I have a friend who just added Gnocchi to his restaurant menu. There is a debate over using russets, red potatoes, or Yukon Golds. What do you recommend?

Gnocchi can be done with potatoes besides russets, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Have the chef spend the money they will save on another part of the dish. The Russet Burbank specifically has high solids and low moisture, and it ideal for gnocchi. Reds are too waxy, the starch cells will turn gluey when moisture is added. The Yukon Golds can work, but often cost 3-4 times more than a russet and also have a medium solids or moist profile. If the chef wants yellow flesh to kick up the appearance, just add a little turmeric or saffron.

Follow-up Response: Thanks for the advice, I will pass it on. I have also had two very bad Gnocchi experiences lately. Both were in famous food cities. In both cases they tried to pan sear them and the experiment failed.

Follow-up Reply: With pan searing or sautéing we still recommend that the gnocchi be blanched quickly in water before searing with brown butter or olive oil, to allow the interior of the “pasta” to warm (otherwise they will be browned on the outside and cool or luke warm on the inside). We have a plethora of gnocchi recipes to try out, they are on our website in the recipe section. Just search “Gnocchi” and you’ll find some wonderful recipes!

Basic Gnocchi
Creole Cream Cheese Idaho® Potato Gnocchi with Crawfish
Idaho® Potato Gnocchi with Clam Chowder
Gnocchi con Fontina e Tartufo Idaho® Potato Dumplings with Pontina Cheese & Truffle
Homemade Idaho® Potato Gnocchi - Bolognese
Horseradish Gnocchi
Idaho® Potato Gnocchi in Horseradish Cream and Bolognese
Idaho® Potato Gnocchi with Maine Lobster
Idaho® Potato Gnocchi with Pesto
Idaho® Potato Gnocchi with Spring Peas and Proscuitto
Loaded Gnocchi with Baked Potato Broth
Pumpkin Gnocch
Potato Gnocchi with Ricotta
Potato Gnocchi
Idaho® Potato Gnocchi Coeur D'Alene
Fully Loaded Idaho® Potato Gnocchi Fritti

In Addition, there is a fun video on doing speed scratch gnocchi using dry potatoes:Fast-Speed, Scratch-Prepared Idaho® Potato Gnocchi