Sheet Pan Gnocchi with White Beans and Kale

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This is a simple sheet pan dinner recipe for cold nights when you’re feeling uninspired. Winter is tough. There isn’t much in season, which for me can make cooking a meal feel like a chore. Here it’s sheet pan gnocchi to the rescue paired with white beans, one of my pantry superheroes.

This gnocchi has greens and beans, so it’s wholesome and hearty. It’s the right combination because wholesome kale and white beans balance out the potato gnocchi. 

Store-bought gnocchi is a great starting point for simple dinners. These potato dumplings have all the convenience of pasta. Even though pasta is in my regular rotation, sometimes I want to change things up. Gnocchi is cozy and perfect for fall-winter meals.

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Gnocchi: The recipe calls for a 1-pound package of potato gnocchi. You can substitute with cauliflower gnocchi or another gluten-free version. You can use frozen gnocchi, but it may need a few more minutes roasting time. There’s no need to thaw it first.
• Cannellini beans: Of the usual white beans (navy and great northern beans) I use cannellini beans for this recipe because they are the biggest and most plump.
• Red onions: I slice a small red onion. It’s ok if they don’t come apart into individual layers, you can pull apart the slices after they finish roasting. If you can’t find a small onion, then just use half of a medium one.
• Kale: Either curly green kale or lacinato kale will work. Pull the leaves off the thick stems and then chop them. 
• Garlic: Four garlic cloves may sound like a lot, but roasting mellows their flavor. Then you mash the garlic cloves with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. 
• Lemon: When a recipe has citrus juice, it’s very important to use the actual fruit and not bottled juice. Nothing compares to fresh lemon juice. It’s bright with these roasted winter ingredients. 
• Parmesan cheese, grated, rounds out the entire dish. You can substitute with pecorino or use a combination of both. If you’re vegan, leave out the cheese and sprinkle the gnocchi with nutritional yeast when you serve it.
• Dried spices: I season the gnocchi, beans and onions with an Italian seasoning blend, kosher salt and black pepper. These spice mixes usually include dried basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, tarragon, red pepper flakes, chives and rosemary.
• Parsley: Along with parmesan, I also toss the roasted gnocchi, beans and kale with chopped fresh parsley for an herby finish. 
• Olive oil: Use extra-virgin olive oil for the best taste.

Serving

Even though there’s kale in this gnocchi recipe, I still like to serve it with a salad on the side for it to feel like a complete meal. My go-to options include a lemon arugula salad, a classic house salad or an Italian chopped salad.

Leftovers & Storage

You can keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. When leftover gnocchi is cold, it’s very chewy. Reheat it in the microwave or in a 350-degree F oven. You can eat it cold and turn it into salad by adding baby spinach or arugula or kale and tossing it with balsamic vinaigrette. If I do eat gnocchi cold, I like to chop it into smaller pieces.