Cooking Social Club:Recipe of the Week: Ricotta Gnocchi!

Elegant, Simple, and Endlessly Versatile — A Favorite from Our Chicago-Area Cooking Class

There are certain recipes that stop you in your tracks the first time you make them — not because they're complicated, but because of how effortlessly they come together. Ricotta Gnocchi is exactly that kind of recipe.

At our cooking social club based in Itasca, IL, we love bringing the kind of dishes to the table that feel restaurant-worthy but are completely achievable at home. This one checks every box. Whether you serve these little pillows of ricotta as a standalone dish with a fresh tomato sauce or float them into a brothy bowl as a dumpling-like accent, they never fail to impress. And once you make them yourself, store-bought gnocchi will feel like a distant memory.

Why Ricotta Gnocchi?

Traditional potato gnocchi has its place, but ricotta gnocchi is lighter, quicker, and — we'd argue — more forgiving. There's no boiling potatoes, no ricing, no waiting. The dough comes together in minutes, and the result is a tender, delicate bite that absorbs whatever sauce you pair it with beautifully. It's the kind of technique we love teaching in our cooking classes in the Chicago area because the payoff is so immediate and so satisfying.

The Recipe

Yield: Approximately 1.5 lbs — about 30 pieces, each roughly thumbnail-sized

Ingredients

For the Gnocchi:

• Ricotta, drained — 6 oz

• Egg, large — 1

• All-purpose flour — 5 oz

• Parmesan, grated — 2 oz

• Fresh basil — 1 small sprig, leaves picked

• Salt and black pepper — to taste

For the Fresh Tomato Sauce:

• Ground tomato (not tomato sauce) — 2 cups

• Olive oil — 2 oz

• Fresh basil — a few leaves from the sprig above

• Garlic confit — 1 oz (approximately 4 cloves)

Making the Gnocchi Dough

Start by combining the ricotta, egg, and parmesan in a bowl and mixing until smooth. If the mood strikes — and we hope it does — tear a few fresh basil leaves directly into the cheese mixture. The warmth of your hands and the richness of the dairy will draw out the fragrance almost immediately. Let the mixture rest for a minute or two.

Season generously with two heavy pinches of salt. You can always adjust later, but don't be shy here — underseasoned gnocchi is a missed opportunity.

Now comes the part that separates good gnocchi from great gnocchi: incorporating the flour without overmixing.Here's the technique we teach in our Itasca cooking classes —

Lightly dust the top of the cheese mixture with flour, then use a wide spatula or spoon to fold it in. Once it's absorbed, dust in another good portion and repeat until all the flour is incorporated. The goal is a soft, slightly tacky dough — not a stiff one. Mold it gently into a ball, lightly floured on the outside.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each piece into a log roughly as thick as your thumb — length doesn't matter much, but keep the thickness consistent throughout. Then cut each log into square "pillows." Use as little extra flour as possible during this step. You want them just barely dusted.

Cooking the Gnocchi

Bring a pot of water to a boil — and here's a small but important note: do not salt the water. The gnocchi are seasoned from within.

Reduce to a steady simmer and gently drop in enough gnocchi to cover the bottom of the pot in a single layer. Resist the urge to crowd the pot — overcrowding leads to uneven cooking and gnocchi that stick together.

Watch for them to rise to the surface. Once they do, let them simmer for an additional 30 seconds on top, then remove them with a slotted spoon or spider strainer directly into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking. From there, drain them and toss lightly with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking while you build your sauce.

Getting Sauced: Fresh Tomato Sauce with Garlic Confit

The garlic confit is a recipe unto itself — whole garlic cloves slow-cooked in olive oil until completely soft, golden, and mellow in flavor. We keep it on hand refrigerated at all times in our kitchen. For this sauce, take about 4 cloves (roughly 1 oz) and crush them gently in a small saucepan.

Add a few torn fresh basil leaves and the olive oil. Heat over low until the mixture is fragrant — your kitchen is going to smell incredible at this point — then add the ground tomato.

Here's the critical step: heat it gently, but do not let it boil. Cooking a quality ground tomato too hard destroys the delicate, bright flavor that makes this sauce so special. You want it warm, fragrant, and vibrant — not reduced and acidic.

From here, you have two delicious paths:

1. Warm the gnocchi directly in the sauce — add them to the pan and let everything meld together over low heat.

2. Sauté the gnocchi separately in a little olive oil until they develop a light golden crust, then spoon the sauce over at the end for texture contrast.

Both are right. Choose based on your mood.

A Note from Our Kitchen

This recipe is a staple in our cooking social club for good reason — it's accessible enough for a first-time pasta maker and satisfying enough for a seasoned home cook. We've introduced it in our cooking classes in the Chicago area and around Itasca, and it never fails to generate that particular kind of quiet in the room that only comes when everyone at the table is genuinely happy with what they're eating.

Turn it to your preferences, make it your own, and enjoy every bite!

Have questions about this recipe or want to learn hands-on? Join us at our next cooking class in Itasca, IL — where Chicago-area food lovers come together to cook, eat, and share great food.