These Cheesy Italian Potatoes and Gnocchi can be made in under 20 minutes. Sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil and basil make it amazing!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Little Potato Company. All opinions and text are my own.
CHEESY ITALIAN POTATOES AND GNOCCHI
When you think of your favorite vegetable, what is it? If you're like many of us - it's the delicious, nutritious, versatile potato. I can't tell you how much I love creating new recipes with this veggie. It never gets old for me. So, when I got my hands on some of The Little Potato Company's newest microwaveable Creamer potatoes, Tomato Basil, I decided to have a whole taste-testing extravaganza! I let friends and family get in on the action too. This recipe for Italian Potatoes and Gnocchi was a HUGE hit!
CAPRESE TOMATO BASIL
At first I think we were all skeptical about Tomato Basil being a flavor that complements potatoes. I can honestly say that flavor combo had never occurred to me or any of us. Um - we were so wrong. I'm gonna go ahead and say that I think this is my new favorite flavor. Everyone truly raved. It's only a 5-minute microwave cooking time and all I had to do was add a little olive oil and the seasoning packet and stir. We all agreed that if folks gave these a try - they would be blown away. Hand clap to The Little Potato Company for coming up with this one. If you see it at Wal-Mart, (in the produce section near the other potatoes) do yourself a favor and pick one up.
WHAT IF I CAN'T FIND THE TOMATO BASIL POTATOES?
No worries! Pick up a pack of small microwaveable baby potatoes. Or you can just pick up some very small baby potatoes to microwave in a microwave-safe dish. This will still taste amazing without the seasoning packet from the Tomato Basil Little Potatoes. Some substitutions (if you want one) would be about ½ tablespoon (or more, to taste) of Italian Seasoning. Also, Mrs. Dash does make a delicious Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning Blend. In addition, McCormick makes a Sun-dried Tomato Basil Seasoning Mix. You could add about a tablespoon of of those seasonings - but it is not absolutely necessary for this dish to taste so delicious!
NGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST):
- Tomato Basil Microwave Ready Little potatoes (or just baby gold potatoes)
- Italian sun-dried tomatoes (in oil)
- store-bought gnocchi
- shredded mozzarella cheese
- fresh basil
Cook's Note: You want to look for the sun-dried tomatoes that are packed in olive oil and seasoned with Italian herbs. This is going to add a ton of flavor to this recipe!
HOW TO MAKE ITALIAN POTATOES AND GNOCCHI:
Set aside at least ¼ cup of the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Then remove about 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes (about a ¼ cup, or more to taste) and dice.
Open microwaveable package (opening from one corner so that it can be resealed) and remove the tomato basil seasoning.
Optional: remove the Little potatoes and slice in half before microwaving. I like to do this so that the inside of the potatoes will get coated in the seasoning but it's not necessary. You can keep them whole.
Place sliced Little potatoes back into the microwaveable packaging and re-seal (note: this won't be a tight seal, just making sure the top is put back before microwaving.)
Microwave potatoes for 5 minutes.
While potatoes are cooking, bring water to a boil in a 4-quart pot. Boil gnocchi for about 3 minutes. You'll know when the gnocchi is ready when they begin floating to the top.
Turn off heat and drain the cooked gnocchi and place back into the pot.
After potatoes are cooked, add them into the pot with the gnocchi and pour in reserved oil.
Then add diced sun-dried tomatoes and tomato basil seasoning packet from microwaveable Little potatoes.
Give it all a gentle stir to combine thoroughly. You want to make sure it all gets coated well.
Top with shredded mozarella and fresh basil.
Cover the pot with a lid to allow the cheese to melt. Note: The pot is not on any heat at this point. We're just using the residual heat from the potatoes and gnocchi to allow it to melt.
If necessary, you can turn the heat on low to allow the cheese to melt faster. Just keep a close eye on it. Then serve and dig in.
Top with more fresh basil, if you prefer.
WANT MORE RECIPES LIKE THIS? TRY THESE!
CHEESY ITALIAN POTATOES AND GNOCCHI
Ingredients
- 1 (1 pound) package Microwaveable Tomato Basil Little potatoes
- ¼ cup chopped Italian sun-dried tomatoes, in oil
- ¼ cup oil reserved from sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 (18 oz) package gnocchi
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 4-5 leaves fresh basil, sliced
Instructions
- Set aside at least ¼ cup of the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Then remove about 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes (about a ¼ cup, or more to taste) and dice.
- Open microwaveable package (opening from one corner so that it can be resealed) and remove the tomato basil seasoning.
- Remove the Little potatoes and slice in half.
- Place sliced Little potatoes back into the microwaveable packaging and re-seal (note: this won't be a tight seal, just making sure the top is put back before microwaving.)
- Microwave potatoes for 5 minutes.
- While potatoes are cooking, bring water to a boil in a 4-quart pot. Boil gnocchi for about 3 minutes. You'll know when the gnocchi is ready when they begin floating to the top.
- Turn off heat and drain the cooked gnocchi and place back into the pot.
- After potatoes are cooked, add them to the pot with the gnocchi and pour in reserved oil.
- Then add diced sun-dried tomatoes and tomato basil seasoning packet from microwaveable Little potatoes.
- Give it all a gentle stir to combine thoroughly. You want to make sure it all gets coated well.
- Top with shredded mozarella and fresh basil.
- Cover the pot with a lid to allow the cheese to melt.
- Note: The pot is not on any heat at this point. We're just using the residual heat from the potatoes and gnocchi to allow it to melt. If necessary, you can turn the heat on low to allow the cheese to melt faster. Just keep a close eye on it.
- Then serve and dig in. Top with more fresh basil, if you prefer.
Notes
- You want to look for the sun-dried tomatoes that are packed in olive oil and seasoned with Italian herbs. This is going to add a ton of flavor to this recipe!
- About ½ tablespoon of Italian seasoning can be substituted for the seasoning packet in this recipe.
- Small baby gold potatoes can be used in substitution for the package of Little Potatoes. You'll need a pound and they can be microwave in the same way (just make sure you use a microwave-safe dish).
Diana Schultz
This would really be good with some shredded chicken (rotisserie) with this combination! I look forward to trying and will leave my results. Looks really good! Thank you for sharing!
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Let me know what you think! I think chicken would also be good. You may want to add a bit more of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes just to make sure everything gets coated well with that yummy flavor. 🙂
Mary k
Hi do u have a recipe for the chicken gnocchi cream soup like is served at the olive garden
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Hi Mary! I actually make that at home pretty often. The only problem is I don't have the recipe written out yet. I'll post it here on the blog as soon as I do!