So I made the new Trader Joe’s Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi for lunch today. It’s one of those dishes that’s pretty simple to make from scratch, just Pecorino, butter, pasta water and black pepper. But the convenience factor is huge here. While you can cook TJ’s gnocchi in a pan in under 10 minutes. You can also throw this one in the microwave for 5 minutes.
The ingredient list is pretty straight forward. The only surprise for me was the addition of provolone cheese. I’d say one bag serves two, but could be stretched to three. (You can see the contents of the bag in the video down below.).
So let’s talk cooking method. I cooked half in a pan and half in the microwave. And believe it or not, microwave delivered a better result! In the pan, you add 2 T. of water to the gnocchi and cook it over medium high for 3 minutes. Then you turn it down and cook it for another 3-4 minutes. But in the end, it soaked up most of the sauce and the texture was very soft. So, depending on how hot your medium high runs, maybe start at medium, if you’re going the pan route.
The microwaved portion left more sauce in the bowl and had a firmer texture overall. The cheese sauce has a nice flavor, though you might want to hit it with a little more black pepper. For lunch, it was pretty filling and I finished off the microwaved bowl. The pan cooked went into the compost – it was just too soft for my taste.
As easy as it is to make cacio e pepe anything from scratch, this is a good option for a fast, microwaveble meal. Would I buy Trader Joe’s Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi again? Sure. I have to say, I liked it A LOT more than TJ’s Gnocchi alla Sorrentina which I thought was terrible and I threw it out.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
Sparkling Coconut Water with Yuzu
