One of my all-time favorite dinners from last year that quickly became an AK reader staple! I had been wanting to make a baked gnocchi recipe for a while now (instead of boiling them and adding sauce), and this one turned out even better than I imagined.
This sheet pan butternut squash gnocchi with sausage has simple ingredients, fresh herbs, and delicious toppings like feta and hot honey to pull it all together. You get to bake the gnocchi and veggies all together right on one pan for easy cleanup and delicious flavor!
I love this one for easy weekday meal prep when I’m looking for something comforting and nourishing. Have fun customizing with different toppings and garnishes, and enjoy!
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Everything you’ll need to make this sheet pan butternut squash gnocchi
This beautiful sheet pan meal is bursting with flavor from fresh herbs, sweet squash, and savory sausage. Don’t forget those delicious garnishes, too! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Butternut squash: every winter I get on a huge squash kick, and butternut squash is my go-to. You’ll cube it and roast it right up with the other veggies and sausage. Sweet potato also works well here!
- Red onion: the red onion gets naturally sweet and caramelized when you bake it on the sheet pan.
- Gnocchi: yes, you can bake the gnocchi right on the sheet pan! It will come out golden brown and tender.
- Herbs & seasonings: you’ll also add fresh thyme leaves, fresh sage (if you’d like), garlic powder, salt, and pepper to add flavor to the sheet pan meal.
- Sausage: I like to use spicy Italian chicken sausage for a kick of heat!
- For topping: once the sheet pan comes out of the oven, top everything with feta cheese or goat cheese, hot honey, extra thyme leaves, and a little lemon zest for brightness. YUM.
Customize this sheet pan gnocchi with sausage
There are plenty of ways to make this dinner your own:
- Swap the squash: feel free to use cubed pumpkin or sweet potato!
- Add some greens: serve everything on a bed of arugula.
- Pick your sausage: as I mentioned, I like using spicy Italian chicken sausage, but you could use pork sausage and/or opt for a mild sausage.
- Kick up the heat: you’ll get a spicy kick if you use spicy sausage and hot honey, but feel free to add red pepper flakes to the finished product as well to get even more of a kick!
Can I make it dairy-free, gluten-free, or vegetarian?
- To make dairy-free: simply omit the crumbled feta or goat cheese.
- To make gluten-free: use a gluten-free gnocchi or even Trader Joe’s frozen cauliflower gnocchi — just let the frozen gnocchi thaw for a few minutes at room temp before baking.
- To make vegetarian: swap the sausage for a can of rinsed, drained chickpeas. Toss them with the squash, onion, gnocchi, olive oil, and seasonings before adding them to your sheet pan.
Do I have to pre-cook the gnocchi?
Nope! The best part about this recipe is that everything gets cooked together right on the sheet pan — no boiling required! You’ll toss the gnocchi, butternut squash, and red onion with olive oil, herbs, and seasonings, and bake it all up on one pan. The gnocchi will come out crispy on the outside and perfectly tender in the middle.
Tips for assembling this sheet pan gnocchi
Instead of removing the sausage from the casing and forming perfect meatballs, I typically just “plop” 1-inch pieces of sausage right onto the baking sheet. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Be sure to spread everything out on the sheet to give everything enough room, but don’t worry if some of the sausage covers the gnocchi or veggies.
Make your own hot honey
If you don’t have any store-bought hot honey, you can easily make it with a few simple ingredients. Head to page 231 of The Ambitious Kitchen Cookbook for my go-to recipe!
Our fav sides to serve with this meal
You’ll get 24g of protein and lots of vitamins and nutrients from the butternut squash, but I also love serving this sheet pan gnocchi with a little side salad if I want another veggie boost:
- Brussels Sprouts Kale Honeycrisp Apple Salad with Maple Cider Dressing
- Winter Butternut Squash Brussels Sprouts Caesar Salad
- Asiago Arugula Pear Salad
- Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Roasted Sweet Potato, Pear & Pomegranate Spinach Salad
Storing tips
You can store any leftover sausage and butternut squash gnocchi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Simply reheat in the microwave, on the stovetop, or, to keep the gnocchi crispy, in the oven at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes.
