The vibrant flavors of summer spinach, cheese and garlic come together in a soft, tender, comforting dumpling that pairs perfectly with your favorite marinara or Italian meat sauce. Made with whole grains (with gluten free options).
Adapted from Cultures for Health
Do you ever stumble across a recipe while you’re browsing on your phone and then leave that tab open on your phone for months on end until the time just feels right to actually make this recipe you’re totally intrigued with? This is a thing that happens more often than I’d like to admit. You’d think I’d pin them or something, but I don’t have Pinterest on my phone … or facebook. Or even my email. This is on purpose. Somehow I want to segment that part of me off and limit myself to ONLY do those things on my personal computer. It works pretty well, except that I do a lot of recipe browsing on my phone (especially on lazy weekend mornings when I just want to lay in bed with my cats all about me), and then I just don’t want to close that tab until I’ve actually COMPLETED the mission I decided I should undertake (on that lazy morning, when I didn’t even have the energy to get out of bed).
Sometimes it’s much more fun laying in bed dreaming about delicious things I’ll make someday than actually getting up and DOING anything. (Other days I’ll spring out of bed, ready to go tackle the world.)
Anyway, this was a recipe I had a tab open on my phone for many many months before the time came to make it. I knew it was time, you see, because I was visiting my parents and they had just harvested two HUGE bags of spinach from their garden. I helped them out by taking one of the bags (I took the smaller one). I got home and pondered upon how to use TONS of spinach in a recipe … and then I remembered this recipe I’d saved “for later”. Finally, it was “later”.
I made several alterations to the recipe, for extra flavor and also, to help them stay together better. I ended up with 57 dumplings … I’m not sure how many dumplings I was supposed to end up with, but it seemed like a LOT! I made a small sample for myself (and for photos) and took the rest up to my parents’ place to share with them. My sister was there to share the meal with us and we all ate until we were stuffed and there were still dumplings left.
These dumplings are quite filling. The first time I tried them, just 5 dumplings totally filled me up. The second time, I managed to eat 8 of them and I think that’s about how many everyone else ate so I think about 8 dumplings is one serving. Big eaters might eat twice that. Little eaters may only eat 5.
What kind of sauce do you serve with these Italian dumplings?
I like a good flavored marinara sauce with these spinach ricotta dumplings, but a creamy sauce like my vodka sauce or my cauliflower alfredo might be nice too, or perhaps a creamy mushroom sauce or a meaty bolognese. I like to top my dumplings with a bit more shredded cheese before topping with the heated sauce so the cheese gets nice and melty. (It was my sister’s brilliant idea to serve it that way and it was SO good!) My mouth is totally watering just thinking about it.
I left the rest of the dumplings with mom and dad, though … I like to do that as a “thank you” for giving me so many lovely garden-fresh ingredients from their garden. I’m kind of wishing I hadn’t forgotten to bring back MORE spinach from mom and dad’s (they still hadn’t tackled the second huge bag they had in their fridge).
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Spinach Ricotta Dumplings
- Cook Time: 5 min
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: About 57 dumplings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 25 oz. cooked, drained spinach (or frozen, thawed), finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons grass fed butter or olive oil
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 – 4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or brown rice flour)
- 1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs (or gluten free breadcrumbs)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1/2 cup finely grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Set the spinach in a colander and let it drain, then take a clean towel and push down on it to absorb and squeeze out excess moisture.
- Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter or olive oil and melt/heat, then use a silicon spatula to coat the bottom of the pan with the fat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is soft and translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
- Stir in the spinach, then the ricotta cheese. Cook, stirring frequently, until any excess moisture is mostly gone. about 5 – 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients to make a thick dough. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not gooey. If needed, add more breadcrumbs.
- Heat a saucepan full of water over medium heat until boiling, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer (small bubbles).
- Line a plate generously with whole wheat (or brown rice) flour. Shape the dough into 3/4 to 1-inch balls, rolling each one in the flour until well coated. Use a slotted spoon to gently lower 12 dumplings at a time into the simmering hot water. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the dumplings float.
- Serve hot with your choice of sauce and extra shredded cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
Cook as many as you want to eat, then cover and refrigerate the rest of the dough for later. Alternatively, you can shape all the dumplings, coat the “leftovers” with extra flour, then store in a single layer of a covered container in the fridge or freezer until ready to cook.
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3 comments
I love ricotta so much. These are a MUST TRY!
Hurrah! I’m so excited. I’m a total ricotta lover too. <3
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