One Pot Creamy Cheeseburger Gnocchi Skillet
This Creamy Cheeseburger Gnocchi is a one-skillet dinner made with ground beef, potato gnocchi, sharp cheddar, diced pickles, and a spoonful of mustard for real cheeseburger flavor.
The gnocchi cooks right in the sauce, so it soaks up all that beefy, cheesy flavor instead of tasting like an afterthought.
I make this one on busy weeknights when I want something hot on the table in under 30 minutes, or when the kids are asking for burgers and I don’t feel like firing up the grill.
It also holds up well for lunches the next day.
If you’re into gnocchi and easy ground beef dinners, these are worth bookmarking too:
- Homemade Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- One-Pot Gnocchi Chicken Pot Pie
- Ground Beef Orzo Pasta with Bolognese Sauce
- Homemade Creamy Italian Tuscan Chicken Pasta With Spinach
- Mushroom Spaghetti Pasta with Bechamel Sauce
Ingredients You’ll Need
Potato gnocchi is the base here, and it cooks directly in the beefy sauce so there’s no separate pot to boil.
Sharp cheddar and a spoonful of yellow mustard give it that cheeseburger flavor, and the diced pickles stirred in at the end are non-negotiable (they’re what makes this taste like a burger and not just cheesy beef and pasta).
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Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (85/15)
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb potato gnocchi
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup diced dill pickles
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onion, for topping
Directions
- Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the ground beef, breaking it apart with a spoon as it cooks.
Add the diced onion once the beef starts to lose its pink color, about 3 minutes in.
Cook everything together for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beef is fully browned and the onion has softened.
Drain off excess grease if there’s a lot of it (I leave a tablespoon or two in the pan for flavor). - Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, and mustard, and cook for about a minute until it smells fragrant.
The tomato paste will darken slightly and stick to the bottom of the pan a bit. That’s fine, it’s building flavor, not burning.
Scrape up any browned bits as you stir. They’ll dissolve into the sauce once the broth goes in. - Pour in the beef broth and milk, then add the gnocchi directly to the skillet.
Stir everything together and bring it up to a gentle simmer.
Cover and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the gnocchi is tender and has plumped up.
Keep the heat steady here. You want a gentle simmer, not a hard boil, or the sauce reduces too fast before the gnocchi cooks through. - Turn the heat down to low and stir in the shredded cheddar a handful at a time, letting each addition melt before adding more.
This keeps the sauce smooth instead of clumpy.
Taste and add the salt and pepper here, adjusting based on how salty your broth and pickles are. - Fold in the diced pickles right at the end, off the heat.
Adding them now keeps their crunch instead of turning them soft, and this is the step that makes it taste like a cheeseburger instead of just cheesy beef and pasta.
This one takes a little restraint on the first try. It’s tempting to add the pickles earlier, but waiting really does make a difference.
- Top with the chopped green onion and serve warm straight from the skillet and enjoy!
Important Recipe Notes
- Use shelf-stable gnocchi, not frozen. Vacuum-sealed potato gnocchi from the pasta aisle cooks faster and holds its shape better in this sauce than the frozen kind, which tends to go mushy.
- Drain the beef if it’s greasy. A little fat left in the pan adds flavor, but too much will make the sauce look separated instead of creamy.
- Add the cheese off direct heat. Adding cold, pre-shredded cheese all at once over high heat is the most common reason this sauce breaks. Pull the pan to low heat and add cheese gradually, in handfuls.
- Splash in pickle brine for extra tang. If you want more of that cheeseburger tang, add a tablespoon of the pickle brine along with the diced pickles.
- Storage. Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The gnocchi keeps absorbing sauce as it sits, so it thickens a lot overnight.
- Reheating. Reheat gently on the stovetop over low heat with a splash of milk or broth to loosen the sauce. Microwaving works too, just cover it and stir halfway through.
- Make it ahead. Brown the beef and onion up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate it, then add the broth, milk, and gnocchi fresh when you’re ready to finish the dish.
How to Serve, Store & Customize This Recipe
Serving:
Serve it straight from the skillet in shallow bowls while it’s hot and the sauce is still loose.
A few extra pickle slices and an extra sprinkle of cheddar on top don’t hurt. It’s filling enough on its own, but a simple green salad on the side rounds it out if you want something lighter.
Storage:
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The gnocchi soaks up more sauce the longer it sits, so it’ll be thicker the next day (add a splash of milk when reheating to loosen it back up).
I don’t recommend freezing this one, the gnocchi gets a strange texture once thawed.
Customization:
Ground turkey or chicken works in place of beef if that’s what you have on hand. Swap the cheddar for pepper jack if you want some heat, or add a few dashes of hot sauce along with the mustard.
For a lower carb version, cauliflower gnocchi works, though it won’t hold up in the sauce quite as long.
Creamy Cheeseburger Gnocchi
Course: Recipes4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIngredients
1 lb ground beef (85/15)
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb potato gnocchi
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup diced dill pickles
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onion, for topping
Directions
- Brown the ground beef with the diced onion over medium-high heat, about 6-7 minutes, then drain excess grease.
- Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, and mustard, and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add the beef broth, milk, and gnocchi. Cover and simmer 5-6 minutes until the gnocchi is tender.
- Lower the heat and stir in the cheddar a handful at a time until melted and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
- Fold in the diced pickles off the heat.
- Top with green onion and serve warm.
Notes
- Brown the ground beef well before adding the other ingredients for better flavor.
- Use shelf-stable or refrigerated potato gnocchi and add it directly to the pot—there’s no need to boil it separately.
- Stir the gnocchi gently so it doesn’t break apart while cooking.
- Keep the heat at a gentle simmer once the cream or milk is added so the sauce stays smooth.
- For extra cheeseburger flavor, stir in a little mustard or add chopped pickles just before serving.
- Reheat gently with a splash of broth or milk, since the gnocchi will continue to absorb the sauce as it sits.
- Nutrition
Approximate nutrition per serving:
Calories: 560 kcal
Protein: 30g
Carbohydrates: 48g
Fat: 28g
Saturated Fat: 13g
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 5g
Sodium: 780mg
