Although spinach gnudi — soft, pillowy cheese dumplings fried in browned butter and sage — are traditionally more of a spring or summer food, I’m here to make the argument we should eat them right now, in prime soup-and-sweater weather. Because did you hear the part about warm cheese? the puddle of brown butter? the earthy sage? It’s a symphony of delicious fall things and if you tell me you don’t want to curl up on the plate and take a nap in it, fine, I’ll believe you but I do think you’re in denial.
Gnudi literally means “naked” in Italian — consider them spinach and ricotta ravioli without the pasta wrapper. I think they’re better in every way because you get all of the soft, cheesy filling, none of the pasta fuss that can feel leaden together. Typically, gnudi are made with fresh greens that have been blanched and finely chopped but I’ve been on a mission over the last year to give frozen spinach (reliable! economical! seasonless!) more love, especially when all I’d planned to do with the fresh stuff was cook it down and feel bereft when it vanished. Frozen spinach saves me this heartache, and here we’re using a whole box, saving us a math headache too.
From there, it’s just a few simple steps to make — mix with ricotta, parmesan, an egg, seasoning, and a small enough amount of flour that I bet a gluten-free flour would work as swap — form into balls, boil them briefly until they float like marbled green clouds, and brown them in a skillet with butter and sage. The result is decadent and cozy and while I briefly considered arguing that they’re not nearly as heavy as you’d expect from, you know, cheese fried in butter (they’re not!) I’ll say instead that they’re the exactly correct level, which is to say effectively warming and delicious but not sleep-inducing (you know, unless you cave on that nap offer).
Looking to stretch it into more of a meal? You could add hearty bread, a simple soup, or a roasted fall salad.
P.S. Don’t miss the recipe for toasted ricotta gnocchi with pistachio pesto in my third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers. They’re spinach-free and pan-fried only and they become essentially burnished cheese nuggets, then tossed with an arugula and pistachio sauce, brightening everything.
Video
Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi
- 1 package (10-ounce or 283-gram) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 1 cup (215 grams) whole-milk ricotta
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (50 grams) grated parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
- A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup (45 grams) all-purpose flour
- A few fresh sage leaves
- 4 tablespoons (55 grams) salted butter, plus more if needed
On a cutting board, finely chop the wrung-out spinach. Transfer to a bowl and add ricotta, egg, 1/2 cup parmesan, nutmeg (if using), salt, pepper, and flour. Stir to combine. The mixture should be thick. Scoop into 1.5-tablespoon-sized balls (I’m using a #40 scoop) and arrange on a plate or tray.
Boil the gnudi: Bring a medium pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Adding a few at a time so it’s not too crowded, boil the gnudi until they float to the surface, about 3 minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and transfer back to the plate or platter. Repeat with remaining gnudi.
Brown in butter: In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Once sizzling, add sage leaves and as many gnudi as fit without too much crowding. Once browned underneath, gently turn to brown them on the other side. Transfer to serving plate and repeat with remaining dumplings. Remove sage leaves once they’re crisp. If needed, add additional butter, 1 tablespoon at a time.
To serve: Pour any leftover butter in the skillet over the gnudi, and finish with additional freshly cracked black pepper and a shower of parmesan. Eat right away.
Previously
6 months ago: Charred Salt and Vinegar Cabbage
1 year ago: Roasted Carrots with Lentils and Yogurt
2 years ago: Chicken Rice with Buttered Onions
3 years ago: Focaccia Onion Board
4 years ago: Big Apple Crumb Cake
5 years ago: Whole Wheat Chocolate Oat Cookies and Simple Cauliflower Tacos
6 years ago: Chickpea and Kale Shakshuka
7 years ago: Crispy Spinach Pizza
8 years ago: Pizza Beans and Chocolate Tahini Challah Buns
9 years ago: Homemade Merguez with Herby Yogurt and Magic Apple Plum Cobbler
10 years ago: The Perfect Manhattan, Broccoli Cheddar Soup and S’more Cupcakes
11 years ago: Latke Waffles and The Crispy Egg
12 years ago: Frico Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
13 years ago: Crackly Banana Bread and Spaghetti with Broccoli Cream Pesto
14 years ago: Apple Pie Cookies
15 years ago: Single-Crust Apple and Plum Pie
16 years ago: Date Spice Loaf and Lebanese-Style Stuffed Eggplant
17 years ago: Summer’s Last Hurrah Panzanella, Sweet and Sour Glazed Cippoline, Majestic and Moist Honey Cake, and Best Challah (Egg Bread)
18 years ago: Red Velvet Cake, Noodle Kugel, Spaghetti Fideos with Chorizo and Almonds and Couscous and Feta-Stuffed Peppers
19 years ago: Acorn Squash with Chile-Lime Vinaigrette
I can’t WAIT to make these! I’m already making gnocchi tonight or I’d go grab the ingredients. I wonder if I could use the fresh Swiss chard from my garden? Thanks for another great recipe!
Yes, just use 10 ounces of leaves.
I have made a version of these for decades – can’t wait to try them. I love this with with pasta and red sauce if you’re looking for a different way to eat them. Like meatballs except very much their own thing!
