Trader Joe’s Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi Review

A while back, we reviewed the Trader Joe’s Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, which we thought was amazing (despite the amount of calories it contained). So imagine our surprise when we learned that TJ’s has made a gnocchi version of this dish. That’s right, the Trader Joe’s Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi is a thing now, and we want to gobble up some of it ASAP.

Now, we mentioned this back when we reviewed the spaghetti version, but it’s worth mentioning again here: This is not a vegetarian-friendly meal, as it contains animal rennet. If you want to know more about what that is, you can read up on it here. We’ll just say that our vegetarian staffers avoid it, and vegan eaters will want to avoid it as well.

Anyway, for those of you not put off by the animal rennet thing, this is pretty easy to heat. Whether you use the microwave or the stovetop, this will take less than ten minutes to make. We went with the stovetop for this review, because the cook time was barely more than the microwave time (six to seven minutes, as opposed to five to six). If you want to read the full cooking instructions for both methods, simply scroll down to the bottom of this review and check out those package scans.

We should mention here that this gnocchi ends up super soft and squishy. In fact, it’s barely even able to hold its form. This is not what we were expecting, since we very recently tasted a different gnocchi from TJ’s, and that one was quite a bit firmer than this one. Of course, that was also a non-frozen gnocchi, but still, we can’t recall any of Trader Joe’s gnocchi being this mushy (off the top of our head, at least).

When we reviewed the Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, we noted that the sauce is fantastic. It’s just as fantastic here — rich and creamy and dotted with peppercorn to add a little bit of a bite. We have to say, this sauce is just a delight to eat. Of course, it does seem like TJ’s was a little stingier with it here, and we would have loved if there were just a tad bit more of it. It seems like there’s slightly less than this meal requires to fully cover the gnocchi.

Trader Joe’s claims there are three servings here, and we think that’s really pushing it. If you look at the photograph just a few paragraphs above, you’ll see how much gnocchi is in a full bag — it looks like a single serving, right? If you eat the suggested amount, you’ll be at 210 calories and 480 mg of sodium. If you eat the full thing at once — and we think you probably will — you’ll be up to 610 calories and 1,440 mg of sodium. We admit that this is a lot more filling than we were expecting it to be, though.

The Trader Joe’s Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi seems like it should be a home run, combining everything we love about gnocchi with the wonders of the Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. However, this just doesn’t have the magic of its spaghetti sibling. We prefer the al dente spaghetti noodles to the mushy gnocchi for this particular dish. This is still fine, but it’s definitely not the delectable powerhouse that the spaghetti version is.

To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Trader Joe’s frozen Gnocchi, check out our package scans below.