One Skillet Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Gnocchi
This Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Gnocchi is a meatless dinner made with pillowy potato gnocchi, browned cremini mushrooms, fresh spinach, and a garlicky parmesan cream sauce.
It’s a one-skillet meal, and the gnocchi goes straight from the package into the sauce with no separate pot of water to boil.
I make this one when I want a meatless dinner that still feels substantial, or on nights when the fridge has a lonely bag of spinach and mushrooms that need to get used up.
It comes together in about 25 minutes, start to finish.
If creamy gnocchi and mushroom dinners are your thing, these are worth bookmarking too:
- One-Pot Gnocchi Chicken Pot Pie
- Homemade Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Homemade Creamy Italian Tuscan Chicken Pasta With Spinach
- Cream of Mushroom Potato Soup
- Spinach Lasagna with Ricotta and Feta
Ingredients You’ll Need
Cremini mushrooms give this more flavor than white button mushrooms, but either works.
Let them sit undisturbed in the pan for a minute or two before stirring (that’s how you get real browning instead of steamed, rubbery mushrooms).
Fresh baby spinach wilts down fast at the end, and a good handful of parmesan is what ties the whole sauce together.
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Ingredients
1 lb potato gnocchi
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 small shallot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
- Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the sliced mushrooms in a single layer and let them sit undisturbed for 2 minutes before stirring.
Continue cooking for 5 to 6 minutes total, stirring occasionally, until they’re deeply browned and any liquid they release has cooked off. - Add the diced shallot and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until softened.
Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant (garlic burns fast, so keep it moving). - Add the gnocchi, heavy cream, and vegetable broth to the skillet and stir to combine.
Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring once, until the gnocchi is tender and the sauce has thickened slightly.
This part goes faster than you’d expect. Check the gnocchi at the 4-minute mark so it doesn’t turn mushy. - Stir in the spinach a handful at a time, letting each batch wilt down before adding more.
Once all the spinach is wilted, stir in the parmesan and red pepper flakes.
Cook for another minute until the cheese melts into the sauce and everything looks glossy. - Taste and season with the salt and pepper.
The parmesan and broth both bring some saltiness on their own, so taste before adding more (it’s easy to oversalt this one).
- Serve warm straight from the skillet and enjoy!
Important Recipe Notes
- Don’t crowd the mushrooms. If your skillet is small, brown the mushrooms in two batches. Piling them up steams them instead of browning them, and you lose a lot of flavor that way.
- Gnocchi cooks fast in sauce. Shelf-stable potato gnocchi only needs 4 to 5 minutes simmering in the cream sauce. Check it early so it doesn’t go soft and gummy.
- Add spinach in batches. A full 3 cups looks like a lot going into the pan at once, but it wilts down to almost nothing within a minute or two.
- Storage. Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The sauce thickens quite a bit once chilled.
- Reheating. Reheat on the stovetop over low heat with a splash of cream or broth to loosen the sauce back up. It’s not the quickest reheat if you want it truly creamy again, just so you know.
- Freezing isn’t ideal. Cream sauces tend to separate when frozen and thawed, so this one is best eaten within a few days rather than frozen.
How to Serve, Store & Customize This Recipe
Serving:
Spoon it into shallow bowls right after the spinach wilts in, while the sauce is still loose and glossy.
Extra parmesan and a crack of black pepper on top is really all it needs. A slice of crusty bread for mopping up the sauce doesn’t hurt either.
Storage:
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The sauce will thicken as it chills, so plan on adding a splash of cream, milk, or broth when you reheat it.
I don’t recommend freezing this dish, the cream sauce doesn’t come back together well after thawing.
Customization:
Swap in cauliflower gnocchi for a lower carb version, or add shredded rotisserie chicken if you want more protein.
Cremini mushrooms can be swapped for baby bella or even shiitake for a deeper, earthier flavor. If you’re not a fan of heat, just leave out the red pepper flakes.
Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Gnocchi
Course: Recipes4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIngredients
1 lb potato gnocchi
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 small shallot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
- Brown the sliced mushrooms in butter and olive oil over medium-high heat, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add the shallot and garlic, cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Stir in the gnocchi, cream, and broth. Cover and simmer 4-5 minutes until the gnocchi is tender.
- Stir in the spinach in batches until wilted, then add the parmesan and red pepper flakes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve warm straight from the skillet.
Notes
- Brown the mushrooms well before adding the other ingredients. Letting them cook until golden gives the sauce much more flavor.
- Don’t overcrowd the skillet while cooking the mushrooms, or they may steam instead of brown.
- Refrigerated or shelf-stable potato gnocchi both work well for this recipe.
- If you’re making it as a one-pan meal, there’s usually no need to boil the gnocchi separately. Let it cook directly in the sauce until tender.
- Add the spinach near the end of cooking so it wilts without becoming too soft.
- Freshly grated Parmesan melts more smoothly into the sauce than pre-shredded cheese.
- If the sauce gets too thick, stir in a splash of milk, cream, or vegetable broth.
- For extra flavor, add minced garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, or a pinch of nutmeg.
- Reheat gently with a splash of milk or broth because the gnocchi will absorb some of the sauce as it sits.
- Nutrition
Approximate nutrition per serving:
Calories: 480 kcal
Protein: 14g
Carbohydrates: 55g
Fat: 24g
Saturated Fat: 12g
Fiber: 5g
Sugar: 6g
Sodium: 650mg
