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Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
Gnocco fritto is a delicious fried bread appetizer typical of the Emilia Romagna region of Italy.
It is a simple fried dough made from flour, water, yeast, and lard and then fried to perfection and consumed right away while still hot accompanied by a cheese and meat board filled with cheese and cold cuts or served by itself to kick off a big Sunday lunch.
Soft and tasty, these fried dough puffs are an Emilian cuisine specialty with unmatched goodness and are a frequently found in the markets and places serving typical Emilia Romagna street food.
The recipe below is the original Emilian gnocco fritto recipe that is traditional as well as fairly straightforward.
In this recipe, the dough is kneaded by hand without requiring the use of a stand mixer. You’ll just need to prepare a pre-dough batter and let it rise, which will result in a light and digestible product, then knead in additional flour and the lard. If you prefer a lighter version, you can replace the lard with butter or olive oil.
Here are the simple ingredients you’ll need to prepare gnocco fritto:
Make the starter: Make a batter by mixing 8 tbsp (60 grams) of the flour with the dry yeast, the sugar, and 7 tbsp (50-60 grams) of the water (photo 1). Cover with plastic wrap (photo 2) and let rise at room temperature or, if the weather is too cool place it inside the oven with the light on, until it doubles and many bubbles form on the surface, usually about 1 hour.
Create the gnocco fritto dough: Now add the rest of the flour and water (photo 3). Knead by hand until all the liquids are absorbed. If the dough is too hard, and there is still flour around the bowl, add another tablespoon of water, but just enough to combine everything and get elastic dough.
Gradually add the lard or butter (photo 5): add a piece, knead, then add another piece. The dough should be smooth and soft. Add the salt, then knead again.
Form a ball and cut a cross at the top (photo 7). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (about 80°F) until it triples in volume, about 2 hours (photo 8).
Roll out and shape individual pieces: Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, sprinkling with a pinch of flour above and below. Form a rectangle about 3 millimeters thick (photo 9). Cut into 2-inch-wide strips, then cut them diagonally to obtain a diamond shape (photo 10).
Fry them up: Heat a saucepan with plenty of oil. When the oil reaches frying temperature, place one or two pieces at a time (photo 11), wait for the dumplings to swell, and turn them on their other side. Cook for a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon (photo 12) and drain on a paper towel before transferring to a serving plate.
Serve and enjoy: Serve hot or cool, perhaps with a sprinkling of salt flakes and accompanied by or stuffed with Italian cheese and cured meat to make it into a main dish if you feel like it.
Other Italian street food recipes:
Just like any fried food, gnocco fritto is best eaten right away. However, you can keep them up to 1 day in an airtight container at room temperature, but be aware that they lose some of their original flavor as time goes by.
Gnocco fritto is perfect to serve as an appetizer and is usually stuffed with Italian cheeses and cold cuts. It is usually served with the delicious cured meats from the Emilia Romagna area, such as prosciutto crudo di Parma, salame Felino, Coppa Piacentina, and the delicious Culatello di Zibello, just to name a few.
However, if you don’t want to spend the extra money on fancy prosciutto or Parmigiano Reggiano, you can certainly substitute with ham, pastrami, cheddar, provolone or even soft cheese or anything you would typically enjoy on a sandwich. Gnocco fritto is very versatile!
Gnocco fritto is also perfect to serve instead of baked bread, a bit like the Neapolitan zeppole di pasta cresciuta.
The gnocco fritto recipe appears to have been handed down to the Emilians from the Lombards during their domination in Italy. Depending on the area of Emilia, the same basic recipe has a different name. In Modena and Reggio-Emilia it is simply called gnocco fritto (al gnòc frétt, in dialect); in the Bologna area it takes the name of crescentina; in the province of Ferrara it’s called pinzino; in Parma you’ll see the name torta fritta; and in Piacentino it is often called chisulén.