Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat the oven: Set your oven to 400°F (200°C). Grab a small, deep baking dish — about 8x8 inches or a 9-inch round. Smaller is better here. You want the gnocchi packed in and fully surrounded by sauce, not spread out in a thin layer.
- Build the sauce right in the dish: Add both cans of Mutti polpa (or your jar of tomato sauce) to the baking dish. Pour in the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, then stir in the minced garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Give it a good mix so the oil and spices are evenly distributed — this is your only chance to season the sauce. (WATCH VIDEO BELOW)
- Add the gnocchi: Tip the gnocchi straight from the package into the sauce and stir until every piece is coated. Don't boil it first (unless it's gluten-free — see the ingredient note). Press the gnocchi down gently so it's submerged. If the top layer is peeking out of the sauce, spoon a little sauce over it.
- Stir in the cheese: Fold 1 cup of freshly shredded mozzarella into the gnocchi and sauce. This is what makes the inside of the bake creamy rather than just saucy — it melts into the tomato and gives you those cheese pockets throughout. (WATCH VIDEO BELOW)
- Bake: Slide the dish into the oven and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. The sauce should be bubbling at the edges and the gnocchi should feel tender when you poke it with a fork.
- Top and broil: Pull the dish out, scatter the remaining ½ cup mozzarella over the top, and switch your oven to broil at 500°F (260°C). Return the dish to the oven for 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and blistered golden in spots. (WATCH VIDEO BELOW)
- Rest, then serve: Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving. I know it's hard. But the sauce thickens as it rests, and it means you get a proper scoop instead of a puddle. Finish with fresh basil, chili flakes, or a shower of parmesan.
- Broiler warning: Stay by the oven for those 5 minutes. Broilers vary wildly, and there's about a 45-second window between perfectly golden and sad and burnt. Mine hits it right around 4 minutes.
Use a smaller dish than you think you need. This is the tip I learned the hard way. In a 9x13, the sauce spreads thin and the gnocchi on top dries out instead of steaming soft. An 8x8 or a 9-inch round keeps everything packed and submerged. If the gnocchi isn't mostly covered in sauce, your dish is too big.
Shred the mozzarella yourself. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch to stop it clumping, and that coating is exactly why it melts greasy and grainy instead of stretchy. Two minutes with a box grater completely changes the top layer.
Season the polpa properly. Mutti polpa is just chopped tomatoes — it is not a seasoned sauce, and this trips people up. It needs the full teaspoon of garlic powder, the Italian seasoning, and at least ½ teaspoon of salt to taste like anything — plus the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, which rounds off the acidity and gives the sauce body. Mix the oil and spices into the sauce before the gnocchi goes in so they actually distribute.
Nutrition
Notes
Storage
- Fridge: Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. A glass container with a snap lid is ideal — it keeps the sauce from picking up fridge smells.
- Reheat (stovetop — best method): Add the gnocchi to a small pan over medium-low heat with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water or a splash of passata. Cover and heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring gently. The added liquid is what brings the sauce back to life — without it, reheated gnocchi goes dry and tight.
- Reheat (microwave): Cover loosely, add a splash of water, and microwave in 45-second bursts, stirring in between. Usually 90 seconds to 2 minutes total.
- Reheat (oven): Cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes, then uncover for the last 3 minutes to crisp the cheese back up.
- Freezer: I don't recommend freezing this after baking — the potato gnocchi turns mealy and the texture never fully recovers. You can freeze it unbaked, though: assemble everything except the top cheese layer, cover tightly, and freeze for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen at 400°F for 45 to 50 minutes, then add the cheese and broil.