I used my homemade gnocchi in this quick and easy sausage kale and sun dried tomato gnocchi recipe. If you don’t have homemade gnocchi, use a good frozen gnocchi. Avoid the shelf stable cryovacced gnocchi, they tend to be heavier and more dense.
Now that we’ve got the hang of making gnocchi and you’ve got a few batches tucked neatly in the deep freeze (don’t worry, there’s other options available if you don’t have the gnocchi) it’s time to break free of convention and mix it up a bit. This dish isn’t about saucing up those fluffy potato pillows. No, it’s about piling on. Loading them with spice, tang and chew. Sausage, kale and sun dried tomato gnocchi –’nuff said.
Ok, this may not be swimsuit season approved, but hear me out… There’s still spots in the U.S. where the mercury is stubbornly stuck far south of shorts weather. That’s not here of course, 88? and claustrophobically sticky, but I’ll just turn down the thermostat and heat up the kitchen!
Oh, and pour a glass of chilled white while you’re prepping. It makes cooking infinitely more enjoyable. This dish starts with the mushrooms and onions. Heat some oil in a dutch oven, and saute the vegetables until tender. Transfer the veg to a bowl and move on to the sausage. Remove the casings and pull off little bite size chunks with your fingers, dropping them into the pot to brown.
Add onions and mushrooms back into the pan, then deglaze with a little wine 🙂 and chicken broth. Then comes the kale and sun-dried tomatoes. I like using kale in this recipe because it’s sturdier than spinach, adding heft and chew.
If you prefer spinach, feel free to substitute, but add it later in the cooking process, ’cause it’ll wilt faster than a Bachelorette who doesn’t receive a rose!
When all the goodies are mixed, toss in the gnocchi. I promise, every bite is a happy one.
A little spicy sausage, tangy sweet sun dried tomatoes, earthy mushrooms, toothsome kale and those fluffy, dream-like potato gnocchi. Heaven.
If you didn’t have gnocchi on hand (and I’m not pointing fingers here) you could substitute macaroni or some other type of pasta — or (gasp) packaged gnocchi. No judgments. Promise.
Table of Contents
More gnocchi recipes:
- Potato Gnocchi From Scratch
- Sweet Potato Gnocchi
- Italian Gnocchi with Pancetta and Spinach
- Fried Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Blue Cheese
- Creamy Gnocchi Bolognese
- Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Browned Butter and Sage
Sausage Kale and Sun Dried Tomato Gnocchi
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound sweet or spicy Italian sausage casings removed
- 8 ounces button mushrooms quartered
- 1 onion peeled, and thinly sliced vertically from root to tip
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil sliced
- 4 cups kale tough stems removed, chopped
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 cups cooked gnocchi or use packaged gnocchi Reserve water that you cooked gnocchi or substitute pasta.
- ½ cup parmesan cheese grated, plus more for serving
DIRECTIONS:
- In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables have softened and take on a little color. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl.
- Add the sausage to the pan and break apart with a wooden spoon or large fork. Cook, stirring occasionally until sausage is browned.
- Add vegetables back to the skillet and stir in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Cook until wine is reduced by half. Add the chicken broth and sun dried tomatoes and cook until the broth reduces by half, about 5-7 minutes.
- Stir in the kale and add a ladle of hot gnocchi water (or pasta water). Cook for 1-2 minutes until kale is just wilted. If the dish seems dry, you can add another ladle of water.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese and serve over hot gnocchi or pasta with extra parmesan for garnish.
NUTRITION:
Don’t Forget To “Pin It” For Later!
Delicious! I love gnocci!
Looks amazing!!! YUM!!!
What a perfect combo! Looks so delicious I love gnocchi with butter and sausage!
Wow – dialing up the rich factor with butter AND sausage!
I had some brown butter & sage gnocchi last week and it was sooo good so now I’ve been craving all kinds of gnocchi!
It’s a dangerous thing to crave, isn’t it?
I love sausage and kale together, they are like peas and carrots. Gnocchi is one of my favorite pasta/dumplings and fun to make to. Thanks for this recipe!
Oh wow this looks delicious.Love Gnocchi and sausages here, we make a bake with gnocchi sometimes x
Baked gnocchi? I’ll bet that’s amazing!
I could eat that every night of the week! My kind of food…gotta try my hand at gnocchi!
I’m with you! Any night!
I love any kind of sausage with any kind of pasta! I’ll have to omit the mushrooms, but that just leaves more room for gnocchi and sausage so I’ll consider it a win-win.
Absolutely! Or add another one of your favorite ingredients. There are no rules here!
This looks like something our family would really enjoy! I’ve never tried gnocchi!
Gwen – if you’ve never had it, don’t buy the prepackaged stuff — make it yourself — recipe on this site. Homemade is so much better than those lead bombs they sell in the grocery store. If you don’t have time to make the gnocchi, swap out macaroni instead.