Oven-Baked Gnocchi with Meat Sauce

In today’s post, I’ll show you a recipe that many of you have probably seen on the menu at the Italian restaurant & today we’re cooking “Gnocchi Al Forno” with a creamy meat or bolognese sauce.

Finally, the gnocchi are placed in a casserole dish together with the sauce, sprinkled with cheese and briefly placed in the oven to gratinate until golden brown. Have fun cooking!




Cooked/Baked today: Oven Baked Gnocchi with Meat Sauce
Difficulty: Easy – Medium
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Category: Main Dishes, Meat Recipes, Italian Cuisine, Fast Food, Recipes from the Oven
Our Recipe rating:

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 800 grams gnocchi (from the refrigerated section)
• 500 grams sieved tomatoes
• 400 grams ground meat (halb beef/half pork)
• 100 grams grated cheese (here mozzarella cheese)
• 100 milliliters red wine
• 1 large onion
• 2 – 3 cloves garlic
• 3 – 4 sprigs thyme
• 3 – 4 sprigs rosemary
• 1 heaping tablespoon creme fraiche
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Salt & pepper
• Oil for frying
• Basil for garnish

Required kitchen gadgets, helper & preparations:

• Pan or saucepan for meat sauce
• Suitable baking dish

Instructions:




…for gnocchi “al forno” with meat sauce:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees with switched on grill function in good time. Peel off and finely chop the onion & garlic. Pluck the thyme leaves & rosemary needles from the stems & chop finely. For the sauce, heat up a pan or saucepan with a little oil, add the garlic & onions to the pan & sweat for 2 – 3 minutes, turning occasionally.

Next add 400 grams of ground meat & sauté for another 4 – 5 minutes over medium to high heat until crumbly. Season the minced meat with salt, pepper and the prepared thyme/rosemary mixture, also stir in 1 heaped tablespoon of tomato paste and allow to roast briefly.

Then deglaze the ground meat with a good dash of red wine, allow the red wine to boil down almost completely while stirring & afterwards add the remaining ingredients to the pan, 800 grams of gnocchi (from the refrigerated section), a heaping tablespoon of crème fraiche & 500 milliliters of tomato passata.

Tip: As an alternative to red wine, you can also use stock or broth to deglaze if you want to avoid alcohol in the recipe.




Stir all the ingredients well, bring the gnocchi with meat sauce to a boil briefly & then remove from the heat & pour into a suitable baking dish. Sprinkle the gnocchi with some grated cheese & place in the preheated oven (top rail) for a few minutes to gratinate.

As soon as the cheese has melted & has turned into a nice golden brown colour, take the gnocchi “al forno” out of the oven, arrange on plates & serve garnished with basil if desired. Have fun cooking!




Video Tutorial:

Watch the video tutorial to see the recipe and the preparation method precisely (German Audio only, English Subtitles available):