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Ground Beef Gnocchi

Name: Ground Beef Gnocchi
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 pound extra lean ground beef; 1/2 medium onion (chopped); 3 cloves garlic (minced); 1 dash Italian seasoning; 1 (14 fluid ounce) can diced tomatoes (with juices); 1/3 cup chicken or beef broth; 3/4 cup heavy/whipping cream; 1 pound uncooked potato gnocchi; 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese; Salt & pepper (to taste)

Published January 4, 2020 / Updated December 8, 2020 / 101 Comments

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This ground beef gnocchi recipe has a creamy tomato sauce and turns store-bought gnocchi into pillowy deliciousness. This one pan meal is quick and sure to be a family favorite!

Ok, so I have a ridiculous number of one-pan gnocchi recipes on here, but I somehow never made one with ground beef. I don't think so, anyway. 😛 In any case, I figured it was time. Beef and gnocchi is a good combo (this is kinda like a creamy gnocchi bolognese, actually). And this recipe makes plenty of sauce. The longer you cook it, the more it thickens up.

I'll link to a few more of these gnocchi recipes like my sausage gnocchi, this gnocchi with tomato sauce, and my creamy spinach and mushroom gnocchi (the original that started it all back in 2017). Now I see these one pan gnocchi recipes everywhere... hmm. If you want the rest, you can just type "gnocchi" into the search bar on my blog and they'll all come up. 😉

This hamburger gnocchi recipe is sorta reminiscent of Hamburger Helper. I had a thought while I was cooking this... if you replaced the parm with some cheddar, you could definitely make it more like HH.

I think this dish would be delicious if you replaced the chicken broth with white wine... yes please!

Pro tip: I always get questions if the cream in recipes can be replaced with something else such as half-and-half or milk. With this one, I'd be cautious because the tomatoes and heat are likely to curdle the sauce or at least make it grainy if you don't use cream.

What kind of gnocchi to use?

I use the shelf stable gnocchi that you can find in the dry pasta aisle. You can use the refrigerated kind as well. Since I started making these one pan gnocchi recipes, Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi has become immensely popular, and I know a lot of readers have used it in various gnocchi recipes. You can use it, but you may need to use something like flour or cornstarch to thicken the sauce up a bit. The magic of using potato gnocchi is that the starch thickens the sauce quickly as it cooks. I don't recommend using homemade potato gnocchi - some readers have tried it with other recipes in the past, and the one pan method seems to be a bit too much for the delicate pasta.

There is no need to pre-cook the gnocchi. It cooks right in the sauce.

Other ground beef recipes you'll love:

Do you love gnocchi as much as I do?

Questions? Leave me a comment below!