More Gnocchi Recipes
Gnocchi with Creamy Tomato & Bacon Sauce
Creamy sundried tomato and crispy bacon gnocchi is one of my favourite throw-together dinners. I pan-fry the gnocchi until golden, then stir it through a sauce made with cream, garlic, and punchy sundried tomatoes, finishing it off with crispy bacon for salty crunch. It’s rich, satisfying, and comes together in about twenty minutes – perfect for weeknights when I want something that feels indulgent without too much effort. One pan, loads of flavour, and always a clean plate.
Ingredients
- 100g bacon
- 75g sundried tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 150ml single cream
- 25g parmesan cheese, grated
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 250g gnocchi
- Additional oil from the sundried tomatoes
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C (fan) or 220°C (conventional). Spread the bacon rashers onto a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until dark and crispy. Remove from oven and set aside.
- In a skillet, heat 1-2 tsp of oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over medium-high heat. Fry the gnocchi for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy on the edges.
- Remove the gnocchi from the heat and divide between two bowls.
- In a small pot over medium heat, cook the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and garlic for 1-2 minutes, or until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
- Add the cream and Parmesan and stir through. Continue to heat over medium heat until the cheese has melted into the cream and the sauce is smooth.
- Add a small splash of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Break the bacon rashers into pieces and stir through the cream sauce.
- Pour the creamy bacon and tomato sauce over the gnocchi and sprinkle with fresh parsley to serve.
Notes
- Baking the bacon in the oven rather than frying it means you get perfectly crispy rashers without the hassle of standing over the stove. It also renders out the fat beautifully.
- I use this cast iron skillet for frying the gnocchi. It gets a lovely even crisp without sticking.
- Sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil are ideal here because you can use that flavoured oil to fry the gnocchi. If you're using dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, substitute with olive oil.
- Single cream works perfectly for this sauce, but you can use double cream for something richer, or even crème fraîche for a slight tang.
- Shelf-stable vacuum-packed gnocchi is best for pan-frying as it holds its shape better than fresh gnocchi.
- For extra depth, add a pinch of chilli flakes when cooking the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes.
- This recipe serves two generously, but it's easy to scale up for more people. Just use a larger skillet and pot.
- Fresh parsley adds a lovely bright note at the end, but you could also use fresh basil if that's what you've got.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently in a pan with a splash of cream or milk to loosen the sauce.
- This dish is best eaten fresh and doesn't freeze well due to the cream sauce, which can split when reheated.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Amount Per Serving: Calories: 581Total Fat: 29.5gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 1859mgCarbohydrates: 61.6gFiber: 7.7gSugar: 14.3gProtein: 22.3g
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Creamy Gnocchi with Sundried Tomatoes and Crispy Bacon
Comfort Food and Crispy Gnocchi
Whenever I go grocery shopping on my own, I usually end up with more bags than I can carry, especially when the weather’s being particularly Scottish. Which is to say, wet, cold, and somewhat aggressively windy. And because I live at the top of a rather cheeky hill, more often than not, I cave and call a cab home. Last week, the cab driver asked me what has become the most common question I get here in Scotland. Why on earth did I leave sunny Australia for this? I know most people expect me to launch into a story about romance or ancestry or running away from something. But the truth is actually very simple – I love the cold, I love the rain, and I love the grey. And honestly? Comfort food like my Creamy Sundried Tomato and Crispy Bacon Gnocchi tastes far better when you’re curled up in a cardigan listening to the wind rattle the windows.
Gnocchi is one of those foods that feels like a hug. And while I have nothing against the pillowy boiled version, I am firmly in the camp of frying it. There’s something about that golden, slightly crispy exterior that just hits different. It gives the gnocchi a bit of bite and character, which means it doesn’t get lost in the sauce. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s faster. You don’t have to boil water, faff around with draining, or risk overcooking and ending up with mush. Just fry it in a bit of butter or oil until it’s crisp and golden and you’re good to go.
Once the gnocchi is sorted, it’s all about the sauce. And this one – a creamy sundried tomato and bacon number – is ridiculously good. The salty, smoky bacon against the tang of the tomatoes, all tied together with a lush creamy base, is just the sort of thing that makes me feel smugly content. You can absolutely use this sauce with pasta too, but there’s something about gnocchi that makes it extra special. Maybe it’s the way the crispy edges cling to the sauce. Or maybe it’s just the fact that it feels like a proper dinner, even though it only takes about 20 minutes to pull together.
The Joy of Simplicity
I think part of the appeal is that this recipe doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. It’s not trying to impress anyone. It’s just straightforward, comforting food that delivers. I’ve always believed that food doesn’t have to be complicated to be good. And this recipe is a great example of that. You don’t need a dozen ingredients or fancy equipment – just a few staples, a bit of heat, and the patience to let things crisp up nicely. And let’s be honest, bacon and cream are always going to be a winning combination.
If you’re the kind of person who gets anxious about cooking or feels like you’re not doing it “properly,” this is a brilliant place to start. There’s nothing intimidating here – no steps that require precision or technique. Just layer the flavours as you go. Let the bacon get properly crisp. Let the sundried tomatoes infuse their flavour into the creamy sauce. Taste as you go. And always – always – salt your food. I don’t measure salt. I go by taste and instinct, and that’s something I think we all need to get more comfortable with. Your tongue knows what it’s doing – trust it.
