My creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe makes a quick and easy pasta dish in ten minutes – a perfect mid-week meal. Tender, pillowy Italian potato dumplings coated in a rose sauce, a combination of canned tomatoes and cooking cream, is rich and reassuringly comforting. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread to mop up the moreish sauce.
Speedy recipes are what I’m cooking for my mum right now as I race toward a deadline. Like this penne Bolognese recipe for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, which makes my quick take on a slow-cooked authentic ragù alla Bolognese, our pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans, a mac and cheese with crispy bacon and caramelised shallots, our tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, my fusilli with a creamy pumpkin pasta sauce, and bacon and mushroom pasta, this creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi makes a fast version of my favourite tomato sauce based pasta.
If you’re looking for a more luscious tomato sauce for pasta, make this rich Italian-style tomato sauce, which is similar to a classic Italian sugo al pomodoro – the same tomato pasta sauce that long-time readers might remember the lovely Maria, the caretaker of the trullo we settled into in Alberobello, Puglia, teaching Terence after his lesson on making orecchiette.
I use that richer tomato sauce in my juicy Italian meatballs recipe, this spaghetti with meatballs recipe and our recipe for Italian-Australian chicken parmigiana or chicken parma, as we Aussies call the breaded chicken cutlets topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella.
But if you’re time-poor, make this creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe, which takes just ten minutes. The recipe is nothing if not versatile. While I add cream to create a rose sauce that’s rich and comforting, you could skip the cream and you’ve still got a tasty tomato sauce.
You could add fresh sweet cherry tomatoes, or sun-dried tomatoes, which are loaded with umami; olives and mushrooms or sausage for texture; or simply spice the sauce up with ground paprika, fresh chillies, chilli powder or chilli flakes.
This creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe is one for lovers of tender pillowy gnocchi. While you could use any pasta with this sauce, gnocchi is perfect. If you are a gnocchi lover, try this crispy pan fried gnocchi with broccoli and bacon, basil pesto with gnocchi recipe, pan fried pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter sage sauce, my asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi recipe, and this creamy leek and bacon gnocchi recipe. More of our best pasta recipes here.
Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce with Gnocchi in 10 Minutes
I adore fresh tomatoes – some of my favourite recipes are tomato recipes – and while this creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe calls for canned tomatoes, sometimes I like to add fresh sweet cherry tomatoes to the pasta sauce.
But I have to say that no vegetable had disappointed me as much as the tomatoes I’ve been buying in Australia. They had no aroma, were a yellowy-orange more than a red, and lacked any flavour.
My memories of great Australian tomatoes are those of my grandfathers – one who’d been a market gardener and the other a farmer – both of whom had flourishing vegetable gardens in the backyards of their suburban homes in Western Sydney.
Those memories of the scent, colour and flavour have stayed with me and are the yardstick by which I measure all tomatoes, and no tomatoes met my expectations until I sniffed out and spotted some fragrant truss tomatoes in all their gorgeous red glory.
Truss tomatoes smell like just-picked home-grown organic tomatoes, are a deep vibrant red colour, and taste incredibly sweet and juicy. Truss tomatoes are essentially just vine-ripened tomatoes grown in glasshouses, and come in all shapes and sizes, from big beef tomatoes to cherry tomatoes and small Roma tomatoes.
Having lived overseas for 26 years, I have no idea when they started calling vine-ripened tomatoes ‘truss’ tomatoes. I also have no idea when all other Australian tomatoes began to lose their smell, colour and flavour. Where and how are they grown? In a lab? Maybe I don’t want to know.
So if you’re travelling to Australia, look for truss tomatoes, otherwise cook with tin tomatoes, which can be excellent. Just a few tips to making this creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe.
Tips to Making this Gnocchi in Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce
This creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe is so easy to make and quick to come together, the recipe needs no elaboration. But I have just a few tips for you, particularly for those of you who live in Australia where there’s a cost-of-living crisis, high inflation, and the economy has stalled.
This is also a very affordable pasta to make, thanks to – and this is my first tip – shop at ALDI if you have a branch of the European supermarket chain near you. We nearly always recommend that you buy the best quality tinned tomatoes you can find and afford, such as the Italian peeled San Marzano tomatoes. The plum tomatoes are packed with flavour and have a natural sweetness.
But I have to confess that this year I’ve been buying a 95c can of Remano Italian diced tomatoes from ALDI and they’re fantastic. The crushed tomatoes are a rich red colour and incredibly delicious yet there are no artificial colours or flavours, no preservatives, no added salt, and they’re low on sugar. Highly recommend them.