More one pan meals you’ll love
- Sheet Pan Hot Honey Chicken and Veggie Glow Bowls
- One Pan Chicken Caprese Orzo Bake
- One Pan Creamy Tomato Gnocchi with Chicken Sausage
- One Pan Baked Pesto Orzo with Chicken Meatballs
- One Pan Creamy Thai-Inspired Peanut Chicken Couscous
Get all of my one pan meals here!
I hope you love this sheet pan butternut squash gnocchi with sausage! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Spicy Sausage, Butternut Squash & Hot Honey
Ingredients
- For the veggies and gnocchi
- 4 cups cubed butternut squash
- 1 red onion, halved and sliced
- 1 (16 ounce) package shelf-stable gnocchi
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage leaves (optional!)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 uncooked spicy Italian chicken or pork sausages (I prefer chicken!)
- For topping
- 4 ounces feta or goat cheese, crumbled
- 2 to 3 tablespoons hot honey (plus more if you’d like), for drizzling
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- Lemon zest, for brightness
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Season the veggies & gnocchi: On the prepared baking sheet, add the butternut squash, red onion slices, and gnocchi. Drizzle with olive oil, then add fresh thyme, sage, garlic powder, salt, and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper. Use clean hands to toss everything together until it is well coated in oil and spices. Spread into a single layer on the baking sheet.
- Add the sausage: Remove the sausage from its casing and place in 1-inch pieces on the baking sheet. (This is an easier tactic than rolling into meatballs, and oftentimes I just ‘plop’ the sausage right out of the casing onto the sheet pan!) It's okay if some of the sausage covers the gnocchi or veggies, but try and find some open space to nestle the sausage into.
- Bake for 25 minutes total, gently stirring the veggies and gnocchi halfway through.
- Warm the cheese: Remove from the oven and crumble feta or goat cheese all over the top of the veggie and gnocchi, then bake for 5 more minutes to warm the cheese.
- Once done baking, immediately drizzle with hot honey (about 2 tablespoons, but use more if you’d like), then garnish with fresh thyme leaves and add a little lemon zest on top. Enjoy warm! Serves 4 to 6.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on January 14th, 2025, and was republished on January 13th, 2026.
Anytime we make this for anyone they ALWAYS ask for the recipe after. Hands down our favorite meal we make! Always a hit!
Such a great weeknight dinner. I added Parmesan cheese and didn’t have hot honey on hand but did have chili infused olive oil sinuses that instead. Everyone loved it! Can’t wait to make again. Served with a pecorino wine. Delish!
Perfect! So glad it was a hit!
Outstanding flavor and so easy to make. This will be on repeat. If you want to tone down the spice but still use hot honey, try sweet Italian sausage:
So glad you loved it! Perfect weeknight meal 🙂
This meal is a great addition to add to the list of dinners that we will be making in the future! I used fire roasted garlic and herb smoked chicken sausage that was already cooked. Sliced it & put it on with everything else; also used feta instead of goat cheese and we topped it off with cottage cheese. It was very delightful.!
Sounds amazing!! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 Glad you loved it!
Made this tonight and it was delish!! Will definitely make again.
So happy to hear that!
Great flavors and easy to put together! Definitely use fresh herbs. I only had dried and it lacked a little bit of the punch (but that’s on me)! Don’t skip the honey or lemon zest. They take the flavor up a notch. Only I’d change is I’d cut the onion in wedges or one inch pieces, similar in size to the squash and sausage pieces. The onion slices got a little stringy for my liking.
So glad you enjoyed! And yes, feel free to cut the onion a little larger for more of a bite.
This was so delicious and simple to put together. We always joke that my husband can’t cook but he can “assemble” and I think this is a recipe he could pull off!! I added some Brussels sprouts for a lil extra green veg and it was fantastic.
Amazing! This one is easy and very forgiving 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
So delicious!!! Perfect fall meal. Great flavor. My husband said it was even better the next day- and he usually does not eat leftovers.
Amazing! So glad this was a hit!
Delicious! I used ground Italian sausage. Can’t wait to add this in a regular rotation.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
This was incredible, I don’t often comment but this was so good! I used soft cheese dolloped on it and baked for a bit instead of feta, and used honey mustard pork sausages. I used dried sage and it turned out fine! 10/10
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed!
