Making gnocchi from scratch doesn’t have to be stressful! It may take some time, but it’s simple and there’s nothing quite like the pillow-soft homemade texture.

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When my husband and I went to Seattle back in January, we had an amazing dinner at Cascina Spinasse. They are famous for their tajarin pasta, which is super thin and made with egg yolks. We ordered both versions (a meat sauce and a butter sage sauce)…and both were equally amazing. 10/10 would recommend. After eating there, I knew I wanted to make my own version of a brown butter and sage sauce!

The flavor of brown butter and sage together is super rich and scrumptious, but the gnocchi in this recipe can be paired with any sauce you want!

Directions

First, start off by boiling peeled whole potatoes over medium-high heat until they are completely fork tender (~35-40 minutes). I usually turn the heat up to high until the water is a rolling boil, then turn it down to medium-high for the remainder of the time. Make sure to cover the potatoes by 1 inch of water.

Drain the potatoes and return them to the stove in their original pot. Turn the heat down to low-medium and mash the potatoes with a wooden spatula or potato masher. The goal is to steam out the residual water. We want the potatoes to be very dry so that we need less flour to create our dough. The less flour there is in our dough, the softer and pillowier the gnocchi will be. The more flour added, the chewier the gnocchi will be.

Transfer the mashed potatoes to a heat resistant bowl and set it in the fridge for ~20 minutes until it is cool enough to touch.

Add in the egg and mash until evenly distributed within the potatoes. Try to get all the potato lumps out. We want smooth potato here! Do not stir the mixture otherwise the starches will release from the potatoes and it’ll become stretchy!

Add in 1 cup of flour and 1/2 tsp salt, then mash until incorporated. If the mixture is still way too sticky or wet, feel free to add more flour. This probably means not enough of the water steamed off earlier. The gnocchi will still turn out fine, but may be a little chewier with the added flour!

Once the mixture is uniform, set it aside. It’s normal if the mixture is still crumbly at this point. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Dump out the mixture and knead until a ball of dough forms.

Tear off a handful of dough and roll into a rope with a 3/4 inch thick diameter.

Cut the rope into 1 inch pieces with a sharp knife and set aside on a lightly floured surface. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

The gnocchi is ready to be cooked at this point!

To create the optional decorative lines: Using a fork, roll each gnocchi from the base of the tines to the top, then back down.

Admire your little gnocchi army!

Boil the gnocchi in a pot of salted water for ~2-3 minutes until they float. Feel free to cook them in batches depending on your pot size — we don’t want to crowd the gnocchi.

While the water is boiling and the gnocchi is cooking, we can make the brown butter and sage sauce. Heat up the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has just melted, add in 1 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, and the sage leaves while the butter is browning. Stir occasionally and be careful not to burn the butter!

Stir in the cooked gnocchi (can add them in batches if they didn’t all fit in one pot of boiling water) and toss gently until they are coated with the brown butter and sage sauce.

If you prefer a pan-seared gnocchi, let the gnocchi sit in the skillet undisturbed until it browns and a slight crust forms. Then gently toss and repeat until browned evenly.

Plate and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately!