Busy weeknights? No problem. This easy and fast Gnocchi with Sausage and Spinach is wonderfully tasty! All you need is 20 minutes and one pan. Deliciously simple!
Gnocchi with Sausage, Spinach, and Tomatoes
With all the busy ongoings of daily life, if you’re ever asked yourself who has time to cook? then you’re in the right place today.
Feeding the family deliciously nutritious meals doesn’t have to take hours to accomplish. Especially when there are fail proof one-pan meals that require minimal effort for maximum results.
This 20-minute Gnocchi with Sausage, Spinach, and Tomatoes is packed with big flavors the entire family will adore. Fluffy soft gnocchi, savory sausage, and fresh vegetables are combined into a tasty meal you’ll feel great about serving.
Bonus: you’ll appreciate the fact that there’s only one skillet for this easy gnocchi recipe.
Buying and Storing Gnocchi
Though we won’t pretend store-bought gnocchi is synonymous with the variety that comes from a masterful chef’s restaurant kitchen, we will vouch for the simplicity and ease that pre-made gnocchi provides. Not to mention, it tastes pretty incredible when treated right.
You’ll generally find vacuum sealed packages of gnocchi in the refrigerated section of your major grocery store. It can sometimes be found in the pasta aisle as well. Packaged gnocchi will feel soft to the touch, unlike other dry pasta. Gnocchi differs from pasta, as it’s made with potatoes. Thus, its characteristics are soft and fluffy, rather than chewy.
Once you bring your gnocchi home, store it in either your fridge or pantry at moderate room temperature in its original vacuum sealed container. We recommend using the entire package once opened, in order to enjoy it as freshly as possible.
Prep-Ahead Tips
Although this easy gnocchi recipe is already unbelievably simple and quick, we’re still fond of any streamlining strategies that make dinnertime even easier.
Here are a few tips for you to make our fast and easy gnocchi recipe even quicker:
- Whenever you have a recipe or need for chopped onions and/or garlic, go ahead and chop plenty of extra. Place extras in an airtight container and freeze until your next recipe calls for chopped onions or garlic.
- Buy ground Italian sausage without casings. This eliminates the need to remove casings when you go to cook the sausage.
- Buy baby spinach leaves in the pre-packaged salad section of your grocery store, pre-washed and ready to use.
- You can buy pre-shredded cheeses, or better yet — shred your own blocks of cheese one night and place in airtight containers to keep in fridge for recipes that call for shredded cheese.
This 20-Minute, One-Pan Gnocchi with Sausage with Spinach is a completely fuss-free recipe that will satisfy your carb lovers, carnivores, and and melty cheese eaters. Enjoy.
Try This One-Pot Creamy Gnocchi with Chicken, Too:

20-Minute, One-Pan Gnocchi with Sausage and Spinach
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 7 mins
- Total Time: 17 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dinner, main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Busy weeknights? No problem. This easy and fast Gnocchi with Sausage and Spinach is wonderfully tasty! All you need is 20 minutes and one pan. Deliciously simple! Serve with a loaf of French or Italian bread to eat up any leftover sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 TB olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 lb Italian sausage (bulk, no casings)
- 1 (16 oz) package potato gnocchi (from refrigerated or pasta aisle)
- 1 (14.5 oz) can Italian flavored diced tomatoes with juices (do not drain)
- 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large nonstick skillet, add oil and heat over medium high until hot. Add onion and garlic and stir/cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
- Add sausage; stir and break it up into pieces, until nicely browned. Don’t drain. Add uncooked gnocchi. Stir 1 min, gently breaking up any clumps. Stir in tomatoes with juices and chicken broth. Cover and cook on medium heat, 5 min, or just until gnocchi is fluffy and cooked through. Turn off heat.
- Add spinach and pepper. Stir until spinach leaves are wilted. Sprinkle with cheeses and cover for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melty. Serve immediately.
Notes
Sliced French or Italian bread is a great accompaniment, for soaking up leftover sauce.
Make it meatless: Simply skip the sausage and add another veggie instead. Sub veggie broth for chicken broth.
Keywords: Gnocchi with Sausage, Easy Gnocchi Recipe
favorite weeknight one-pan meals
- One-Pot Gnocchi with Spinach and Chicken. Creamy, quick, and delish!
2. One-Pot Pizza Pasta. No need for pizza dough; get your weeknight pizza fix with this delish pasta!
3. One-Pot Thai Chicken and Rice. A simple twist for something deliciously different from your everyday one-pot!
4. One-Pot Enchilada Rice Casserole. Get all the yum in an enchilada, with this easy rice dish!
It’s official, you need a cookbook so that I can stop printing these out and just have everything on hand 😀 This looks amazing and I’ll have to try this next week.
