a unique method of making cornbread and chili! Go light on the chili powder and jalapenos for a milder version as this is a little on the spicy side. Although the sheet pan is completely filled, it will still fit. Place aluminum foil on the oven rack before baking if you’re concerned about spills.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds sweet Italian sausage links
- 1 (16 ounce) package refrigerated gnocchi
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Italian cheese blend
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Toss sliced shallot with olive oil in a heavy pot or dutch oven until well coated.
- Arrange sausages atop shallot mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the sausage is no longer pink in the center, turning sausages occasionally to brown evenly, 25 to 30 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
- Transfer sausages to a platter; cover and set aside.
- Melt butter in the pot used to cook the sausage over medium heat. Stir in milk and bring to a low simmer.
- Gradually stir in about 3/4 of the Italian cheese blend until melted; reserve the remaining cheese for topping. Remove cheese sauce from heat, stirring occasionally to keep sauce smooth.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the gnocchi at a boil until it floats to the top, about 3 minutes; drain.
- Serve sausage and gnocchi topped with cheese sauce and sprinkle with reserved cheese and basil.
- Prepacked gnocchi generally takes anywhere from 3-4 minutes – cook it until it floats. I normally drop the gnocchi into the water as I start making the sauce. On the cheese blend, feel free to experiment with different ratios – Soft cheeses like Mozzarella, Provolone, and Fontina melt great and each add their own unique flavor. Hard cheeses like Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago, add layers of flavor.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 903 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 162 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 39 g |
| Saturated Fat | 33 g |
| Sodium | 1968 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 70 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was a wonderful and pretty easy winter meal. A great blend of flavors. I had ground Italian sausage so I made sausage balls. It worked out fine and I’ll be using this recipe again…but I will need to work on the cheese sauce as it was a little thick.
So I did something wrong. The cheese sauce never melted down right and we ended up with a giant log of cheese basically haha! The plus side is it tasted good and my 10mo old loved eating the chunks of cheese ??
i altered it pretty significantly. i used chicken sausage, made it in a skillet, added vegetables, and had to add considerably more milk to extend the sauce. it was still needing more flavor, just a lil something more. it was a great base to start from though. thanks
I used bratwurst instead of sweet Italian sausage as I hate sweet meats. I cooked the sausages and shallots in a covered large frying pan instead of in the oven over medium-low heat, turning every 5 minutes for 20 minutes and finished them off uncovered. I read someone felt the sauce was under-flavored so I added Pinot Grigio wine to keep the onions moist while cooking. Also, once removing the sausages from the shallots and adding the butter, I added enough flour to absorb all the grease and make an oniony roue before adding the milk to create a proper cheese sauce. Will make again.
Easy and delicious! Changes I made: Two slices of provolone in cheese sauce, regular butter rather than unsalted, and whipping cream rather than milk in sauce.
I knew when I cooked it it was going to be delicious! We had to stop ourselves from eating it all, as in that Thanksgiving gross feeling of overstuffedness!
I love gnocchi and cheese but this recipe was just ok. The cheese sauce needed something else to liven it up. Surprisingly my husband liked it more than me but I don’t think either of us will be in a hurry to make again.
This is rich and delicious! I roasted some thick sliced mushrooms w/ the shallots (I used 2 nice sized) and sausages. Also, I doubled the milk portion so there was extra sauce and that was perfect for us. After removing the gnocchi from the water, I tossed then w/ the sauce to get them coated, plated them and topped w/ the sausage, more sauce and the cheese and basil (I forgot to get fresh, so I used a sprinkling of dried). I think this would also be great w/ tortellini. Will def make this again! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
For the most part I followed the recipe. I took the Italian sausage out of the casings and made small meatballs. I was out of milk so I used half and half too. This was a nice fast dinner once I paired it with a spinach salad. My fourteen year old liked the 1st helping but then didn’t know if she liked the gnocchi. Flavor was great so I will serve this again and again until she likes gnocchi. I would put yellow and red pepper in next time to make the flavor pop a bit and give it some visual appeal. Don’t forget to to use a bit of freshly ground pepper to the finished product. Thanks for the recipe!