Crispy pesto gnocchi with green beans
Golden pan-fried gnocchi and blistered green beans tossed with basil pesto, lemon and parmesan, a fast weeknight dinner with a lot of crunch.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.89 a serving
- 650 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 12 oz green beans, trimmed
- 2 packages potato gnocchi, two 16-oz packages
- ½ cup basil pesto
- ½ lemon, juiced
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 650 calories, 14 g protein, 89 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $2.89 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No green beans? Frozen green beans work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the stem ends off the green beans and cut them in half.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large over medium-high.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Add the green beans and salt and cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring now and then, until blistered in spots and .
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Move them to a bowl.
Add 1 tablespoon oil and half the gnocchi to the in one layer and cook 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until . Add them to the bowl.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Straight from the package, no boiling. Break apart any that are stuck together so each one gets crispy.Repeat with the last tablespoon of oil and the rest of the gnocchi.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Turn off the heat, return everything to the , and with the pesto and lemon juice.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Pesto goes in off the heat. Hot pans turn the basil dark and dull.Serve with parmesan and pepper flakes on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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