go!

1. Tear a golf-ball-sized chunk from your dough.
2. On the floured surface, roll it out into a rope ½-inch thick.
3. Using a butter or pastry knife, cut the rope into pieces about ½ by ½ inch, and place them on your tray. (There's no need to mark the gnocchi with a fork to create furrows, but you can if you want.)
4. Repeat with a second golf-ball-sized hunk, and again until your original mass of dough is gone, transformed into a tray of gnocchi ready for cooking.
   

Don't Let Water Reach a Full Boil

Cooking gnocchi only takes 2 or 3 minutes. Unlike pasta, gnocchi don't require fully boiling water. In fact, a light boil or strong simmer is preferable, making for a gentle environment; whereas a hard boil can break gnocchi apart. Also, heating your water below a boil gets your gnocchi cooking sooner.

Once they've bobbed to the surface, give your gnocchi another 15 or 30 seconds, and then remove them with a slotted spoon. Transfer gnocchi directly into their sauce—be it pesto, marinara (like in our gnocchi alla vodka recipe), butter and sage, or whatever you've prepared. Thoroughly but gently, toss the gnocchi and let the sauce coat and permeate into them, keeping your pillowy ricotta gnocchi intact and ready to enjoy.