Grab A Sheet Pan And 3 Ingredients For A 20-Minute Italian Dinner With Nearly Zero Effort

Even if you know not to boil store-bought gnocchi because of its tendency to become mushy, gluey, and fall apart, it's still worth keeping a package or two in the fridge for a quick, delicious sheet pan dinner. Cooking gnocchi on a sheet pan produces a delightfully crisp texture, and you can combine it with cherry tomatoes and pillowy bocconcini (fresh mozzarella balls) to create a simple yet delicious meal.

Baked together, the gnocchi turn golden and beautifully crispy, with a fluffy, steaming interior, while the cherry tomatoes burst, caramelize, and essentially become a light sauce. Additionally, it's important that you either marinate it in oil yourself, or find a tub of bocconcini packaged in flavorful oil (fresh, marinated mozzarella has the most deliciously zesty flavor). The oil is the key to working smarter, not harder — it's beautifully seasoned and perfect for drizzling over the other two ingredients.

Of course, you can absolutely use regular olive oil or canola oil if you can only find plain mozz balls. Just be sure to season the gnocchi and tomatoes well with salt, pepper, and dried herbs in lieu of the infused oil. Also, finish the dish with the mozz, adding it at the end to get it brown and bubbly. Adding it sooner results in a scorched, basically inedible cheesy mess.

The most important step is making sure the mozz doesn't melt and burn. You want it soft, and maybe a little brown, but fresh mozzarella melts quickly. It only needs five minutes at most on the sheet pan to get to that point. All this to say, if your gnocchi still looks blond after about 20 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, don't worry, it's actually perfect. Gnocchi is dense, and that light color indicates it's ready to enjoy. Cooking it longer could make the interior tough and starchy.

This is also a fun recipe to experiment with variations, such as the aforementioned switch of using olive oil, rather than the bucconcini oil, to drizzle over the gnocchi and tomatoes. Infused olive oils are excellent, such as one with bright lemon, garlic, or even basil to evoke the flavors of a caprese salad. You can also sprinkle the whole thing with pesto after adding the mozzarella for the ultimate flavor bomb, or simply dress it with tangy balsamic glaze and ribboned basil before serving. Also, feel free to add other veggies to the sheet pan as long as you don't overcrowd it. Diced bell pepper, red onion, or zucchini are all delicious options and brown beautifully under the high heat, becoming roasty and blending nicely into the light, saucy juices from the tomatoes.