I made these tonight! They were absolutely delicious – I needed a total of about 7T of butter for pan frying – great way to use up Swiss chard and sage from my garden!
This looks delish! Very excited to make this for me and my boyfriend. How would you reheat leftovers?
They actually reheat great — in a pan or even, gasp, a microwave.
These look fabulous and I cannot wait to make them. A thought: Any time I need to wring the water out of cooked spinach I squeeze it in my ricer. It doesn’t go through the holes and makes it really dry without much effort.
I do this too, especially when trying to preserve a garden full of blanched spinach for the freezer. The potato ricer is the very best tool for getting moisture out of a lot of things!
I never thought to use it to get the moisture out of anything else. Thanks for the tip.
Chrissys, thanks for this great tip! I tried these last night and they’re delicious!
Oh. My. God. I feel like one could open a restaurant and serve these and only these and draw a huge crowd. So delicious. I didn’t have sage so used fresh rosemary but otherwise didn’t change a thing. Will have guests over for this next time.
Can I prep these ahead through the water?
Yes.
Am I crazy to want to add a small cube of feta to the middle of these?
Can these be frozen?
I haven’t frozen them before but I think they’d freeze fine. Maybe before browning them? And then you could brown them when you defrost them, to rewarm them.
Thanks for another great/ I cannot wait to try recipe! Could you make the brown butter/ frying part in the oven on a cookie sheet??
It might work but will probably take a little longer.
I will try it this week end!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks! you are my cooking hero!
@Sandra, can you let us know how the sheet pan works for you? I’m thinking that’s ideal for a party! Thank you
@Mary,
I made them last nigth! So I put the oven at 400 deg F.. Put the butter on a rimed cookie sheet (big one), had it melt in the oven for around 3 minutes. Then took the sheet out of the oven, added the sage leaves and the gnudi (all of them, I had 16, but slightly more grams of all ingredients). I let in the oven for around 15 minutes, I flipped the gnudi once at half time (maybe two flippings would have been better). It was delicious!!
I was once served gnudi on plate with a beet coulis. Stunning and delicious, made with spinach, it has a holiday theme.
Looks wonderful! I’m thinking about making them with my Dolce’ electric Ebelsikver maker.
I have a whole bag of fresh spinach from the farmers market. Any idea how much fresh spinach would work? Or does that defeat the purpose of not having to math it out :)
I generally find that 1 pound of fresh spinach with stems (you’ll just use the leaves) = 10 ounces frozen but it’s not an exact exchange.
Thank you Deb!
Taste: 1000000000000/10 SOOOO good!
Texture: Amazing, except I had a few casualties. I lost about 2 gnudi to the boiling process, and then during the pan fry at least another 2 disintegrated… I don’t know if maybe my ricotta was too wet? I squeezed every drop of liquid from the spinach, but maybe I didn’t chop it finely enough? Maybe I didn’t roll the balls tight enough?
Whatever the reason, I’m going to have to figure it out, because even eating the bits that looked like weird spinach slop, it tasted AMAZING. The texture of the surviving gnudi was velvety and decadent without being over the top heavy. Perfect October meal!
H Deb,
Do you think cottage cheese could be swapped for at least some of the ricotta to add protein to this dish? Thanks!
Maybe if drained well and very small curd.
this tasted divine but looked a sorry mess. I should have know that anything containing spinach and requiring to keep its form does not work when I make it.
Maybe the spinach needed even more draining or even the ricotta (like in the heavenly gnocchi w pistacchio pesto)?
These look delicious and the perfect weekend comfort food. It’s good to see they can be reheated as I can make a lovely batch up.
I followed this recipe to the letter and even weighed the ingredients out. The gnudi came together nicely. I kept them compact because I was afraid they might fall apart, but even with that precaution, the first 3 fell apart in the gently boiling water. Just disintegrated. What a mess! However, what seemed to help and save dinner was freezing the rest for 20 minutes before putting the second group in the boiling water. They still did not hold their shape perfectly, and were fussy to brown in butter, but they were quite tasty. I wish I knew what went wrong because the recipe has such promise. But I would not do this one again. :(
Same! I felt like I got as much of the water out of the spinach as possible, but all of the balls disintegrated once they were in the water. You’re not alone, I’m glad that some of yours worked out!
Mine also disintegrated in the water. Freezing didn’t help. I ended up just frying some of them, and they didn’t hold together so well. My first abject failure with an SK recipe, I think.
Then I realized I had forgotten the flour. I still have a few frozen, so I think I will thaw and squish, add some flour, re-roll them, and try again.
Should I make any alterations if I use nondairy ricotta?
I have loved every recipe I’ve made from this site, but this one was an epic fail! I followed the recipe exactly as written, and the dumplings completely disintegrated in the boiling water. I literally had a pot full of chopped spinach and liquefied cheese. To try to salvage the expensive ingredients, I added eggs and attempted to turn it into a quiche. I’m not sure what went wrong, but this one was a big waste of time and money for me.
My first batch disintegrated in the boiling water so I split the remaining ones in half and just pan fried them. Still messy but great flavour.