Cottage cheese gnudi are soft, pillowy dumplings—like the rustic cousin of gnocchi—made with cottage cheese instead of the traditional ricotta for extra protein. “Gnudi” means “nude” in Italian, referring to how these are essentially ravioli filling without the pasta.
Gnudi
Traditionally made with ricotta, gnudi are soft, delicate dumplings that taste like the inside of ravioli, minus the pasta. In this version, I use cottage cheese for a high-protein, budget-friendly swap that still delivers on flavor and texture. The dumplings are gently simmered until tender, then tossed with your favorite sauce.
I went with marinara, but they’re just as good with brown butter and sage or a simple drizzle of olive oil. Serve them as a vegetarian main or a hearty side with your go-to protein.
Why This Gnudi Recipe Works
If you’ve been around for a while, you know how much I love using cottage cheese to add protein to my recipes, like my cottage cheese bagels, cottage cheese lasagna, and cottage cheese frittata. Swapping ricotta for cottage cheese worked out so well in this gnudi recipe that I didn’t tell Tommy at first. Luckily, he loved them, even after I told him.
- High-Protein: Compared to ricotta, cottage cheese offers more protein and is often more affordable without compromising on its creamy, melt-in- your-mouth texture.
- Simple Ingredients: With just a few pantry staples, you get a dish that feels fancy but is easy enough for a weeknight.
- Versatile & Meal-Prep Friendly: These gnudi pair well with a variety of sauces, reheat beautifully, and can even be frozen for later.
- Kid-Approved Comfort Food: Soft, cheesy, and sauce-friendly—my kids loved them (and yours might, too!).
- Dietary Restrictions: Weight Watchers-friendly, vegetarian, gluten-free (if using GF flour), high-protein
What is the difference between gnudi and gnocchi?
Gnocchi are soft dumplings made from potatoes, eggs, and flour. The gnocchi dough is formed into a rope and then cut into one-inch pieces. I have several versions on my site, including classic potato gnocchi with chicken in a roasted red pepper sauce, zucchini gnocchi, and cauliflower gnocchi.
Traditional gnudi, which translates to “naked” in Italian, mimics the filling of cheese ravioli. It’s usually made with ricotta cheese and flour, but I love how it turned out with cottage cheese for a protein boost.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are all the cottage cheese gnudi ingredients. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- 2% Cottage Cheese: Good Culture is my favorite brand. Draining it well will improve the consistency, ensuring the dough doesn’t fall apart while cooking.
- Parmesan Cheese or Pecorino Romano adds a nutty, salty, unami flavor.
- Egg Yolk binds the mixture.
- Salt and Black Pepper for seasoning
- Nutmeg: Just a pinch adds complexity.
- All-Purpose Flour combines with the cottage cheese to form the dough.
- Sauce: Use my homemade marinara recipe, or buy your favorite jarred sauce.
- Garnish with fresh basil and grated parmesan.
How to Make Gnudi
Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to make this easy cottage cheese gnudi recipe at home. See the recipe card at the bottom for printable directions.
- Make the Dough: Blend the cottage cheese in a small food processor or blender until smooth, so that it resembles the smoothness of ricotta. Transfer it to a bowl and stir in the parmesan, egg yolk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mix in ¾ cup of flour. The dough will be sticky, but if it’s not holding together, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Form the Gnudi: Coat your hands with flour before forming about 36 small gnudi. Place them on a lightly floured rimmed baking sheet (or line it with parchment paper). When finished, refrigerate the tray for 30 minutes (Chilling them will help them hold their shape so they don’t fall apart in the
water.) - While the gnudi chill, prepare the marinara (or heat the jarred sauce on the stove) and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the gnudi in the boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes until they float to the top. Using a slotted spoon, remove the gnudi from the water and add them to the sauce.
Variations
- Ricotta: You can, of course, replace cottage cheese with ricotta. If you do, skip the blender step.
- Gluten-free Gnudi: Substitute AP flour with 1:1 gluten-free flour, like Cup4Cup.
