Vegan Gnocchi

Try vegan gnocchi! Small potato dumplingsㅡlight, pillowy, fluffy, and easy to prepare with only four ingredients! These delicious vegan gnocchi pair perfectly with any dish, can be toasted in a skillet, tossed in a sauce, or baked in a casserole.

Gnocchi is my all-time favorite dish. I love making it during the week or having it ready to go at any time. It contains only four ingredients: potatoes, flour, tapioca starch, and salt, making it completely vegan!

You can cover it up with your favorite sauce or make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator to reheat whenever you want.

What Is Gnocchi?

Gnocchi is small, pillowy, and tender potato dumplings. This recipe comes from Italy’s southern regions, where it is frequently prepared. This is a perfect side dish or appetizer and ideal for lunch or dinner.

The dough for gnocchi is typically made up of mashed potatoes, flour, semolina, potato starch, and eggs. However, I’ve done some modifications to the traditional gnocchi recipe to make it vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), simpler, and more flavorful.

Is Gnocchi Healthier Than Pasta?

Gnocchi is a healthier option than regular pasta because it is made primarily of potatoes and contains less flour. When you make your own gnocchi at home, you don’t have to worry about things like fillers or preservatives. Additionally, most traditional recipes use eggs, which means they aren’t vegan. Some recipes require parmesan cheese or other dairy components, but this vegan gnocchi recipe is dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free, yet it tastes just as good as the non-vegan versions!

How To Make Vegan Gnocchi?

Gnocchi is perhaps the easiest pasta to prepare at home. At its most basic, all you have to do is cook a potato, add flour, form small balls from the dough, and then boil the dumplings. But when you start exploring recipes, you’ll notice that even the most simple food has hundreds of variations (See my other Gnocchi recipes available on the blog).

Gnocchi is not complicated at all; it’s merely that there are a lot of variables to deal with (e.g. how much moisture needs to remain in the cooked potato, etc.), which is why so many recipes appear to be overly complicated, to begin with.

However, I kept this vegan Gnocchi recipe very simple. So even a novice can become a gnocchi expert.

To make this egg-free, gluten-free, and vegan version of gnocchi, you just need 4 simple pantry ingredients and a few simple steps to follow enlisted below: 

Ingredients

• Potatoes 
• All-Purpose Gluten-free flour
• Tapioca starch
• Salt

Directions

1. Peel, chop and boil potatoes for 15 minutes.
2. Drain and mash potatoes.
3. Add gluten-free flour and tapioca starch.
4. Cut dough into equal-sized pieces.
5. Roll each piece into a long thin log.
6. Cut into little pieces.
7. Use the back of a fork and roll over the pieces of dough.
8. Bring salted water to a boil.
9. Add gnocchi and boil until they float about 3 minutes.
10. When floating to the top, fish them out using a slotted spoon. 
11. Mix them with your favorite sauce or store them wrapped in the refrigerator for later use.

Serving Options

There are numerous delicious ways to enjoy vegan gnocchi, and I’ve included some options below for inspiration! However, you can enjoy it as you like!

• Heat some butter in a skillet, add gnocchi and sauté until slightly golden. Shake the pan frequently to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the skillet.
• Serve them with spinach or tomato sauce.
• You can serve them with pesto sauce. It’s absolutely mouthwatering!
• Feel free to add to your favorite veggies, chickpeas, crisp tofu, or vegan meatballs, just like regular pasta.
• You can bake gnocchi with tomato and vegan mozzarella.

And also, don’t forget your toppings; they’ll provide an extra layer of flavor to your dish! My favorites are:

• Toasted walnut (or other chopped nuts or seeds)
• Vegan Feta Cheese
• Vegan Parmesan Cheese
• Fresh herbs (e.g., basil, parsley, thyme)
• Fresh ground pepper

Storing Suggestions

You can store vegan gnocchi uncooked for later use in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or freeze for up to one month. A small tip is to dust with flour before refrigerating. And, for freezing, spread them in a single layer in a baking tray and put them in the freezer. Transfer to Ziploc bags/airtight containers once firm. You can boil frozen gnocchi directly from the freezer; they will be as soft and delicious as freshly made.

Recipe Notes

• In this recipe, I used boiled potatoes to make the gnocchi. However, you can also use baked potatoes. Baking is better than boiling because it results in a drier mixture and takes less flour.
• If the mashed potato mixture is less moist, use less flour. If you feel that the dough is sticky, add some extra flour to make it more supple and manageable. I suggest starting with less flour and gradually increasing it because once you’ve added too much flour, there’s no way going back!
• Avoid too much kneading. Let it be once everything is evenly combined. Too much kneading can affect the final texture.
• Using a fork or a gnocchi board, you can also make an indentation (also known as Rigagnocchi) on every gnocchi.
• To keep the dough from soaking too much water, I baked it in salted water. The resulting pillowy and chewy cooked gnocchi are not gummy. They are perfect.
• Gnocchi firm up as they cool; therefore, I like to make and boil it a little before using it in the final dish.

I hope you love making gnocchi as much as I do! It’s enjoyable and easy. I adore the repetitive movement involved in making those small dumplings; it is so relaxing!

If you try and enjoy this vegan gnocchi recipe, please let me know by leaving a comment below.

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