More Gnocchi Recipes
Gnocchi Caprese Salad
This gnocchi Caprese salad is my go-to when I want something fresh but still comforting. I pan-fry the gnocchi until golden and toss it with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. It’s the perfect balance of warm, chewy, and bright – ideal for lazy lunches, dinner parties, or using up garden tomatoes. If you love Caprese flavours but want something heartier, this easy gnocchi salad delivers every time.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 500g gnocchi
- 200g grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 100g cherry bocconcini, torn in half
- 1 bunch of fresh basil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Balsamic glaze, if desired
Instructions
- In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the gnocchi, season with salt, and fry for 4-5 minutes, or until the gnocchi is golden and crispy on the edges. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
- Season the halved tomatoes with salt and pepper.
- Once the gnocchi has cooled slightly, toss the gnocchi, tomatoes, bocconcini, and basil leaves together in a serving bowl.
- Drizzle with balsamic glaze if desired, and serve immediately.
Notes
- This is a warm salad, so let the gnocchi cool for a few minutes before tossing with the tomatoes and bocconcini. You want it warm enough to slightly soften the cheese, but not so hot that it completely melts.
- I use this cast iron frying pan for getting the gnocchi perfectly golden without any sticking.
- Shelf-stable vacuum-packed gnocchi works best here as it crisps up beautifully and holds its shape when tossed through the salad.
- Cherry bocconcini are the perfect bite-sized mozzarella for this dish. If you can't find them, regular bocconcini torn into smaller pieces works just as well.
- Fresh basil is essential here. Tear the leaves rather than chopping them to avoid bruising and release the best flavour.
- For extra richness, use a mix of butter and olive oil to fry the gnocchi.
- Balsamic glaze adds a lovely sweet-tart finish, but if you don't have it, a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil and a crack of black pepper is equally delicious.
- This balsamic glaze is my go-to for drizzling over salads and adds that restaurant-quality finish.
- This salad is best eaten fresh while the gnocchi is still warm and crispy. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 day, but the gnocchi will lose its crispiness and the basil will wilt.
- Not suitable for freezing due to the fresh ingredients and delicate texture of the salad components.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 383Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 56mgSodium: 176mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 4gSugar: 14gProtein: 10g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
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Gnocchi Caprese Salad
A New Chapter
Recently at work, we were all deep in conversation about just how delicious gnocchi really is. And let’s be honest, it’s true – Gnocchi is delicious. Especially when pan-fried! There’s something so good about those golden little pillows, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. But as it’s getting warmer here in Brisbane, I wasn’t exactly craving my usual creamy, cosy gnocchi dishes. I needed something lighter, something fresher. Which is exactly how this Gnocchi Caprese Salad came to be. With pan-fried gnocchi, mixed grape tomatoes, creamy bocconcini and fragrant basil leaves, it’s all the flavours of summer in one bowl.
I’ve always been a big fan of a caprese salad. Whenever my sister and I go to our favourite Italian spot in Chermside (they do a surprisingly good gluten free pizza base, by the way), I always get the caprese salad. Fresh tomato, mozzarella slices, basil and a drizzle of balsamic? Obsessed. Add pan-fried gnocchi to the mix and you’ve got something a bit different but still very classic. The textures just work – the creamy cheese, the sweet tomatoes, that bit of chew from the gnocchi – it’s the kind of salad that makes you go back for seconds.
And to be honest, I’ve missed this kind of food. This is my third salad I’ve created since getting back to Australia, and actually, my third recipe too!! You can tell I missed Aussie-style salads after being away for so long. It’s taken me a little while to get back into the rhythm of cooking, but it’s slowly returning. Coming back from two years of isolation, then leaving a long and difficult relationship, it’s not exactly a recipe for creative energy. But bit by bit, I’ve found myself again. And for me, happiness always finds its way back to the kitchen.
Pan-Fried Gnocchi – No Negotiations Allowes
Back when I was living in Scotland, I started experimenting with pan-fried gnocchi because I’ve never been the biggest fan of boiled gnocchi. It always felt a bit stodgy and limp to me, like a dumpling that’s lost its will to live. But pan-fried? Whole different story. Crisping it up in butter or olive oil gives it this gorgeous golden crust, and it becomes something you could easily snack on by the handful. And once I started cooking it that way, I never looked back. So naturally, when I started thinking about a gnocchi salad, it had to be pan-fried. No debates allowed.
The beauty of this dish is that it’s got a little bit of everything The pan-fried gnocchi gives it substance, while the tomatoes and basil keep it light. It’s the kind of recipe that works as well for a lazy weekend lunch as it does for a casual summer dinner. And with the festive colours of red, white and green, it’s even a bit Christmassy – perfect for an Aussie holiday spread when you don’t want to go near an oven. It’s fast too. You’re looking at ten, maybe fifteen minutes start to finish.