Sauce Options
Any pasta sauce—not just marinara—would work. Here are some of my favorites:
- Vodka sauce
- Sage butter sauce
- Basil Pesto
- Creamy zucchini sauce
- Spicy marinara–just add crushed red pepper flakes to any tomato sauce.
Serving Suggestions
- Keep It Simple: Pair this high-protein gnudi with a green salad and a good piece of crusty bread for a hearty vegetarian meal.
- Boost the Protein: Add sausage or ground beef to the marinara to make it even more filling. This recipe calls for plenty of sauce, so you’ll have extra to coat the protein. However, if you are eating the gnudi by itself, you can make less sauce.
- As a Side Dish: Serve these Turkey Meatballs or Grilled Chicken Breasts as the main course with the gnudi on the side.
Meal Prep Tips
- Make Ahead: Cover the tray and refrigerate up to 24 hours before cooking.
- How to Freeze Raw Gnudi: Place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and flash freeze. Once frozen, transfer the gnudi to an airtight container or zip-locked bag and freeze for 3 months. To cook, boil the frozen gnudi for an extra minute.
Storage
- Refrigerate the leftovers for up to 4 days. Warm in a skillet on the stove or in the microwave.
- How to Freeze Cooked Gnudi: Freeze the gnudi and sauce in individual- serving containers for 3 months.
- Reheating: Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes You’ll Love
For more dinner ideas using cottage cheese, check out these five delicious cottage cheese recipes to inspire your next meal!
- Savory Cottage Cheese Bowl
- Cottage Cheese Cheesecake
- Lasagna Roll Ups with Cottage Cheese
- High-Protein Scrambled Eggs with Cottage Cheese
- Protein Waffles
If you make this cottage cheese gnudi recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook! And be sure to join the Skinnytaste Community to see what everyone’s cooking!
Gnudi (with Cottage Cheese)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups 2% cottage cheese, I love Good Culture (drained well)
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, or Pecorino Romano, freshly grated, plus more for garnish
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 batch marinara sauce, homemade or 1 (28 ounce) jar good quality jarred sauce
- 1 sprig fresh basil, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Lightly flour a rimmed baking sheet and set aside.
- Add the cottage cheese to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Blend until smooth. Transfer the blended cottage cheese to a mixing bowl. Add the parmesan cheese, egg yolk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the bowl and stir to combine. Add in 3/4 cup flour and use a rubber spatula to mix it until it just comes together into a ball. If its not holding together, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough will be sticky.
- Lightly flour your hands and make about 36 rustic, quarter sized balls, placing them on the prepared baking sheet as you finish rolling them. When your hands get sticky, just coat them with some more flour before continuing. Once you finish with all the dough, place the pan in the fridge for 30 minutes, while you make the sauce. If using jarred sauce, heat the over low heat to a simmer and cover. In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Once the water is boiling, add the Gnudi to the pot. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, until they float to the top. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the Gnudi to the pot with the sauce. Stir to coat the Gnudi in the sauce.
- To serve, divide the Gnudi and sauce in four bowls and top with basil and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
Made this tonight for dinner with things needing to be used. I’m so glad it uses cottage cheese, a thing I usually have on hand, and not ricotta, which I always seem to use a little of and the rest goes green. Added some red pepper flakes for heat in the Trader Joe’s marinara I used along with some fresh baby spinach about to go south. Served with a crisp salad, lots of grated parm and fresh basil from the garden. My husband said, “Yum. This is lovely.” That’s very high praise. Next time I may add some Italian sausage to the sauce, or do a sage brown butter with it and see if I cannot brown those little dumplings. Thanks for another winner, Gina.
Glad you both enjoyed it!
I made this for family dinner, knowing my daughters roommate, hates cheese of any kind was coming to dinner. She tried it and really liked it. Everyone enjoyed it, even my picky grandkids.
Don’t sleep on these! They are simple and delicious. I used a cheese cloth to strain the cottage cheese. I would love to see Gina come up with new variations on this great recipe!
Really delicious and easy, I’ve made several times.
