Pan fried gnocchi cooked with crispy smoked streaky bacon & butter, finished with broad beans & parmesan cheese makes a delicious meal.
Cooking in under 30 minutes this dish is a real simple winner with young and old alike and can be increased or decreased in size to suit your family really easily.
Gnocchi with Bacon.
I love easy gnocchi recipes, they lend themselves to quick and easy dinners that always put a smile on peoples faces.
My site is littered with them everything from the classic gnocchi alla Sorrentina, sausage gnocchi to my vegetarian mushroom gnocchi bake and glorious blue cheese gnocchi to a simple chicken pesto gnocchi recipe.
This recipe takes fried gnocchi and combines it with bacon and broad beans. Little hints of garlic and parmesan cheese rounds out this delicious meal.
Of course, we fry the gnocchi in the fat rendered from streaky bacon and add a bit of butter for good measure. If you like the sound of that then you must check out my chorizo gnocchi which is fried in the fat rendered from spicy Spanish sausage.
We make a nice clingy “sauce”, more of a coating really and this comes courtesy of the starchy cooking water from the gnocchi and grated parmesan cheese.
Adding the bacon at the very end means that it stay gloriously crunchy.
You should check out my bacon and mushroom pasta for a play on similar ideas but with pasta.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Can I use store-bought Gnocchi?
Yes, I almost always use store-bought gnocchi.
Homemade gnocchi is delicious and easy to make, but it does involve both a lot of time and an experienced touch. But rarely when I want a quick gnocchi dinner do I want the faff of making gnocchi.
I do however have a delicious ricotta cheese gnocchi recipe that is very simple and really quite quick to make.
Are frozen broad beans ok?
Yes, they are superb! The broad bean season is perilously short and I couldn’t go from one season to the next without my fix.
Are broad beans called anything else?
Yes, depending on where you are from you may know them as fava beans.
Recipe Variations.
The techniques used in this fried gnocchi recipe lend themselves perfectly to spin-off recipes.
For instance, you can swap out the broad beans for anything from peas to green beans. Both of which are wonderful freezer ingredients that I always have at home.
Many may find this a strange sentiment, but you can even swap out the streaky bacon, because who wouldn’t want bacon right?
But this is particularly good with all sorts of different sausages.
A well-flavoured sausage works best, something like a Lincolnshire or Cumberland sausage are perfect. You can even go for a paprika sausage, for instance, my Italian sausages are amazing in this recipe.
Simply cook them in the frying pan then cut them up and add them at the end of the cooking process as this recipe does with the bacon.
If your sausages do not render out enough fat to fry the gnocchi then simply add more butter. More butter is always good!
You could even do bacon and sausage, knock yourself out and make this fried gnocchi recipe your own!
Equipment Used
I only name-check brands of equipment if I think they make a material difference to a recipe. If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Stovetop.
- 20cm or 8″ saucepan.
- 30cm or 12″ frying pan.
- Slotted spoon.
- Kitchen tongs or spatula to flip the bacon.
- Stirring and serving spoons.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- Weighing scales and or measuring cups and spoons.
Fried Gnocchi Recipe with Bacon and Broad Beans
This easy pan fried gnocchi recipe is the perfect midweek dinner, simple to cook, tastes amazing and it feels like a treat too!
Ingredients
- 400g (14oz) Potato Gnocchi
- 8 Slices Smoked Streaky Bacon
- 1 Shallot (~50g)
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 150g Broad Beans aka Fava Beans
- 30g (2 Tbsp) Butter
- 30g (⅓ Cup) Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Parmesan Shavings to serve
Instructions
- Bring a medium pan (20cm or 8") of well-salted water to a boil. I use around 1-1½ teaspoons of salt in a pan this size.
- Heat a 30cm or 12" non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and when the frying pan is hot add the bacon in a single layer and cook until crispy, turning as required, this should take around 10 minutes.
- Peel the shallot, cut it in half lengthways and then slice it into half-moon shapes as thinly as you can.
- Peel and slice the garlic clove as finely as you can.
- Peel the tough leathery skin off the broad beans.
- Once the water is boiling add the gnocchi and cook for two minutes then remove with a slotted spoon and allow to steam dry.
- Add the broad beans, cook for one minute then drain and set aside ensuring you reserve around 125ml (half of a cup) of the cooking water.
- The bacon should now be crispy, set it aside on some kitchen towel leaving the rendered-out fat in the pan.
- Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the garlic, shallot, and gnocchi, then fry until the gnocchi is nicely coloured which should take 3-4 minutes.
- Throw in the broad beans, butter, and saute for a further 90 seconds.
- Add the grated parmesan cheese and add a little of the cooking water to form a silky coating. You will likely only need around 60-75ml (a quarter to a third of a cup).
- Crumble in the bacon just before serving before garnishing with parmesan shavings.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 874Total Fat: 34gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 147mgSodium: 1308mgCarbohydrates: 102gFiber: 9gSugar: 4gProtein: 38g
Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.