One of the things I love about cooking in Scotland is how the weather almost demands a certain kind of food. You’re not going to be sitting down to a cold salad when it’s blowing a gale outside. You want food that warms you from the inside out. Food that feels like a reward for getting through the day. This gnocchi ticks all those boxes. It’s quick enough for a weeknight but indulgent enough for a Friday night treat. It doesn’t make a mess. It reheats beautifully. And if you’re cooking for someone else, it looks and smells way fancier than it actually is.
Real-Life Kitchen Habits
Let me be honest. I’m not the kind of person who plans meals meticulously. Sometimes I do. But most of the time? I cook based on what’s in the fridge and what I feel like eating. This recipe came about because I had a half-used jar of sundried tomatoes, some bacon that needed using, and a packet of gnocchi I’d bought because it was on special. It wasn’t a planned dinner, it was a “what can I throw together that will make me happy” dinner. And that’s where the best recipes often come from, I think. Not from a need to impress, but from a need to be comforted.
And yes, I live in Scotland, but I still shop like I’m in Australia, which is to say – infrequently and with great optimism. I’ll come home with ingredients I didn’t need and then play a game of edible Tetris trying to fit them in the fridge. But it’s also how I end up with unexpected combinations that really work. Cream, bacon, and sundried tomatoes? That’s not groundbreaking. But add gnocchi and a chill in the air, and suddenly it feels like the most comforting meal in the world.
Sometimes I’ll throw in some spinach or rocket if I’ve got it, just for a hit of green and to pretend I’m being virtuous. Other times I’ll eat the whole thing out of the frying pan with a spoon because I’ve had a long day and can’t be bothered with washing up. Both options are valid. Both are delicious. Cooking, for me, has always been about finding that balance between effort and reward. And when the reward is this good, a little effort is more than worth it.
Ingredient breakdown
Bacon rashers
The bacon gets baked in the oven rather than fried on the stovetop, which is genuinely the better method here. You get perfectly crispy, evenly cooked rashers without having to babysit a pan, and the fat renders out beautifully in the dry heat of the oven. Once it comes out it gets broken into pieces and stirred through the cream sauce right at the end, so every bite has a bit of that salty crunch running through it.
Sun-dried tomatoes
Sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil are the ones you want for this recipe, and not just because of the tomatoes themselves. That flavoured oil in the jar is what you fry the gnocchi in, and it adds a concentrated, slightly sweet tomato flavour right from the start before anything else even hits the pan. If you only have dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, swap in olive oil for frying and you’ll be fine, but the jarred-in-oil version is worth grabbing if you can.
Garlic
Four cloves, minced, cooked in that sun-dried tomato oil with the chopped tomatoes for just a minute or two until soft and fragrant. It’s a quick cook because the garlic is sharing the pan with the tomatoes rather than going in alone, which means it softens gently without any risk of scorching. For extra heat, a pinch of chilli flakes at this stage works really well.
Single cream
Single cream is the base of the sauce and it comes together quickly once the Parmesan goes in. If you want something richer, double cream works beautifully here, or swap in creme fraiche if you want a slight tang to cut through the richness of the bacon and sun-dried tomatoes. Just keep the heat at medium and stir as you go so the sauce stays smooth and doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pot.
Parmesan
Freshly grated Parmesan melts directly into the cream to form the sauce, which means it’s doing a structural job here as much as a flavour one. Pre-grated Parmesan from a bag doesn’t melt as cleanly and can make the sauce grainy, so grate it fresh if you can. It brings that salty, savoury depth that keeps the cream from feeling too heavy.
Lemon juice
Just a small splash of lemon juice added right at the end of making the sauce. It’s not enough to taste distinctly lemony, but it lifts the whole thing and stops the cream sauce from feeling too rich and flat. Don’t skip it. That little bit of acid does a lot of quiet work.
Gnocchi
Shelf-stable vacuum-packed gnocchi is the right call here because you’re pan-frying it before it meets the sauce, and it needs to hold together under the heat. Fresh gnocchi is too delicate and tends to fall apart in a hot pan. Fry it in the sun-dried tomato oil until the edges are golden and crispy, then divide it between the bowls before you pour the sauce over. Keeping the gnocchi separate from the sauce until serving means it holds onto that crispiness rather than going soft and sodden.
Salt and pepper
Season the cream sauce after the Parmesan has melted in, because the cheese brings its own saltiness and you don’t want to overdo it before you’ve tasted. A good amount of black pepper works especially well in a cream-based sauce.
Fresh parsley
Scattered over the top just before serving, fresh parsley adds a bright, clean note that cuts through the richness of the cream and bacon. Fresh basil works just as well if that’s what’s in the fridge. Either way, something fresh and green at the end makes a real difference to how the dish tastes and looks.
Serve This With
- A simple rocket salad with shaved Parmesan and balsamic glaze
- Garlic bread or crusty sourdough on the side
- Roasted asparagus or green beans with lemon