I also wanted to say something about the cheese. I used bocconcini here because I’m absolutely obsessed with fresh mozzarella and all its cousins – burrata, fior di latte, you name it I love it. But I know from experience that bocconcini can be tricky to find in the UK. When I lived there, I usually went for mini mozzarella balls from Tesco, or a big ball of buffalo mozzarella torn into chunks. Just use what you’ve got as long as it’s soft, creamy, and fresh, it’ll be perfect.
Returning to the Kitchen
Creating this Gnocchi Caprese Salad felt like a bit of a milestone. Not just because it was the third salad I’ve made since coming back to Australia, but because I actually wanted to make it. For a long time, I didn’t want to cook anything – I’d lost my spark. I know from the outside things probably looked fine – my ex and I had our little Twitch channels, we cooked on stream, we looked like we were happy. But behind the scenes, it was a different story. Things had become darker and lonelier than I could say at the time, and slowly, I stopped cooking. First for him, and eventually for myself too.
There were little signs you could capture if you watches u closely enough. The time I cut my finger open on a mandolin and he kept playing his game. The way he’d sit and ignore me when I needed help. The way I’d be chatting with people and get glared at to shut up. Small things that didn’t seem like much but added up. So you can imagine what it was like when the cameras were off. Eventually, the only place I felt safe was in my own mind, planning my way back to Australia with my sister. It took strength I didn’t know I had. But I made it out. And now, slowly, I’m finding my way back to food – to flavour, to colour, to joy.
So yes, this is just a salad. But also no, it’s not. It’s a moment – it’s the kind of dish you throw together on a hot day and eat outside with a cold drink. It’s simple, fresh, and full of things I love. And it marks something bigger for me – a return to myself. I’m back in the kitchen, back to playing with flavours, back to sharing recipes. And I’m happy. Truly happy.
Ingredient breakdown
Gnocchi
Shelf-stable vacuum-packed gnocchi is the right call here, same as the other pan-fried recipes in this collection. It crisps up reliably in butter and holds its shape when you toss it through the salad. Fresh gnocchi is too delicate and will fall apart both in the pan and when you go to toss everything together. Let it cool for a few minutes after frying before it goes into the bowl. You want it warm enough to slightly soften the bocconcini when they meet, but not so hot that it melts everything into a puddle.
Salted butter
Butter is doing the heavy lifting here flavour-wise because this is such a simple dish with very few ingredients. It gives the gnocchi a rich, nutty edge as it crisps up that plain olive oil just doesn’t deliver in the same way. If you want a bit more insurance against burning, a small splash of olive oil in with the butter is a good move, but butter alone over medium-high heat works perfectly fine if you keep an eye on it.
Grape or cherry tomatoes
Halved and seasoned with salt and pepper before they go into the bowl. That seasoning step matters more than it sounds because it draws out a little moisture and intensifies the flavour of the tomatoes before they even touch anything else. Cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes both work here. You want something sweet and ripe because the tomatoes are doing a lot of the flavour work in a dish this minimal.
Cherry bocconcini
Cherry bocconcini are small, fresh mozzarella balls that are perfectly sized for a salad like this. Tear them in half rather than cutting them so the edges are rough and irregular, which means they catch the dressing and the balsamic glaze better than a clean cut surface would. If you can’t find the cherry-sized ones, regular bocconcini torn into smaller pieces works just as well. The warmth of the gnocchi softens them slightly, which is exactly what you want.
Fresh basil
Fresh basil only, and tear the leaves rather than chopping them. Chopping bruises the leaves and turns the edges black almost immediately, whereas tearing keeps them looking vibrant and releases the flavour more gently. A whole bunch sounds like a lot but basil is the flavour backbone of a caprese and it needs to be present in every bite rather than just scattered decoratively over the top.
Salt and pepper
Used twice here: once to season the gnocchi in the pan as it fries, and again to season the tomatoes before everything gets tossed together. Seasoning at both stages makes a real difference to the depth of flavour in something this simple, where there is nowhere for flat seasoning to hide.
Balsamic glaze
Optional but honestly worth having in the pantry because it finishes this dish beautifully. Balsamic glaze is reduced and sweetened balsamic vinegar with a syrupy consistency that drizzles rather than pours. It adds a sweet, tangy note that ties the tomatoes, basil, and cheese together in a very classic caprese way. If you don’t have it, a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil and an extra crack of black pepper does the job just fine..
Serve This With
- Grilled chicken or garlic prawns for a more substantial meal
- A simple rocket and Parmesan salad on the side
- Crusty bread or focaccia to round out the plate
