Soft and pillowy gnocchi are tossed together with a hearty mushroom, broccolini, and parmesan sauce for a delicious, vegetarian weeknight dinner. This creamy mushroom gnocchi is super satisfying and a 30 minute meal!
Looking for more vegetarian dishes? Try my leek and chard Mac and cheese, Carrot and Fennel Lentil soup, or my Miso Stir Fry (sub tofu!).
The best parts about this recipe
- It’s naturally creamy without any heavy cream.
- Packed with umami from the mushrooms and parmesan.
- 30 minute meal!
Table of Contents
- Ingredient Notes
- How to make Creamy Mushroom Gnocchi Step by Step
- Recipe and Cooking Tips
- Storage and Reheating
- Additions and Substitutions
- FAQ
- Video Tutorial
- The Recipe
- Looking for more similar recipes?
Ingredient Notes:
Mushrooms – I use brown button mushrooms, but any beefy mushrooms that are thinly sliced should work. I wouldn’t use enoki mushrooms or thin long mushrooms that might become stringy with this combination.
Gnocchi – I use a 16 ounce package of vacuum sealed gnocchi. It’s usually one entire package so you have no half opened package. I like the Pranzo brand from Trader Joe’s but the DeCecco is also good. This is in the pasta pantry section of the store, not the refrigerated section.
Grated Parmesan Cheese – This can be found in the cheese section or specialty cheese section of the grocery store. I usually always have some of this in my fridge. If you are more familiar with the big chunk of parmesan cheese, you can use a microplane and grate the cheese yourself too.
How to make the Creamy Mushroom Gnocchi – Step by Step:
Step 1: Bring a medium pot of water up to a boil.
Step 2: Prep all the vegetables and aromatics. Cut the broccolini into 2” pieces (the stems can be cut a bit smaller, like ½”), thinly slice the mushrooms and shallots, and mince the garlic.
Step 3: Heat a medium sized pan on medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and the thinly sliced mushrooms. Cook until brown, about 4-5 minutes, then add the broccolini, shallots, minced garlic, kosher salt, red pepper flake, and black pepper. Add another tablespoon of olive oil if if the pan is looking a bit dry. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Step 4: After the broccolini is in, add the gnocchi to the boiling and salted water, and cook according to package directions.
Step 5: Push the mushroom broccolini mixture to the side and add the butter and another tablespoon of olive oil. Mix with the broccolini and mushrooms, then add in the pasta water, cooked gnocchi, and grated parmesan cheese. Give everything a mix and cook until the pasta water begins to thicken and form a creamy sauce. You should begin to see lots of bubbles. If not, increase the heat.
Step 6: Give the gnocchi a taste, adjust seasoning as desire, then plate. Top with some more parmesan, and serve.
Recipe & Cooking tips:
Tip 1 – Give your pasta water a taste before you add it to the mushroom and broccolini mixture. Since I don’t typically measure the amount of salt I use, this can vary and make your pasta sauce too salty if you went a little too heavy handed with the salt. If the pasta water is a bit too salty, add a few tablespoons. Then once you add the pasta water, make sure you bring this to a boil so the liquid can emulsify and reduce down into the right texture.
Tip 2 – Brown the mushrooms first on medium high heat before adding the shallots, garlic, and broccolini. Since the mushrooms take longer to cook than the other ingredients, you don’t want to burn the garlic or overcook the broccolini.
Tip 3 – Add more olive oil to the pan after cooking the mushrooms if your pan looks a bit dry. Mushrooms love oil, and the fats here are what help make a creamy sauce.
Storage and Reheating
Storage: Store the cooked gnocchi in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Reheating: Add the gnocchi to a pan with 2 tablespoons of water a cook covered until warm, about 5 minutes.
Freezing: You could freeze this and defrost the night before you want to eat it, but I wouldn’t recommend it for the best tasting dish. Frozen and defrosted broccolini gets a little mushy.
Additions and Substitutions
Additions:
- Spice – I call for red pepper flake to add a subtle flavor boost, but you could also add in a Serrano pepper when adding the shallots and garlic for some even more spice.
- Protein – If you want a little bit more protein in this meal, you could add a ground meat (sausage would be delicious in this) before you brown the mushrooms. You can keep the sausage in the pan as you follow the rest of the recipe.
- Spinach – want a leafy green sneaked into the dish? Spinach or a baby kale would be a great addition that you could fold into the sauce after you add the pasta water.
Substitutions:
- Broccolini – broccoli, broccoli rabe, or even savoy cabbage would work here. If it’s spring time, asparagus would also be really nice in this dish!
- Gnocchi– Not a fan of gnocchi? This would also work with pasta! I recommend a short pasta like rigatoni or fusili.
FAQ
The combination of the starchy pasta water, butter, olive oil, and parmesan cheese create a creamy texture that isn’t too heavy or thick.
Your sauce will start off watery. It should reduce and thicken as you cook in on medium high heat and as the sauce begins to bubble. Let the sauce bubble for at least 2-3 minutes and if the sauce is still not thickening, you may need to add another tablespoon of oil.
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Creamy Mushroom Gnocchi
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Soft and pillowy gnocchi are tossed together with a hearty mushroom, broccolini, and parmesan sauce for a delicious, vegetarian weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces of brown button mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch broccolini
- 1 shallot
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Olive oil
- Red pepper flake
- 16 ounce package of gnocchi
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup pasta water
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese + more for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a medium pot of water up to a boil.
- Prep all the vegetables and aromatics. Cut the broccolini into 2” pieces (the stems can be cut a bit smaller, like ½”), thinly slice the mushrooms and shallots, and mince the garlic.
- Heat a medium sized pan on medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and the thinly sliced mushrooms. Cook until brown, about 4-5 minutes, then add the broccolini, shallots, minced garlic, kosher salt, red pepper flake, and black pepper. Add another tablespoon of olive oil if if the pan is looking a bit dry. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- After the broccolini is in, add the gnocchi to the boiling and salted water, and cook according to package directions.
- Push the mushroom broccolini mixture to the side and add the butter and another tablespoon of olive oil. Mix with the broccolini and mushrooms, then add in the pasta water, cooked gnocchi, and grated parmesan cheese. Give everything a mix and cook until the pasta water begins to thicken and form a creamy sauce. You should begin to see lots of bubbles. If not, increase the heat.
- Give the gnocchi a taste, adjust seasoning as desire, then plate. Top with some more parmesan, and serve.
Notes
Tip 1 – Give your pasta water a taste before you add it to the mushroom and broccolini mixture. Since I don’t typically measure the amount of salt I use, this can vary and make your pasta sauce too salty if you went a little too heavy handed with the salt. If the pasta water is a bit too salty, add a few tablespoons. Then once you add the pasta water, make sure you bring this to a boil so the liquid can emulsify and reduce down into the right texture.
Tip 2 – Brown the mushrooms first on medium high heat before adding the shallots, garlic, and broccolini. Since the mushrooms take longer to cook than the other ingredients, you don’t want to burn the garlic or overcook the broccolini.
Tip 3 – Add more olive oil to the pan after cooking the mushrooms if your pan looks a bit dry. Mushrooms love oil, and the fats here are what help make a creamy sauce.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Quick and easy
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
I was skeptical because the recipe was so simple, but the gnocchi was creamy and full of flavor. My husband said he would not change a thing, and suggested this dish as a new go-to for dinner parties.
This would be such a great dish for dinner parties – it would go well with so many things!!! I most recently paired them with chicken parm 🙂