Thanks for the kind comment, Reesie! I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes…yippee!! 🙂 Thanks for coming over and dropping a line today 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it tonight and it was a big hit!
★★★★★
So happy you guys enjoyed this dish, Chris! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that my husband & I had this tonight, and it was delicious! Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Yipee, Anna, great job! Thanks for letting us know, and glad you found us 🙂
This is fantastic, had it twice I the since you posted it and my picky husband is asking for this yummy dish again;) thanks for the recipe.
This was amazing and perfect to just throw together any day. Having it be a one-pot dinner is even better! I love crock pot meals but that requires actual forethought whereas this is perfect for “I did not even remember dinner was a thing until 5:30. Scheiße! ” THANK YOU!
Aww, that’s awesome to hear, Emily! Super happy you loved it – great job! 🙂 Thanks for coming over and letting us know. Hope you continue finding recipes you love here at COL 🙂
Do you have to use a non stick skillet
Mary, I prefer my nonstick for this recipe, but you can certainly use a regular skillet, greased first. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for coming over today 🙂
Made gnocchi with spinach sausage and cheese one pot dinner, just excellent keep the 30 minute dishes coming. My husband couldn’t stop eating Thank you
Aww, you’re so welcome, Gloria! Thanks for the kind comment. So glad you guys loved it, and hope you keep comin’ back for more 🙂
Love this recipe! I make it vegetarian with Field Roast Vegan Sausages and veg broth and the flavors are definitely not lacking.
Also, I would advise against using a cast iron skillet for this, because the tomatoes and dairy clear the seasoning right off! Lesson learned 🙂
That’s fantastic, Liz! So glad you’re loving it 🙂
This was delicious! A great way to get even more veggies into my toddler. I also mixed in some green beans. Thanks for sharing!
Yay, so glad to hear that, Chantelle! Thanks for coming over to let us know 🙂
Awesome recipe! It got raving reviews from my boyfriend (haven’t heard that level of “this-is-delicious” enthusiasm in a while). Thank you so, so much!
Yay, Rachelle! So happy to hear you guys loved it 🙂 Thanks for coming over to let us know today!
This dish was excellent! My husband and I really enjoyed it. I’ve never cooked gnocchi before and this recipe made it very simple. We decided to use hot sausage for this dish and it was an amazing flavor! The little bit of left overs we had were just as good! Thank you for this great recipe!
Yay, love to hear it, Megan! Thanks for taking the time to come over and tell us 🙂
Would this work with tortellini? Thanks!
Laura, I think it would work! Just have to adjust the cook time according to your tortellini package instructions, but it should turn out yummy. Cool idea 🙂
This was pretty amazing, even my kids loved it. My two year old went back for seconds. Definitely a keeper.
Yipee, Melissa, that makes me happy!! 🙂 Thanks for coming over and letting us know you guys loved! 🙂
OK… so my husband hates sausage, and usually he won’t eat pasta… but this sounded sooo good I made it anyway… for myself! Well the hubs smelled it and said it looked good and the next thing I know, he’d eaten a big plate of it and was raving about it… guess this one’s a definite keeper!!!!!!
LOL, looks like we brought him over to the dark side So glad you guys liked!
This was so good! I have a two year old so anything under a half hour is a must in my book. She loved it, my husband loved it and I had to stop myself from eating the whole thing…I’m not looking if you have any quick shrimp recipes. New favorite blog!!
Awww, thanks Mimi! So happy you all enjoyed this 🙂 I know when my kiddos love something, it’s a win!
Ever freeze it?
Easy and delicious. Going into my pasta dinner rotation.
Why dry gnocchi?
I use dry gnocchi because that’s easiest for me to keep stored in my pantry 🙂 You can probably use refrigerated gnocchi just fine as well, but might need to lessen the cook time if needed. Hope you love this, Susan 🙂
Yum! Great recipe! Will definitely be making again:) Loved all the flavors. I had bought a costco size package of gnocchi that I wanted to try a different recipe for, so glad I tried this one. Very simple to make. I added some diced black olives because they have been sitting in the pantry a while and it worked. Thank you for sharing.
Made this today with sun dried tomato/basil chicken sausage and dried gnocchi from Trader Joe’s. I added extra broth to make it a little more like a stew. It was REALLY delicious! I am definitely making this again. Everyone loved it.
