Gnocchi and Broccoli Carbonara is a delicious Italian dish, featuring potato dumplings coated in a bacon, Parmesan, mushroom and garlic creamy sauce.
Do you enjoy eating gnocchi? We really enjoy these soft Italian potato dumplings! Cooked gnocchi can be paired with a variety of sauces, for a simple to prepare meal. Gnocchi, in Italian, means “little lumps”, and that is exactly what they are. They are typically made with potatoes and flour, and cook very quickly.
Recently I decided to cook a package of gnocchi I had in our pantry. I decided to make up my own recipe that uses my tried and true pasta carbonara sauce (think BACON). Then I added steamed broccoli, cooked gnocchi, mushrooms, garlic and onions, and created this delicious recipe for gnocchi and broccoli carbonara! Here’s how to make it:
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Cook The Bacon
The first thing you should do is to fry the bacon until very crispy. I like to slice the bacon into small pieces, because it cooks faster that way! Stack a few slices of bacon on top of each other and then cut into 1/2 inch slices. Fry in a large skillet, stirring often until done.
Once the bacon is crisp, remove it from the skillet, and place the bacon pieces on paper towels to absorb grease. Drain MOST of the bacon grease from the pan, but leave approximately 2 Tablespoons bacon grease in the skillet. It will be used to add additional flavoring to the carbonara sauce later!
Cook The Rest Of The Veggies
Return the skillet (with bacon grease) to the stove. Add the chopped onions and mushrooms to the skillet. Cook them on medium-low heat until they turn golden brown (3-4 minutes).
Now add the minced garlic and the crisp bacon crumbles to the skillet. Continue to cook, stirring often, for one more minute. Add the chopped and steamed broccoli to the skillet, and stir to combine. Set the skillet aside while you make the carbonara sauce.
Make The Carbonara Sauce
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, whipping cream, parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes until combined. Use a wire whisk or a fork to do this.
Once combined, it is time to “temper” the sauce. Set the sauce aside while you begin cooking the gnocchi. You will need hot, starchy water from cooking the gnocchi to help temper the sauce.
Temper The Carbonara Sauce
Tempering the sauce is important because there are fresh eggs in the sauce. If you add hot liquid too quickly to the sauce later, the eggs will probably scramble. We do NOT want scrambled eggs in the sauce, do we? NOPE!
Before tempering the sauce, start the gnocchi cooking per the package instructions. You will need some of the starchy hot water from that pan to temper the sauce. OK? Basically you are going to boil the gnocchi for a few minutes, and use a bit of that boiling water in the carbonara sauce. Here is how easy it is to slowly temper the sauce:
Take about 6 Tablespoons (ONE TABLESPOON AT A TIME) of the boiling starchy water from the gnocchi pan and SLOWLY drizzle it into the egg mixture, while whisking the sauce, to slowly disperse the hot water.
Continue to drizzle hot water and whisk continuously, until all 6 Tablespoons of gnocchi water have been added. Once this is done, pour the carbonara sauce over the veggies and bacon mixture in the skillet, and stir to combine.
Finishing The Gnocchi and Broccoli Carbonara
Once the sauce, bacon and veggies are combined, drain the cooked gnocchi. Add the cooked gnocchi to the skillet. Gently stir, to fully combine the ingredients. Cook on low heat for 1-2 minutes, or until heated through, but do not let the sauce boil.
Once the gnocchi are heated through, and fully coated with sauce, the gnocchi and broccoli carbonara is ready to serve!
Serve The Gnocchi And Broccoli Carbonara
To serve, spoon out portions of the gnocchi onto plates or into bowls. Garnish each serving with additional shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve while hot, and enjoy!
Wow… was this dish yummy! Even the leftovers were good a couple days later! The gnocchi and broccoli carbonara can be easily microwaved on medium heat until re-heated to perfection! I sure hope you will give this recipe a try! It is soooo good! Have a GREAT day, and may God bless you in all you do today.
Looking For More Recipes That Use Gnocchi?
You can find all of my recipes in the Recipe Index. located at the top of the page. I have a few other gnocchi recipes, including:
- Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Creamy Italian Sausage Gnocchi
- Chicken, Parmesan and Spinach Gnocchi
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Recipe Source: My brain, and my hunger.
Gnocchi and Broccoli Carbonara is a delicious Italian dish, featuring potato dumplings coated in a bacon, Parmesan, mushroom and garlic creamy sauce.
- 6 slices bacon
- ½ medium yellow onion , finely chopped
- 4 mushrooms , button or baby portobello
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon parsley flakes
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup steamed broccoli (pre-cooked and chopped)
- 17.6 ounce potato gnocchi
- additional Parmesan for garnish (optional)
Fry bacon in large skillet until very crisp. Stack a few slices of bacon on top of each other and then cut into 1/2 inch slices. Fry in a large skillet, stirring often until done. Remove bacon from skillet, and place on paper towels to absorb grease. Drain MOST of the grease from skillet, but leave approx. 2 Tablespoons bacon grease in the skillet.
Return skillet (with bacon grease) to stove. Add onions and mushrooms. Cook on medium-low heat until golden brown (3-4 minutes). Add garlic and bacon crumbles to skillet. Continue to cook, stirring often, for one more minute. Add chopped and steamed broccoli to skillet, and stir to combine. Set the skillet aside while you make carbonara sauce.
Make Sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, whipping cream, parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes together until combined. Set the sauce aside while you begin cooking the gnocchi, according to package directions. You will need hot, starchy water from cooking the gnocchi to help temper the sauce.
Tempering the sauce is important because there are fresh eggs in the sauce. If you add hot liquid too quickly to the sauce, the eggs will likely scramble. Take about 6 Tablespoons (ONE AT A TIME) of the boiling starchy water from gnocchi pan and SLOWLY drizzle it into the egg mixture, while whisking continuously, to slowly disperse hot water. Continue to drizzle hot water and whisk, until all 6 Tablespoons of hot water have been added. Once done, pour the carbonara sauce over the veggies and bacon mixture in the skillet, and stir to combine.
Once sauce, bacon and veggies are combined, drain the cooked gnocchi. Add the gnocchi to the skillet. Gently stir, to fully combine ingredients. Cook on low heat for 1-2 minutes, or until heated through, but do not let it boil. Once heated through and gnocchi are fully coated with sauce, it is ready to serve! To serve, spoon out portions of gnocchi onto plates or into bowls. Garnish each serving with additional shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve while hot, and enjoy!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!