Would dry cottage cheese work?
Very nice cheesy taste. I made it with marinara sauce but the sauce covers the taste of Gnudi. I made more and I refrigerate it, so next time I think it will be perfect with butter and sage
I substituted pat flour for all purpose and nutritional yeast for parmesan. You have to make sure the balls are firm and you’ll have no trouble with this recipe. Absolutely delicious.
Delicious!!!! These would be a fun dumpling alternative with more protein in a chicken soup!
Planning to make this. How well would these freeze, whether before or after cooking?
Tips are in the narrative- How to Freeze Raw Gnudi: Place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and flash freeze. Once frozen, transfer the gnudi to an airtight container or zip-locked bag and freeze for 3 months. To cook, boil the frozen gnudi for an extra minute.
How to Freeze Cooked Gnudi: Freeze the gnudi and sauce in individual- serving containers for 3 months.
I made these last week and my kids said it was their favorite! They asked if I could make “chicken gnudi soup”. I made the instant pot chicken noodle soup (minus the noodles) and added a cornstarch slurry to thicken it a bit. I cooked the gnudi separately and added to the soup. It. Was. Amazing. Definitely doing both versions over and over again!
Followed directions exactly–when I dropped balls into the boiling water the immediately floated. I waited 3 minutes and took them out and they were mush. Any suggestion on what went wrong?
I wish I knew? Did you change anything?
This was easier to make than expected, though I’d probably not make it on a weeknight. My gnudi were more like “drop cookies” and I refrigerated them for several hours because I prepped them earlier in the day. I used a whole egg instead of just the yolk.
I really liked this recipe. My gnudi kind of fell apart bout they cooked up nice. Next time I will add a bit more flour as suggested in the recipe.
Can I make the gnudi ahead of time… stick them in the fridge for cooking the next night?
So this one was interesting. Definitely use fresh flour and make sure the dough balls are small in order to get the desired results. Mine still had a flour taste after following instructions, but I pivoted and cooked them a bit longer. Regardless, it was a delicious alternative to gnocchi.
Egg allergy….do you think the product ‘just egg’ would work as an egg sub in this dish? Or a flax egg? Sounds delish!
To be honest, not sure without testing this
These sound delicious! How much dough for a dumpling approximately?
I made mine about a tsp? (Till I got bored and they were a smidge bigger). I like making them small.
Is there any chance this could be made with almond or coconut flour? I am Keto and this looks so delicious.
I dont think it will work honestly
I just made these with almond flour. I Followed the recipe, but actually left them in fridge for over an hour. Dropped them in the water and I now I have soup :’( luckily I only put half in, so I put the rest in my toaster oven. They seem to be holding up. Once they get a nice toast, I’ll add them to my sauce. Fingers crossed!
Hi! Can whole wheat flour be substituted for all purpose flour?
I have not made this recipe, but I’m looking forward to it. Do you small or large curd cottage cheese
I use good culture, I swear by that brand.
I had never heard of this dish before, but I happened to have all the ingredients on hand and decided to give it a try. It turned out soft like little gnocchi—so pillowy and cheesy! The dough was a bit sticky at first, so I added a touch more flour, but making the dough balls ended up being really fun—my boyfriend and I enjoyed the process together. I can see this being a great, hands-on recipe for cooking with kids.
I added mild Italian sausage to the sauce, and the meat-and-cheese combo was absolutely delicious. I also seasoned the dough with a bit of garlic powder and Italian seasoning for extra flavor. This one’s definitely going in our rotation!
So glad you loved them! Yes, like a gnocchi! We loved them!
Looks easy! Do you think you could use fat free cottage cheese?
sure
How and when do you “drain” the cottage cheese?
Just pour out the excess liquid before you start
Are there less points if you use the blended cottage cheese and not ricotta? I’ve only used ricotta.
this uses cottage cheese
Do you think I could omit the egg yolk? (Egg allergy)
Can gluten free flour be used?
Yes- for gluten-free Gnudi: substitute AP flour with 1:1 gluten-free flour, like Cup4Cup.