We typically think of gnocchi as a dinner food. Those sticky little pieces of potato-based pasta taste great with a bit of red sauce, and gnocchi even makes a good substitute for mac and cheese. But have you ever had gnocchi for dessert?
With the Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Gnocchi, gnocchi has become a dessert rather than a meal. This seems to have raised some controversy around the internet, and dontcha know, we’re doggone curious to try some of it out!
To cook this, simply put a little oil in a saucepan, then toss in the gnocchi and let it heat for seven or eight minutes. After that, it’s ready to serve! (You can read the cooking instructions straight off the bag if you check out our package scan at the bottom of this review!)
We tasted a couple pieces as they were cooking, and we noticed something. The consistency gets less potatoey and more cakelike as these cook. When undercooked, these are overwhelmingly potatoey, but once you cook them a bit longer they still have some potato texture, only it’s much softer at that point.
Honestly, though, we find it odd that Trader Joe’s stuck to their guns on the potato part of the equation. We think these would have been better if they were gnocchi-shaped cake bites rather than actual gnocchi.
Each piece has a gooey chocolate center, and this is definitely the best part of the entire thing. It’s satisfyingly sweet and soft, and it sort of squishes into your mouth when you bite into a piece of gnocchi.
The bag considers about a cup to be a serving, which means there are two and a half servings per bag. One serving contains 300 calories and 170 mg of sodium, while the full bag has 780 calories and 440 mg of sodium. The calorie count doesn’t lie; this is definitely a dessert item!
The Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Gnocchi is hard to describe. The texture feels off to us, even when cooked for the appropriate amount of time. Some people will certainly enjoy these, but we’re just not sure they’re for us. We had two reviewers try this, and neither person found these to be very good.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Trader Joe’s frozen dessert, check out our package scan below.