Super fast, super easy, teenagers scarfed up happily. I’ll keep this in the rotation.
Thank you! I was looking for a recipe that I had most of the ingredients for already. I used spinach gnocchi and a bag of mixed italian style veggies instead of going out to find fresh spinach. Skipped the mozza cheese too, but the Parmesan was enough for us. I love these kinds of recipes that can be adapted to what you have. Loved it!
★★★★★
Oh, that’s awesome, Helen! So so happy you liked this recipe 🙂 🙂 🙂
This sounds delicious but we don’t like tomatoes. Is there anything we can sub for that or are we able to just exclude them?
Anissa, you can try sweet red bell peppers, or you may omit them. You may want to add a bit more liquid to offset the missing tomatoes. Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I was eager to try something new this weekend and guess what! After reading various articles, I found yours recipe which easy to cook for my family. I just love it!
Yummy!
made this for dinner last night! Used chicken sausages and fresh mushrooms as well as made it with dairy free cheese to make it dairy free! Yummy!!
★★★★★
Awesome, Eva! Thank you 🙂
Cut back on the onions (bf doesn’t like) and cheese (because I didn’t have any mozz) and added some fresh basil from my garden, and it was one of the BEST things I’ve EVER made!! Thanks for a great recipe!!!
★★★★★
That’s amazing, Austin! 🙂 🙂
This sounds like heaven in a pan! Soft gnocchi with all of the other yummy, healthy ingredients… so yummy! So belly warming for fall!
★★★★★
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gnocchi recipe look as amazing as this does! This is spectacular!
★★★★★
I made this for dinner tonight and my family didn’t leave one gnocchi on the platter! Thanks for such a delicious and easy to make recipe!
★★★★★
This looks incredibly delicious! And we have all the ingredients for the recipe, can’t wait to make this tomorrow!
★★★★★
One-pan meals are the way to go. I absolutely hate dishes. I love that you gave meatless options as well. It was a hit!
★★★★★
I was just thinking I wanted to make something with gnocchi, and then I found this recipe! I love the sausage and spinach and also that this is a one pan dish!!
★★★★★
I’m happy to find a recipe that is quick to put together and is such a delicious alternative to pasta. My grandson loves gnocchi because he can pick them up and nibble on them.
★★★★★
This dish does not taste like it only takes 20 minutes, it is amazing! My family devoured it this weekend.
★★★★★
Awesome, Alexis!
I love gnocchi and this recipe sounds perfect for weeknights. I often make my own potato gnocchi and think I’m going to try this the next time I make them!
★★★★★
What a great gnocchi recipe! The recipe came together perfectly in 20 min and the family loved it. A winner for sure.
★★★★★
You had me at one pot. this dish sounds wonderful and i cannot wait to try it for myself and family.
★★★★★
One pan and 20 minutes? Can’t wait to make this pasta for dinner. Love the combo too.
★★★★★
WOW! this recipe is definitely calling my name! my kids love gnocchi and this recipe overall is just perfect. I need to make this ASAP! thank you for sharing this recipe.
★★★★★
This gnocchi is such a simple and delicious weeknight meal! The whole family loved it and we will definitely be making again and again!
★★★★★
This is such a delicious dinner option for busy nights. Love the tips to make making this even easier!
★★★★★
This is the perfect combination of flavours in a gnocchi dish. My entire family loves gnocchi so I am going to be making this for dinner.
★★★★★
One of the best dishes I have made and it’s so easy!! Highly recommend!
★★★★★
That’s wonderful! Thank you, Jena 🙂
Made this last night. It was very tasty! Took longer to make than 30 minutes, but here is the reason. I couldn’t find dry or refrigerated gnocchi at the market (live in a small town) so I decided to make them when I got home. Found several recipes online using instant potato flakes. Next time I will cook them first before adding them to the meat. I didn’t because your recipe called for uncooked, but it took about 15 minutes for them to cook through. I now have some in my freezer, the recipe made enough for two batches.
★★★★
Sounds fabulous, Barbara!
It is such alum my recipe, totally easy to make. Did my fair share of making and sharing this recipi. Thanks
You’re so welcome and glad you enjoy it so much, Anne! Thanks for coming over today and letting us know. Hope you continue finding recipes you love here at COL 🙂
Will the instruction be the same if I want to be adventurous and make my own gnocchi?
Kelly, I believe so. Just watch the cook time to ensure that your gnocci is cooked to your desired tenderness and not over. Enjoy 🙂
I just made this for my Family they love it, I forgot the Spinach and use mushroom instead and it was good. Next time will use Spinach Thanks