Potato Gnocchi: the Original Recipe of the Great Italian Tradition Classic

Potato gnocchi is a great classic of the Italian cuisine. Usually prepared on Thursdays, they are made with a mixture of boiled potatoes – white or yellow – eggs and flour; once the dough has been obtained, small pieces are cut out, passed through the appropriate rigatocchi (or, alternatively, the tines of a fork) and immersed in boiling, salted water. As soon as they float to the surface, they are drained then seasoned to taste: a fresh tomato sauce, a full-bodied meat sauce, a fragrant Genoese pesto. Whatever the seasoning, they will make adults and children happy.

The regional variations are infinite and each has its own well-rooted tradition: in Rome they are a Thursday dish, in Naples they are rigorously prepared in the Sorrento style, as the first course of Sunday lunch. In case of intolerances, you can make a version without eggs, omitting the latter and adding 50 grams more of flour to the quantity indicated in the recipe, or make them gluten-free, by replacing the 00 flour with rice flour, for example. You can replace part of the wheat flour with the same amount of chestnut flour: you will create an original first course with a delicate flavor, to be seasoned with butter and sage, or a mushroom-based cream.

To obtain soft and flawless gnocchi, choose white or yellow potatoes, making sure they're old potatoes: the richness of starch will make you use less flour for the dough. Avoid young potatoes because, being very watery, they will force you to use more flour and the gnocchi will be tough. To avoid this eventuality, it is important to have expert control of the dough: too much flour will harden it, while excessive kneading could make it soft and unpleasant: for this reason, you will have to knead the mixture quickly, when the potatoes are still warm. To make them even tastier, you can also add a little grated parmesan and a pinch of nutmeg to the basic dough.

Follow our recipe step by step for a perfect first course.

How to Prepare Potato Gnocchi

Wash the potatoes and steam them in a pressure cooker; alternatively, you can boil them in scalding, boiling and salted water.

Once they're cooked, drain the potatoes and peel them while they are still hot.

Scoop potatoes into a potato masher.

Place the flour in a mound on top of a work surface.

Add the potatoes to the center, mashing them with the potato masher as you do so.

Add the egg.

Season with a pinch of salt.

Start incorporating the egg and flour together by beating them with a fork.

At this point, continue kneading with your hands until you obtain a soft and compact mixture.

At the end, you'll have to obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough.

Divide the obtained dough into four parts.

With your fingertips, make many small loaves about 2cm thick.

Cut them into chunks.

Then pass them over with the tines of a fork, to give them their characteristic shape. Meanwhile, cover the rest of the dough with a clean cotton cloth to prevent it from drying out.

Once you have the gnocchi, arrange them one by one on a clean cloth or a lightly floured tray, well spaced from each other.

Your gnocchi are now ready to be cooked and seasoned to taste.

How to Store Potato Gnocchi

The potato gnocchi can be kept raw for a maximum of 1 hour, covered with a clean cloth: cooking could take longer, since they will have dried out a little in the air. Once cooked, you can transfer them to a special airtight container, with a generous dose of seasoning, and store them in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. Just sprinkle them with a little grated parmesan and put them in the oven to gratinate for a few minutes.