This was sooo good!! Made it in May even though it’s a little wintery. It was amazing. Used dried sage & fresh thyme. No substitutions, everything was fantastic. I used sweet sausage. Will definitely make this again.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
Great recipe – made as written but added beyond mild Italian veggie sausage and worked great, will be making again!
Love it! Perfect dinner!
Long overdue with a 5-star review. This recipe is on regular rotation in our household. It is SO delicious every single time we make it. Never disappoints!
So happy to hear that! One of our all-time favs, too 🙂
I haven’t actually made this yet but I can tell already that it’s a home run! Just one question, some of my folks don’t tolerate spice very well… would you have a suggestion to replace the hot honey? Seems like regular honey might be a bit bland but I’m not coming up with an idea so I thought I’d come to the source 🙂
It’s SO delicious! I don’t find hot honey particularly spicy as is, but if people are particularly sensitive, plain honey will still be delicious 🙂
Just made this for dinner, and it will absolutely be going into our rotation. I love how simple this was to bring together! Love the one sheet pan as well making it a quick clean up afterwards!
So easy and delicious!
What a delicious recipe! I bought frozen cubed squash which made it a lot quicker to prep ! Loved everything about this recipe, a bit spicy and a bit sweet, you can adjust as you wish.
Perfect! Yes, this one’s great for customizing 🙂
Made this recipe last week and absolutely loved it! So easy to put together, felt nourishing and tasty to eat, and the herbs made my whole kitchen smell amazing. I’ve even tried subbing sweet potato for squash and it worked just as well.
Perfect! Such a great dinner 🙂
This recipe is one of my favorite dinner recipes, especially for a busy weeknight. I make the recipe exactly as it calls for. Sometimes I don’t have the thyme and it still tastes wonderful.
This recipe is the perfect cozy winter meal! Comes together so quickly with no mess or cleanup. And the goat cheese adds to much flavor!! Keeping this one in my weekly rotation.
Absolutely! Easy and delicious 🙂
Such an amazing meal. I don’t eat meat and use impossible sausage instead. I’d rate it 1000/10 if I could. Quick and easy to throw together. Amazing flavors.
Perfect! So happy you enjoyed!
Delicious! Super easy to throw together.
It’s such a fun and easy weeknight meal 🙂
This was so good and easy! I made it with sweet potato, squash, green cabbage and then topped with “honey and hot pepper goat cheese”. Would recommend!
Hot pepper goat cheese? I need some of that in my life! YUM!
This was great! two small edits we made, in addition to the lemon zest, we also used the juice of one lemon to finish the dish. We also tossed this sheet pan meal with arugula and that just turned it into a lovely little salad! This recipe is so delish, fast, hands off, and really fun! Thanks Monique!
Love it! The perfect meal!
I followed the recipe but swapped out butternut squash to sweet potatoes. It was very flavorful and delicious. Don’t skip the hot honey or feta cheese at the end. Really adds a nice touch!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
I used Italian seasoned ground turkey- just plopped small chunks directly from the package and it turned out great! I also broiled a few minutes to crisp everything up. Do delicious and easy!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
This was so good! I used sweet potatoes and spicy Italian pork sausage. As well as dried thyme. Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
PERFECT! It’s absolutely delicious, short list of ingredients, and soooo easy to assemble + clean. We’ve made this every week of winter!!
So happy to hear that!
This was SO GOOD! And easy! Peeling and chopping the butternut squash was the most work. We ended up leaving the casing on the sausage and it worked great. Will tryout without next time. Got the seal of approval from hubs – def making again!
Perfect! Glad you loved it!
This was so delicious and easy! Will def make again! Used different colors of baby potatoes instead of gnocchi bc we don’t love gnocchi!
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
The flavours!! Absolutely delicious. My one comment is that I didn’t think much into what sausages to use and had honey garlic ones. It was delicious but just really sweet, Definitely recommend another type of sausage.
Noted on the sausage here! I like a spicy kind for this recipe, but I’m glad it was still a delicious dinner!
I prepared exactly as written. It was very good! My gnocchi was a bit hard so maybe I’ll try cooking it beforehand because I will certainly make this again! The flavor is excellent and it comes together easily.
Glad you enjoyed! Noted on the gnocchi – what brand did you use?
Delicious. Use the thyme and sage.
Perfect!!