In a prior life, I’ve been very fussy about the tomato sauce or tomato ketchup we use and have been loyal to a popular Australian brand, no matter where we’ve lived in the world, and no matter what it cost. It was like Vegemite.
But another confession: I’ve been using ALDI’s Colway brand, which tastes the same, is loaded with umami, and again, has no artificial colours or flavours, no preservatives, and is a fraction of the price. Yes, this food writer has become an ALDI convert!
The gnocchi, thickened cream, and even Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy that I use in this dish are all from ALDI. Assuming you’ve got Parmesan in the fridge and extra virgin olive oil and seasoning in the pantry, this pasta costs A$7 if you shop at ALDI, and feeds four as a starter or two as a main with leftovers. Add a few dollars if you don’t have any cheese on hand.
I have to admit, though, I still invest in a quality extra virgin olive oil – Australian, as Australia produces wonderful olive oils – and an investment it is, as I use a lot of olive oil and it’s costly here. I haven’t yet tasted the ALDI olive oils.
But you do want a great tasting extra virgin olive oil if, like me, you always finish pastas with a drizzle of olive oil, just as you want a proper Parmigiano Reggiano for sprinkling on before serving. While it’s more expensive than the powdery stuff, you’ll use less of it, as it’s loaded with so much flavour.
Aside from ingredients, just two of the usual reminders: you want salted water to boil your pasta in – Italians say the pasta water should taste of the sea – and do use a slotted spoon to transfer the gnocchi from the pot to the pan, taking a little pasta water with it, as the starchy water will thicken the sauce and helps it cloak the gnocchi.
Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce with Gnocchi in 10 Minutes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 400 g can Italian diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato sauce - or use 1 tbsp tomato paste
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ garlic powder
- 500 g potato gnocchi
- 50 ml thickened cream
- 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese - divided
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Put a medium sized pot of salted water on to boil over high heat. When the water reaches a boil, add the potato gnocchi, give it a quick stir so there’s no gnocchi sticking to the bottom, and put the lid on. Follow your gnocchi packet instructions but it should only take a few minutes to boil.
- While the water is boiling, to a deep pan over medium-high heat, pour in the can of Italian diced tomatoes, two tablespoons of tomato sauce (or one tablespoon of tomato paste), half teaspoon of salt, and half teaspoon of garlic powder, and leave to reduce, stirring occasionally.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the gnocchi to the pan, taking a few tablespoons of the pasta water, and let it reduce for a couple of minutes.
- Add the thickened cream and 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, stir to incorporate, taste the creamy tomato sauce, and adjust the seasoning to suit your palate.
- Distribute the pasta between plates, drizzle on the extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle on the remaining tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese, and grind on a little black pepper if you like, and serve immediately with a side salad and crusty bread to mop up any leftover sauce.
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make my creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe in the comments below as we’d love to hear how the recipe turns out for you.
Hi Lara,
I made Angel Hair with chicken meatballs and Hunts Traditional tomato sauce for dinner last evening. First time using both and they were fabulous! I added my friend’s just picked yellow squash and green onions from her farm, and that might have helped added to the deliciousness.
You’re right about the tomatoes. It is the same here in the states – flavorless, I’m an Aldi fan too; I’ll have to try the canned tomatoes and gnocchi. Thanks for the recommendations.
Have a great week!
Eileen
Hi Eileen, lovely to see you! How’s the sailing going? Sounds delish! Love chicken meatballs!! And I’m sure the fresh farm produce injected loads of flavours, especially coming from a friend’s farm, so you know it hasn’t been sitting in a cold room in a warehouse for weeks!
Sorry to hear great tomatoes are hard to come by there, too, these days. I’d love to know what happened here. But thankfully we can get the truss tomatoes. There’s a farmers market here I haven’t been to for years. I’ll have to visit again, but historically farmers markets were much more expensive. I’ll have to see what the current state is.
With such high prices for everything here we have to live frugally, so Aldi has really saved us. At first I was going to my mother’s favourite supermarket, part of a nation-wide group of independently-owned supermarkets, but then I compared prices and realised Aldi was a third to half the price on nearly everything. I was really sceptical about the Italian products, especially as the pastas are around A$ 95c/$1.20+ but they’re all excellent. The jarred marinated artichokes (which I used on this pasta https://grantourismotravels.com/capricciosa-pasta-recipe-mushroom-artichoke-olive-ham-fusilli/ ) and sun-dried tomatoes are terrific too.
Aldi is always busy and it’s so obvious that people appreciate the company during what are really tough times for so many Australians right now. I wish we had an Aldi in Siem Reap!!!
You too! Hope you’re well?!
Lara