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This ground beef gnocchi recipe has a creamy tomato sauce and turns store-bought gnocchi into pillowy deliciousness. This one pan meal is quick and tastes gourmet!
You may also enjoy my Italian Sausage Gnocchi, Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce, or Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Gnocchi next.
Why you’ll love it
I have a ridiculous number of one pan gnocchi recipes on here, but this one might be my favorite. Beef and gnocchi is such a good combo! There’s also no need to pre-cook the gnocchi. It cooks right in the sauce, which is convenient and helps with cleanup.
This hamburger gnocchi recipe makes plenty of delicious sauce. The meaty tomato sauce sort of reminds me of a creamy Bolognese. Add in a splash of cream and freshly grated parmesan, and it’s a comforting yet simple meal that’s sure to go on repeat.
What you’ll need
- Ground beef – we’re using lean
- Onion and garlic – I like sweet (Vidalia) onions
- Italian seasoning – it’s my favorite blend of dried herbs to infuse flavor and comes in a single jar
- Canned diced tomatoes – they’re canned at the peak of ripeness for best taste
- Broth – I use chicken broth, but beef works too
- Heavy cream – to give the sauce that luxurious texture and taste
- Gnocchi – I use the shelf stable gnocchi that you can find in the dry pasta aisle. You can use the refrigerated kind as well.
- Parmesan – the final cheesy touch! Always freshly grate your own from a block.
Helpful tips
- Can I use homemade gnocchi? I don’t recommend it. The one pan method seems to be too much for the delicate pasta.
- Do I cook the gnocchi first/separately? Nope! It cooks right in the sauce. In fact, the starch releases and thickens up the sauce.
- Why isn’t the sauce thickening up? Just give it a little more time. On the other hand, if your stove runs hot, cook it over a lower heat.
How to make ground beef gnocchi
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Cook the onions and ground beef in a pan until browned, breaking it up with a spoon as you go along. Discard the excess fat if there’s a lot. Stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning, and cook until fragrant.
Stir the tomatoes, broth, heavy cream, and gnocchi into the pan. Let it bubble, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Uncover, stir, then simmer until the sauce has thickened. Stir in the parmesan, and season with salt & pepper.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- I mince garlic easily with this garlic press (no need to peel the cloves first), and I store the rest in this cute garlic saver.
- A Microplane zester is perfect to grate the parmesan. It comes in several colors!
- Here’s my favorite cutting board for chopping the onion.
Substitutions and variations
- I’d be cautious substituting the cream for something lower fat because the tomatoes and heat are likely to curdle the sauce or at least make it grainy if you don’t use cream.
- Try swapping the chicken broth with white wine (e.g., sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) for an elegant touch.
- Many of my readers like adding spinach in at the end for some greens.
- If you sub the parmesan with cheddar, you can give this dish Hamburger Helper vibes, or make my Homemade Hamburger Helper instead.
What to serve with ground beef gnocchi
- For a salad, I like to dress one up with this homemade Olive Garden Salad Dressing. You could also make my Creamy Cucumber Salad or Beet and Spinach Salad for a delicious change.
- A dinner roll or slice of Cheesy Garlic Bread nicely rounds it out.
Leftovers and storage
- Store leftover gnocchi for 3-4 days in the fridge in a covered container.
- Reheat over a low heat until warmed through. It’ll thicken up over time, so add a splash of broth or cream to revive the sauce if needed.
- I don’t recommend freezing this one.
More ground beef recipes
If you made this one pan gnocchi with ground beef, please leave me a star rating and review below! You can also tag me on Instagram if you made any Salt & Lavender recipes.
Ground Beef Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning or to taste
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
- 1/3 cup chicken or beef broth
- 3/4 cup heavy/whipping cream
- 1 pound uncooked potato gnocchi
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium-high heat for 7-10 minutes. If there's lots of excess fat, spoon most of it out.
- Stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning.
