Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Brussels & Butternut

in case you wanted a ridiculously delicious meal from 20 minutes of effort

I’ve been kicking myself for how long it took me to make this recipe— I’ve had it on my recipe spreadsheet for months after drooling over the photos from the New York Times Cooking email it was featured in. Their recipe has over 19,000 5-star reviews, and after tasting it, I can attest that it is indeed perfection— EXCEPT:

Who wants to stand at a stove when they can get the same results from a sheet pan meal? Of course, you give up a little bit of control for this convenience, but I think it’s worth it— I tried it, and everything tasted amazing— and I didn’t have to stand at the stove for 20 minutes!

Ok, actually, I made two changes to this recipe— I added a pound of Italian sausage links to the sheet pan, then sliced them up and tossed them in with the final product. (We aren’t really vegetarians over here!) The flavors worked really well together, and it helped bulk up an otherwise lower-calorie meal (even with the addition of the sausage, I was hungry again after a few hours.) But the meal works beautifully without sausage, too, and I’m so glad to have a delicious meatless meal to offer my vegetarian friends!

---

Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Brussels & Butternut (adapted from Crisp Gnocchi With Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter by Ali Slagle for the New York Times)
Serves: 4
Cook time: 45 minutes (20 minutes active time)

For Dietary Restrictions

• Gluten free: use gluten-free gnocchi

• Dairy free: use nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan cheese; omit the butter in the last step (substitute with olive oil if you’d like)

Kids Can Help

wash produce, zest the lemon, measure spices and oil, grate cheese

Ingredients

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts

• half of a small butternut squash (for 2 -3 cups chopped)

• 1(16-ounce) package shelf-stable potato gnocchi

• 1 lemon

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt

• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or fresh ground black pepper

• 1-2 Tbsp unsalted butter

• 1-2 Tbsp honey

• Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

Tools

• Cutting board

• Chef knife

• Vegetable peeler

• Wide spatula for flipping

• Large baking sheet

• Measuring cups and spoons

• Parchment paper

• Lemon zester

---

Directions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees; line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2

Prepare the vegetables: Wash and trim the brussels sprouts, then cut in half; peel the butternut squash (I find it easiest to slice thin strips of skin off with a knife, but a regular peeler works too), then cut into small cubes about 1/2 inch wide. (You’ll need 2-3 cups of squash cubes, which should use about 1/2 of the squash— you can freeze or refrigerate the rest to use in another recipe, such as remaking this one!)

Step 3

Zest the lemon. If you don’t have a zester, you can peel off the yellow skin, leaving as much white pith out as possible; then, slice as thinly as you can and mince the strips into tiny pieces.

Step 4

In a large, bowl, toss the brussels and cubed squash with the gnocchi, then add all of the lemon zest, 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/2 tsp of kosher salt. Mix or toss to coat everything in the oil and spices, then spread out on the baking sheet. Scrape any remaining oil, zest, and spices out of the bowl and onto the parchment paper, then set aside the bowl for a later step.

Step 5

Bake the gnocchi and vegetables for about 25 minutes until the vegetables are tender and starting to brown, then remove from the oven and set aside to cook slightly. While the pan is cooling, quickly grate the Parmesan cheese (you’ll need about 1 cup).

Step 6

Return the gnocchi and vegetables to the mixing bowl, then add 1-2 Tbsp each of butter and honey, all of the grated Parmesan cheese, and ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or fresh ground black pepper (omit if your family doesn’t like spice!) Mix well, then serve immediately.