Buy a bag of Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and make an easy one pan dinner for one in about 10 minutes. Add sausage and vegetables for a full meal. I'll also share other Trader Joe's products to eat leftovers with.
Trader Joe's is a great store for anyone wanting tasty, easy, meals. They've got lots of prepared meals and ingredients to save you time in the kitchen, while still eating deliciously.
Enter Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi. They're soft, pillow-y sweet potato cubes, covered in a lovely sage, butter sauce. But it's not varied or satisfying enough to make a full meal.
So, grab some sausage and frozen vegetables (or use what you have on hand) and you've got a pretty affordable full meal plus ingredients for other meals!
The Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi cost me $3.79, and sausage $4.29 in Salt Lake City, in early September 2023.
Another thing I like about this dinner is that it's not necessarily a recipe. Add as much of each component as you want and it'll be great any way. Just note that the more you add, the less sauce-y it will be.
I found that this Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi reheats well, and I cooked up the full bag of it. This left me with a satisfying meal plus leftovers. I'll share a couple suggestions to enjoy with your leftover gnocchi for meal variety.
Serve this as a plain side dish, as seen in Tasty AZ. It'd be a great side dish to take to a dinner or potluck in the fall. Or to serve for Thanksgiving dinner.
Ingredients
Scroll down to the Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and sausage recipe card for the amounts of each ingredient, but here's a quick visual + description of what's in this recipe.
- Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Gnocchi: of course you could use whatever gnocchi you can find, especially if Trader Joe's isn't close by. In this case, I'd recommend making your own sage butter sauce. Find a recipe online.
- Sausage: I bought garlic herb chicken sausage at Trader Joe's too. It was great with gnocchi. Italian sausage would be great too. I'd gravitate toward savory or spicy sausages vs sweet ones as the gnocchi is sweet flavored.
- Frozen Vegetables: I had a bag of frozen broccoli which was great in this recipe. Use what you have or prefer. Frozen, fresh, or canned. Or skip it! No need to always have vegetables with your meals.
- Water: Steams the ingredients, then uncover to thicken the sauce, brown the sausage.
Instructions
Scroll down to the recipe card for more detailed instructions. Here's a quick overview + photos to see how to make this recipe in general.
1.Add Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi, sausage link, desired vegetables, and water to large saucepan. Cover, cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. (according to gnocchi package directions).
2. Uncover, and stir. Cook another 3-5 minutes over medium-low to low.
3. Enjoy immediately, topped with desired toppings. Store leftovers, see ways to enjoy leftovers below for serving suggestions.
How to Cook in an Air Fryer
I preferred cooking the Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi in the Air Fryer over oven. Line the basket with foil, preheat, cook at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes.
How to Make in the Oven
I preferred cooking my Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and sausage on the stove top, according to package directions, but you can also cook them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.
I found the gnocchi and sausage texture to be the same in both cooking methods, the oven method just takes longer. One note is that the sauce started to burn as I was cooking the gnocchi longer to brown. So watch them.
Cook Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and sausage in the oven or stove, whichever is easier for you.
Ways to Enjoy Leftover Gnocchi
- Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi + pancetta/bacon/pan fried ham + vegetables (kale or other greens would be great)
- Gnocchi + Trader Joe's kale caesar salad
- Gnocchi + Trader Joe's frozen mushroom medley + Italian sausage
- Add gnocchi + sausage to a green salad, with any vegetables you like.
Storage/Reheating Tips
Store leftover Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and sausage in an airtight container for about a week. Reheat covered in the microwave.
Substitutions/Tips
- Cook ingredients together on the stove, oven, or Air Fryer. Add fresh vegetables about half way through for them to be slightly crunchy, if desired.
- I found this dish to be best by not cooking the gnocchi until it browned. The sauce started to burn and wasn't usable.
- The sage flavor wasn't very strong, feel free to add extra fresh or dried sage to your sauce when cooking. Add your preferred amount. You could pan fry sage leaves for garnish too.
