1-Pan Gnocchi Lasagna Bake Recipe

There isn't much that beats a nice, warm pasta bake for comfort, and it's even better yet when said pasta bake is easy to throw together. With this one-pan gnocchi lasagna bake from recipe developer A.J. Forget, you get the best of both worlds. There is no need to boil pasta beforehand, and no need to even dirty a second dish. It all comes together in that one pan, and then goes straight into the oven for optimal convenience. The result is a full meal of tender gnocchi and eggplant surrounded by rich tomato sauce and creamy ricotta cheese, all ready in about an hour.

Calling this recipe a lasagna may be seem a bit strange at first, as there are no layers. Instead, lasagna is the inspiration for the dish, and each bite of the gnocchi bake evokes those same cheesy, tomatoey flavors. The advantage here, of course, is that the traditional lasagna noodles are replaced with fluffy little gnocchi. That means no boiling pasta and no painstaking layering — just a quick cook of the vegetables and sauce before tossing in the rest, topping it with cheese, and baking. Lasagna is a classic, but after you try its easy-to-make gnocchi-based cousin, you might just find yourself skipping the layers next time as well.

For this recipe you will need olive oil, onion, garlic, dried basil, eggplant, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, gnocchi, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese. When you have these ingredients gathered, it's only a few simple steps to turn them into a delicious dinner.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Bring a large pan to medium heat and add the oil.

Add the onion, garlic, eggplant, and basil to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for around 10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened.

Mix in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the crushed tomatoes, mix well, and remove from heat.

Mix the gnocchi into the sauce, spreading them evenly throughout the pan.

Evenly distribute spoonfuls of ricotta across the top of the gnocchi.

Top the whole dish with the mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake for around 30 minutes, until the cheese on top is just beginning to brown.

Allow the gnocchi lasagna bake to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

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Ricotta cheese makes an excellent creamy complement in this recipe to the tender gnocchi and chunks of eggplant swimming in tomato sauce, but it is certainly not the only way to make this recipe. This recipe is anything but traditional, but a traditional lasagna does use béchamel. So, feel free to swap out the ricotta — but you may want to make some minor adjustments if you choose this route.

Béchamel is a simple sauce traditionally made with butter, flour, and milk, and often a touch of salt, pepper, and nutmeg. While the flour does thicken things, béchamel is still considerably thinner than ricotta. For this reason, if you choose béchamel over ricotta, you may wish to reduce the quantity of crushed tomatoes used to prevent things from getting too soupy.

This can also be a great avenue to add another layer of flavor to the dish, by incorporating one of the many béchamel-based sauces. It may be taking another step away from tradition, but infusing your béchamel with fresh herbs or garlic would certainly make a delicious addition to this gnocchi lasagna recipe.

We chose to make this gnocchi lasagna recipe vegetarian, filling out the dish with tender chunks of eggplant, but for those that prefer a meaty lasagna, feel free to use that instead of, or in addition to, the eggplant. All you need to do is cook up a bit of ground beef or Italian sausage before adding the onions, garlic, and eggplant to the pan — no other changes needed. But that is far from the only change you can make to customize this gnocchi lasagna recipe.

As mentioned above, swapping out the ricotta cheese for silky béchamel is a simple change that can take this pasta bake one step closer to a traditional lasagna. But while you are playing with lasagna recipes in your customization, why not look at some other variants? We suggest that the first time you make this recipe, you make it according to the original recipe. But once you see how simple and delicious it is, there are lots of variations you can try out, so that you can work it into your weekly recipe list without ever getting tired of it. If you're a fan of fungi, fill out your gnocchi lasagna bake with umami-rich chanterelles and porcini. Or consider eschewing the red sauce and eggplant and instead go for white sauce, greens, and artichokes. There are no shortage of interesting lasagna recipes on the internet, and each of them can be an inspiration for your next gnocchi lasagna bake.

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