- Add the diced tomatoes, chicken broth, cream, and gnocchi to the pan, and give it a good stir. Once the sauce starts to bubble again, cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Uncover the pan, stir it, and let it cook for another few minutes, or until the gnocchi has cooked through and is nice and soft and the sauce has thickened to your liking.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese and salt & pepper as needed. Serve immediately.
Notes
- There is no need to pre-cook the gnocchi. It’ll cook right in the sauce.
- This dish would be excellent with fresh basil stirred in at the end.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.
This recipe was originally published on January 4, 2020. It’s been updated with new photos and better instructions but is the same great recipe!
Made this for the second time last night and I used ground bison this time. This recipe is perfect and is just so comforting. My husband loves it as well. This is a keeper! Pairs well with red wine
We are very busy with work and work long hours so a good one pan meal is always very much appreciated
So happy this recipe helps out on busy workdays!! Thanks for your review, Erika. 🙂
Made this tonite. Followed recipe as written. Super easy. Did add a 4 oz can of mushrooms ans a small hand full of frozen spinach. Next time I’m going to try Italian sausage. There will be a a next time and a next time.. Loved it.
So pleased you liked it, Steven!
This is really good! Love the flavors and texture. I have definitely seen a lot of one pan gnocchi recipes around, but have been making variations of them myself since finding the concept in a cookbook circa 2013. (I remember because it was right after I got married and was learning to cook for two. 🙂 Just saying! Not sure there’s ever really anything new under the sun, at least when it comes to creamy pastas, haha.
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 Yeah, I don’t know where exactly the concept originated. I think I was one of the first food bloggers bloggers to do it back in 2017. I don’t remember seeing too many on Pinterest back then, and now everyone does them.
Just made this for dinner. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand and while I didn’t measure everything, it came out so delicious! Boys are already on their 2nd serving. Tasty, filling, warm, and perfect on a cold day.
That’s awesome!! Glad it’s a cozy hit with your boys, Cynthia. 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight. Realized I didn’t have any heavy cream so I asked “Alexa” what to substitute and she said 1/3 cup butter and 2/3 cup milk heated in microwave and whisked together. So that’s what I used. I thought it turned out great. Will definitely make again using heavy cream and see if I can tell the difference.
I’m so glad it worked out, Linda!! 🙂 Thanks for your review!
I hate when people completely change the recipe and then give their review. Hopefully I’m not guilty of that 🙂 We’re also affected by the heavy cream shortage, so I used half & half and added 3 tablespoons of cream cheese to try to add a little extra creaminess. Otherwise I planned on making it according the the recipe, but I think the package of ground beef I used was more than a pound, so there just wasn’t quite enough sauce or tomato. Mine looked nothing like the picture. I added about 1/2 cup more half & half and about 4 tablespoons of tomato paste and a couple more shakes of Italian seasoning and left it simmer a little longer. It was good and I will make it again, but could definitely use a little more seasoning and flavoring. Thanks for sharing!
You’re very welcome!
Great easy recipe! Apparently there’s currently a heavy and light cream shortage as noted at the supermarkets so I wasn’t able to use that. I found vanilla flavored whipping cream and used that instead. The subtle vanilla flavor added a bit of sweetness to the dish which I kind of liked. The dish was a bit soupy at the end of the suggested cooking time so I let it simmer for a couple minutes longer to thicken up. Next time I may add in some frozen veggies near the end of the cooking time.
Oh I’m sorry to hear that they were out of heavy cream!! Glad it worked out anyway, and thanks for giving it a try! 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!!! It’s very easy to make too, it would be a good weeknight meal. We all enjoyed it, kids and adults both 😊 I will definitely make again!
That’s great to hear, Shannon! 🙂
Made this with pumkin gnocchi was really good
That’s great! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it, Patricia!
This was lovely!! Didn’t have any Italian herbs but was brilliant without. Would definitely make this again
So glad you enjoyed it, Leanne!