Crispy Ricotta Gnudi
Supercharge your skills with this advanced recipe!
- Milk
- Wheat
What are gnudi? Glad you asked! Love that delicate, pillowy ricotta filling inside ravioli? Make that filling into little dumplings, brown them in a hot pan of butter, and top them with spicy herbed marinara (and that’s gnudi!). While they may have a reputation for being tricky to make at home, we’ve developed a few pro tips to bypass the finicky parts and get those easy, cheesy dumplings all crisped up for the party—ready to delight and impress everyone at the table. That’s the beauty of gnudi!
Ingredients
14 ounce
Marinara Sauce
1 unit
Zucchini
4 tablespoon
Crème Fraîche
(Contains: Milk)
8 ounce
Ricotta Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
3 tablespoon
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
¼ cup
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains: Wheat)
2 unit
Scallions
1 tablespoon
Tuscan Heat Spice
1.5 tablespoon
Flour
(Contains: Wheat)
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
2 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry produce.
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Line a baking sheet with a large piece of paper towel. Using the back of a spoon, spread ricotta into a ¼-inch-thick layer on prepared sheet. Set aside to drain for at least 10 minutes. TIP: If you have time, let ricotta drain up to 30 minutes!
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Meanwhile, finely chop Parmesan. Trim and quarter zucchini lengthwise; cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick quarter-moons. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens.
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Once ricotta has drained, lift ends of paper towel to transfer ricotta to a large bowl; remove paper towel (reserve baking sheet for Step 4). TIP: To easily release ricotta, use paper towel to fold ricotta in half so it sticks to itself, then gently peel off paper towel.
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To bowl with ricotta, add Parmesan and crème fraîche. Season with a big pinch of salt and pepper; stir to combine.
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Stir in panko and ½ cup flour (1 cup for 4 servings) until incorporated and slightly sticky (the dough will firm up in the next step). TIP: Use the big packet of flour here! You'll use the smaller packet in the next step.
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Sprinkle a work surface with 1 TBSP flour (2 TBSP for 4 servings).
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Place dough on floured work surface. Fold the dough over itself, then, working with both hands, firmly press down and away. Repeat, folding then kneading, until dough is firm and can be rolled into a ball, 1 minute.
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Cut dough into four even pieces (eight pieces for 4), then roll each piece into a 6-inch log.
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Cut each log crosswise into six gnudi (you should have 24 gnudi total; 48 gnudi for 4).
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Lightly oil baking sheet used for ricotta and set aside.
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Once pot of water is boiling, carefully add gnudi a few pieces at a time. (For 4 servings, you may need to work in batches.) Return to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Cook, gently stirring occasionally, until gnudi are tender and nearly doubled in size, 5-6 minutes. TIP: The gnudi will start floating to the top before they are done, so be sure to keep an eye on the size!
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Using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer gnudi to prepared sheet. Lightly drizzle with olive oil.
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Turn off heat; pour out water. Wipe out pot.
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Heat a drizzle of oil in same pot over medium-high heat.
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Add zucchini and scallion whites; season with salt. Cook, stirring, until zucchini begins to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add Tuscan Heat Spice and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute.
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Stir in marinara and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender, 4-6 minutes.
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While sauce simmers, melt 2 TBSP butter (4 TBSP for 4 servings) in a large, preferably nonstick, pan over medium-high heat.
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Add gnudi and cook until lightly browned and crispy, 2-3 minutes per side. (For 4, you may need to work in batches.)
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Divide spicy marinara between bowls. Top with gnudi and sprinkle with scallion greens. Serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the gnudi's texture, though some found it bland; the spicy marinara received mixed reviews 🍲.
- Ease of prep: While time-consuming, most found it surprisingly manageable and enjoyed learning the new technique.
- Suggestions: Consider adding more seasoning to the gnudi; some preferred a creamier sauce to balance the acidity.
- Portions: Several felt it needed more veggies or protein to feel like a complete meal.
- Texture: Crispy exterior with pillowy interior delighted many, but some found the gnudi too dense or gummy.
Reviews from our home cooks
What a fabulous meal, thank you! The recipe was easy to follow and it was really fun to prepare the gnudi. The meal tasted delicious and I really hope you develop more recipes like this one, a refreshing change from the usual delicious recipes. Thanks again, we enjoyed this entire cooking and eating experience from start to finish. Bravo HF!
Love this recipe! Clear and easy instructions helped me to confidently make my first batch of Gnudi!! They were light and delicious. The zucchini in the sauce was the perfect touch. I'm enjoying these series of mastering different culinary skills. They pique my interest to learn more!
I never had Gnudi before, hadn't even heard of it. It was fairly simple to make and tasted fantastic! I often do not care for ricotta cheese due to the texture, but these were smooth & very tasty.
I hadn't heard of Gnudi before but its simply a way more Savory and delicious dish similar to Gnocchi. This is a strong contender for favorite dish. Toasty and Pasta like, if you want you can leave the sear a bit deeper and you'll get a reminiscent of Cheez-it flavor from the crust.
This took over 2 hours to make but was SO delicious! Loved the spicy sauce and the gnudi was a totally new thing that I really enjoyed. This is also the first hello fresh meal that's given us large portions for plenty of leftovers which we loved!
I was VERY nervous for this one, as I've never done anything with pasta/dough but thought I'd give it a shot. It wasn't perfect, but not bad for my first time! Flavors were delicious, and the gnudi had a great texture. Will definitely try again next time!
This was a super fun and unique recipe, but we felt that the flavors were a bit off. I would definitely recommend more salt/pepper in the gnudi dough as well as some sort of cream/extra cheese to add on top at the end to balance the acidity of the sauce.
The gnudi dough was too wet and I wasn't able to roll it out. I added extra flour but it still wouldn't work. Sauce was good, could be a good recipe but you must need to let the ricotta drain for longer than the 10 mins that is listed on the recipe card.
I loved the process of making these. The instructions were clear and everything went as planned! Flavorwise, the gnudi were delicious, but the sauce was somewhat overpowering. And I was a little confused about how to eat it. Was it supposed to be more of a dip? a sauce? a stew? Still, it was great to learn something new and to have it be so successful from a technical standpoint.
Love the gnudi. I ended up needing about 2-2.5 more tbsp flour for the kneading step. The sauce was overly oregano for my taste. Overall would probably try again but maybe sub in a different sauce.