- Cook tofu, sausage, salmon, shrimp, pork chop, or chicken breast to go with your gnocchi.
- If serving with sausage, I recommend garlic herb, Italian, or another more savory flavor sausage versus a sweet one. It will balance the sweeter flavors of the gnocchi.
- Other great add-ins: Additional vegetables, chopped almonds or cashews, extra herbs, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and fresh or dried sage leaves would all be great on Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and sausage.
FAQ
You can enjoy these gnocchi as a full meal by adding sausage and vegetables. Or enjoy it cooked to package instructions as a side dish. See other ways to enjoy gnocchi section above for more suggestions.
Repurpose Gnocchi
See ways to enjoy leftovers section above for foods to add to leftover Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi. There are a bunch of ways to enjoy this fall gnocchi dish.
What to do with leftover ingredients
When you're cooking for one, you often have leftover produce, cans of whatever ingredient, etc. Here are a couple ideas on how to use up the leftover ingredients. It'll help you save money by wasting fewer ingredients.
- Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi: see ways to enjoy leftover gnocchi section above for serving suggestions. Or make sweet potato Gnocchi Carbonara.
- Sausage: Add to Italian Beans for One, Delicata Squash Soup, Canned Tomato Pasta.
- Frozen Vegetables: Cook with pasta to make Pesto Tofu for One, Instant Pot Fish (from frozen), or Chicken Soup for One.
Did you make this Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi and sausage? Leave me a comment & rating to share how it turned out!
Trader Joes Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Sausage for One
Equipment
- Large saucepan, with lid
Ingredients
- ½ bag Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi
- 1 link Garlic Herb or Italian Sausage
- 1 cups Frozen vegetables
- 2 Tablespoons Water
Instructions
- Add ½ bag Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi, 1 link of sausage, 1 cup frozen vegetables to saucepan. Add 2 Tablespoons water. Cover, cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. (follow directions on gnocchi package)
- Remove lid, turn down heat to low. Stir and cook another 3-4 minutes, until sauce has thickened slightly and ingredients are warmed through.
Notes
- This recipe doesn't have to be followed exactly, add as much sausage and vegetables as you'd like. Just don't add more than about a cup of vegetables to ½ bag of gnocchi as it would thin out the sauce too much. If adding more, cook it separately.
- I found the sage flavor to be low, you can add some fresh or dried sage to the cooking gnocchi for more sage flavor.
- Substitute Trader Joe's sweet potato gnocchi with regular gnocchi or sweet potato chunks. Find a tasty recipe for a sage butter sauce and toss it in that.
- If cooking with sausage, use a savory flavored one, like garlic herb or Italian. It will balance out the sweet gnocchi better than a sweet sausage, like apple.
- Add whatever vegetables you'd like, if any. Use fresh or frozen. You can add canned too, just drain them. Just add about 1 cup per ½ bag so the sauce doesn't get too thin.
- I found it better to enjoy the gnocchi soft, instead of trying to brown them. The sauce started to burn as I cooked them longer to brown.
- Topping Add-ins: chopped cashews or almonds, fresh or dried sage or thyme, parsley, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, etc.
Sara Welch says
Enjoyed this for dinner last night and it was a savory success! Was super easy, quick and delicious; a great meal for a busy weeknight, indeed!
Rebecca Clyde MS, RDN, CD says
so easy for a busy weeknight!
Kushigalu says
Love the combination of flavors in this recipe. So delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Rebecca Clyde MS, RDN, CD says
totally! glad you liked it
veenaazmanov says
This is definitely a delicious one Pan meal. Yummy veggies, sweet potatoes nutritious and healthy. I love all of it.
Rebecca Clyde MS, RDN, CD says
yay! glad you liked it
Colleen says
This gnocchi dinner is so satisfying and delicious. Definitely going on repeat for me.
Rebecca Clyde MS, RDN, CD says
great! it's so tasty
Sisley says
An absolute classic and so delicious
Rebecca Clyde MS, RDN, CD says
totally!