Want a weeknight dinner that fills you up and can come together in under 30 minutes – this one is it! After a full day or work, it is awesome when you find an easy recipe with minimal ingredients that comes together quickly. 

Aside from boiling the gnocchi in water, this is a one pan dish.  I find myself not having too many of those with more of the main dish and sides of many of our meals (I can have a lot of ambition when it comes to weeknight meals).  So, my appreciation of this dish is great. It doesn’t hurt that it tastes amazing, too.

I have experimented with gnocchi, but I haven’t fully mastered that yet, so store bought it is for this meal. I found this recipe online on one of my many weekends of meal planning for the week, and I liked that it was going to be a relatively simple meal. What I didn’t know the first time I made it was how good it actually was going to be.

The dish includes everything – the fluffy and filling pillowy gnocchi, the fat from the sausage and little bit of oil and cream, and the freshness from the cherry or grape tomatoes (have used both in this) and the basil.

What I enjoy most is not the ease of making it, but the opportunity those evenings to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with the people that I love. This evening, we got to catch the weeknight sun on our deck and enjoyed this wonderful meal together. Hope you find that type of evening, too!

Gnocchi Skillet with Chicken Sausage & Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb gnocchi
• 9 oz cooked chicken sausage
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup loosely packed basil, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• Salt & fresh cracked black pepper

Preparation:

Heat some extra virgin olive oil over medium heat in a cast iron skillet. While that is warming, dice your chicken sausage into rings. When the oil is hot, add the sausage rings and sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder.

While the sausage is cooking, heat water in stock pot to boiling for the gnocchi. Cook per instructions. Drain and let cool slightly.

When the sausage is cooked, add some chicken stock to deglaze the pan and then add the halved cherry tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes. Incorporate the heavy cream, gnocchi, and more chicken stock (if needed). Cook until flavors come together and sauce thickens, about 3-5 minutes.

Serve in low bowls topped with fresh basil, salt, and fresh cracked pepper.

Happy Skillet’ing!!!

*Recipe an adaptation from the kitchn.