I heard about this idea of making gnocchi with ricotta cheese instead of potatoes or rice some time ago, and have been eager to try it ever since. I found myself this morning with extra ricotta cheese, and thought that the time had finally come to do so. I combined one stick of melted butter with sixteen ounces of ricotta cheese (homemade ricotta cheese really is better… and it’s easy to make…seriously, it will ruin you for life), a half a cup of Parmesan, one egg, a little salt, a dash of freshly grated nutmeg, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. I then added just enough flour (read: as little flour as possible) to make a soft dough that is no longer sticky, working it as little as possible. I cut the dough into fourths, which I then gently rolled into long ropes, cut them into half inch segments, and rolled each down the back of the tines of a fork, creating those classic gnocchi ridges. I boiled them in gently simmering, salted water for about three minutes. Meanwhile, I melted a stick of butter in a sauce pan and cooked it over medium heat. When it was nutty, fragrant, and a nice chestnut brown, I added a tablespoon or so of fresh thyme leaves (I love the sound as the leaves pop and crackle in the hot butter). I then combined the sauce with the cooked gnocchi, and finished it off with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. These gnocchi are rich and cheesy. Not quite as feather light as some others I have made, but a great pairing with the nutty browned butter and thyme. Pour yourself a glass of Chianti, close your eyes, and you would swear that you were in Italy. Enjoy!
Jacob's Kitchen 
I love the butter flavor!!
Sounds delicious. How much dough did you end up putting in? I’d like to try this recipe. I have a tub of ricotta too.
I’m not sure how much flour I ended up using. I just had a sifter full, and was sifting it in little by little until the dough was no longer sticky. If I had to venture a guess, I would say between 1 1/2 and 2 cups, maybe.
Thanks for visiting! =)
Happy eating!
Brown butter. Quite possibly the world’s most perfect thing.
ooohhh…these make me drool. I LOVE gnocchi!!!
These look wonderful. I have tried making gnocchis only once and I failed misrible. This would be a great recipe to try once again. Maybe this time, it will work out.
Looks fantastic! I just had ricotta gnocchi last week at DreamFarm restaurant, north of San Francisco . . . amazing stuff. They served it with marinara sauce, studded with corn and fava beans. Your version looks tasty, too!
You make it sound so delicious… and it looks absolutely divine!
What a perfect find! I love gnochi and I am always looking for ricotta recipes. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Can’t wait to try it.
That looks really good! Thanks for sharing!
I’m craving these so badly now… awesome recipe! Hope to try it out really soon!
Very nice! I’ve never tried my hand at making gnocchi, but now I have a good excuse to try! Thanks for linking up!
What a great idea! It looks really wonderful and I’m sure the ricotta gives the gnocci a really interesting texture.
Mmmm! I made a similar recipe a few weeks ago and added a little bourbon! It was pretty incredible!
Gnocchi is one of my favorite but I have not attempted to make them myself. The ricotta sounds like a nice alternative.
I should make this! Sounds delicious and I have some ricotta cheese that I need to do something with. Probably not enough, need to buy more. Beautiful photos!
I’m starving now! These looks great.
Fantastic recipe – I’ve never tried making gnocchi at home but your recipe sounds quite straightforward, so I might try! I think browned butter with fresh sage would be nice as well, don’t you think?
These look so perfect! I love the thyme and brown butter, yum:)
I’ve also been playing with making ricotta gnocchi – I like the added Parmigiano – really must boost the flavor.