Slow cooker creamy garlic gnocchi
Pillowy gnocchi cook low and slow in a garlicky cream cheese sauce, then get stirred with spinach and parmesan for a cozy weekend dinner.
- 205 min total
- 10 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.81 a serving
- 540 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 packages potato gnocchi, two 16-oz packages
- 1½ cups vegetable broth
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 4 cups baby spinach
- ½ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 540 calories, 16 g protein, 86 g carbs and 15 g fat, and costs about $2.81 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the garlic.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Put the gnocchi, broth, garlic, Italian seasoning and pepper in a slow cooker and stir. Dot the cream cheese over the top in small pieces.
Cover and cook on low for 2½ to 3 hours, stirring once halfway, until the gnocchi are plump and tender.
Timer: 165 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t leave it all day. Gnocchi turn gummy if they cook too long, so this is a weekend-afternoon slow cooker dish.Stir until the cream cheese into a smooth sauce.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Stir in the spinach and parmesan, cover, and cook 10 minutes more, until the spinach .
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Timer: 10 min
Serve with pepper flakes on top if you like.
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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Vegetarian dinners ›Cozy comfort food ›What to make with spinach and parmesan ›What to make with cream cheese and parmesan ›What to make with potato gnocchi and parmesan ›