This baked gnocchi bolognese is a must-make for anyone who loves classic bolognese pasta! It's super flavorful, aromatic, and the perfect combination of soft gnocchi, bolognese, and melty mozzarella cheese. Plus, it's super easy to make and just perfect for feeding your family!
Bolognese is probably one of the most flavorful and aromatic pasta sauces ever! What I love about it is that it uses very simple ingredients that are turned into a delicious yet mild meat sauce. That's why my creamy fettuccine bolognese is one of the dishes that always gets requested by my family.
This baked gnocchi bolognese is a delicious variation of classic bolognese that will satisfy any craving for pasta and cheese! It has pillowy soft gnocchi, an aromatic bolognese sauce, and flavorful parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
It's also great for feeding a family or multiple guests as you can easily prepare a large batch of baked gnocchi. So next time you want to make pasta, be sure to give this recipe a try!
Baked Gnocchi Bolognese Ingredients
To make this baked gnocchi bolognese you'll need the following ingredients:
- Potato gnocchi: You can either use store-bought gnocchi or make your own gnocchi at home. As this recipe already takes a little extra time until it's finished, I used store-bought potato gnocchi.
- Ground beef: For the sauce, you'll need ground beef. If you prefer lean meat for health reasons, feel free to use lean ground beef. Usually, fattier meat adds more flavor. So pick the type of ground beef you feel most comfortable with.
- Soffrito vegetables: A classic Italian soffritto uses carrots, celery, and onion. These are the vegetables you'll need for the bolognese sauce. They are super important to achieve that classic bolognese flavor, so make sure to use all of them!
- Aromatics: In addition to onion, you'll need a few garlic cloves to make the sauce super flavorful and delicious!
- Liquids: This recipe uses red wine, beef broth, and tomato passata. It's the most amazing combination to make a delicious pasta sauce. If you want to skip the alcohol, feel free to replace it with beef broth. And if you like tomato pieces in your sauce, you can replace some of the tomato passata with canned diced tomatoes.
- Tomato paste: Tomato paste is perfect for intensifying the flavor of the sauce, so be sure to use it!
- Bay leaves: For the most delicious aroma, make sure to use bay leaves! It's a typical ingredient when making bolognese pasta.
- Cheese: You'll need a combination of grated parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese. Parmesan cheese adds a lot of flavor while the mild mozzarella cheese melts beautifully. It's my favorite combination when making casserole recipes!
How to make baked gnocchi bolognese
Cook the ground beef. First, preheat some olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook until it has fully browned. Season with salt and pepper. Then remove from the pot.
Sauté the vegetables. Next, add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pot. Sauté until the vegetables start to soften. Season with salt and pepper.
Combine and sauté. Now add the tomato paste and continue to sauté for about 1 minute. Then add the ground beef back to the pot and sauté everything for another minute.
Add the liquids and simmer. Add the red wine, beef broth, and tomato passata to deglaze the pot. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Then add the bay leaves. Cover the pot and let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the gnocchi. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C). Then add the potato gnocchi to the sauce and stir until combined.
Assemble. Place the gnocchi bolognese in a baking dish. Cover with a layer of parmesan cheese. Then top everything with a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes until the cheese has melted and slightly browned. Serve and enjoy!
Tips & Notes
- Let the ground beef brown and get slightly crispy before removing it from the pot. This adds a lot of flavor to your sauce and makes the beef taste a lot better! Simply let the ground beef rest in the pot and only stir everything occasionally.
- Replace the red wine with beef broth to make the recipe alcohol-free. If you can use wine, I highly recommend adding it to the sauce. But if you can't or don't want to, feel free to use beef broth as a replacement.
- Let the bolognese sauce simmer for longer if you have some extra time. Usually, bolognese sauce is cooked for hours to bring out all of the flavors. It's not absolutely necessary and the recipe is amazing as is, but if you have some time to let the sauce simmer a little longer, definitely feel free to do so!
- Make sure that you use a combination of parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. This really is a winning combo when making a pasta bake as the parmesan cheese adds flavor while the mozzarella cheese melts beautifully!
How to serve baked gnocchi bolognese
- Prepare a simple side salad to add more vegetables to your meal. I love to make my arugula salad or a simple salad that uses a balsamic vinaigrette (like the one I used for this balsamic lentil salad recipe). Chopping up a salad doesn't take a lot of time and makes any meal so much better!
- Serve a delicious appetizer. You could make bruschetta, a classic caprese salad, garlic bread, or focaccia.
Variations
- Use canned diced or crushed tomatoes. I prefer the sauce smooth, but you could use canned diced or crushed tomatoes for a more textured sauce.
- Pick other herbs to change the flavor of the sauce. If you don't want to make a classic bolognese but a meat sauce with a different flavor, feel free to pick other herbs. Fresh basil is another favorite for this dish. Other delicious herbs are parsley, rosemary, or thyme.
- Make the sauce spicy. I absolutely love a spicy tomato-based pasta sauce! Just add red pepper flakes or fresh chili pepper to the sauce to spice things up. And if you love spicy pasta dishes, make sure to take a look at my shrimp arrabbiata recipe, it's really delicious!
- Try other vegetables to make baked gnocchi. If you don't want to make a classic bolognese, you can pick other vegetables. Eggplant, zucchini, baby spinach, and bell pepper are great options.
Frequently Asked Questions
It has a mild and aromatic bolognese sauce, soft gnocchi, and deliciously melted cheese on top. It's super tasty and perfect if you love mild tomato-based pasta sauces, pasta bakes, and gnocchi.
A classic bolognese is a tomato-based sauce that uses ground beef, ground pork, an Italian soffritto, and often white wine and milk. I prefer a variation that uses only ground beef, red wine, and no milk. The final sauce is super aromatic, flavorful, and delicious!
Sure! If you love Italian sausage in pasta sauces, you can definitely use it to make this baked gnocchi recipe!
Yes! I prefer tomato passata as it's smoother and less watery, but you can use canned diced or crushed tomatoes if that's what you usually use for pasta sauces.
Yes, absolutely! I think red wine or white wine really adds to the taste of the sauce, but you can definitely make it without wine. Just use more beef broth to replace the wine.
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat them with a small amount of water in your microwave until the sauce is hot and the cheese is melty again.
More flavorful and delicious pasta recipes
If you love pasta as much as I do, I recommend checking out the following recipes. They are easy to make and taste super delicious!
Baked Gnocchi Bolognese
Equipment
- 1 9x13-inch baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 carrots finely diced
- 2 celery stalks finely diced
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- 2 cups tomato passata
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 pounds potato gnocchi
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat some olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook until it has fully browned. Season with salt and pepper. Then remove from the pot.2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 pound ground beef, salt and pepper
- Next, add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pot. Sauté until slightly softened and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper.2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves
- Now add the tomato paste and sauté for 1 minute. Add the ground beef back to the pot and sauté together for 1 minute.2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Add the red wine, beef broth, and tomato passata to deglaze the pot. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. Then stir in the bay leaves and simmer for 5 minutes.½ cup red wine, 1 ½ cups beef broth, 2 cups tomato passata, 2 bay leaves
- Now preheat the oven to 400 °F (200°C).
- Stir in the potato gnocchi and place everything in a baking dish. Cover the bolognese gnocchi with grated parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese.2 pounds potato gnocchi
- Then bake for around 30 minutes until the cheese has melted and slightly browned. Enjoy!¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
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